Nyx turned away from her, ignoring the fact that she was still trying to talk to him.
“Sebastian.” A greeting. A warning. “Where’s the girl?”
“Gone.” I reached into the pack and pulled my own cloak out. Tossing the pack aside, I pulled the cloak on. I may not have been part of his guild, but he respected me enough to give me the professional courtesy of allowing me to dress for the occasion.
“Where?” The people in the bar stared at us. One man started laughing so hard that he spit his beer out. “Nyx,” I said softly, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he turned to the man.
He didn’t use magic. He didn’t need to. He simply walked up to the man, and as the man stood up, he slipped the dagger out of its sheath in a reverse grip, and, in a single graceful movement, sliced the man’s neck clean to the bone. Without saying a word, he turned and walked back to where he was standing.
For just a few seconds, there was silence other than the gurgling of blood as the man tried to breathe through the blood that blocked his windpipe. His hands tried to clamp around his neck to stop the bleeding, but then he fell over.
When he hit the floor, everyone began to scream including Barbie. They all ran out of the bar while we stared at each other. A human life was nothing to Nyx. Truthfully, it barely mattered to me.
“Where has the girl gone?” he asked again in that gravelly voice. A voice that sounded tinged by smoke and ash.
“Away. Stop chasing her. Tell Seraphina that she is dead, and everything can go on as it was.”
I shifted, putting my hands on the sheaths that held one dagger instead of two. Nyx didn’t know that I was without one of my daggers, and I wanted to keep it that way.
“I can’t do that. My honor does not allow it. I will follow the Queen’s commands as you should have done.”
“She’s a full fairy, Nyx. Of both bloodlines. She could be the next Dark Queen. I can’t kill someone that could fill the empty seat.”
He seemed to think for a moment before speaking as was his way. “Then step aside and let me do it. I will lie for you, Sebastian. This time.”
I shook my head. “I can’t do that either. I don’t want to fight you, but I will if you force it upon me.”
Nyx withdrew his daggers, and I gathered my strength, grateful that I’d been able to feed on Rose. This was not going to end well for either of us. Or for this city.
Without hesitation, I flicked my hand towards Nyx, and a dagger materialized from mist and flew towards him faster than a human eye could have seen. He shifted his head slightly, and the dagger didn’t even graze him.
As soon as it had passed him, it dematerialized once again. Nyx crossed the room in half a second, faster than any human could have done. Jumping backward, I dodged his first swing, but there would be another and another.
I would lose a knife fight with this man. His skin was thicker than mine, almost like a natural armor. And he was drastically stronger than me.
I turned and ran towards the simple glass window. I didn’t have time to shift through it, and I covered my head as I threw my weight against it. The window shattered, and I rolled on the ground, shedding most of the broken glass that had attached to my cloak.
Now that I was out of Ast’s bar, I touched a shadow and slid into the warren. As soon as my feet hit the tunnel floor, I was running, not bothering to wrap my boots in mist. There would be no hiding. Nyx was just as effective a shadow walker as I.
He entered the warren a half-second later, and my fingers grazed the wall. A rooftop. A place where my powers would be stronger, and there would be less damage during our fight.
I reappeared in the Mortal Realm next to a metal pole, slipping out of its shadow. I ran to the edge of the building and leaped, soaring through the air towards the next one. I smelled Nyx as I jumped, his scent impossible to mistake.
The scent of fire filled the air, and I had to twist as a spout of flames singed the side of my cloak. Mist cushioned my fall as I hit the next rooftop, becoming nearly water as I forced it into a tight block underneath my feet. Turning, I watched Nyx spray the roof with fire to slow his fall.
Pure fire left the palms of his hands. Bright orange, it filled the darkness around us with light, and I had to shade my eyes from the sudden brightness.
“You cannot run from me, Sebastian. Either stand and fight me or tell me where the girl is so that all of this can be over.”
“I won’t let you have her. She could save the Dark Court from Seraphina’s rule. Don’t you remember when we didn’t have to take orders from that bitch?”
Mists began to rise above the rooftop, and flames sprayed out from Nyx, burning them away. “You’re going to tear the Dark Court apart, Sebastian. When I kill you under Seraphina’s orders, they’ll rise up against her.”
“And they’ll die. All of them,” he continued. “You and I both know that there’s no other end to that battle.”
I snarled. “Then stop trying to fucking kill me, Nyx. They’re your people, too. Your guild is Dark Court. They’ll die just like the rest of them.”
“Seraphina has given my guild her protection. She will shelter us in the coming battle if I fulfill her command. I do not want this, but I don’t have any other options.”
I growled in frustration. She’d laid the trap well, that bitch. “Then I’d better not let you kill me,” I said.
I ducked behind a
