Page 60 of Lured

“Come on and fight me properly,” Ludis called out as I managed to stab toward him as well. I didn't do much more damage than scratch his arm.

“I am fighting you properly. You've betrayed the laws of our kind by trying to harm my enthralled. You didn't have permission to touch her.” I knew it wasn't a rule that anyone upheld fully, but it would make the other vampires hesitate again, and that was all I needed. They might even see this as a reason to help me.

“You speak of rules when you've been keeping secrets.” Ludis spat, but he also paused for a fraction too long as if he thought we would talk for a few seconds.

I stepped in, blocked the half-hearted attempt at a defensive stab and then drove my knife deep into his shoulder. He screeched his pain, no doubt in agony.

Somehow he managed to focus enough to attempt another defensive thrust toward me, but for now I had the upper hand at least. I blocked his next attempt to hit me with his blade, mine now buried in his shoulder and looked for another opening to try to get mine back or find another weapon.

This wasn't going to be easy to win, even now, and Ludis wasn't giving up either. I needed to either get his blade or mine.

As he tried to attack again he slipped on some of the blood on the floor and I grabbed the wrist holding his knife. I quickly slammed at the hand to get him to drop the blade and it went flying.

For a fraction of a second I couldn't move as it went toward Anais. It landed on the sofa her chair had fallen into not far from her.

My distraction cost me my advantage in the fight as Ludis yanked my own blade out of his shoulder and came at me with that as well. I had to shift hard and this time I was the one to lose my footing. I tripped and went down in front of one of the other vampires.

The vampire lunged at me, taking a side, but it was slow in comparison. Even on my back it wasn't hard for me to grab the vampire's head and slam it into the leg of a chair. I used so much force it broke his neck. Without any resistance from the vampire I put all my strength into it and ripped its head off.

As I pushed back up to my feet I dropped the body part to the ground. All the other vampires backed off and I turned my attention back to Ludis. He was staring at me in astonishment.

I'd now killed two turned vampires in less than an hour and I was about ready to kill another.

“You can't be turned,” Ludis said as he backed up a step, understanding beginning to dawn on him.

“I'm not. And you're going to tell me everything that you've been doing and are planning to do,” I said, hoping that this might be enough. I took a couple of steps closer, but Ludis shook his head.

“Look out,” Anais yelled, staring over my shoulder as she did.

I turned just in time as another of the vampires came at me. They had some kind of weapon on their hand, but I moved faster than my eyes could take in and punched the vampire in the throat as they came at me. I collapsed his windpipe. It didn't kill him. Vampires didn't need to breathe. At least, not turned vampires. But it was enough of a shock it knocked him on his ass.

Not wanting to have my back to Anais unless I was right by her and between her and danger, I left the vampire there and hoped that he'd learned his lesson. To my surprise Ludis had lost his taste for the fight and was rushing out of the lounge.

It seemed this fight was over for now.

Chapter 26

Anais

I hurt in more places than I could entirely keep track of and I was bleeding from almost all of them, but I had never been more pleased to see a vampire in my life. I had almost cut through one of the ties holding my arms in place, tied to the chair when Leo came to my side.

“Are you okay?” he asked, genuine concern on his face.

“Yes, I'll be fine. You got here just in time. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get trapped like this. I didn't know if you knew what Ludis was up to.” I smiled up at Leo, grateful he had come back for me. In one moment I had known if I could trust him or not. The look on his face when he'd seen me in danger had been enough.

He had also attacked Ludis and fought him in a highly dangerous situation because of it. The most distress I had felt was not being able to get free to help him.

Leo quickly helped me finish the job and get back on my feet. Only then did I notice how much blood was around his stomach and the long gash Ludis had given him.

“You're hurt,” I said, feeling as pathetic as the words sounded.

Leo nodded, but shifted the shirt so I could see the wound better. He wiped away some of the blood with the fabric and showed that it had already scabbed over. It appeared that true-bloods could heal pretty fast. While it probably hurt, he was likely to be just fine.

“Are you going to be able to defend yourself and move around?” Leo asked, checking my wrists where the ties had cut my skin and shifting the attention back to me.

“Yes, I'll be fine. It doesn't even hurt. Ludis sent one of his men to go in Butch's place. Skinny, tall vampire. They ran off as well. Ludis sent him a message with instructions.” I got to the point knowing that we both needed to act quickly.

Leo straightened up, helping me to my feet as we both hurried to the door.

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