Page 66 of Lured

Eventually I found myself out in the open at the back of the boat, nothing around me and the water to one side beyond a railing. I had to remind myself to stop and calm, panic momentarily seeing me put myself in a much more vulnerable situation.

My body calmed as I waited for him to come closer again. I had managed to cut him again, but it was only another shallow slash across his arm.

As he approached me I considered what I could do to help gain the upper hand. While I was likely to be slowly wearing him down, I knew that he was stronger than me and he could easily get lucky and kill me in one go. I was only making him angrier right now.

More blood was dripping from him, especially from the new wound in his hand, but he was holding my blade in the other still. I knew I needed to disarm him and then consider how to harm him some more.

Focusing on my breathing and watching him I adjusted my stance and let the power of the ring give me the speed to turn my slight movement into an attack. He anticipated it this time and dodged me, side stepping but turning. I was forced to put my back to the railing of the ship and the water.

It wasn't where I wanted to be, but as he lunged again I slammed my fist into his hand right where his thumb held the blade strongest. The knife went flying across the deck, skittering as it hit the metal under our feet. He didn't stop there despite how much I must have hurt him and tried to grab me with the other hand.

All the blood made his grip slippery and I managed to twist out of his grasp before he could tighten it again. Still we were close and he was recovering fast.

He let his anger fuel him and despite me stabbing my blade deep into his arm, he kept coming. He drove me into the rail, winding me.

As I tried to yank the blade back, I gasped for air. He knocked it from my hand as well, his body weight and larger form easily keeping me where I was.

I had to fight not to panic as I blocked another attempt from him to grab my throat. Neither of us had a weapon now, but it wouldn't take much for him to lift me up and chuck me in the water, or snap my neck if he could get a tight enough grip.

Again and again I blocked him, trying to kick and lash out in any way I could while I was stuck between him and the rail. He was pressing hard enough up against me that I feared he would break a rib or two, but he seemed more focused on going in for the kill. It was frantic, fast and I could only keep up thanks to the magic from Leo.

Still, my limbs were starting to ache and I knew I was paying the price for the ring's magic. I had to find a way to get out of this.

As he tried to grab my throat, I found the opening and brought my knee up into his balls. He went over backwards, momentarily stunned. I immediately reached for the wire wrapped around my wrist and pulled it loose.

I grabbed it with both hands and then rushed toward Ludis. He tried to shift back, but I pushed through the pain and ache in my body to rush him, shove him back and straddle his torso. I used my weight and momentum to drive him back and get the wire across his throat.

Reaching my hands behind his back I crossed them over and then rolled as hard as I could to one side. At first it only shifted his body, one of his hands coming up quickly enough to get in between the wire and his neck.

I threw myself backwards again and severed the fingers. It still didn't remove his head, but I wasn't going to give up. Each yank had moved him partially across the deck and he was struggling to fight it, fully panicking. This was a very unconventional way to kill a vampire, however.

The wire was also digging into my own hands and my grip would get slippery if it cut me too. I had only one attempt left. I got to my feet, pulling him backward a little. He flailed, unable to get a grip on anything with the fingers missing from one hand.

We worked together to get him upright and I used the momentum and the last ounce of strength I had left to half jump and half run up the side of the deck chairs. It lifted Ludis up and pulled him back against the stack. Not wasting a moment of time, I threw myself off the other side backwards.

Thankfully, I landed on my feet, the head coming off Ludis and following me. It rolled before it came to a stop at Leo's feet.

I hadn't seen him come out onto the back deck, but he came rushing over to me as if he had just arrived.

“One dead vampire,” I said as I let go of one end of the wire. It had cut into my hand as well, but only a small amount. A bandage and some rest would see me okay again.

Leo was panting as he pulled me into his arms. I winced, aching in more places than I expected to. He checked me over as I took the ring off and held it out to him.

He closed my hand over it. “Keep it. You've earned it.”

I didn't know what to say to thank him, but he didn't stop moving. He grabbed one of the deck chairs and opened it up.

“Sit down for a few minutes while I tidy this up.” He didn't hesitate to grab the head I'd severed and immediately threw it off the back of the ship. A few seconds later he did the same to the rest of Ludis.

There was a lot of blood out on the deck and this had Leo frowning. My hands were also covered and there were many splatters on my dress. I didn't know how anyone was supposed to hide these sorts of things, but Leo only seemed to want to figure out where it all was and gather up my daggers.

He pulled a cloth from his pocket and cleaned them both off for me before handing them back.

I tucked them back into my boots more on autopilot than really thinking about it and watched him carefully wipe down the wire I'd also used. “Wrap that back around your wrist. It was surprisingly effective when combined with the ring.”

It was certainly a true statement although I had barely made it work. I knew I had got lucky to some degree with this fight, but it was over. After everything Ludis had done and said, relief hit me next. He had been a despicable person and it made the world a better place to get rid of him.

I had once thought it better for the world to get rid of any and all vampires, but I found myself watching Leo sweep the area and send messages to various people before he came back to me.

---