Rival Read Free Page A

determination in their depths. For a moment, I feel it. A connection.
We're going to get out of this. Together.
    When I turn back to face the vamp, I'm
back-to-back with Brett. And much steadier.
    I sweep out a low kick, knocking the
vamp's feet out from beneath him.
    "Don't let them get too close," I warn
Brett. I don't want to imagine what their fangs would do to either
one of us. Slice right through an artery, probably.
    "Yeah, no kidding." He grunts, maybe
getting in a blow of his own.
    But the vamps just keep coming at us,
and neither of us has a weapon to dispatch them.
    Until the blond vamp in front of me
reaches into an inside pocket on his bulky jacket and comes out
with a wicked-looking blade.
    I curse.
    "Emily?" Brett asks over his
shoulder.
    Very faintly, I can hear the sound of
sirens. Just what we need for our little party, human cops to mess
things up.
    "Mine's got a knife," I tell
him.

 
     
    4 - Brett
    My stomach drops at Emily's words. That
punk pulled a knife on her?
    These guys must be on something. It's
the only explanation I have, because they've taken hits that
would've made a linebacker cry like a baby, but these dudes just
keep coming at us.
    Emily moves. She's behind
me, so I can't see her as I face off with crew cut in front of me. Almost like
she jumped back.
    It revs my anger that someone is trying
to gut her.
    Crew cut growls. Literally growls. He swipes at me, and
I'm pretty sure his claws glitter in the dim lighting.
    But that's impossible,
right? People don’t have claws .
    "Erick?" Emily calls out. She ducks to
the side as I throw a punch at my opponent. His cheek crunches in,
making him look ghastly. Blood spills from a gash on the side of
his face.
    And he's still not stopping.
    Erick grunts. Obviously, he's having a
little trouble getting away from the girl attacking him.
    Who are these freaks, and why did they
come after us?
    Emily snakes her arm through mine and
jerks me to one side, taking me to my knees. The jolt of pain is
nothing compared to what the bruises are going to feel like
tomorrow.
    I look up to see the blond-haired punk
with the knife is standing where I just was.
    She saved me.
    I can't help grinning. She's not
immune.
    I push back to my feet. If we weren't
fighting for our lives, this might be fun.
    "Wanna try something different?" I
ask.
    She nods, eyes on the two guys, now
converging and coming at us together.
    I bend over and lace my fingers
together, make myself into a human catapult. Her eyes widen for a
moment, then glint with a shimmer of a smile. She tucks one foot
into my hands, knee bent for her springboard.
    "Don't kick me," I tell her, then
launch her airborne.
    Our attackers weren't expecting it, and
she flies right over their heads. They watch her, necks bending
backwards, mouths agape. Couple of brain surgeons, these
two.
    In their distraction, I rush them,
aiming for the shoulder of the one holding the knife.
    And, miracle of miracles, it flies out
of his hand, clattering on the ground beneath a nearby
car.
    Emily wastes no time
getting back in the fight. She kicks crew
cut in the back of one knee, and he
buckles.
    The one I've got ahold of reaches
behind and grabs the back of my shirt, going down but taking me
with him, slamming my back into the pavement and knocking the air
out of me.
    His head is close to mine, and all I
can think about are those glinting fangs. They can't be real,
right? But they sure didn’t look like those plastic things you find
in stores at Halloween.
    "Brett!"
    Emily's voice rings in my head at the
same time I hear a fainter, "Emily!" from her cousin.
    I'm flat on my back, and I don't
totally get what happens next because it goes so fast, but I'm
pretty sure Erick throws her his knife. She grabs a silver blade
out of the air and slams it down, right into the blond guy's
face.
    His grip on me goes slack.
    She doesn't hesitate as she
rips the knife free, spurting blood, and stabs it into crew cut’s heart. His
eyes widen, and he