“Aren’t you two pretty ones?” Nina mocked. She wouldn’t show them how scared she was.

The shorter vampire let a snarl rip from his throat. “Hm, looks like delicious dinner.”

Dinner?

Not if she could help it. “More like an amuse-bouche. There’s hardly enough for one of you, let alone two.” Maybe she could get them to fight among each other. “Look, there really isn’t much of me at all.”

She stretched her arms out to the sides to show off her slender body, while covertly adjusting her stance to fighting mode.

“It’ll be plenty,” Butt Ugly assured her and flashed his fangs.

“Now, I hope you brushed your teeth this evening. There’s nothing worse than a vampire with bad breath,” she chided. Was it smart to provoke him? Frankly, anything to gain time so she could work out a strategy was fine with her. Even if it meant making them mad.

“Sassy, I give you that. I’m sure your blood will taste quite spicy. What do you think, Johan?” One side of his mouth tilted upwards and turned into a smug snarl.

His companion grinned. “I think we should do her first.” He moved his pelvis in a way which left little to her imagination.

Great! Now they wanted to do her.

Why did men always have to think about sex when they couldn’t control a woman any other way?

“Typical man! Can’t defeat a woman with his intellect, so he’s got to whip out his dick. That’s really manly, wow.” She flicked her middle finger at them.

Johan took a step closer, but Butt Ugly stopped him. “The boss said to get rid of her and stop her from snooping around any longer, so that’s all we’re gonna do.” He paused and angled his head as if assessing her for the first time. “Well, no use wasting a good snack.” He smacked his lips together in an unmistakable gesture.

Nina didn’t like the sound of it. No wonder her informant had sold her out. Somebody was after her. And she had an idea of who had sent those goons. Amaury had obviously realized after their encounter last night that she knew he was a vampire and was now taking action.

If she hadn’t completely lost it during his kiss, maybe her hand wouldn’t have twitched and accidentally dropped the stake. He’d most likely heard it fall to the ground and found it. It didn’t take much to put two and two together. She couldn’t dwell on it. Her half-baked plan of distracting him with a kiss had backfired, and now she was going to pay for it. Dearly.

If she was going down, at least she would try to take one of them with her. Apart from her life, she had nothing else to lose.

“I failed you, Eddie,” she whispered to herself. A second later she lifted her head and locked her jaw. One deep breath to fill her lungs with oxygen, and she was ready for her last fight.

Nina launched into a sprint, gained momentum and jumped, kicking her foot into Johan’s chest Bruce Lee style. The vampire was taken by surprise and stumbled backwards. Without taking a breather, she landed firmly on both feet and instantly turned back, facing the second vampire.

Butt Ugly sneered. His right hook connected with her shoulder, before she had even seen it coming. Her body whipped back as the pain radiated downwards. For a moment, black dots clouded her vision. Her lungs fought for breath, fighting against the burn charging through her cells.

Damn, the bastard was fast!

A sound behind her warned her that Johan was on his feet again. Guessing what was coming, she took a roll to the side before his claws could grab her. It didn’t save her for long. Butt Ugly reared his head and jumped toward her.

Nina lunged onto the garbage skip and escaped his reach by jumping off on the other side.

“Go around it,” Butt Ugly ordered his companion.

Now they both came toward her, one from the right, one from the left. Remembering her gymnastics training, she did a cartwheel and sauntered over the bins a second time. Her shoe caught on the bin and she slipped, landing hard on her side.

Searing pain ripped through her. Her ribs felt badly bruised. She would be lucky if they weren’t broken. But she had no time to check. Her attackers were already upon her. A claw dug into her shoulder and pulled her up, lifting her off the ground.

“Now we’ve got you,” Johan said, triumph coloring his voice.

“You bastards!” she screamed at the top of her lungs and kicked her legs at him, still suspended in the air. With her right arm she tried to grasp for any part of his body where she could do damage, but only now did she realize that she’d lost one of her stakes with her evasive maneuvers. Her left hand still held the second stake, but Johan had immobilized her with his painful grip to her shoulder.