Intrusion Read Online Free PDF Page A

I had, mostly twisting out of the way, but one of the axes
still managed to connect with a glancing blow to her
shoulder.
    The taller vampire took a quick step towards
Dom, intent on finishing off the greater threat, and I saw my
opportunity. His head was protected by a mostly-collapsed roofing
strut, but that wasn't my target.
    I latched onto the meaty part of his sword arm
and whipped him around, slamming him into a metal post before he
could respond, but I didn't manage to keep him off balance. No
human frame should have had the strength to jerk me around the way
he was, but he was apparently old enough that the normal limits
didn't apply.
    I whipped my neck back and forth, trying to
break his arm before letting go, but it refused to break, and I
felt a mounting sense of desperation. I was fully committed, but he
still had a hand free, and only the violence of my movements was
keeping him from bringing it into play.
    The fighting was even closer now. I
caught glimpses of the action as the tall vampire and I circled.
Jasmin clinching with a skeletally thin woman, James and Alec
circling with a cloaked figure who impossibly seemed to be holding
them at bay, Isaac squared off against two more
vampires.
    We were all within a couple dozen yards of each
other now, but all too wrapped up with our own opponents to help
each other out. I whipped my head back to the left again, and it
happened. My right foreleg slipped and I failed to pull the vampire
off balance.
    Jasmin or Dom would have let go right then and
there and sprung away, but I hesitated and the vampire pulled a
knife from somewhere. I tried to correct my error, tried to get
away, but he was too quick.
    The feel of the knife sliding into my side
brought a new meaning to the concept of terror. I thrashed around,
trying to escape, but the roles had now been reversed. The vampire
had me by the throat with an iron grip while his right hand dug the
knife around.
    I kept expecting it to pierce my
heart, but ultimately it didn't matter one way or the other. I was
already getting weaker. Shape shifters didn't bleed out quickly,
but it was only a matter of time.
    The vampire pulled the knife out,
bringing his arm back so he could stab it down with more force, and
then suddenly Isaac was there. The vampire tried to whirl around,
but Isaac was too fast for him, sinking razor-sharp claws into the
vampire's chest at the same time that he immobilized the hand
holding the knife.
    The realization that I was going to
live occurred at roughly the same time that I finally took in the
damage to Isaac's huge hybrid body. He was covered with slashes,
but the most fearsome wound was created by a sword that was still
sunk into his body all of the way to the hilt. On a human it would
have gone through the kidneys before exiting his back, but I didn't
have any idea if that was true for a hybrid as well.
    Isaac looked down at me for the
shortest of seconds before turning back towards the melee. By the
time I pulled myself back to my feet, it was all but over. Jasmin
had been finishing off her opponent at the same time that Isaac had
been saving me.
    Isaac's second opponent had jumped into the
fray with Alec and James, pressing them quite sorely for several
seconds, but Isaac had killed Dom's opponent just seconds after
killing mine. Once the odds were four on two, it was only a matter
of time until the vampires would be pulled down.
    I watched numbly as Alec darted in
and broke the master vampire's neck. I wasn't quite sure when I'd
resumed human form. I absently registered the bloody state of my
feet, but was in too much shock to care much.
    I made it over to the rest of the
pack a few steps behind Dom. Alec shrank down to his human form and
shook his head as he walked over to Isaac.
    "You're lucky it wasn't a couple of inches
higher or you'd have bled out before you even made it to
her."
    Isaac's voice came out low and rough from his
hybrid throat. "It was a calculated risk. On