Bittersweet Blood (The Order #1)

Christian released his breath. Tara was safe. He’d never thought much about dying, or whatever it was vampires did when their time was over. Would he be reunited with his soul, or was this end of everything? For a long time now, he’d thought he could go out with no regrets. Now, he realized that he wanted to live. He wanted to spend an eternity with Tara, but that would never happen.

A rush of hatred almost swamped him, followed by a wave of unexpected excitement. He was going to go out fighting. The bastard would pay for Gabe and Stefan. For Tara’s friend.

He drew the long sword from his back. The blade glittered in the flickering light from the fire.

Asmodai smiled. He strolled to the wall where a huge sword hung. He pulled it down and dragged the blade from the scabbard. It glowed crimson as he held it up two handed in front of his face.

Something moved in the corner of the room as demons slipped into the hall. They hung close to the walls, their eyes gleaming in the dim light. He turned back to concentrate on Asmodai, saw the moment he made his move and swung the huge sword around to bear on Christian.

Christian raised his blade to counter. As the swords clashed, he staggered under the force of the blow. Pain ripped down his arm. He ignored it, gritted his teeth, and attacked.

…

Nobody appeared willing to make the first move. Tara caught Piers’s eye, he grinned and raised an eyebrow. It was obviously up to her.

She realized the warlock was still with them. “You don’t need to be part of this, Jonas.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he replied. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep out of the way.”

“And don’t you dare do that spell while I’m not looking.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Graham was still green, as though he was about to throw up at any moment, and Jamie didn’t look much better. She crossed over to them. “You two, stay down here.” She wanted them safe.

“No way,” Jamie said. “I’m coming with you. I can shift and fight if I need to.”

“I don’t want you dying because of me.”

“Do you know how many demons I’ve fought since you moved us to London? You don’t want to know. I’m not giving up now and letting the fae have you.”

“And I’m not sitting around waiting to spontaneously combust or whatever it is happens to me if Christian dies. I can’t shift into anything, but I can shoot a gun,” Graham said.

“Okay.” She gave Jamie a hug. Then turned and embraced Graham.

“I’m coming as well,” Carl said. “Do I get a hug?”

“When we get back,” she said.

“Let’s go get more guns,” Piers said.

They followed him down the corridor and into the gun armory.

“I’ve got one,” she said as Piers gave her what looked like a sub machine gun. She passed it on to Graham who peered at it dubiously, but slung it over his shoulder. Jamie shook his head. “I’m going to shift remember? Paws don’t work too well with triggers.”

Piers handed her a jacket. “It’s Kevlar. Bullet proof.” He handed one to Graham as well.

Tara looked at it doubtfully. “Are they going to shoot us?”

“Who knows, but Graham has a gun, and he doesn’t know how to use it, so it’s probably best to be prepared. Put it on.” He turned to the werewolf. “Carl, you want one?”

“Nah, unless they’ve got silver, which is unlikely, I’m okay. A jacket will slow me down too much, and I might want to shift.”

“Okay, that’s it.” Piers came over to Tara as she struggled with the jacket. He brushed her hands away and tightened the buckles. She shrugged her shoulders to get comfortable, but it was heavy, constricting.

“I can’t move,” she said.

“Of course you can move.” He yanked the last buckle even tighter. “But you don’t need to move. You need to stay out of the way when the fae come.”

“Do you think they will come?”

“No doubt about it and I promised Christian I would keep you safe. So no stupid heroics.” He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth. He took her by surprise, his tongue gliding between her lips to taste her, drawing back before she had a chance to object.

“Mmm, delicious,” he said, against her mouth. “I’ve wanted to do that since the first moment I saw you. Thought I’d better do it now, just in case.”

Presumably, just in case, everything went wrong, and they all died up there.

Piers slung a sub-machine gun over each shoulder and headed out of the door. Tara took a deep breath and followed.

They rode the elevator to the roof. Tara stood between Carl and Piers, the top of her head somewhere close to their shoulders. The air between them thrummed with excitement. Like they were going to some sort of party. A small smile played around Piers’s lips—he was looking forward to this.

Suddenly she was overwhelmed. Standing between the werewolf and the vampire, she felt small, insignificant, and immensely vulnerable. She was supposed to be half-demon and at that moment, would have given anything to feel a little more demon-like.

“I want a drink,” she murmured to herself.

She fiddled with the necklace at her throat. It had always been part of her. Now she planned to take it off, and this time it wasn’t going back on.