Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Thirty-Five

My plan was a fairly simple if not completely impulsive idea. I had it plotted out in my mind in steps, in which each step up to a certain point had an out in case I wasn’t to succeed. My first step was to simply get Clio Lenne out of her chains.

I stormed into the bar, making my way to the vampire hunter who was contained nearby a group of McElroy vampires. When I approached her, the vampires shifted dangerously, preparing for me to no doubt try to massacre them all with my special vampire hunting skills. Instead, I halted and pointed at Clio.

“That bitch attacked me. I demand a fair fight,” I snapped, channeling my inner Corentine in order to deliver a vicious glare in her direction. Her startled look told me my expression was at least partially believable.

There was an uncertain shift around the vampires until one started laughing. “You want to what, now?” I immediately shifted my glare to him, trying to muster up unreal hatred before stomping a couple more steps in his direction. His stance became defensive quickly, preparing for me to attack.

“I said,” I seethed dangerously, “I want a fair fight. With. Her.” Again, I pointed at Clio and focused my entire attention on her.

“But aren’t you two both hunters?” A second vampire, younger and more confused, decided to voice as though the idea of two hunters fighting was absurd.

“She obviously thinks she’s better,” I growled darkly, now calming down to channel my inner Jacobi. “You may have cut me last time, Lenne. But this time, I’ll rip your disgusting heart from your chest.” The threats tasted foreign on my tongue. I’d never wished ill will on a person before now, regardless if it was fake will or not. Clio narrowed her eyes in response.

“Try it, vampire lover,” She snapped, spitting at the floor between us.

“We’ve got ourselves a fight,” One of the vampires hollered almost gleefully, “Let them at each other!” Though there were only about five vampires in the room, they all gathered and began to agree to this future fight with enthusiasm. I was honestly surprised at how easy it was to complete step one as they removed the chains on Clio’s wrists and neck.

Clio raised to her feet lithely, her grace impressive despite her previous beatings and bloodletting. She moved slowly towards me, bouncing on her feet with an athletic ease, and lifted her hands up into fists just under her chin before tightening her form in preparation. I hesitated for a moment, recognizing the intimidating fighting stance, but not sure I could replicate it myself.

I lifted my hands into fist, mimicking her own stance and began to shift when she did. Step two: stall the fight. I would have decided to fight for a while, but I obviously didn’t know exactly how to fight. Instead, I began to shift oddly, jerking parts of my limbs as though I had a twitch. Clio hesitated, frowning as my fighting stance moved more into awkward dance moves.

“Are you two going to fight or what?” A vampire called out, obviously bored by our hesitation. It was then that the smell I was waiting for reached us. A lazy trickle of smoke made its way around us, making everyone pause and look in the direction it was coming from. I, of course, already knew what it was.

Step three: set the bar on fire.

Flames abruptly exploded around the main bar, where I had tilted a candle from one of the tables nearby some obviously flammable liquids and had been waiting for it to catch fire. The vampires watching us suddenly dissipated in panic, advancing towards the fire in an attempt to put it out as fast as they could. I, on the other hand, reached out and grabbed Clio.

Step four: run.

“Time to go,” I called out to Clio before bolting towards the exit. Clio didn’t wait to see what I was talking about. She instantly followed me and then as we passed the busy vampires, she began to run ahead of me. I struggled, but pushed myself to run faster to keep up with her. We weren’t in the headquarters long. Clio found the exit relatively quickly, no doubt having memorized every inch of the headquarters in preparation for her escape for a while now. Then we were both out of the door faster than I could think.