Free Master of Darkness by Susan Sizemore

worse.
    His high-handed
We’ll do this, this, and this
wasn’t helping.
    â€œI am not just your wheelman,” she told him. “If they’re after both of us, we should both show ourselves.”
    â€œYou can’t run fast enough.”
    She knew that the Manticore Primes were following them in a van as she drove sedately along an empty street lined with warehouses. They’d been playing hide-and-seek on the city streets with this pair for some time now, trying to make the vampires think that they were attempting to elude them.
    Wolf claimed to have a headache from the mental threats the others were tossing his way. He also claimed the Hydra was nearby, watching the chase and getting more and more annoyed with the Manticore interference in his hunt.
    â€œThis is such a waste of the night.” Wolf slapped the dashboard. “Don’t these idiots know I’m on a tight schedule?”
    Eden glared at him. “You’ve got hundreds of years. I’m the one giving up my vacation for this.”
    He glared back. “Right, you want to go see volcanos. Why? Do you have a magic ring you need to get rid of?”
    Eden laughed. And realized that perhaps the vampire was running on nerves as much as shewas. Or maybe it was all adrenaline and blood lust in his case.
    â€œThe last time I saw lava, I was running from it. I don’t like running from things,” she told him.
    â€œRunnin—”
    â€œLet’s do this,” she said, and braked, spun, and gunned the little car toward the large van.
    â€œThis is
not
the plan!” Wolf shouted as the van swerved out of the Volkswagen’s way.
    The van scraped the side of a building and came to a halt. Eden spun her car in another tight turn and came to a stop. The Manticores were already out of the van and running toward them.
    â€œGo!” she called to Wolf.
    He was out of the car instantly. The trio of vampires met in the street, full in the glare of the VW’s headlights.
    Eden moved quickly, but armed herself before setting off toward the fight. She stayed in the shadows. And she watched the shadows. The vampires moved in a swift, silent dance. And the shadow that came out of the shadows moved with equal speed and silence. Eden saw the Hydra Prime because she was concentrating all her attention on finding him. The moment she was certain that the moving darknesswas her quarry, she fired a crossbow bolt at him.
    The short arrow was made of hawthorn, tipped with silver, and treated with a garlic-based coating. Any of the three ingredients would stop a vampire, but this centuries-tested combination had saved many a mortal hunter’s life. She’d killed a vampire with such an arrow last night. Right now her intention was to wound.
    The arrow hit the vampire in the shoulder. He yowled in pain, but that didn’t stop him turning and running toward her. This didn’t give her time to aim carefully as she shot the vampire again. The second hit was in the thigh, and this time he went down.
    â€œAnd stay there!” Eden called as she ran past the downed vampire to help Wolf.
    â€œGet back!” Laurent shouted as he noticed Eden’s approach out of the corner of his eye.
    Worry jolted through him, taking him totally by surprise, fueling his anger at the Primes he was fighting. He didn’t need help. He didn’t want her help. A girl could get hurt in this kind of brawl.
    A fist jammed into his jaw.
    He
could get hurt in this kind of brawl!
    He swore, and kicked his attacker in the chest.
    As the first Prime flew backward, the second came up behind Laurent.
    â€œTraitor!”
    Why did they always feel the need to talk? The trouble with vampires was that they were always into melodrama—and it wasn’t just his fellow tribesmen. Only the Family members seemed to make any effort at just getting on with a normal life.
    â€œWhy couldn’t I have been born into a Family?” he muttered,