Tetiana turned in a circle. “Since we’re with Blood, I’d say high.”
I pulled a dagger from my belt, then—after a momentary pause—my hair stick, which I held in my left hand.
In case he tries to get close.
I heard a whoosh and whirled around, striking out with my dagger. The blade intercepted the pebble that had been tossed at me, and the small rock bounced off the blade and landed in the street with a clack.
“It’s Ruin,” I said with dead certainty.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
Considine
Iwatched Jade with interest. While I couldn’t see her face because of that blank slayer mask of hers, I could tell by the tiny movements of her head that she was scanning the street looking for any sign of me.
I grinned as I shifted my seat—I was sitting on a raised wall that edged the roof of the Irish Pub, my legs dangling over the side so they hung over Main Street. The building was only three stories tall—the first floor being the pub, with some apartments and offices on the second and third floors.
Jade moved on the sidewalk down below. “Come out, Ruin. I know you’re there.”
Unsurprised she’d realized it was me so quickly—of course she was sharp, or I never would have liked her slayer or daytime persona—I picked up a bit of mortar that had chipped off the brick building, then tossed it at Jade when she turned her back to me.
Jade spun and again struck out with her dagger, batting the bit of mortar away. She stood, tensed, for a moment, then I saw her head start to tip up.
Ahh, she’s trying to calculate where those throws could have come from.
I set my palms on the edge of the wall, the roughness of the brick scraping at my fingers.
“What is he playing at?” the blonde vampire who frequently was assigned to Jade’s team wondered. “Usually by now he would have pounced, trying to draw blood.”
She wasn’t wrong. Before I figured out the slayer on the task force was Jade, I had been a bit more…rough when playing.
But when I’d first comprehended all the fun I could have knowing Jade’s identities, it occurred to me that the road rash I’d bandaged on Jade had actually been my own doing. There was something vexing about that.
Not that Jade couldn’t handle a bruise or some pain. Her slayer blood gave her increased healing abilities that had likely kicked in and completely healed the road rash and scrapes within hours of my “treating” her.
But I was now doubly invested in Jade—she was my source of entertainment at night and by day. So, the less roughshod approach was merely to protect my best interests.
Jade’s head tilted farther back. She was going to see me any second now. I started to lean into my palms, intending to push off, when I caught sight of Ambrose’s gold ring still on my index finger. I’d forgotten to take it off when I’d changed.
Jade has seen me wear that as Connor; better hide it.
I slipped the ring off, and I barely had time to slide my hand into a pocket of my trousers before Jade caught sight of me.
At least I assumed she did because she pulled her handgun from her holster, clicked off the safety, racked it, and then pointed it up at me.
She’s so clever, I thought, smug with satisfaction. I waved to her, then pushed off the building. I landed on the sidewalk in a crouch so close to Jade that my bent knee brushed hers.
Her teammates jumped at my sudden arrival, both scuttling several meters down the sidewalk.
“Hello, Slayer,” I purred.
“Ruin.” Her voice was much steelier and slightly muffled in her mask compared to the cheerful tone she greeted Connor with during the daylight. “I’m not playing with you tonight.” She lowered her gun so it was pointed at the ground—if Jade had a vice it was that she followed rules to the letter.
“Why not? You had enough time to warn off that looney human.” I abruptly leaned into her.
Fast as lightning, Jade struck with her left hand pausing inches away from my throat so the filed point of the hair stick clenched in her hand barely pricked me. “Warning him off is part of my job.”
I cocked my head. “And I am not included in your work?”
“No,” the blonde vampire drolly said somewhere behind me. “Because you’re above our paygrade.”
“Nonsense. I believe in you, Slayer. We’re definitely on equal levels.” The words reminded me of what the insipid Auberi had said hours earlier—that Killian’s One could never be his equal. I gritted my teeth in irritation but forced a smile and forged ahead, determined not to let that idiot ruin my fun. “Or at least we’re as close to equals as I can get.”