Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

eaten through, but the coating the Slayer used protected it and also prevented that portion of his body from shifting. She turned her body in a dancer’s spin, sword over her head, stil stuck inside his chest so that she cut a circular hole around his heart.
    Ivory withdrew the sword and plunged her hand deep. “I’ve shown you my secret,†she whispered. “Take it to your grave.†She withdrew the heart and flung it away from her, lifting her arms to cal down a sword of lightning.
    The jagged bolt incinerated the heart and then jumped to the body, burning it clean. “Find peace, Cristofor,†she whispered and hung her head, leaning on her sword, tears shimmering briefly for her lost childhood friend.
    So many were gone now. Nothing seemed to remain of the life she’d once known. She took a deep breath, drawing in the crisp night before cleaning her sword and al trace of the vampire’s blood from the snow. She retrieved the eight smal arrowheads and slid them into the loops on her holster before holding out her arms for the silver-tipped pelt. The tattoos moved, emerging, sliding once more over her body in the form of a coat. She al owed the silvery ful -length coat to settle over her body slowly before picking up her weapons and drawing up the hood. At once she seemed to disappear, blending seamlessly with the layers of white fog.
    Ivory moved in silence, feeling the hostile energy radiating from her pack. They were under attack and her wal of protection was weakening. She’d thrown the shield up around them hastily when she scented the second predator. Had he not been quite so eager for the kil , and stayed downwind, he might have managed to kil her wolf pack. She couldn’t use the arrowheads on him; the vampire’s acidic blood would have eaten through most of the coating. She had very little time to kil her enemy once she buried the smal lethal wedges in the vampire’s body, before that acidic blood ate through the coating and al owed her enemy to shift.
    Weaving through the trees, the slayer stayed low to the ground, taking on the shape of a wolf. With her silver-tipped pelt it would be difficult to distinguish her from the other wolves in the area as she slipped through the trees toward the second vampire. She sank behind a fal en tree, studying the figure hurling firebal s at the wolves. He had cornered them just at the water’s edge where the ice was thin and dangerous. She could see cracks spreading along the thin shield she’d thrown up where the vampire continual y battered at it.
    She took a breath, let it out and let herself find that place deep inside where there was stil ness. Where there was resolve. She stood and ran at the vampire, firing the crossbow as she went. Again, her aim was for his torso. She caught him as he turned, one arrow slicing into his lower back, the second missing altogether. He flung the firebal at her and Ivory somersaulted on the ground, letting it fly over her head. Then she was up on her feet, stil running, always advancing, shooting at him with the crossbow.
    The vampire howled in rage, the sound cut off abruptly as an arrow slammed deep into his throat. Her wolves threw themselves at the wal , frantic to come to her aid, but she knew the vampire would simply destroy them al . On the other hand . . .
    The slayer shrugged, this time sending her thick silver-tipped wolf pelt away from her. The heavy coat landed in the snow, spread wide, the fur rippling as if alive. The hood stretched and elongated; each sleeve did the same, moving with life as the body of the coat formed three separate shapes to match the merging ones of the hood and sleeves. Ivory didn’t wait for her companions to shift to their normal forms. She rol ed across the snow, coming up on one knee, firing two more coated arrows into the vampire’s chest while he was distracted by the six emerging wolves.
    The vampire hissed, his eyes glowing hot with hatred. He tried to shift, but only his legs, bel y and head took the shape of a multiarmed beast, leaving his heart exposed. He realized he was trapped, but was ful y aware of the smal arrow weakening in his back as the metal was destroyed by his acidic blood. He whirled, sending up a spout of snow, gathering the wind to him and hurling it outward, creating an instant blizzard as the snow was drawn into his circle and flung out around him.
    It was impossible to see the