30. Adrianna

30

ADRIANNA

I lose my breath as the air rushes past me, but all it serves to do is fuel my adrenaline.

My air magic comes to life before I hit the ground, softening my fall as it guides me firmly onto my feet.

There's no time to take a deep breath and ready myself. It's carnage down here. Civilians rush for cover, but if their doors are already unlatched, it's too late.

I take one step forward when a hand lands on my shoulder. In my chaos-induced haze, I turn, ready to attack, to see it's Cassian.

"Together."

I gape at him, lost for words, but there's no time to hesitate so I nod.

"Together."

Raiden, Brody, and Kryll descend beside us. "Together," they say in unison, bolstering the insanity I know I'm exuding right now, but for the good of my kingdom, I'll do whatever it takes.

One word.

One word, and we're on the same page.

A rarity for us, but we're going to need to make the most of it.

A man's scream of horror rips through the air, spinning all of our attention to the destruction unraveling around us, and we're off.

No more words. No more observing. No more thinking.

Just action.

I run, barreling toward two vampires as they try to break down the wooden door to a storefront. The owners are on the other side of the glass, sobbing in fear. The terror in their eyes tells my soul they're humans. Defenseless.

Fuck.

Quickening my pace, I shove up my t-shirt to reveal eight of my daggers. Blindly grabbing one in each hand, I lunge the rest of the distance, stabbing both of the fuckers in the throat.

Wild eyes meet mine, and both of them reach for me at the same time, eager to exact their revenge, but I twist the handles, driving home the venom exuding from the silver tips. Their movements sag, the pair dropping to the ground on their hands and knees. As they struggle to find their last breath, I conjure the air around me, using it to my advantage as I sheath both of my blades and use my bare hands to snap their necks.

I ease my magic, the air no longer adding to my strength to get the job done. Kicking them both over, I make sure they're both dead dead before I glance at the humans inside the store. The woman's hand is pressed against her chest, eyes wide under the light of the moon as she hyperventilates with every breath. The man beside her, however, stands ramrod straight, lips in a tight line as he looks from me to the dead vampires.

"Do you have a barricade?" I ask, stepping up to the glass, and the man shakes his head. Fuck. "You need one. Let me in," I blurt, and he shakes his head. Taking a deep breath, I flex my hands at my sides. "I'm trying to help you."

"I don't want no help."

It's on the tip of my tongue to point out his use of a double negative, but I fight against it, scanning my surroundings to see what there is. A crash echoes behind me and I glance over my shoulder in time to see a wrought-iron gate fall beneath three vampires.

What the fuck are they even doing?

Shaking my head, I focus. Summoning my magic to my fingertips, I use the air around me to bring the mangled metal toward me. When there's enough, I use fire, desperate to be released from my touch, to weld the metal together.

Pulling and stretching, I morph the searing-hot iron as quickly as I can before dousing it with water in an attempt to cool it. There's no water source nearby, so I work on transforming the steam from the heat into water droplets until the chaos behind me reaches new heights and I have to stop.

"I'm going to leave this here. It should be enough to withstand any further attack, but it would be better from the inside," I state, my gaze locked on the man on the other side of the glass, who doesn't utter a word in response.

The woman beside him, however, nods her head profusely. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

Satisfied, I turn to the carnage that continues to unravel around us. The numbers we're up against are dwindling. We're taking them down. One at a time. The next one falls, the distinct sound of their neck cracking ricocheting off the walls as a flash of red hair makes me pause.

"Flora?"

I gape, watching as she presses her fingertips into the skull of a vampire on his knees at her feet. He falls in a heap a moment later, lifeless, as she smiles at me.

"Hey."

"What are you doing?" I balk, earning a side eye from her as Arlo saunters up beside her.

"Getting a manicure. What does it look like I'm doing?" she retorts, making Arlo snicker. She winks, a proud glint in her eyes before she takes off toward the remaining vampires with Arlo at her side.

Holy fuck.

A dozen or so vampires take off down the narrow pathway to the left, wreaking havoc and leaving chaos in their wake, and I follow after them, acutely aware that they'll be nearing Pearl's in a matter of seconds.

"I'm right with you, Dagger," Brody hollers from behind me, his boots pounding the ground with urgency as we take off into the night, chasing vampires like it's a casual affair.

"Like we've practiced," Raiden snarls, his deep voice cutting through the night air making me frown in confusion, but I can't stop to ask what he means. I can't let the vampires get away. Especially not when I see the entryway to Pearl's come into view.

I need to act, and I need to act now.

"Praesidium. Tutela. Praemunitio. Arx. Umbra. Praesidium. Tutela. Praemunitio. Arx. Umbra. Praesidium. Tutela. Praemunitio. Arx. Umbra." Brody's chant flickers through the air, casting darkness around us with every word he mutters.

Suddenly, Pearl's is no longer in view. Nothing is. Just an inky darkness that touches everywhere around the five of us, and the vampires intent on destroying the city.

"Now," Raiden grunts, and Cassian takes off running. He leaps through the air before he reaches the vampires, and I watch in awe as he shifts before my eyes, a hulk of a wolf in his place as he hits the ground.

His teeth are bared, his eyes narrowed, and his body coiled tight, ready to unleash his pent-up adrenaline on the enemy.

He charges for the closest vampires, his teeth sinking into their throat as he grapples with them. Blood splatters everywhere, marking the inky darkness with a deep-crimson hue.

My view is quickly blocked by a vampire tearing toward me with purpose. Instinctively, my hands twirl around the handles of two daggers again, and when he lurches forward, arms out to grab me, I duck, slicing the poisoned silver into his thighs.

He howls in pain as his blood splatters across my face. He drops to the ground in a heap but quickly rises to his feet, ready to charge me again as the poison slowly takes hold.

Before he can take another step toward me, Kryll is behind him; hands clamped down on either side of his head before he twists. The sound of snapping bones resounds in my chest with every breath I take, leaving me to gape with my lungs heaving as Kryll winks and moves on to the next target.

Fuck.

Sheathing my daggers, I reach for two more, silently thanking the trinket gods that I had a few viles of the vampire toxin in my possession.

Blood seeps into my clothes, causing it to cling to my limbs, staining my skin. I swipe at my face, but it's futile. All I'm doing is spreading the mess. I can worry about the state of me once I'm done here.

Settling my gaze on the next vampire, I take off, approaching from behind before I pierce him from either side, wedging my blade between his ribcage to cause the most damage.

"You bitch," he snarls in a choked voice, his gaze locked on mine as he sinks to his knees, and I twist the blades for good measure, just like I did earlier. His blood drips from my fingers as I retract my blades, returning them to my holster before I use my air magic to aid the satisfying sound of his neck snapping.

I shouldn't like the sound of it. It should make me recoil, but it's the sound of justice.

"Two more, Adrianna. Are you with me?"

I peer at Raiden, surprise tainting my vision as I blink at him. He cocks a brow like he expected an instant answer, but I'm too startled.

"What happened to the asshole from earlier? The one adamant that I needed defending at all costs? The one believing I couldn't do this?" Now isn't the time to be asking, but I can't help myself. The man standing before me, hand outstretched, inviting me to slaughter the remaining vampires, is a complete contrast to earlier.

"That man was an asshole. An asshole desperate to protect you from the world and completely forgetting that you don't need protection from anyone or anything. You're a fucking warrior, Troublemaker. Now, are you going to do me the honors or not?"

Well, when he puts it like that.

I nod, taking his hand at the exact same time a flash of white blinks from behind him, and teeth sink into his neck a moment later.

My eyes widen, terror bleeding through me as I watch Raiden's body tense under the bite of a frenzied vampire. My breath lodges in my throat, adrenaline coursing through my limbs with such force that it takes me a second to remember how to move.

"No!" I croak, like the word will make him stop, but it goes unnoticed as I bolt toward them.

I can't grab a blade quick enough, so I drop my shoulder and throw myself into the assailant with the wind behind me. Freefalling through the air, the force of the magic making it more drastic than necessary, but I don't have the strength to retract in time.

Thankfully, I knock the fucker away from Raiden, toppling him to the ground. Braced above him, he squirms beneath me, bucking and twisting to get me off him as he snaps his bloody teeth in my direction. I scramble to keep the upper hand, fumbling for my two remaining poison-tipped blades before plunging them into his eyes.

I yank them out, repeating the motion again and again, plunging without care as I scream, the pent-up tension needing a release from my body.

My throat burns, and my actions are relentless. Even when he stops trying to fight me off, even when he's dead, I can't stop.

If he hurt Raiden…

No.

He can't.

I refuse.

Raiden.

I stop abruptly, daggers raised and ready as the panic still sounds in my voice and my cries continue.

"Troublemaker." The nickname cuts through the pounding of my pulse in my ears as I search desperately for the source, but the darkness Brody created is hazed by a red glaze over my eyes.

Relief floods my body as Raiden's face comes into view, but the sight of blood gushing from the open wound at his neck is enough to set my panic into full force again.

"Raiden," I rasp, cutting the distance between us as my daggers fall to the ground. I band my arms around his neck, clinging to him as I try to calm the racing of my heart, but it's easier said than done.

"Take the alley. We'll clear this up," Kryll states, but before I can understand what he means, Raiden is moving.

A moment later, my back is plastered against a stone wall as my vampire hovers above me. His hand is clamped down on his neck, his fingers dripping with blood as it streams down his body.

"How can I help? Tell me how to help!" I choke, placing my hand over his as I peer around our new surroundings. We're down a small dead end. One I'm familiar with, two turns from Pearl's.

We should be safe here. But there's nothing I can use to aid him.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I need to stop being a distraction to these men. Look at him. This is all my fault.

"We need to get you help, Raiden. Fast. How?" My voice is getting louder, the alarm clear in my tone as he smiles down at me. He fucking smiles like he's not bleeding everywhere.

"All I need is you."

I gape at him. He can't be real right now.

"I'm the last thing you need right now," I retort, anger coursing through my veins as I peer up at him. "I'm the reason Cassian was cut today and the reason you're bleeding from the neck," I snap, trying to wrap my head around the fact that I've been through this twice in one fucking day.

I need a break.

Fuck.

"Adri—"

"No, Raiden. Don't give me any of this shit right now. Help me help you," I growl, and his free hand grips my chin, squeezing for good measure as he forces me to look up at him.

Blood is smeared over every inch of him, glistening along the strands of his otherwise dark hair. I can't imagine what I look like, but that doesn't seem to matter to him.

"Give me a minute, Troublemaker. I'll be fine." His voice is dark, husky, tired.

"A minute? Fucking minute? Raiden your?—"

My words are cut off and forgotten as he effectively shuts me up with his bloody lips crushing against mine.