We stood there in suspended animation. Crackles of noise filtered toward me. We were no longer alone. Well, five hours without interruption had been better than I’d anticipated.
By the time the gangers busted out of the shadows, I was so ready. Six of them did their usual trick, spreading out to surround us on all sides. I exchanged a commiserating look with Lucy before settling in to wait for their first move. This was an annoying interruption I did not need; we were running out of time. Lucy, on the other hand, looked excited. She’d been wanting to kick some ass for a while now.
“What do we have here? The streets are a veritable hub of activity nowadays.” Douche one – overly skinny, short, with bad teeth and a wicked receding hairline – decided that he had something to say.
I was just surprised that he’d managed to use words with more than one syllable.
“But see, we can’t just have pretty girls wandering around here. We have a reputation, and others might think we’re getting soft.”
Douche two took over. “Who do you affiliate with? Your markings are unusual.”
Markings? Oh, right. The Walker marks Brace and I permanently wore. The gangers used tattoos to help identify which rat belonged to which crap-hole, so they would be more than curious about our marks. These particular douchebuckets wore the tattoos of the Crimz. Red splatters, like blood, had been flicked across them. Crimz gangers had really unattractive markings.
“We’re from the gang of ‘you’re all about to die’,” Colton said, his tone unhurried and mocking. “And we don’t have a lot of time, so can we skip the bullshit posturing and just get down to the killing part.”
The Crimz hesitated. Our confidence and the sheer size of Brace and Colton had them reassessing whether taking us on was the best option. Still, they hadn’t been kidding before. Word would spread if we were allowed to continue unharassed. Then the other gangers would come for their territory. They were stuck between a rock and a Walker. Both of which could crush them.
They came at us as a single unit, their only hope that they outnumbered us. Brace and Colton shifted their stance, just minutely, but enough so that they were mostly blocking me and Lucy. The pixie pouted – we were totally not going to get any action here today.
Like the flick of a switch, our boys suddenly went from relaxed, casual Walkers into scary-ass warriors. They held no weapons, used no Walker powers – even though they could still access some of their energy on Earth – and still managed to beat the living crap out of six hardened gangers. All of whom had some type of blade or mallet. I knew Colton was as highly trained as Brace, and more than held his own during the fight, but I barely noticed him. My eyes were zeroed in on my mate.
Brace fought like a ninja, always had. For such a huge dude he was hella controlled. His movements were fluid, one blending into the next. I’d trained with him enough times to know that you barely even saw him coming and then bam, you were down. Earthlings were weaker than Walkers. It really wasn’t a fair fight, but still it was kind of nice to see that those who had struck such fear into us our entire lives were now the victims.
One of the males who’d been knocked down earlier by Brace’s elbow managed to lift his head. He was crawling along the ground, knife in hand, apparently trying to reach Lucy and me.
“Can I have him, Abbs?” My pixie friend turned, her blue-and-yellow eyes begging me.
I tried not to laugh. The situation wasn’t really funny, but she was so amped up.
I gave her a nod. “Go for it, girl, you got this.”
The ganger was on his feet now, taking advantage of the fact that Brace and Colton were busy gathering up the other five to dump them in a nearby alley. No doubt they’d already realized there was one male left behind, but they knew we had skills. Not warrior-Walker skills, but enough to take out limpy here.
“You bitches are going to love the feel of my blade.” Limpy was apparently also a poet. His words were just beautiful. Like Shakespeare.
Lucy didn’t make a noise, her expression settling into hard lines. For the first time in her life she finally looked the part of the ninja she’d always wanted to be. Coming into her pixie powers had really heightened her senses and reflexes. One could only imagine how amazing she’d be if the faerie side of her was unlocked also.
Limpy sliced out with a small, paring-style knife. Lucy side-stepped his blade and, coming in on his left, clipped him on the chin. His head snapped back. Shaking it off, he rubbed at his jaw and trained beetle-eyes on Lucy.