A Shade of Vampire 32: A Day of Glory Read Online Free PDF Page A

chests, we went on with our journey.
    We stayed close to each other on the deck, huddled together in the control cabin with Cecil. If Bastien’s family did arrive, we would be better off together than scattered around different parts of the ship.
    I began to mistake every flock of birds in the sky for the Mortclaws zooming in our direction.
    Finally, I spotted the harrowing sight I had been waiting for… well, not exactly.
    It was a single werewolf hurtling toward us.
    Bastien immediately shot to his feet, gripping my arm and pushing me behind him. Which I found rather ironic. Of the two of us, I was actually more capable of defending myself from this young woman than Bastien was. I possessed supernatural speed and flight.
    Within a few seconds, she had landed on the deck. She stood before us in her humanoid form.
    Fury burned in her irises as they locked with Bastien’s. I feared that she was about to shoot her laser-like fire… but she saved that for me.
    As she turned to me, I saw what was coming before she could act. I hurtled into the air, and as I glanced back to check her distance, Yuraya looked stunned. She had not been expecting that. At all.
    Maybe I took a page or two out of your book, wolf.
    Recovering, she zoomed after me with renewed vigor. As she chased after me in the sky, I refused to look back in case I met her eyes. But I could sense that she was closing in on me far faster than was comfortable.
    In an attempt to shake her off at least somewhat, I dove into the water and passed beneath the boat. I burst out on the other side.
    That hardly did much to distract her. She was already catching up again.
    As fast as I could travel, I exchanged a panicked glance with Bastien. I didn’t know how to handle the situation. Keep running from her? She would only keep chasing me until she had me in her grip, turned into a wolf and tore me apart—likely eating me in the process.
    Even if I was supposedly one of her own, any connection she might have felt to me because of the potion was completely overpowered by her sheer envy. I could have been her sister and she would have acted the same.
    “Yuraya!” Bastien bellowed up. I could see how frustrated he was, being bound to the ground. If he could fly, he would have been chasing after her. “Come down here!” he demanded of her. “Talk to me!”
    I would have let out a dry chuckle had I not been so focused on dodging Yuraya as she lunged for me. Talking was obviously the last thing that Yuraya planned on doing for a while.
    “Leave her alone!” he roared. “If you want to fight, do it with someone your own size. Come and fight me!”
    What was Bastien saying? He wasn’t her own size . He wasn’t anywhere near her size once she had transformed into a wolf. She was a giant.
    To my horror, Yuraya paused in the sky and glanced down at Bastien.
    I couldn’t believe that she was actually considering his words and averting her focus from me.
    “And what if I won, Bastien? What if I pinned you down and squashed your throat until you were one breath away from your last? Then what? What difference would it make?” Her voice faltered and, to my surprise, the corners of her eyes moistened. “You would still not love me! You have given yourself to this… this bitch!”
    “Come down here,” Bastien repeated, his voice remarkably steady. “Come down here to my level.”
    As I distanced myself from her, she glanced up at me, reluctance filling her face. I was just about ready to avert my eyes again in case she shot more fire, but then, with a shuddering sigh, she descended to the deck in front of Bastien. Now I found myself lowering, afraid of what she was going to do next. I could hardly imagine a more unpredictable creature than a slighted she-wolf. They could be hard to predict even at the best of times.
    Bastien eyed her with similar trepidation. He took a step back, maintaining his distance from her like she was an escaped zoo animal. Which, really, she