Page 70 of Blood Taken (Blood Mafia 2)
Alissa bites her lip and glances at the boss. “You’re going to fight?”
He shrugs out of his suit jacket, unbuttons his sleeves and starts to carefully roll them up. Judas Priest, the tattoos and the rolled-up sleeve combination is dangerous.
The smug bastard grins and his brown eyes dance with mischief when I meet his gaze. “Why not?”
Alissa knows better than to question him any further. She abandons me in the ring. I watch as Mateo climbs between the ropes, his slacks pulling tight over his thick thighs. He’s a hell of a lot bigger than my petite friend.
I scowl. “What are you playing at?”
He tips his head to the side. “Playing at?”
“What’s the catch?”
“No catch.” He holds up his fist. “Kick my ass.”
A smile stretches across my face. “Gladly.”
I move, using my supe speed to my advantage. My powers have settled for the most part. Alissa is still slower than me. Combine my new speed with my strength, she’s been struggling to keep up.
Mateo on the other hand, he’s almost as fast as I am. He catches me by surprise when he blocks my first hit. I flit away from him and reevaluate. He’s not playing defense.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you to kick my ass.”
I move again, feigning left but spinning and slamming my fist into his right side. He stumbles back and I take the small advantage and kick the backs of his knees.
He slams to the mat, jumps up and raises an arm to dodge my punch. He catches my wrist in his hand and pulls me toward him. I torque my arm, breaking the hold and flip away from him.
The cat and mouse game continues for a few more minutes. I growl when he dodges a kick.
When I glare at him, he smiles. “Come on, baby girl. You’re not even trying.”
I clench my teeth together. I am trying, that’s what’s pissing me off.
Red bleeds into my vision and what comes next I’m not sure how to explain. Like when my powers awakened, everything slows down. My heartbeat is a slow thud in my chest. His movements are sluggish and whatever he’s saying sounds garbled.
I lock onto his brown eyes, see the stupid tilt of his lips, and can only think one thing. He has to die. My body seems to move of its own accord. I run to the left, jumping up on the corner post and using it to propel me into a backflip.
I land behind Mateo, whose head is still lifted to watch me fly over him. My fingers dig into his flesh and I wrench his head to the side. Bones crack in a stomach turning sound and Alissa gasps.
“Demi.”
I let go of Mateo and his body thuds against the mat. I glance over my shoulder, seeing the vampires in the gym watching me with narrowed eyes. Alissa’s standing with her back to me.
My chest heaves. There’s still a red haze clouding my vision. The vampires make no move toward me, but I can see a few thinking about it. Alissa looks from side to side. She’s trying to see who will attack first. I bend and use my arms and legs to jump, clearing the ropes and landing in a crouch.
Only a few vampires meet my eyes when I stand and cross my arms. Alissa sighs.
“Did you have to kill him?”
I nod. “He’ll be up in a few minutes.”
Mateo’s healing is phenomenally fast, indicating his age to be several hundred years old.
“They’re not happy.”
Lifting a shoulder, I shrug. “I don’t give a damn. He deserved it.”
