Chapter 116: Chapter 116

Elena wondered what Ryder would say if he heard this. He didn’t care much about the opinions of humans, so it wouldn’t matter either way. “Well, he indeed loves dark clothes,” she chuckled. How cliché for a vampire. At least he didn’t sleep in a coffin; she wouldn’t find it particularly comfortable.

The first drops of rain landed on Elena’s nose. She frowned and picked up her pace, Venus doing the same. The sky was dark gray, rain clouds gathering just above them. If they were unlucky, it would start pouring soon. They crossed the street and followed another alley, which would take them straight to Elena’s flower shop. More and more drops touched her face and shoulders—she was grateful for her jacket. Now, all the more she was looking forward to a cozy evening with Ryder.

She stopped abruptly. Her sneakers were glued to the pavement, and her head snapped to the left. Dread welled up in her at the rotten aura she sensed lurking somewhere in the vicinity. It was familiar—she had encountered a similar creature before, but back then, Ryder had been with her. Now she was on her own. Since she knew what she was up against, Elena was aware that it was pointless to run. The monster had already set its sights on them since there were no other targets in the vicinity.

“Elena, what?” Venus’s sentence was cut off when she saw the long, thin dagger her boss took out of her purse. It was a deadly weapon, no doubt.

“Stay behind me,” Elena demanded and focused her gaze on the driveway of a deserted shop.

“What’s going on?” Venus was hysterical, taking a step back. “Why do you have a knife? Oh, is it a dagger? What the hell, is that even legal?”

Elena had no choice but to ignore her stuttering as she concentrated on the being in the driveway. She couldn’t see it yet; it had to be crouching behind the wall, but she did feel its murderous aura and the sheer madness it exuded. Pure bloodlust, nothing more. Once a human was turned, they lost all of their humanity, and nothing could bring it back.

A gurgling, nails dragging over concrete, a growl. The hair on the back of her neck raised. Elena was scared, but fear was no longer her enemy. This time, she would stand her ground. She clutched the dagger in one hand and curled the fingers of the other, gathering magic and letting it pool in her palm. It was invisible to Venus’s eyes, who didn’t understand what was happening—until the creature showed itself.

A claw emerged from behind the wall, followed by an arm covered in scratches and red blotches. Venus’s high-pitched scream drowned out the greedy growl from the creature as it left its hiding spot abruptly. Pale like a corpse with glowing red eyes and sharp protruding fangs—it looked exactly like Elena had anticipated.

What had once been a woman in her thirties was now the doomed puppet of a particularly ruthless vampire. She was alive but no longer living, only desiring blood. Her hair was matted with dirt, and her throat marked by a horrendous bite. It must have hurt like hell to be drained like this. She must have fought her attacker desperately. Elena felt pity for this woman.

“We should run, come on, let’s run.” Venus cried and grabbed Elena’s wrist, but she shook her hand off.

“No, we can’t outrun it.”

“You’re insane, that’s a fucking zombie. How do these even…”

“It’s not a zombie; they don’t exist. It’s something much worse than that.”

“Elena.” Venus was sobbing, and Elena would have comforted her in any other situation, but right now she couldn’t allow herself to look away from the turned human. Not even for a second. She had to end this quickly to avoid putting Venus and herself in unnecessary danger.

The creature was fast. It manifested in front of her so swiftly that it looked like it had teleported. Its claw shot forward and grabbed Elena’s shoulders. Pain sizzled in her body, but she refused to become this thing’s next meal. She already had the spell for wolfsbane on her lips—her magic grew the toxic plant in her hand, distracting her opponent.

The creature smelled it and hissed confusedly, baring its bizarre fangs. They snapped at Elena. Panic struck her, so she did the unthinkable. Her hand buried the dagger in its torso, pushing it in to the hilt. The silver blade instantly caused painful burns, the stench of smoke reaching Elena’s nose. She had missed the creature’s heart, but it didn’t matter—it was weakened by her attack. With a fluid motion, she pulled the dagger out. Black blood and smoke particles rained down on the ground. The creature let go of her, so she moved backward to put distance between them.

“It will be over soon,” she said as if to calm the poor human, but of course, the woman was too far gone to understand. Elena had an epiphany: a plan that would rapidly kill the monster and end its misery. She snapped her fingers and used her magic to coat the blade with the poisonous essence of wolfsbane. As the monster staggered back, groaning and hissing like a rabid animal, she prepared herself to strike. She narrowed her eyes, searching for the spot she needed to hit. Its heart was unprotected—this was the perfect chance. She ran at it, dodged its feeble attempt to grab her, and sank the dagger into its heart. Black blood splattered on her hand, her face. Elena’s eyes bore into the red ones of the human, and finally, the scarlet shade faded away. It happened immediately since the poison was potent.

From one second to the next, the turned human died and crumbled to the ground. Elena couldn’t look away while the woman began to disintegrate. Her body turned into flakes of ash and was carried off by the wind. Elena was frozen for a moment and stared at her weapon with a mix of awe and unease. Then it hit her; she had just killed a being that was almost as powerful as a true vampire—and she was still alive. She could barely believe it, but it was true. Elena used a handkerchief to wipe the black blood off the blade of her dagger until she saw her own reflection on its clean surface.