Almost Human Read Online Free PDF Page A

up.”
    He smirked. “Awfully confident considering I
healed before your eyes. And you’re hurt.”
    He was right, but I’d win. I always won.
There was only one time I hadn’t, and it was time to finish that
bit of business. I rolled my eyes. “Are we done talking?”
    The smirk disappeared. “Yeah, we’re done
talking.”
    He slinked toward me, looking for a
weakness. I braced myself for his attack.
    “Alaric.”
    I jumped and glanced at the door. The
vampire who led Astra from the party stood in the doorway. He was
injured in several places. A shiver of fear went through me. He was
injured, not dead, which didn’t bode well for Astra. I prayed she
was alive.
    Alaric rushed me, taking advantage of my
distraction. I rolled out of the way, barely avoiding two hundred
pounds of muscular, pissed vampire.
    “Report, Jairdan. And make it quick. I’m a
little busy here.”
    “All the hunters are dead except this one,
and the one I was fighting, but she’s pretty banged up, so it might
be a matter of time. They got a few vampires before we could kill
them all. Nyx was nice enough to help. I think he came here looking
for a good brawl.”
    I stumbled and almost dropped my knife.
Shit. I’d gotten them all killed. God, my friends…and Astra was
hurt. I needed to end this quickly and get out of here. She
probably needed a patch up.
    “Misha? Jason?”
    “They’re fine.”
    I rushed forward and slashed for Alaric’s
throat. He cursed and jumped back.
    His hand went to his throat and came away
with blood. “Damn, you’re faster than I remember.”
    I sneered. “I was feeling my sister die in
that alley. That’s why I lost. It’s time to end this. Astra needs
my help.”
    He smirked, grabbed my knife hand, and
slammed it against the wooden bedpost. I howled as something
snapped. The knife slipped from my grip and tears blurred my
vision.
    “Well, she’s not going to get it.”
    I slammed my other fist into his chin. He
fell on his ass with a curse. I aimed a kick at his head,
envisioning knocking it off his body. He rolled out of the way.
    I bent to retrieve my knife with my left
hand. I trained with both, but the left always felt a little
awkward, no matter how many hours I practiced.
    Alaric rolled to his feet and ran a hand
through his sweaty hair, slicking it back from his face. God, that
was hot. It was such an inappropriate thought to have. My hormones
had apparently kicked into overdrive and sent my brain out for
lunch. Then again, the pain from my broken hand and the blood loss
had left me pretty dazed anyway. Or all of that was enough for this
vampire to slip inside my head and play with my mind. It wasn’t
impossible. It had happened before.
    I blinked to try to clear the spots from my
vision and stalked toward him.
    “Goddamn. You vampire hunters are willing to
take a lot of abuse. I can’t believe there are so many of you out
there. One look at you all beaten to shit is enough to make anyone
quit.”
    I swayed and almost fell over. “You
underestimate our resolve. Most hunters want to kill your kind
because you’ve killed someone they love.” I glanced at Casey. “This
fight is a perfect example.”
    Alaric licked his lips and relaxed his
fighting stance a bit. “Casey’s not dead. You could even spend some
time with her, if you weren’t so blindly determined to kill
her.”
    I thrust for his heart with my blade. He
dodged and delivered a staggering blow to my solar plexus. I
dropped to the ground gagging. Shit, way too slow. But I’d managed
to keep a hold of my knife. I wondered if he’d obliterated any
internal organs.
    Fuck winning. I just needed to do enough damage to
get the hell out of here. I glanced at the door. Sometime during
the fighting Misha had arrived. One vampire I could probably have
taken care of, but three? And more waiting downstairs? Things were
not looking good.
    I laid my head on the carpet and feigned
death, or at least passing out. Which wasn’t hard to do in