Amelia Atwater-Rhodes - Shattered Mirror

She leaned her head back, knowing where his gaze would travel. He fell for it, as they always did, and as she felt his lips touch her throat, she reacted.

Shoving him back into the wall, she used his moment of confusion to draw the silver knife from the sheath on her back. Before he could recover his wits, she slammed the blade into his chest, then twisted the knife to make sure his heart was completely destroyed. Vampiric power lived in the blood, and any well-trained hunter knew to twist the knife and obliterate the source of that power. Even Sarah, with a silver blade forged by magic thousands of years old, was still careful. The Vida blade would poison any vampire it scratched, but there was no reason to be careless.

The kill was silent and quick; no one outside even knew this monster was down. Sarah absently wiped her clean hand on her jeans, brushing away the tingling aftereffect of touching him, and touched her throat to reassure herself that there were no puncture marks.

She tucked the body into a corner, knowing this house would probably be abandoned for a while after this bash—that was one of the techniques the vampires used to keep hunters from tracking them down. They were rarely stupid enough to sleep in the same house where they killed.

For a moment she paused, pondering the lifeless body, wondering how any person would willingly become a creature who fed on humanity, a monstrous parasite. He would have taken her blood and killed her had she not killed him first.

She shook her head. It was dead, as it should have been when the vampire blood first froze its heart years ago. That was all that mattered.

Checking herself for blood and finding none, she took a moment to relax as she waited for some time to pass.

She sensed another vampire behind her but forced herself to turn slowly, as if a little groggy. She recognized the vampire immediately. Kaleo had pale blond hair and sculpted features, which would have made him attractive had his aura not been enough to make Sarah’s stomach churn. In the midst of his blond features, his black eyes seemed infinitely darker. Kaleo was one of the oldest in his line, and more powerful than any creature Sarah had ever faced.

For a moment, Sarah debated going for her blade. Attacking Kaleo by herself with so many of his kind near would probably mean the end of her life. But it might be worth it.

Before Sarah could make a move, though, Kaleo glanced pointedly to the doorway behind which Sarah had hidden her prey. “What excellent taste,” he congratulated her. “He was rather a pain.”

A prepared vampire was more difficult to fight than an unsuspecting one. Without hesitation, Sarah went for her knife.

“YOU DROVE HOME LIKE THIS?”

Sarah nodded sharply in answer to the healer’s question.

Caryn Smoke shook her head but made no comment.

She was the strongest living member of her line, and had nearly been disowned recently due to her associations with vampires. Sarah had disliked the girl ever since the trial, but Caryn was an effective healer, and Sarah only turned to the best.

Sarah had been raised to ignore pain so it would not incapacitate her in a fight, and tonight those lessons had proved invaluable. Both bones in her right forearm had broken when Kaleo grabbed her wrist and threw her into a wall; her head had hit hard enough that had she been human it would have knocked her out. Instead, she had simply drawn another knife with her left hand.

Fortunately, Kaleo and his guests had all been more interested in the pleasures willingly provided by their human sycophants than in fighting a vampire hunter, and had quickly lost interest in Sarah and allowed her to escape.

Sarah had been lucky. She had survived because the vampires had gotten bored. That—added to the fact that she hadn’t seen Nikolas—grated on her.

It was almost five o’clock in the morning by the time Caryn was finished setting the arm. The healer moved on to deal with Sarah’s numerous other scrapes, bruises, and minor sprains when Dominique Vida returned from hunting and came to see her injured daughter. As she sized up Sarah’s condition, her expression was calm, but marked with distinct disapproval.

“You were careless,” Dominique chastised, after she heard the details of Sarah’s night. “You went into that group unprepared, and you stayed past midnight.”

Sarah lowered her gaze, but did not allow her defiant expression to fall.

Finally Sarah spoke up, her voice sure despite Dominique’s reproach. “Nikolas was there.” Dominique could complain all she liked about Sarah’s carelessness, but if Nikolas was part of that group, then they had a lead to finding him.

“Nikolas?” Dominique’s voice was sharp. “You saw him?”

Sarah shook her head. “One of his prey—marked.”

“That doesn’t help much unless you saw the vampire himself,” Dominique pointed out dryly, and Sarah set her jaw to keep from arguing. “And now we have no way of tracking him down.” Sarah did not bother turning over the invitation she had received. After having teased and released the hunter they had found in their midst, the vampires would know better than to host the bash she had mistakenly been invited to.

“You’re set,” Caryn said, her normally quiet voice raised to interrupt the conversation. She patted the cast on Sarah’s arm gently. “You’ll need a week or so to heal completely, and until then I recommend that you take it easy. Okay?” The last was said with a sharp look to Dominique.

The Vida matriarch nodded. “Thank you for your help, Caryn. Sorry to bother you so late.”

Caryn shrugged, her fatigue visible. “No problem. I was in the neighborhood, at a Single Earth hospital.”

Dominique did not react to the remark, and Sarah copied her mother’s neutral mask. Single Earth. The organization was growing by leaps and bounds, with humans, witches, vampires, and shapeshifters joining, all working toward a common cause: unite all the creatures on Earth. Though a noble goal, it was never going to work. Vampires were hunters, evil by nature, and most were incapable of containing their need for bloodshed. Even the vampires at Single Earth, who survived by feeding on animals or willing donors, admitted that it was painful to live without killing.

“I guess you probably won’t be at school tomorrow?” Caryn asked on her way out.

Sarah glanced to her mother, but saw no sympathy. “I’ll be there.” No matter how hard a night Sarah had had, Dominique was not one to allow her daughter to slack off, not even for a few days so she could start at her new school on Monday. Sarah would start bright and early on Wednesday morning.

Sarah had been expelled from her last school for fighting on school grounds. In the process of extinguishing a vampire, some school property had been broken, and the administration had not been particularly understanding. Only some quick thinking by Sarah’s sister, Adianna, had kept anyone from finding the body.

After the incident, Dominique had decided to move her daughter away from the constant excitement of the city and into a dull Massachusetts suburb named Acton. Caryn and her family lived there.

Dominique returned upstairs to sleep, and Caryn caught Sarah’s good arm.

“I should warn you. There are a few vampires in the school.” Upon Sarah’s look, she added sternly, “They’re harmless, and they have every right to be there. If you hurt any of them—”

“If they’re harmless, I’ll just ignore them. I can’t afford to get kicked out of another school, anyway. Okay?” Sarah offered. Caryn nodded.

Sarah’s pride, already ground into the dirt, deflated even more when the door opened again and her sister entered the house.