Zane somersaulted and landed in a crouch,
his dagger clasped in his right hand, his left hand spread with splayed fingers
in the dirt they were fighting on.
He spun, kicking out a leg to bring his
opponent down, and dropped on top of him, then he slammed his dagger into his
enemy’s throat with a double handed grip.
The blade slid through the downed vampire’s throat like a plasma torch
through metal, incapacitating the creature.
Zane spared a quick glance in Poe’s
direction. His fellow outsider was
finishing off his opponent. He
decapitated his foe and bent to wipe his blade on the dead vampire’s
clothes.
Around them, the dirt was littered with the
corpses of vampires. A rogue team, that
had been planning the assassination of the crown prince of the vampires.
“What are we doing here again?” Zane straightened and moved away from the
unconscious vampire on the ground. “I
mean besides saving your licentious hide?”
Poe laughed, “I’m willing to bet my crown
they didn’t think the crown prince would come after them himself.” He kicked the body at his feet, and then
looked over to Zane’s opponent. Poe
sighed eloquently. He walked over to the
vampire and in a smooth motion, decapitated it as well.
“Never leave an enemy alive Zane. How many times do I have to tell you that?
Especially if the enemy is after me.” He
cleaned the blade again then stood, sliding the sword into the sheath at his
back.
“We fundamentally disagree on that score
Poe.” Zane’s expression was dark.
“Your compassion will catch up to you one
day Zane, probably when I’m not around to save your ass.”
Zane snorted. “Stop evading my
question.”
“Evade...” Poe started, but Zane’s flat
expression stopped him.
He sighed again. “I was bored.”
Zane frowned and stepped over a corpse to
walk towards the car. He was dirty,
covered in vampire blood and in need of a shower. The smell of the blood was making him hungry
and cranky. He had to get to his supply
of butcher-bought blood in the refrigerator at Outsiders Inc. So it took him a moment to process what Poe
meant.
Zane stopped dead and pivoted to face
Poe. “You went to Evi!”
Poe had the grace to drop his head and look
embarrassed.
“Oh my gods, you are an idiot. No one, rubs Evi up the wrong way, faster
than you Poe.”
“It’s because she wants me.” Poe straightened his shoulders and flashed a cheeky
grin.
Zane was not impressed. He reached up and pushed his blond fringe out
his eyes. “You had to go bug Evi, and
now we are standing in a field in the middle of nowhere, with vampire corpses
scattered all over the place, and dawn only an hour away. When will you learn?”
“She finished the edit didn’t she?” Poe
defended himself, walking past Zane towards the Impala.
“If you were that desperate for action you
should have asked me to go talk to her.”
Zane caught up with Poe.
“She did say that.” Poe nodded.
“She did?” A smile curled Zane’s lips.
“Yeah, you are her favorite, we all know
it.” Poe reached the car and pulled the driver’s
side door open. “Will you go visit her?”
Zane reached the passenger side and got in,
sliding long legs into the car.
“Why?” Zane knew what Poe was trying to
say, but he chose to be obtuse.
“Don’t be an ass,” Poe pierced Zane with a
stare as he turned the engine on the Impala, “I might find myself in the middle
of the gators in a bayou before she’s done being pissed at me.”
Zane laughed, a warm sound that came from
his belly.
“I’ll go see her.”
Poe nodded his thanks, and pulled off onto
the dirt road. Dawn would take care of
the mess they’d left in the clearing, and Zane would take care of Evi’s
pique.
