89

You step back and stand flush with the wall, allowing its shadows to embrace you, keeping you hidden within their grasp. As long as you stay perfectly still no mortal will be able to detect your presence. Of course you could move around within the cloak if necessary, but you'd rather not provoke your Hunger unless you have no other choice.

The door opens, admitting a tall, slender man in a deep blue coat. An angry red scar on his right cheek marks the newcomer as Ichiro, Alisha Grey's ghoul and retainer. His right hand rests on the hilt of a sheathed sword—you suppose that after the attack on the building he's less worried about being seen carrying his weapon by mortals than he is about supernatural adversaries. Just your luck. Your prey has come right to you.

You wait until an opportunity presents itself. Finally, your patience is rewarded when Ichiro takes out his phone and starts typing in a number.

Power surges through your body, and you can feel your muscles tense up like pistons ready to fire. Before the ghoul knows what's happened, you've laid him flat-out on the floor. He rolls to the side, desperately trying to bring his sword to bear, but you grasp his wrist tightly in your hand, squeezing until you can feel bones break within fragile flesh with an audible snapping. To his credit, Ichiro never screams—in fact he doesn't say a word—but the glare in his eyes is one of pure hatred. You straddle him as he wriggles in your grasp. With no hands left to finish him off, you use the last weapon available. The vitae-powered strength of your head-butt cracks the ghoul's skull and his body falls limp beneath you.

Such a blow would have killed a mortal, but vampire retainers are made of sterner stuff. He'll survive if you allow him to. He's at your mercy. Whether you kill him or spare him, you'll have to choose quickly.