Talisman 01 - The Emerald Talisman

blue eyes to the others, as if to give secret instructions. One by one they began to fan out in v-formation. “I don’t know what kind of secret powers you have, but today will be the last day you’ll kill any more of our kind. You’ve met your match bounty hunter,” she said with gritted teeth.
    “I prefer Nicholas frankly . . . but you didn’t say the magic word.”
    Before anyone anticipated, the dark haired boy from the beach burned up in a puff of smoke. Nicholas wasted no time, intending to stake the brunette behemoth, but since he moved aside, the unsuspecting dark-haired vampire behind him took the hit instead. Then the blonde cried out as she burned up too.
    “Excellent. Two in one.” Nicholas said in a jeer, the group stood still in horror.
    Bettina’s twin erupted in furry, screaming obscenities, calling for Nicholas’ death; she crouched down like a tiger, ready to spring, but Bettina restrained her.
    “Angelia, get control of yourself. We need him alive,” Bettina snapped quietly. The hair on my neck stood up, feeling the woman’s scorn.
    “But Adrian was wearing his armor . . .” Angelia cried out in confusion, turning towards Nicholas, eyes full of hate. “You’ll pay for that.”
    Nicholas clicked his tongue twice. “Well, they should’ve been paying attention, now shouldn’t they?”
    From deep within Angelia’s chest came an unearthly growl. But a surge in Justin’s courage sent him sprawling forward to strike first, trying to pin Nicholas’ arms. Nicholas laughed and flung him to the other side of the room. Justin’s body hit the wall head first, shaking the rafters. He amazingly pulled his head out of the wall, stood up unfazed, shook his head and charged at Nicholas again.
    Nicholas, without a thought, launched Justin across the room again, but in my direction. I gasped and saw a flash of panic in Nicholas’ eye when he noticed he’d disturbed my hiding place, but I just tucked myself in further and no one noticed.
    I watched Justin through a crack between the boxes. He sat up, but stayed put, appearing to reassess his plan. I studied the nerdy boy I used to know and marveled at the transformation; no more acne, glasses or goofy grin. It saddened me to think how things could have happened differently if I was his date instead. Could it have prevented all of this? Now he was another casualty at our school. But his beady eyes turned and locked on mine. My heart dropped as his upper lip snarled back to reveal his long, pointed teeth. He wasn’t angelic, he was a killer
    “Is this all you got?” I heard Nicholas cry out from across the room, taunting them further. I wanted to scream and get his attention as Justin watched me quietly, his hunger growing with each second, but Nicholas was busy.
    Then I heard a female let out a blood-curdling scream as I caught a glimpse of Toth being consumed in a silent fire, another stake bouncing on the ground. It came from Bettina. Her anger was much more intense than when the others were killed—the apparent death of her man. Both girls, now on a warpath from their losses, took out silver iridescent whips and cracked them at the same time.
    I looked around for something to defend myself, as I knew Nicholas needed to spend all of his attention on them.
    “Hmmmm . . . kinky,” I heard Nicholas say.
    They cackled and the whips cracked again followed by the thunderous sound of something heavy colliding, but I couldn’t watch. Justin had moved and stood over me now, his teeth bared, appetite ravenous.
    “Leave me alone,” I whispered quietly.
    “Or what? You’re going to get your boyfriend to hurt me?” He mocked, looking pleased with my predicament, odds stacked in his favor.
    “No,” I said while crawling backwards like a crab until I hit the wall behind me, trapped in a corner.
    “You know, I’ve always liked you—,” he said with a smile, but his feelings behind his confession made me nauseous. “—and with Phil out of the picture, you could be mine.” He reached out and brushed my cheek. I slapped his hand away, giving him a dirty look.
    Two in one day? I didn’t think I could handle it anymore. What was it about me that made every vampire I met desire me?
    “Don’t touch me,” I said, trying to sound like a ferocious tiger, but my voice came out like a tiny kitten.
    He laughed and advanced closer.
    Why can’t these vampires take no for an answer?
    I blindly felt the ground around me, wishing my hands would come