Page 54 of Bent Out of Shade
She puffed her body out with a hiss. “Leave them alone.”
One of the boys swaggered right up to her and chucked her under the chin. “Whatcha gonna do to us, kitty cat?”
You are going down, bloodsucker. Skipping, I sped up to get a front row seat to Giulia ripping off the offending hand.
“I said, stay away,” she said.
I cocked my head. The fiend should have been ash three times over by now.
The gargoyle shot me a pleading look, which my groggy brain failed to decipher.
Girlish laughter rang out from the playground, and I quickly glanced over, but they were oblivious.
The other vamp sneered. “Did you bring your crazy cat lady owner?” He pushed past me. “Move it, grandma.”
I tripped him. “Whoops.”
He ended up with a mouthful of grass. Rolling up on an elbow, he spat it out with the always original, “You’re dead, bitch.”
“Language.” I tsked him.
Delilah hopped out of the shadows and pressed a foot on his neck.
“The fuuu—” He gulped as the scythe appeared in her hand and she dragged it down the side of his head.
Sadly, in all the fun of scaring this shit, I’d lost track of the first vamp, who now had Giulia in a headlock.
“Think I’m strong enough to snap it?” Grunting, he torqued on her neck.
Giulia’s eyes were enormous, her breathing coming in shallow pants. It finally occurred to me that if she wasn’t attacking, it was because she wasn’t allowed to, not because she couldn’t take these prats.
“That’s not necessary,” I said.
“Get your shadow to step down.” He tightened his hold on the gargoyle. “We’ve heard all about her and that scythe.”
Now was probably not the time to boast about reputations. Or magic upgrades.
Delilah stepped off the vamp on the ground and the scythe disappeared.
The asshole on Giulia shrugged. “Eh, I’m a dog person.” He torqued up in readiness for his final attack, keeping an eye on Delilah.
My scythe slammed into my hand, and I swung.
His head bounced off the lawn, his mouth agape.
Before his body even hit the ground, I’d pivoted and smashed the weapon into vamp two, catching him in the midsection. Dislodging my scythe with a messy and meaty sucking noise, I decapitated him.
I wiped the blade off on the grass, avoiding the two piles of ash. Killing vamps was more fun than dybbuks, since I didn’t have to remember any special words first. Just wham and bam and thank you, ma’am. I screwed up my face. “Did I use my inside voice?”
“Yeah.” The tallest of the girls, a lanky blonde, had spoken.
She stood close by with her two friends, a girl of Asian heritage with a nose piercing, and a brunette in an oversize skater hoodie.
“Thanks for dealing with them.” The teen with the nose piercing held up a fist. “Vamps are the worst.”
“You’re Ohrists.”
The brunette nodded and crouched down next to Giulia, who’d been uncharacteristically silent, rubbing her throat with a paw. “You okay, precious?”
