Hard Bitten - Chloe Neill [101]
“This is how you treat us?” asked one Grey House vamp who wore number thirty-two. “Some fucking shifter and his bitch get fed like kings?”
The Grey House vamp on the other side wore number twenty-seven. “And the GP, too? Shit is falling down here in the States, and we’re serving steak to a vamp from the UK? Does that seem right to you?”
Within seconds, my dagger was in hand. And I wasn’t the only one on alert.
Scott Grey jumped out of his chair and marched to the end of the table. “Matt, Drew, back the fuck off. Drop the swords, and march right back to the door.”
The Grey House vamps wavered, probably the result of some mental Master juju Scott was throwing their way. But the rest of them didn’t seem to be affected at all.
I carefully got to my feet and moved toward them, spinning the dagger in my palm as the anticipation built. All five vamps wobbled a little on their feet, their movements erratic, their eyes darting around the room. As I moved incrementally closer, I could see the cause in their eyes—they were almost wholly silver.
“Scott, it’s V,” I warned him.
“Any easy solution for handling them?” he called back.
“Not without a sorcerer,” I told him. “We’ll have to knock them out the old-fashioned way.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Ethan said, stepping beside me, a knife from the table in his hand.
“Nice of you to join us, Sullivan,” I teased, my gaze following the vamps as they spread out in a line, ready to rumble, whatever the cost. And with Darius, an Apex, and three Masters in the room, the cost would be high. . . .
“Let’s go, old man,” Thirty-two said. “You want to fight your own vampires? You want to take his side over theirs?”
“Liege,” Jonah said, “as your captain, I’m going to request you move into a safer position.”
“Request it all you want, Red,” Scott told him, a mirthless smile on his face. “But that’s not going to stop me from putting these dumbshits in their places. That’s what they get for doing V.”
Ditto what he said, Sentinel, Ethan silently told me. I suppose he wasn’t going to let me argue he should just sit this one out.
The Grey House vamps seemed equally eager to brawl. “Oh, go to hell, man,” Twenty-seven said.
“Only if you join me,” Scott said pleasantly, and before another second passed, the room erupted into violence. Jonah and Scott took the Grey House vamps. Gabriel, Darius, and Tonya were sitting this one out. That left the Rogues to me, Ethan, and Morgan.
“I got the one in the middle,” I called out.
“That leaves the other two for us,” Ethan said. “Greer, take the one on the left.”
And with that, we moved. I slipped between the in-House squabble to the angry-looking Rogue behind them, his eyes just as silver as the Grey vamps’ had been. He was a big guy, and beads of sweat formed at his temple as he fought the rush of the drug. But this guy didn’t care whether it was rage or drugs fueling his attack. He bared his teeth and moved in.
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