Free Giver of Light by Nicola Claire Page A

patient and kind. I have been caring and attentive. I thought, the night of the concert, we had finally made progress, but when you baulked at my advances, I retreated. And this is how you repay me?”
    He lowered his face and shook his head and when his eyes raised to meet mine again the azure blue had been eclipsed by cyan and turquoise and a dazzling display of colours in a symphony of swirls. They were vivid and bright, so amazing, yet also so terrifying. Because I knew he wasn't holding back.
    “I will not tolerate your escape from me for a second time," he said, whisper quiet. "I have played the nice little vampire for too long, but because I would prefer you to participate with enthusiasm rather than not, I will give you one last chance.” He held his hand out to me, palm up and open in an invitation. “Come to me willingly and I won't punish you for your pathetic attempt to flee.”
    At least, we were being honest. Finally, I knew where I stood. The sense of relief at knowing my desire to escape was not just an unfounded dream, an illusion of reality, but the only course of action now left available to me, felt entirely liberating. I had been right. This was wrong. And I had to get away.
    “Go fuck yourself, Jonathan,” I said it as evenly and neutrally as he had been speaking to me.
    He just smiled and let me see his fangs extend slowly.
    “Fucking isn't exactly what I had in mind, sweetheart, but teaching you a lesson certainly is.”
    He launched at me before he had even finished talking. I don't know how, but somehow I simply danced out of the way. I say dance , rather than jumped, or fell, or scampered, because that's exactly what it felt like. One minute I had been standing with my hands behind my back, one holding the knife, the other the door knob to the front door. The next I was crouched down some five feet away to the side, having executed the most lovely spin in the air. Holy shit.
    Jonathan seemed as surprised as me, but recovered far quicker, coming back for another try, this time managing to clip me with his arm as I danced again to the side. Rather than land in a well balanced crouch, I ended up sprawling across the tiles and banging my head into the wall opposite the stairs. The next thing I knew he had me by the throat.
    Looming over me, his fangs glinting in the light of the room, I had no idea how to stop the inevitable, he was going to bite me and then do much, much more to cause me pain. My heart was well and truly hammering by now, I couldn't breathe, even if he hadn't been cutting off my oxygen I don't think I would have been able to draw a breath anyway. Spots had begun to appear in front of my eyes and all I could think was no . This could not be happening.
    I reached up with my right hand, the one holding the knife and sliced his cheek, not holding anything back, but going for maximum damage with minimum fuss. I don't know how I was able to do it, it seemed such a brutal move, but my body simply acted of its own accord and the knife slit his skin exactly where I had intended it to. Fuck. What was I before all of this happened?
    He howled in rage and released my neck, dropping the key to the front door, he had been holding. It bounced and landed by a potted miniature palm tree off to the side of the door to the lounge. Both his hands were now on his face, assessing the damage, but it hadn't been silver, so it wouldn't slow him down for long. I took advantage of his distraction to crawl out from under him and sprint across the foyer.
    He slammed into my back before I had managed three steps. The air leaving my lungs was only partially annoying, the crack to my head as it hit the unforgiving tiles was much more of a problem. The spots I had seen before turned to stars. Just as well I hadn't eaten in a while, because nothing would have stayed down when the room began to swim.
    I felt Jonathan grab my hair and yank my head back. His snarl as he came in to bite me went right through my body,