Page 37 of Bloodhunter

But her former brother-in-law was not her golem, and hedidn’t pause. We watched him until he disappeared through the kitchen doorway,and then I turned on Miriam. “You shouldn’t have brought that banged-up thughere.”

“I knew you two wouldn’t get on,” she said, airily, “butthat’s not important. The important thing is that he doesn’t let you die, andyou…” She shrugged. “Maybe you don’t let him die, either.”

I left her there with the children and the sun and stompedback into the house. Copas was nowhere in sight when I got there, and I figuredI’d probably never see him again.

I slipped my fingers into my jacket pocket and felt forSilverlight, breathing easier when I touched the warm sheath. I’d rested longenough. The urge to hunt was growing stronger, making me impatient and fidgety,and I needed to get out of the house and get some exercise.

And kill.

Maybe I was a little uneasy at the pleasure that thoughtgave me. Maybe I wasn’t. I wanted to kill the creatures who stole the veryblood from unwilling bodies. There was nothing wrong with my need to end them.And if I were a hunter born, then wanting to kill vampires was coded into me—Amias’sattack had just awakened it.

“Tonight,” I whispered, squeezing the sword as I ran up thestairs to my borrowed bedroom.

That night I would take my sword, and I would do what Ineeded to do. What I craved. I would kill vampires.

I would hunt.

Chapter Thirteen

“I’m not saddling myself with a virgin hunter.”

“She needs help,” Angus said, his voice a low roar—hecouldn’t seem to help but roar, no matter the volume of his voice—“and she’sour responsibility.”

I pressed myself against the wall outside Angus’s study,clenching my fists as they discussed me like I was a helpless burden they hadno choice but to bear.

“She’s not my responsibility,” Copas said.

“The vampires are going to come after her,” Angus said. “Andthere’s something else. A stranger attacked her with the Foam of Aphrodite.That’s bad news.”

“Again,” Shane said. “Not my responsibility.”

“She’s one of us,” Angus bellowed. “She’s one ofyou.Take some pride in what you are, man.”

“Shane,” Miriam murmured, a little less combative, “youwon’t have to protect her in the field. Amias Sato gave her a gift.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” His voice went hard andcold, and I recoiled, because there was death in that voice.

“After he slaughtered her family, he became obsessed withher. Out of guilt, I’d imagine. It wasn’t really his fault he killed them, youknow.”

“It’s always their fault,” Copas growled. “You don’t giveexcuses to a vampire.”

“Damn right,” I whispered.

“He gave her Silverlight.” That was Clayton’s voice. He wasokay then. I’d begun to wonder.

The silence was thick and dark and heavy, and when Shanespoke, I had no idea what I heard in his voice. Disgust? Shock? Envy? Certainlydisbelief.

“No.” I heard a chair scrape across the floor as he stood.“That can’t be right.”

“It accepted her,” Angus said. “She has the scars to prove it.”

I pressed my fingers to my chest, ignoring the slight pain.The wound was nearly healed, and the scar was beginning to resemble a cross.Silverlight had carved a cross into my chest.

“He wouldn’t give a vampire-killing weapon to a vampire-killinghuman,” Shane said, a cold certainty in his voice.

“But he did,” Miriam told him. “He’s claimed her. He’s partof her. So is the sword. And she said the master hopes she’ll kill the infected,who are going to end up killing them all. The virus is spreading more rapidlythan ever.”

“And he knows she can’t kill him,” Angus growled. “Not evenwith a magical sword. Much as we might want her to, it’s impossible. He’s her…”