Know Thine Enemy (3 page)

"
No thanks, Romeo," Izzie said flatly. "You're not my type."

Another vamp roared a mocking laugh.
"Think we got ourselves our own personal Anita Whatserface."

"
Not quite as slutty, but I'll take it." She landed a high kick on the third vampire's head before whirling to catch the flying fist of the vamp behind her. "Must be a slow night." She twisted his wrist to leverage a harsh kick to his back. "All three of you taking on someone half your size."

The first vamp growled
and backhanded her hard enough to send her to the ground. "Seemed like a fair fight."

She was on her feet again in a blink.
"And here I thought one of the perks to being skinny was not looking like an entrée."

"
Typically means you don't struggle as much."

"
Sorry to break the norm."

There was
a blur of movement and a flash of fang. Then a horrific, blood-bubbling gasp rang through the otherwise empty alleyway, bouncing off buildings and dumpsters.

"
Son of a bitch!"

Ryker craned his neck, and was supremely unsurprised to see the blade handle protruding from the first vamp
's chest.

These clowns were exactly the sort of vamps that gave his kind the shit
-ass rep they had in the first place. Bloodthirsty pricks who thought with their fangs drew all sorts of unwanted attention and tended to bite off more than they could chew. Izzie was just that. She wielded her dagger—the only weapon he'd seen her carry—like an artist might wield a brush. The things she did with it, the strokes she made, were downright inspiring.

Ryker
's eyebrows hit his hairline, a steady breath rushing past his lips. The others stood in dumb shock as she strolled to a nearby dumpster and recovered a discarded restroom sign in the shape of an arrow, reading "MEN." All the while, her expression remained indifferent, and no one seized the opportunity to leap to their friend's defense. For her part, Izzie returned to the vampire's side with a grunt, jerked her blade free, and thrust the sign into his chest in her knife's stead.

She
'd been doing this a long time.

"
Hey!" one of the other vamps cried belatedly. "You killed Ricky."

She arched a brow.
"And welcome back. Ricky?"

"
Dan, she killed Ricky!"

Izzie blinked and shook her head
, her expression taut as though fighting off a grin. "You all sure are a perceptive bunch."

"
Dude," said Dan the Vamp as he climbed to his feet. "Not cool. No one kills Ricky and gets away with it."

At that,
she laughed. Hell, so did Ryker. Not only were these vamps clumsy, they were young. Youth always betrayed itself, one way or another.

"
Was Ricky your ringleader?" she asked. "Big brother? AA Sponsor?"

"
We don't go to AA," said Not Dan. "We're
vampires."

"
Ah-huh." She rolled her eyes and leveled a harsh, showy kick in Ricky's side. "Well, for vampires, you sure don't know a lot about your own kind. For starters . . . Ricky here? Not dead so much as incapacitated."

"
What?" demanded Dan.

"
He looks dead to me," the other said.

Ryker smothered a snort, his focus remaining on Izzie. She didn
't look much impressed either.

"
Vamps die three ways, boys. Just three ways." She held up a hand. "Decapitation—which is really gross and takes more time than you'd think. There's fire—but, honestly, what
doesn't
that kill? And sunlight. Stabbing the heart is only effective insofar as sending the body into a state of paralysis. If Ricky gets his two bestest chums to get him out of this sticky situation before morning, he might just live to annoy me another night. Survey says, though, that neither of you are the brightest bulbs in the box, so I'm going with a really long last few hours to think about what he's done before Mr. Sun comes and burns him to a nice, overcooked crisp."

Ryker couldn
't help his grin. No, she most definitely wasn't like any hunter he'd encountered. What the hell brought her out here at night?

"
Unless . . . ." Izzie twirled her blade and scuffed her boots along the ground. "One of you wants to prove me wrong."

"
Yeah." Not Dan growled. "We're gonna prove you wrong, all right. Dan?"

"
Ricky doesn't look good, bro."

"
Well, let's take care of the she-bitch, and we'll get him outta here."

"
Take your time deciding," said the girl. "I've got all night."

Ryker cleared his throat. Not that he didn
't enjoy watching a good ass-mopping every once and a while, but these last few nights had been a little one-sided. Now seemed as good a time as any to man-up and introduce himself. It wasn't like she had anything pressing going on.

"
You forgot one," he said loudly, earning a feminine gasp.

He liked that. Most female hunters thought it necessary to downplay their sex. Not Izzie. In a moment of pure reaction, she responded with a
very womanly sound.

"
Way to kill them, that is."

For a long second, they just looked at each other. He knew she recognized his kind immediately. Once one became familiar with vampires, they were easy to pick out of a line-up. As for Izzie, with escaped strands of dark hair in her face, sweat beading down her arms, her chest rising and falling with her rhythmic breaths
—she seemed ethereal, herself, in that moment. Ryker had forgotten the power of a human stare. He rarely looked at ordinary people this way.

Of course, Izzie was far from ordinary.

"Oh yeah?" she replied at last, her shoulders straightening. "What's that?"

"
Through the heart."

Izzie frowned.
"No, Special-Ed, I believe I covered that. Paralysis—"

"
Try swabbing the blade in holy water next time," Ryker offered.

"
Dude!" whined Not Dan. "Don't tell her that. Aren't you, like, on our side?"

"
No," he said shortly. "Your side makes our kind look like a load of drunk Goth wannabes. If any one of you had taken a second to give her a look, you would've known what you were getting into."

Izzie didn
't crack a grin. She just stared at him and twirled her blade.

"
She's tiny, bro," Dan said. "Didn't seem like much."

"
Then you weren't paying attention."

"
How long have you been following me?" Izzie demanded. Her inflection left room for question, but the flare in her eyes told him he'd be wasting breath.

"
Few days."

She nodded, huffing a deep breath. The look on her face betrayed more than she probably intended
. Anger, acceptance, and curiosity. It was a delicious combination.

"
Well, shit," she muttered.

"
You've been following her?" Dan asked. "Whoa, dude. Why didn't you say something? Ricky might still be here."

Ryker rolled his eyes.
"As the lady pointed out, he's not dead yet." He glanced back to Izzie. "Seriously, try the holy water thing. You'll be surprised."

"
Gee, that'd be the most helpful suggestion ever if it wasn't a bunch of bull." She indicated the cross dangling around her lovely neck. "Crucifix is decorative, meaning I know it doesn't do shit, but thanks ever so for taking me for a moron."

Ryker grinned.
"Anyone ever tell you you're cute when you're pissed?"

"
Not if they wanted to live." Her cheeks flushed and her gaze broke from his. "And are you gonna stand there all night or what?"

"
Just here to help, is all."

"
Yeah."

Not
Dan raised his hand. "Help who?"

"
You, actually." Ryker stepped forward. "Take your friend and get out."

"
Yeah, that's happening." Izzie fisted her dagger, her eyes darkening. It was the first time he'd actually seen her angry, and damn if she wasn't a sight. Still, while conflicted with a variety of clashing emotions, she didn't betray a cause. "Look,
friend,
why don't you just turn around and I'll pretend I didn't see you."

Dan whined.
"Why does he get to leave?"

"
Because he didn't try to tear my throat out."

"
That's usually not a requirement among your kind," Ryker observed. "Haven't heard of many hunters that let vamps off with a warning."

"
Well, I'm not your average bear."

He inclined his head. Understatement of the century.

"However," Izzie continued, "if you keep chatting, you might just change my mind. So why don't you make like a tree and yadda yadda."

"
You always this charming?"

"
Sometimes, I can be downright rude." Her eyebrows perked. "It's not very becoming though, and I try to avoid it. Can I get back to work, now, or is there something else?"

"
Told you already." Ryker crossed his arms. "These gents have had a rough enough night. Why don't you let them take their friend and scamper? Doubt any one of them will pick a fight with you again."

"
I can guarantee they won't," Izzie said, raising her blade.

"
No fun in that." He nodded to Dan and the other one, both of whom remained stupid and motionless with nearly identical vacant expressions. "You boys better get moving."

A muscle in
Izzie's jaw ticked. "You have no right—"

"
Why don't you stop me?" Ryker spread his arms and took a step forward. "Shove that knife where it belongs. Come on, give us a swing."

He didn
't miss the way her breathing hitched. She hadn't been challenged like this before—not with an open confrontation or anything that didn't come with swinging fists or empty threats. She stared at him long enough to clue in Dan and Not Dan that if they wanted to escape, the time was now. Their pounding footsteps echoed off the pavement.

Izzie snapped out of her stupor and turned with a groan to her scattered prey, but they were a good ways down the alley.

She could chase them. They might have enhanced preternatural speed, but she would catch up. Ryker had no doubt. She was trained to hunt and kill. The night belonged to her.

"
Come on, sweets," he coaxed as her gaze drew slowly back to him. "You know you wanna."

Izzie favored him with another long, confused stare before sighing, her shoulders falling slack.
"Who the hell are you?"

"
A friend."

"
Whose friend?"

"
That's for me to know."

"
A friend who wanted you to follow me?" Her eyes narrowed. "And you haven't tried to take me out?"

"
Haven't had a need." He glanced at the blade. "You're not gonna put that somewhere painful?"

"
You gonna give me a reason?"

"
Already told you, those in your line of work don't need a reason. Never seen it before." Ryker took another step forward. "Why do you?"

"
Why do I what?"

She was stalling but Ryker didn
't mind. "Need a reason."

Izzie
was so close, now. Her scent flooded his nostrils—a combination of sweat, deodorant, and cheap motel shampoo. No frilly perfumes or girly body washes. The scent didn't surprise him. The best way to attract a demon was to give it a whiff of human au natural, though he couldn't be sure if that was the reason Izzie relied on little more than Lady Speed Stick. At once, her eyes were large and vulnerable, as though she didn't know her right from her left. As though she realized just how alone she was, and how far she stood from Butch's shadow.

Which went a long way to explain why Ryker found himself on the ground the next second, his eye burning from her punch and his ears ringing with the hard race of footsteps as she tore her way home.

Poor thing spooked easy, it seemed.

He
'd have to do something about that.

Chapter Two

She hadn't slept. Not a damn wink.

It was the vampire
's fault. Izzie had no idea from where he'd come or why he'd been there. The entire encounter left her shaken and with a tingling sensation in her stomach. Normally, she didn't let anyone under her skin, much less a pale bloodsucker with twinkling eyes and a sensuous smirk. Granted, Izzie hadn't met many vamps who came out of the shadows with a wink and a nod, and intervened on the behalf of whoever she was about to kill. From her experience, vamps typically had the preservation of numero uno in mind. She'd never been approached so openly.