AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nadia?” Harmiston tried again.
“Keep up,” she said over her shoulder, her breath controlled and soundless as he was keeping his soundproofing shield up.
The thief knew the streets and shortcuts well. Nadia followed with no trouble, having walked and hunted in this city for years. The starry sky reflected above was hard to see due to the lights emanating from the buildings that loomed over them. While Nadia and Harmiston were hidden from any nearby ears and noses, the thief was not. Nadia picked up his scent of soap, a little bit of wool, and mineral oil. She was sure there were weapons under that cloak.
“Now!” Harmiston encouraged her. He was right behind her, surprisingly agile for someone who’d been cooped up making a bomb for days. “Nadia?” he wheezed between his more hurried breaths when she didn’t leap forward the moment a straight and narrow passageway gave her the chance she needed. “That was a perfect chance.”
She knew that, and she was interested in catching the thief, but not yet.
The thief ran on, arms pumping, making his coat billow in rough movements behind him. She was sure it was a ‘he’ judging by build, but it was either a short man or a boy. Nadia would bet her barely existent sum of money on the latter.
The thief ran toward Cahlmont Hollow, but before they got that far, another figure came out from behind some trash cans and ran straight for them.
“Watch out!” Harmiston yelled, not bothering to lower his voice now. They were far away from the witch, anyway.
Nadia wasn’t worried about the figure who emerged. It was a decoy. She saw another one run out from a side street and straight toward the thief. They crossed each other on the street and ran in opposite directions. Nadia had no doubt the bag of bland asphodel had switched hands in that briefest of moments.
The decoy, a girl, she thought, also hooded and fast, stopped abruptly before either Nadia or Harmiston could reach her. She quickly back-stepped before turning and running away.
Nadia didn’t hesitate. It was obvious what they wanted—for her to follow the decoy who was rested and ready to be chased. She didn’t choose that path but instead remained close on the heels of the original thief.
“Nadia, what are you doing?” Harmiston huffed out. “The bag was taken the other way.”
Nadia pushed on, following the thief who now glanced over his shoulder more than once. The plan hadn’t worked, and he was pushed further. Nadia could gain on him some more, but kept her distance to about twenty meters. She wanted to see where he was going, or where he would lure her now.
Unfortunately, the thief’s noises drew attention from elsewhere. In the dim lights cast by the apartments in the buildings all around them, a figure emerged almost out of nowhere. His sudden appearance had Nadia draw her sword at once. No one came from nowhere, but in Agartha, sometimes people came from above, levitating and attacking fast.
The thief yelped, and the sound convinced her even more. The large figure, a man with a face of features chiseled to perfection, showed in the light. He grabbed the thief so fast, the boy had no chance to react. Nadia saw the fangs the moment the vamp opened its mouth and shifted into its deathly form. She raised her sword and simply ran to attack. What else could she do? The boy might have been a thief, but he didn’t deserve this.
The twenty meters were never going to help him. Thankfully, the boy did that himself, by stabbing the beast in the stomach.
The vamp screeched and threw the boy to the ground with vicious strength. Nadia saw the bloodstain right below his sternum, too far from his heart. It had been a valiant attempt. That was all Nadia had time to reflect on, before she was there, striking down with her blade.
The vamp was fast and twisted away. He looked at her with amusement, no, not that. No, there was a manic intensity to the beast’s eyes that she’d seen before.
It was a hybrid.
“Harm!” she warned, hearing his cry of warning come the other way. He’d caught on too.
The hybrid, met her next strike with its forearm, deflecting her blade with immense power. The stripe of blood on his arm didn’t even seem to faze him. Instead, he smiled a twisted smile and snarled at her, moving closer. Nadia’s heart pounded, her senses all focused on her enemy. The hybrids were feared for a reason. She attacked again and was driven back despite swinging her lethal, silver-inlaid sword. It had to at least sting him when the blade bit into his waxy skin, but he didn’t relent. His arms were like swords, the way he deflected her moves and attacked on his own. Nadia ducked and twisted, parried and struck, and yet she took blows to her sides that unbalanced her. One hit home and sent her sprawling back. She hit the ground, bit the inside of her cheek, and heard Harmiston yell something. Next thing, the vamp was struck by a crackling force of red. It sent the beast flying across the street where it crashed into a wall.
Nadia forced herself up despite the pain. She noticed the thief was getting up too, but at this point, their chase was over. The vamp screeched again in pain and anger. Mostly anger it seemed. It stared daggers at Harmiston and then shifted again, turning from a pale ugly vampire into a hulking bipedal werewolf. He snarled and bolted right for Harmiston.
“No!” Nadia ran straight ahead to intercept, but the creature was faster. Harmiston, powerful as he was, was still self-taught and not used to being in fights. Instead of hitting the beast with magical force, his instinct was to protect himself. A glaringly magical shield of blue sigils appeared before him like it was on his arm. The werewolf didn’t let the sight deter it. It crashed into the magic, sending both itself and Harmiston flying in opposite directions.
Nadia changed directions and ran after the werewolf. She reached it just as it was getting up again, shaking its head from the impact with the ground. It noticed her at once.
Nadia dropped her sword and leaped forward. She bent her legs around the were’s neck, grabbed it under its chin, and drew its head back while she drew her silver knife with swift movements.
She didn’t hesitate and stabbed the smaller blade straight into the were’s neck. It howled in pain then, the silver tormenting it, the blade drawing blood.
But the were didn’t stop moving. It didn’t die. It kept on. She felt its claws dig into her legs, and the huge body under her started shaking to get her off. She stabbed again, and the creature shifted forms. The large furry beast diminished into the waxy, slimmer, and yet equally deadly vampire. Ice-blue eyes stared daggers at her, upside down.
“I’ll—” it hissed and then toppled over, Nadia falling with it.
The ground was an unforgiving landing place.
Bolts of agony assaulted her back and hip and she cried out in pain. The vampire twisted to get out of her grip, but then froze, as they were both enveloped in blinding magical lights.
