Free The Den of Shadows Quartet by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Page A

between us.
    I am lying, of course. I know he is stronger than I, but I am not about to admit that to him.
    “That remains to be seen, does it not?” he answers, turning away from me as if he doesn’t care where I am.
    Another deadly game. We circle each other.
I am not afraid to have you behind me — I do not fear you that much
, we say to each other. Yet we watch our backs, because we are both vipers, willing to kill and simply waiting for a chance.
    “Shall we find out?” I suggest coolly. I am not bothering to hide my aura, and I can feel it stretch out, strike Aubrey’s aura, and crackle around it. I search hisaura, looking for weaknesses, as I know he searches mine.
    “Why are you so eager to lose, Risika?”
    He
is
afraid of me, I realize. He is playing for time — trying to make me lose my nerve. Why? Because he is afraid he might lose? It does not seem possible that Aubrey thinks I could win.
    I walk around the table toward him until I am close enough that he turns, not trusting me.
    “Why are you stalling, Aubrey?” My power snaps out and hits his like a whip. He staggers a bit — I am strong, and I am reckless, and I really do
not
like him.
    His own power lashes out, and I feel a burning in my veins. My vision mists over for a moment, a moment in which Aubrey draws his knife.
    “You always need your blade, don’t you, Aubrey? Because without it you’d lose, wouldn’t you?” I circle behind him, and he turns to keep me in sight. Like the game of insults, this is one I can win: Follow me, watch me, but do not let me get behind you, because you know I hate you and will kill you if given a chance. It is only in the actual fight that I fear I might lose.
    “Come now, Aubrey — just like old times. You threw your blade down then and dared me to pick it up; are you too afraid to do so now?”
    I lash my power around his wrist. His muscles spasm, but he holds on to the knife.
    ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.’ I have nothing to fear, Aubrey — what about you?”
    His power flares out with his anger, and I hear woodcrack. One of the tables splits down the middle, and a human jumps out of the way barely in time.
    “Impressive,” I say scornfully and lash out with my own power. The mirrored walls fracture into spiderweb patterns with no single inch left whole. Hairline cracks run through every surface, but not one piece falls out. Aubrey backs up a step, away from me.
    “Coward,” I say. “Do you back away from me?” I take a step forward, ever aware of the knife in his hand, and he steps back again, almost running into one of the humans, who jumps away quickly.
    Aubrey glances behind him and notices the crowd for the first time. It is mostly human, but there are some of our kind. I see Jager lounging against the wall and Fala, Jager’s fledgling, sitting cross-legged on a table.
    Are you all talk, Aubrey? Are you too afraid to fight?” I circle to the left as he moves to get behind me, so that I end up behind him. Once again he has to turn to keep me in his sight.
    “Why would I be afraid?” he asks, his tone mocking. “It would not hurt me to destroy you, Risika.”
    “I’m sure it wouldn’t, Aubrey, but we will never have a chance to test the theory,” I answer.
    “Test it again, you mean,” he says. “We have tested it once before.”
    I ignore his words and reach out, my aura striking his in its center and latching on. The average human sees nothing, and the vampires see only a shimmering space between us, but Aubrey feels it, and I feel it.
    He stumbles again, bringing his shields up and throwing my power back at me. I hold on with mymind, though I fall into a table, and feel his power crackling around my own.
    Humans have one thing to use in a fight: their bodies. Among my kind, opponents fight with their bodies, but also with their minds. I can feel Aubrey’s power beating against my shields, trying to get into my mind, trying