Witches Be Burned: A Magic & Mayhem Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

Nexi charging forward, tackling the vamp to the ground by the waist. No more pissing around—she yelled, “This isn’t working.” They couldn’t reason with this vampire. “Kill him, will you?”
    A blink of an eye later, Kyden roared, “Off.”
    She lurched backward, falling ass-first to the ground, landing with a crash. A human might flinch in pain, but the guardian magic didn’t only make Nexi stronger, it also gave her a higher level of pain tolerance. As quickly as she’d hit the floor she was back on her feet, much more graceful than she would have been before Kyden’s intensive guardian training when she first returned to the Otherworld.
    With a
swoosh,
Kyden’s sword hit the base of the vampire’s neck. Then the kid’s head hit the floor, along with a loud splatter of blood from a well-fed vampire.
    Perhaps the
old her
would’ve been horrified to witness such a ghastly death, but there were two ways to kill a vampire: cut off his head or burn him to ash. The shock value was lessened, since she knew his death had saved more innocent lives. Yet as she looked at the deceased humans around him, it didn’t seem enough of a reward. Too many lives had already been lost. “That was certainly unusual,” she said to Kyden, breathless. “I’ve never seen a vampire so lost in bloodlust before.”
    Bent at his knees and catching his breath, Kyden arched a curious brow at her.
    She rolled her eyes. “Or I should say, ‘So that’s what a vampire lost in bloodlust looks like’?” True enough, she hadn’t been on
that
many cases yet, either. Her fight so far had been with Lazarus and all those who supported him. Even if Nexi had killed more supernaturals than she could count on two hands, none had been newly made and in the throes of bloodlust.
    “Yes, that’s what bloodlust looks like.” Kyden straightened, the beads of sweat dripping along his chest glistening against the light. “And it’s about the worst I’ve ever seen bloodlust consume a vamp. I can’t imagine who would leave him in this state. It’s strange.”
    “Tragic is what it is,” she retorted.
    She also couldn’t push away the fact that tonight’s assignment had led them back to Salt Lake City. The last time Salt Lake City had trouble, Lazarus was involved. Cold worry etched her bones, and she wondered if there was a possible connection.
    Reaching for her sword, she moved toward the victims and then placed the sword’s tip gently into their stomachs to change their wounds. She always felt like a bag of shit for doing it. Even though she understood it protected supernaturals and their existence, it was a terrible thing that the victims’ loved ones never knew what really happened to them—and in the mortal world the killers were never caught. At least the guardians obtained their justice; she’d have to find comfort in that.
    Once the fang marks became gunshots, she turned to Kyden, seeing that the vampire was now gone, as was all his blood. While the magic in their swords altered wounds on humans, if the blade was used on a supernatural, the magic made the body vanish, remnants of blood included. The Otherworld didn’t bury their dead killed by enemies, nor did they celebrate their life. They got revenge for a life taken.
    Pulled by the fierceness between them, she approached. The light in the room showed off one side of his face, but that visible eye held a piercing soul that stole the air from her lungs. “Will the Council go after the vampire who turned him?” she asked.
    Kyden stepped out of the shadows and both eyes blazed at her, igniting heat in her loins and wonderment over the conversation ahead. “It would be impossible to track him or her down.” Without looking away, he backed up to the window they’d entered through, waving her before him.
    In no time, she was outside with Kyden next to her. The night air brushed her skin and the silence drifted around them. She couldn’t resist moving closer to him, his heat