Chapter 38

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

T he branches above me billow violently as two figures drop into the clearing only ten paces away.

I get a split-second glimpse of what must be wings, although it's difficult to tell the color because of the glow around them both. An electric-blue energy that swirls powerfully in the air between them, a connection that takes my breath away.

One is a woman, the other a man. Both are taller than me. Their muscles are clearly defined by black, skin-tight clothing that conforms to their bodies and extends from the tops of their boots to the bottoms of their chins.

The woman has mahogany-brown hair pulled back in braids and bright green eyes that speak to an intelligence of mind. Judging by the smoothness of her skin, she might be only a few years older than me, but it's hard to tell with supernaturals. Even Anarchy looks twenty-five despite being thousands of years old.

The man has dark brown hair with a wave in it. It frames his unforgiving features: a strong jaw, a slight cleft in his chin, and eyes with silver streaks in them.

They're both focused entirely on me.

It looks as if Rebella is about to jump in front of them, but they're already storming toward me and I don't blame her for staying out of the way.

Judging by their intense focus on me, she should not get between them and me.

My mother would have told me to run from this fight. They aren't holding any visible weapons, but that doesn't mean anything. Assassins can kill just as effectively with their bare hands.

It isn't cowardice to understand when an opponent is stronger than I am. And I have far more important battles ahead of me today.

So, in the heartbeat that I have left before they reach me, I touch the rune behind my ear, seeking the three little bumps Orlan mentioned.

They're gone.

So is my easy way out of here.

While Rebella has lurched back, James is also on his feet, urgently holding out his hand to me. "Come with me!"

It doesn't matter if I would have accepted his help.

The assassins move unbelievably fast.

They're already on me, and they work in a unison that snatches the air from my chest.

The woman's hand flies toward me, palm flat, while the man circles to the side. If their intention is to contain me, then I can see how they're trying to make it happen. She will knock me off-balance. He will pin me from the side.

I have a heartbeat to react.

With a sharply indrawn breath, I focus on my left and the small space they left open.

Spinning out of the path of the woman's strike, I leap into the clearing.

It's better here without the bench at my back. More space to move.

I expect them to come right back at me and I'm surprised when they both seem to miss a beat.

Now behind the bench and closest to the man, James is still reaching out his hand for me. "Come with me, Veda!"

His gaze passes wildly around the clearing, and, despite the very short space between him and the male assassin, James doesn't focus on him.

It takes me a moment to wonder if…

He can't see them?

Both the man and the woman have straightened, an alarmed glance passing between them as I focus directly on them.

It seems to confirm my theory.

They don't stop.

The air around me bursts to life with streams of power, beating against me like the wind as they come at me once more. Both of them at the same time.

The man uses the bench as a launching pad, gaining air and coming down on me, preparing to hammer me with a fist from that height. The woman comes in beneath the arc of his trajectory, crouching and sweeping her legs as if to topple me from my feet.

I leap and dart left, narrowly avoiding both of them, but I'm not prepared to let them get away with it.

I kick out as I leap, my right foot hitting the man squarely on the shoulder as he comes down, giving me a platform that allows me to push myself farther away from both of them.

He's knocked off-balance, and her leg swishes harmlessly through the leafy forest floor.

I land at a crouch and quickly rise back to my feet as they exchange another alarmed glance.

So far, they haven't spoken a word—not to me, or to each other, or to James or Rebella, for that matter—but now the woman strides toward me on her own, her right fist aimed for my face.

Her voice is controlled even as she punches at me. "It's clear you can see us," she says. "Are you a fury?"

I'm too busy avoiding her fist to really consider her question. "Huh?"

"Are you a fury?" she asks again, her tone harder this time.

A glance at Rebella—who is a fury—tells me that Rebella is following our movements around the clearing, her posture clearly indicating that she wants to get between us. At the same time, James has backed away from the bench, his focus now on the ground, as if he's following the movement of the leafy debris we're kicking up with our feet. I guess that's one way to track what you can't see.

But if Rebella can see the assassins, that would explain why the woman asked me if I'm a fury.

I duck the woman's next fist and anticipate her follow-up kick, deftly evading her attacks while steering clear of the male assassin, who has moved toward the middle of the clearing and watches us intently.

"No," I say, speaking quickly as I anticipate the woman's next moves. "I'm not a fury."

Well, actually, I wouldn't know. Halle sidestepped, telling me about my mother's parents earlier. A move that I shouldn't have let her get away with, now that I think about it.

"Then what are you?" the woman demands to know as she keeps coming at me, her fists and feet moving increasingly fast. Every few seconds, she aims a hit at my face, but it's a plucking movement, as if she's trying to remove my blindfold.

I duck and dart and evade each of her attempts to make contact.

"I'm a Blacksmith," I snarl back at her.

Even though that isn't entirely accurate, I feel like it's splitting hairs right now to tell her I wouldn't have been born with this power except for my mother's heart and even though I might control this power, I can't access it.

But, hell, it feels nice to say it out loud.

For all of two seconds.

She misses a step, pulls her next punch, and tips her head at me. "A what?"

"A Blacksmi—" Well, fuck . Halle clearly wasn't lying about Blacksmiths being long forgotten.

Assassins study every creature they could possibly ever come across, so if anyone would know what a Blacksmith is, they would. And … they don't.

I shrug. "Never mind."

The rush of energy around her only increases as she resumes her attacks, and it's all I can do to avoid them. At some point, I'll have to stop evading and start attacking, but I'm not there yet.

"There are only three kinds of supernatural who can see through our invisibility," she says, her voice tighter than before, her fists and feet moving impossibly fast. "You can't be one of the other two kinds. So you must be a fury."

"If you say so," I snarl. And then, on pure impulse, I follow up with a dark grin. "Maybe I'm a vulture."

She stumbles. Given how agilely she was moving before I spoke, it's a sure sign that I've surprised her, although I'm not sure how.

Her misstep takes her closer to my evasive maneuver, and my claws scrape across her side.

I didn't mean for it to happen. Maybe I should have put away my claws, but I wanted to keep them ready.

A jolt of energy bursts through me at the contact, and it shocks me to my core.

The energy suddenly streaming from her body is lively, alert, questioning, and full of wonder.

An energy that speaks to a mind not yet fully grown.

"Fuck!" I retract my claws as fast as I can and leap away from her.

Her cry of pain meets my ears before she, too, jumps backward. The man has already thrown himself toward her, his arms wrapping around her before he pulls her away from me.

"I'm okay!" she cries to him. "I'm okay."

But I'm not.

I could have really fucking hurt her.

"Do not fight me!" I shout at her, retracting my claws fully and extending both of my arms, palms out. "It wasn't my intention to hurt you. Or your child."

The woman has stayed where she is while the man's arms are wrapped protectively around her. Her clothing is slashed from where my claws ripped through it.

She's bleeding from multiple cuts across her stomach. With a shot of fear, I can't see how deep they are.

Her clothing must have been designed to resist blades because I sensed the resistance in it when my claws cut through. The assassins must have thought there was no way I could slash it apart.

I force myself to keep speaking as I take careful steps away from them. "Your daughter is inquisitive. She wants to understand her world. I don't want her to learn that creatures like me are to be hated."

Mommy Assassin is staring at me wide-eyed, still clutching her side, her face pale with what is no doubt intense pain.

But I don't think Daddy Assassin is listening.

He seems fixated on the blood dripping from her wounds.

"My claws can cut through anything," I say, shaking my head firmly. "It wasn't my intention to— Oh, fuck! "

With a snarl, Daddy Assassin launches himself at me with all the fury of a protective beast.

I've learned a lot about combat from Anarchy, but I realize just how softly the woman was approaching me when Daddy Assassin strikes in a storm of movement.

The air moves around me as I leap and dart and duck and dart and leap and try to evade his every hit, and then?—

Smack!

A fist that feels like a boulder collides with my face.

My jaw shatters.

Black blood sprays the ground.

The leafy forest floor rears up at me, and my chest fills with the scent of copper and soil.

I mentally scream at myself not to go down, but I'm already down, and now the world is threatening to go dark.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

I can't even process the pain. I'm horribly aware of Mommy Assassin throwing herself toward Daddy Assassin. She's coming at us from one direction while Rebella rushes toward us from the other.

"Stop!" Rebella screams.

Daddy Assassin doesn't seem to be paying attention to either of them.

He drops to a crouch beside me while I desperately try to figure out which way is up and how the fuck am I still conscious?

Rebella's voice screams, as if from a far distance. "Do not kill her!"

But his fist is already crashing down.