Rush of Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page B

was no longer the victim. She was the one who wanted blood, damn it—and she was going to take it.
    As the Casus released her right arm to grab his mangled nose, she dipped and twisted, the front of her sweater catching on something and tearing as she wrenched herself out of his hold. With a feral growl, he swung his fist, the blow catching her on the cheekbone, but like Carlson’s first punch, his fist simply skidded across her face, leaving her unharmed.
    “What the fuck is going on?” he demanded in confusion, just as she countered with her own jab, her fist connecting with his mouth and splitting his lip.
    “Are you really that stupid?” Carlson muttered, finally moving back to his feet. His jaw was swelling, slurring his words, but Raine could still understand him. “She’s wearing one of the Markers, you blind idiot.”
    The Casus’s ice-blue gaze dipped to the metallic cross now visible through her torn sweater, his lip curling with disgust. “How the hell did she get that?”
    “I stole it,” Raine offered with a sharp smile, releasing her talons. She could have turned and ran, and wouldhave likely been able to get away. But she’d come to Paris with a plan and she wasn’t leaving until she’d seen it through.
    “What do we do?” he asked his comrade.
    “We take her. Just because we can’t hurt her doesn’t mean we can’t capture her.”
    Oh, hell, no.
    She’d been there, done that, and there was no way she was going back again.
    They came at her hard and fast, and Raine fought wildly. But it wasn’t enough, and she suddenly realized they were just biding their time, waiting for her to wear herself down.
    Knowing she had to go on the offensive, she reached for the cross hanging around her neck and pulled it over her head. Gripping the warm metal in the palm of her right hand, she tightened her fingers around the ancient weapon and felt the familiar, excruciating burn of heat as it began to transform her arm into an instrument of death. One that was called an Arm of Fire, because of the way molten flames would engulf her entire limb, from fingers to shoulder, when she found her target. Once her arm was glowing with the power of the cross, she had to punch her way through the back of the monster’s neck, at the base of his skull, and then her arm would erupt into flames, those flames spreading through the creature’s body, torching him from the inside out. It was the only way to truly destroy a Casus, sending its soul on a oneway trip to hell.
    In Spain, she had made sure her prey was too weakto fight back before using the Marker, but this time was going to have to be different.
    “Who’s ready to play with me now?” she rasped, while they snarled at her glowing arm. They were clearly frightened, knowing she now had the power to kill them. They weren’t, however, frightened enough to run.
    I’m just going to have to change that.
    Together, they rushed her, demonic growls tearing up from their throats, the moonlight glinting against the jagged fangs now filling their mouths. Carlson delivered a powerful roundhouse that caught her on the shoulder, and while the cross protected her from the bruising force of the blow, it was still enough to knock her down. Her knees hit hard against the gritty asphalt, but she kept rolling, coming up in a low crouch. The second Casus came at her and she hissed, baring her fangs as she sprang forward, slicing her talons across his throat. Blood sprayed, but it wasn’t enough to take him down, the host’s body able to endure more than a human could while it was possessed by one of the shades. As she tried to get behind him, where she could drive her burning hand into his neck, he grabbed hold of her left arm, slamming her into the ground. Raine hit the asphalt so hard that her breath left her lungs, but she immediately started to twist and kick when she felt Carlson wrap his long fingers around one of her ankles.
    “Now get her off the ground!” he barked at