Hard Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires 4)

I had to give him credit - he was faster than I would have imagined given his bulk. He moved like a spider - his weight carried delicately on small, mincing feet.

He slashed, stepping into the movement like a trained fighter. I blocked the knife with my dagger, but miscalculated his speed and felt the cold burn of pain on the back of my hand. My own blood scented the air, pushing my vampiric instincts into overdrive.

I glanced down and saw the thin line of crimson. Only a couple of inches long and not terribly deep. It was a glancing blow, but that didn't ease the burn.

"Not cool," I said, moving into a spin, the dagger in my hand slicing through the front of his shirt. He muttered a few choice phrases but jumped back again. I stayed on the offensive, my intent to make this guy as uncomfortable as possible - to keep him as off balance as possible  - while watching for a chance to knock him out.

"You think you're any better than the rest of them?" he muttered, raising the sword over his head and slashing down. I jumped back and out of the way, but my heel caught in a knot in one of the planks. I stumbled backward and into one of the room's giant wooden posts, catching myself with a hand.

Ethan's concerned voice echoed through my head. Sentinel.

I'm fine, I assured him, then kicked off my shoes. A vamp didn't need to fight in stilettos, anyway.

When I was upright again, I recentered the dagger in my hand and stared back at the vamp.

"You were saying?"

"Bitch," he called out, swinging his katana in an awkward cross-body slice that would have been better suited for a broadsword than fine Japanese steel. And I cringed on its behalf as I ducked, and felt the echoing shudder of the column as his katana made contact - and stuck there. What a waste.

I spun out from beneath him as he loosened his grip on the handle and began stepping backward, eyes widening as if suddenly aware that the Sentinel from Cadogan House was on his case.

Maybe the drug was beginning to wear off.

"I'm going to do you a solid," I said, holding my dagger out to the side. "I'm going to toss this away, so we can have a fair fight."

I saw the relief in his expression as I chucked the steel. And when his eyes shifted to watch it spin across the floor, I made my move. I threw out a roundhouse kick that connected with his head. He went down hard, like a sack of vampire potatoes, then bounced a little before finally rolling to a stop.

Sure, roundhousing someone while wearing a cocktail dress wasn't exactly ladylike, but it certainly was effective.

With my Rogue out of commission, I glanced over at Ethan. He was in the process of putting his on the floor with a twisting judostyle drop that rattled the floorboards. When he was down, Ethan used an elbow at the neck to knock him out.When the guy was still, he looked up at me, then noticed my guy was down. Roundhouse? he silently asked.

It is a classic, I said, glancing up. The rest of the party crashers had been bested, as well, all five of them out cold on the floor.

Jonah looked around the room, his gaze stopping when he reached me. "You okay?" he mouthed.

I nodded back. That definitely seemed personal.

"Scott," Darius called out, "What the f**k was that?"

Before Scott could answer, I filled in the blank. "With all due respect, Sire - those are your errant vampires."

Scott's guards, including Jonah's friends Jeremy and Danny, stormed the room not a moment later, pulling out the unconscious users. But they left the katana in the column - a visible sign to others in the House who might be stupid enough to try V.

We said goodbye to Gabriel and Tonya, who, understandably, left the House as soon as the coast was clear. Scott escorted the rest of us into the atrium while the remains of dinner were cleaned up. Charlie and Darius stood quietly together; Morgan stood alone. I was standing near Ethan when Scott and Jonah moved our way.

Scott looked between us. "Thanks for the assist."

Ethan nodded graciously. "It happens to the best of us, unfortunately."

"How are the vamps doing?" I asked.

"They're still out. They're in the infirmary under guard for the moment. When they're awake again, we'll have a lengthy conversation about drugs and responsibility."

"Did you know them well?" I asked.

"Only as applicants to the House," Scott said.

"They're relative newcomers. Members of your Initiate class."

"What's a 'newcomer' in immortal terms?" I asked.

A smile perked at one corner of Scott's mouth.

"Anything less than a decade."

Which made me a baby vamp.

Ethan slid a glance to where Darius stood, now offering up some sort of instructions while Charlie tapped at a tablet computer. "Do you think he'll consider the threat any more real now?"

"The GP has an odd attitude about things like this. I'm still not sure he sees us as anything other than troublemakers at this point. Squeaky wheels taking him away from real business in the UK."

"Are you going to investigate?"

Scott blew out a breath. "That's a tough one.

This is a problem in my House. It has to be addressed."

"And if you discover Celina had anything to do with it?"

"Then we didn't have this conversation, but the Chicago Houses agreed to quietly deal with the problem as it exists."

Scott and Ethan looked at each other until Scott extended a hand. Ethan shook it, the deal struck.

Scott gestured toward his office. "I'm going to have a chat with my guards for a moment. I assume Darius will want to speak with us before you leave."

"We'll wait here," Ethan agreed.

"I think Luc was right," he added when they were out of earshot. "I can hardly take you out anymore."

"I just took out a vamp twice my weight while wearing a cocktail dress and three-inch heels. I think I deserve some credit for that."

"Is that so?" he asked.

That's when I first felt it - that rumble of warning from somewhere deep in my bones, telling me something wasn't right. But I ignored it and challenged him anyway.

"Yes," I baldly said. "You're fortunate I was there to help."

"Fortunate? I believe I bested my own foe, Merit. Perhaps you should thank me for my assistance." He raked his gaze up and down my body. "I'm sure I can suggest some small measure of gratitude."

The blood began to pound in my ears, my skin prickling with sudden heat. I had no doubt my eyes were silver, but I didn't care. I slipped a finger into one of the belt loops on his trousers and tugged him closer. "What did you have in mind?"