Slayer (Slayer #1)

I take off for the darkest end of the alley, where the vampire disappeared and where, according to Cillian’s map, we’ll find the warehouse. Running by my side, Leo passes me the stake I had left behind on the ground. It feels like a promise that I’m not sure I want to keep.

13

ARTEMIS PAUSES AT THE ALLEY’S end. Buildings stretch in either direction, their facades as blank and unhelpful as a dead cell phone. “We wasted too much time back there.”

Anger flares, but Leo speaks before I can. “Athena saved that girl’s life.”

It sounds like he’s talking about someone else. Maybe that’s what I liked about him when I was thirteen—it felt like he saw someone else when he looked at me. But now I worry he still sees someone else: Someone capable. Someone who can do this. Someone like Artemis, not me. Because I did save Sarah. But what if the vampire kills someone else before we stake her? That’s on me.

Artemis looks from side to side, checking for threats. “Which way is the warehouse?”

I’m disoriented too. Most of the lamps are broken. The buildings back here are derelict. It’s almost totally dark now, the full moon obscured by clouds.

I look to the left and see nothing. I look to the right and see nothing either, but there’s a sick twist of my stomach and a spike of adrenaline that make me suddenly sure I do not want to go that way. Not for anything in the world.

Artemis turns and stalks to the left.

“Down here, I think.” I point to the right.

“How do you know?” Artemis asks.

She’s the one who wanted me to chase the vampire, and now she’s questioning my instincts? “Because I’m terrified and I also feel like I could lift a car over my head.” Slayer feelings are no joke. It’s like little jolts of electricity are shooting through my body, pumping my blood closer to the surface of my skin. I’m attuned to every physical sensation inside, and every emotion and potential in the air outside of me. I feel myself being pulled in the direction of danger.

Artemis grits her teeth but nods. “Behind me,” she says, prowling forward.

I should be the one taking the lead since I’m technically the strongest, but as soon as that thought pops up, it disappears. I may be the strongest, but Artemis is the most competent. And even with my new powers, I don’t see that changing.

My shoes sound loud, though not as loud as the pounding of my heart. Up ahead there’s a building with the windows boarded up. Every window, in fact. Most of these buildings have the windows smashed out, with nothing replacing them. Why board up these? Unless there’s something inside that has a personal reason to avoid sunlight.

I stumble, my body tensing with remembered trauma. Leo’s not going to save me from a vampire tonight. Now it’s my job to save people. And I know this is our building as surely as I know I’m not ready to go in.

“There,” I say.

Artemis stares up at the building, hands on her hips. “There has to be a way in. Leo and I will scout. Nina, you stay by the door and alert us if anyone is coming.”

“Shouldn’t Athena—”

Artemis cuts Leo off. “We’re the ones with training. We’re not putting her in harm’s way any more than we have to.”

Part of me is glad she’s taking charge. But part of me is annoyed. It’s my Slayerness, my dreams, that brought us here. I shouldn’t be on lookout duty. Except I don’t want fighting duty either.

The closest door is boarded up from the outside. Huge new planks have been nailed in place. Why did the vampire do it from the outside, instead of the inside? It looks more Keep In rather than Keep Out.

There’s a ladder halfway up the building’s brick wall, rusted iron from the looks of it. It’s hard to tell in the dark if it goes all the way to the roof, but my guess is it does. And if there’s a ladder leading up, that means there’s probably a way to get in from the roof.

It’s too high to reach, though, thank goodness.

Then I cringe. It is too high for a normal human. Artemis won’t approve. She wants me outside, safe. But I have to believe that I have these powers for a reason. I crouch and then jump with all my might. I overshoot, sailing up past the last rung and scrambling for a hold somewhere in the middle. The ladder groans in metallic protest, but it holds. Unfortunately.

“Dammit, Nina!” Artemis stomps her foot. “We can’t get up that way!”

“Go around and find a door.”

“No. Come back down. Now.”

There’s a popping noise. I climb up as fast as I can, the ladder pulling free from the wall. I jump the last few feet, hanging on to the roof’s edge as the ladder swings drunkenly away from the building. No one else is coming up that way.

“Nina!” Artemis hisses.