Demon Forged

to grin at Alejandro. He returned her gaze beneath half-lowered lids.
    Ah, yes. His furious expression.
    He wasn’t like her. She loved killing the nosferatu. For Alejandro, it was a duty he willingly performed—until moments such as these, when a life was at stake. When the nosferatu’s inherent evil was clear to see, and not just words.
    In moments such as these, he was as impatient as she was to rend them limb by limb and burn the remains.
    What did you see? she asked. Alejandro had passed the chamber entrance in a fraction of a second—more than enough time to memorize the layout and the location of any nosferatu.
    An ossuary, he signed. At the touch of his psyche against hers, she lowered her shields, and he projected the image into her mind. Crude block columns, wide enough to conceal a nosferatu, stood at regular intervals throughout the large room. Bones were piled against the walls, skulls arranged in pyramids. Square, twenty meters deep. The ceiling is twice the height of the corridor.
    She and Alejandro would have to watch their heads. The nosferatu could cling to the ceiling like bats. The nosferatu?
    I did not see any of them.
    Irena exhaled slowly through her teeth, nodding. Most likely, the nosferatu were in the same positions as she and Alejandro: against the entrance wall, waiting for her to rush through. As soon as she did, the nosferatu would attack from behind.
    You find the human, he signed. I’ll cover your back.
    Irena flicked a small mirror past the door. The spinning disk caught the reflection of a nosferatu clinging above the entrance; she had a glimpse of one against the wall to the right. She didn’t see the other one.
    She signed their locations to Alejandro and charged through.
    The nosferatu waiting above the door dropped. She heard the thud of flesh as Alejandro intercepted it. Irena spun to the right. The nosferatu against the wall lifted his arms, preparing to strike.
    She struck faster. Her knife impaled the creature’s exposed chest, the tip of her blade digging into the wall behind him.
    Too low. She’d missed the heart. Stupid, stupid.
    Already triumphant, the nosferatu’s thin lips pulled back over his deadly fangs, sword raised high.
    Irena let him swing it.
    She flared her Gift the instant the blade touched her skin, forcing the metal to soften. Steel flowed like mercury over her neck. She hardened it again, grabbed his ruined blade, and yanked.
    Unbalanced, the nosferatu staggered. Irena scythed her second knife toward his thickly muscled throat, cutting through the spine. She didn’t wait for his head to topple from his shoulders before yanking her first knife from his chest and turning.
    The third nosferatu skittered across the ceiling like an enormous white spider.
    From behind her, she felt the drawing in of Alejandro’s Gift as if he pulled in a psychic breath. Orange light burst through the chamber, followed by the sizzle of flesh and a terrible shriek. A burning body rocketed over her head, toward the nosferatu scrabbling across the ceiling.
    Startled, the creature lost his grip, came tumbling down. Instantly, he was up on his feet and sprinting for the rear corner of the chamber—after the human? To kill, or take a hostage.
    Irena went after him.
    Catching up was impossible, but by the gods, she would not fail . She pushed her speed to the limit, her teeth clenched with effort. Still not fast enough. Without missing a step, she whipped her arms forward and released her knives.
    They pierced the back of his knees like arrows. The nosferatu stumbled—and that was enough time.
    Irena called in her saber and swung as she sped past him. The blade sliced through his torso, ripping bone and flesh and tearing free in a spray of cold blood. She pivoted, and separated his head from his shoulders.
    And it was done. Alejandro pulled his sword from the chest of the still-burning nosferatu. The flames cast a flickering light against the stacks of bones.
    Her gaze fell to Alejandro’s hands. The flesh of his palms and fingers had split open, his skin blistered and charred. His blood trickled over the hilts of his swords, mingled with the nosferatu’s.
    Alejandro’s Gift did not come without a price.
    Irena met his eyes. His lips had flattened, his nostrils flaring as he breathed through the pain. Nosferatu blood streaked his jaw, splattered his neck. His own ran the length of his arm, soaked his sleeve. She wanted to lick it off. Wanted to take him now, with the heat