Defiance (Rise of the Iliri Book 3) (7 page)

Sal glanced up just enough for the idiot to see her eyes.  "Didn't your mother teach you to listen when a woman talks?" she growled, the tone cold and feral.

"Fuck," the man whispered, pushing away.  "What the fuck are you?"

It's time, Sal, gut him.

Chapter 7

Her lips curled up slowly, sharp teeth and the double row of canines visible to the man before her.  Sal pushed herself off the wall, each move graceful and languid.  With one hand, she brushed the hood away from her head, exposing her milky skin and alabaster hair.  Her prey's eyes widened, stuck on the ears placed at the top of her head.  Ears that were pinned against her skull. 

Opening her mind, she slammed into Jase's consciousness.  They'd been apart for too long.  She could feel him perched against the wall, waiting, excited and aroused.  His need drove her on.  Her right hand swept behind her back, her fingers wrapping around the handle of the blade.  It sang as she slid it from the sheath.  With her left, she grabbed the man's shoulder, pulling him close to her – so close their lips nearly touched.

"You still want to fuck me?" she snarled in his face.

"No, I...  No, no, no-" the man muttered.

Sal slid her curved blade into his groin.  With her mind wide open, she knew Jase felt the soft glide of steel through skin and muscles.  "If you kill my kind again, I will finish the job."  Then she slapped her hand over his mouth, smothering the scream before she pushed him off her knife.

Before the man's body hit the ground, she moved.  Behind her, someone wailed, the voice so shrill Sal didn't know if it was the man or a woman who'd witnessed it all.  Near her target, the guards grabbed at their weapons, seeking the source of violence.  Across from her, Jase stalked their prey. 

Sal kept her knife hidden against her forearm, out of sight, her path aimed to intersect with his.  Together, they walked calmly down the line of guards on opposite sides, catching glimpses of each other through the bodies.  At the third man, they turned in unison. 

The steel blade dropped into her hand.  She pulled a second from her belt – this one ceramic and as white as her skin.  Then she stepped in, plunging her offhand into the guard in front of her.  Ducking his retaliation, her pale hair flew behind her.  Jase slit the throat of the man closest to him with his left and thrust his right dagger into another's eye.  She could feel the pop as the blade sank deep.  It felt good, like victory.  She grinned, spinning to open another guard across the waist.  The stench of offal reeked as his entrails spilled to the ground.

This is what she was meant to do.  She was a killer, designed to achieve the maximum carnage, and it felt so good.  For the first time in months, the rush of bloodlust coursed through her body, driving her higher.  It was like a drug, and with her lover's mind locked so closely with hers, it was pure ecstasy.

Four men were dead before the guards realized the enemy was among them.  Jase leapt over the arc of a pike while Sal sliced a man's leg from hip to knee, blood spurting out in pulses.  As her partner plunged his main weapon into the man beside him, another four rushed in. 

The assassins glanced at each other and stood their ground calmly.  Nothing could stop them.  Not now, not like this.  The guards met them head on, allowing the iliri to slam a blade deep into each chest.  Then, like a single organism, they withdrew the weapons, letting the bodies fall in place.

Blaec could never understand this.  No matter how much she loved him, there was always a hard line dividing them.  His rage would have been a distraction.  Her dominance would simply annoy him.  Together, they might be monsters on the battlefield, but they weren't matched so perfectly.  They would always be two individuals.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sal saw a sword heading at her.  She dropped, slashing upward.  Her knife connected, the warm blood spilling across her hand.  The sweet smell drove her for more.  Beside her, Jase moaned, burying his weapon in the same man's chest.  Another moved to intercept him, but a flick of her wrist sent Sal's ceramic blade into his throat.

Her partner hadn't worried.  He hadn't doubted that she'd protect him because they were meant to be together.  Just like this.  She and Jase complimented each other's weaknesses.  This was perfect.  This was what she'd always dreamed of, having a man who made her feel like she belonged.  Like he was truly hers.  Like they were two parts of the same whole.

Jase buried his offhand blade in another guard's chest, and Sal used the dying body as a step, feeling her partner just behind her.  She jumped, her feet tucked close, pouncing on her next victim.  Her steel blade hit first, tearing through his neck and down.  Her body followed, carrying them both into the dirt.  The blade caught in the man's collarbone, wrenching it from her grasp.  Behind her, Jase landed on someone, killing him with a delicious snap.  A quick look showed the body crumpling at his feet.

But she didn't have time to gawk.  A pike shaft came at her.  Feeling Jase in her mind like an extension of her own body, she darted inside the man's reach.  The pikeman became her weapon, spearing the fool Jase pushed her way, then her partner moved in.  Using her dagger – which Jase must have retrieved from the corpse she'd left it in – he slit the man's throat.  Flashing a boyish smile, he wiped the blade on the dying man's shoulder and offered it back.

This was how killing should be.  Sal wasn't afraid of dying.  These men were their prey, the challenge of the hunt made it exciting, and she wasn't alone.  In the back of her mind, she could feel Jase's need.  His desire battered alongside her own, but their fun was almost over.  The last two guards had pulled back to the Jonkheer, each brandishing a pike and sword before him.  A nicely matched set waiting to die.

The assassins walked in step, making a show of it for the crowd.  Their shoulders just touched, blood stained their pale clothes, and they snarled, showing off their inhuman teeth.  Just outside the range of the pikes, they paused without a word.  A low growl thrummed from both of their throats.

Jase was red across the left side of his body, the splatters on his face nearly as thick as paint.  Her own hands were crimson to well above the elbows.  When she licked her lips, she could taste the sweetness of humans.

"What do you want?" The Jonkheer cried over the heads of his last two guards, his back pressed to a stone building behind him.

"Leave the grauori alone," Jase said calmly, his voice deep and rough, but Sal could hear his passion.  "Kill another of us, and we will do the same ta one of ya."

"For each of us you kill," Sal added, "a human will die.  Your lives are already forfeit, but the rest of them may still learn."

And that was the ruse.  Let these people think the carnage was about the grauori.  If it saved one of their lives, even better.  The real purpose was simply to destroy the Jonkheer – and Sal wanted it so badly.  Entwined deep in Jase's mind, with their every action synchronized, the predators rushed forward. 

Effortlessly, they stepped inside the pikes, grabbing the guards' sword arms in their off-hands to pin the weapons.  In unison, they brought their knives together – Jase with his left and Sal with her right – and then they cut.  The spectacle was meant to make a lasting impression.  The blades sliced deep into the throats in perfect unison.

As soon as the men stopped struggling, the assassins dropped their corpses and stepped toward the Jonkheer.  Behind them, humans screamed.  Sal's desire overcame her.  Jase buried his blade in the man's heart, but she reached for the Jonkheer's shoulder.  Pulling his throat closer, she bit into his sweet, soft flesh.  Her teeth sliced through tendons and a sudden gush of warm fluid made her growl in pleasure.  She managed two gulps before Jase wrenched her away.  They locked gazes, his twilight meeting her ice.  It was time to go.  Soon, more men would come, and two iliri couldn't stop them all. 

Mentally, they checked for the grauori and felt another mind slide into their link.  Hwa.  His touch in their heads was warm and soft, yet lethal.  Wrapped in their mental link, the grauori's passions rose to match theirs, the taste different but welcome.  This was what it meant to have a pack.  Ducking through the streets, aiming for the feel of Roo's soft presence, Sal knew this was what her species was meant to do.  Kill.  She was a predator.

Time to split up,
Hwa said.

Sal felt the beast fall in beside them.  Jase changed direction slightly, stepping onto a rain barrel and leaping, his hands just making the rooftop as Sal ran on with her new partner.  Above them, Jase scrambled across the roofs, his mind showing her the way. 

The beast beside her kept pace easily, yet Hwa was truly running.  He sent a surge of sensations into her mind.  Sal suddenly knew the smell of human: leather and stale sweat moving at them from around the corner.  She ducked the weapon that was coming, sliding to her knees as Hwa leapt. 

When the guard rounded the corner, the grauori collided with him, grasping his shoulders and crushing the man's throat in his teeth.  The exquisite feel of death was so much more pungent from his senses.  With a push, he continued on, and Sal struggled to keep up, letting the male lead the way. 

Above, Jase leapt across a gap between the internal buildings and the city wall, his body impacting with stone before he pulled himself up.  He saw the guards and, with little more than a thought, both Hwa and Sal could, too.  They passed the last building and turned, Sal's blade ready. 

Hwa darted to the left, Sal to the right.  She ducked behind her prey and embraced the man tightly, pinning her body to his shoulders while she plunged her weapon into his throat.  Beside her, Hwa pounced on his own guard, his teeth locked on the man's shoulder.  Suspended, his hind legs raked the man's body, the claws strong enough to slice through the leather, cloth, and flesh beneath.  When the guard screamed, Hwa released him.  That man wouldn't live much longer. 

She nodded approval at her new partner, and he looked back with Jase's twilight eyes.  They ran.

Outside the gate, Roo waited, murmuring softly to the horses.  Sal reached her just as Jase jumped from the top of the wall.  He hit the ground and sank to his knees, his shoulder muscles clearly visible through his shirt, pausing before he stood. 

He caught her eyes, and Sal felt his desire for her across the link, matching her own.  He'd intended to impress her, to seduce her.  The pack was whole.  Now it was time to go. 

Wasting no time, they swung into the saddles.  She held his mind to hers and pulled them away from the main link as she caught Roo's eye.  The little bitch smiled, doing her best to stand tall like an iliri.  The grauori had this.  Kicking the mares into a true run, Sal and Jase left their new packmates at the gates to finish the ruse, racing beside the steep wall.  It was the best place to hide.  No one would look down today.

Are they up ta this?
Jase asked, his desire to be alone with her warring with his urge to protect his pack.

Yeah, Hwa kills as well as you.

Should I be jealous?

No, but you also shouldn't slack off.  I want five kilometers before we stop, Sergeant.

Yes, my beautiful Lieutenant.  Anything you want, Kaisae. 

He pressed his heels to his mare, asking Raven for more and the blue roan gave it, forcing Sal to push Arden.  Through the snow they raced, the horses' hoof beats thudding like their own hearts.  The smell of blood on them faded in the wind and Sal felt as if she was living in a fantasy.  The crisp air, the pure scents, and the taste of blood still on her lips was what her kind lived for.  Feeling Hwa's mind proved it.  She wasn't a beast, but she was a predator, and she loved how it felt.

It only took them a few minutes at such speed, but by the time they were far enough away, Sal's mare was tiring.  She pulled her in gently, letting Arden chose the pace, and was pleased when she trotted.  Raven fell in beside her, letting Jase meet her eyes.

Looks like there's some caves up in the hills,
he sent, his mind showing her the direction.

She turned her horse that way, flashing him a smile.  By the time they reached the hills, the mares were breathing easily.  Only one thing remained.  She reached out with her mind to check her packmates, pleased to feel both Hwa's and Roo's joy at sprinting through the snow.  Roo noticed her touch.

All is well my sister.  There's no chase from them,
Roo assured her.
  Find a safe place.  We'll meet you in the morning.
Enjoy the maast.

"The mutts are fine and won't be with us until morning," Sal relayed to Jase.

He dropped from Raven's back.  "That's convenient."