Page 49 of Night's Reckoning
His breath was back. Stalling them had been good. He waited for the vampire in front of him to move, all while anticipating an attack from behind.
“I’m not here to make trouble,” he said. “I’m here with Ten—”
“We know who you’re here with.” The voice speaking Mandarin behind him was frighteningly close. “Vecchio.”
“That’s Ben Vecchio, by the way.” He lowered his voice. “Not Giovanni. Just in case you were pissed off at my uncle and not at me.”
“You think I cannot tell the difference between a human pest and a vampire assassin?”
“I wouldn’t want to presume.” Ben waited. The vampire was coming closer. Ben wasn’t a threat, so he wasn’t walking silently. “If you just tell me what you want, we can all save some time. What do you think about that idea?”
“What we want?” The vampire in front of him finally spoke. “That is simple, Mr. Vecchio. You need to leave China.”
Ben let his head fall back. “Shit. I hate it when you guys want something I can’t give you.” He looked back to the first vampire. “I mean, maybe that’s the people-pleasing thing Chloe gives me a hard time about. I like making people happy.”
“That’s good to hear.” That voice from behind him was awfully close. Just… very, very close. Too close. “You can make us happy right now. We might even… What’s the American phrase?”
The vampire in front of him grinned, and Ben saw his fangs were fully extended. “Grab a bite to eat?”
“Yes, that’s the—”
It happened too fast for the vampire to finish his sentence. Before either immortal realized it, Ben had ducked down and spun to the side of the vampire behind him, grabbed the ten-inch knife from his boot, and locked his arm around the immortal’s neck.
Without hesitation, Ben plunged the knife into the vampire’s neck, angling it through the soft tissue and stopping just short of the man’s spine. Arterial blood sprayed everywhere, but Ben didn’t flinch.
The vampire in front of Ben rushed toward them, but the vampire in his arms shouted in protest and raised both his hands.
“Think again.” Ben wiggled the blade. “I’m very close to making him as mortal as I am.”
The vampire stopped, keeping his fangs bared, but he came no closer.
“You know”—Ben spoke softly—“I really hate doing shit like this. One, it’s messy and I’m wearing light-colored pants. I know. Shortsighted of me. Two, I’m here working for kind of an important person, which means I’m going to have to report all this to him. And I really hate giving oral reports. Ever since ninth grade speech class. Did you ever have to take that?”
Both vampires were silent.
“I’m going to assume that’s a no.”
The vampire in his arms tensed.
“Ah.” Ben wiggled the knife. “Really bad idea, dude.”
The water in the canals around him started to churn.
“Water vampires,” Ben said. “Okay. That answers one question. Who sent you?”
Neither one of them said a word.
“Here’s the thing.” Ben spoke into the vampire’s ear. “I’m going to have to let you go at some point, or I’m going to have to kill you and take my chances with your friend. I’m guessing you’re super pissed off at me right now on several levels, so I’m leaning toward killing you. I don’t have a lot to lose.” He could feel the blood dripping from the vampire’s neck onto his hand and down the front of his shirt. “I’m Tenzin’s partner, and whoever your boss is, she can probably kill them. And she will. Also, I really don’t want to end up dead, which is likely going to happen if I let you go.”
Barely contained fury rolled off the man in his arms. It was one thing to have a knife through your throat and touching your spine, it was another to have that knife be wielded by a human.
Ben looked at the man’s partner. “I mean, you tell me. I’m guessing you don’t want me to kill him—or maybe you do. I don’t want to assume shit about your relationship. Just know that if I have to do that—”
Ben’s words cut off when a dark shadow swooped through the air. The vampire blocking the sidewalk wavered for a moment, his mouth gaping, before a line of blood appeared at his neck. His head fell to one side. His body to the other. His head rolled and then splashed with a solid thunk in the canal.
Shit.
Ben pulled his knife out and shoved his hostage away. “Seriously?” he yelled into the air.
