CHAPTER 267: VAMPIRE HUNT 27

Selis narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "You’re acting really suspicious right now. Aren’t we supposed to be a team? I’ve told you all my secrets—some of them really embarrassing, mind you—and now you’re holding back?"

Lucian didn’t even flinch. "I don’t trust you."

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You’re only here," he continued, "because I needed an extra pair of hands to infiltrate the inner sanctum. Don’t read too much into it."

Selis nodded slowly, then gave a sharp, mocking laugh. "Wow. So I’m just . . . expendable labor now? Good to know. Remind me to stop catching arrows for you next time."

"I’m the one who’s catching arrows for you," Lucian deadpanned.

The old man cleared his throat. "Anyway. You only get one shot. The sanctum’s layout was deliberately confusing to disorient intruders . . . and now, well, I hear there are enchantments. Maybe even guardian golems."

Selis immediately regretted her earlier sarcasm. Her track record with traps and narrow escapes wasn’t exactly stellar.

They hadn’t even finished their meeting with the old man when the deep, echoing toll of the town alarm shattered the calm.

It wasn’t just any alarm—it was the alarm. The kind that turned blood cold and told everyone to grab a weapon or pray.

Lucian stood instantly, folded the map, tucking it into his satchel. "Let’s go."

"Wait—we’re jumping from secret meeting to fighting for our lives again?" Selis blinked. "Can we not have one

day without vampires?"

But Lucian was already halfway up the basement steps.

Selis groaned, following. "That’s a no, then."

Above ground, chaos reigned. The sleepy little town had transformed into a war zone. Screams echoed between buildings. Hunters shouted commands. Flames licked the rooftops, and in the distance, a massive shadow loomed.

Tessa was already in the thick of it, swinging her blade. She cleaved through a charging vampire, blood spraying her cheek as she turned—and spotted Selis arriving behind Lucian.

"You!" she snapped mid-swing, stabbing another vampire through the chest without breaking eye contact. "Why are you with the captain?! Where did you go?! Don’t tell me you caused trouble again and he had to save your sorry—!"

Selis smiled sweetly. "We had a date."

"WHAT?!" Tessa shrieked—just before cleanly decapitating a vampire like she was chopping vegetables. Her eye twitched. "Was the date during the mission or instead of it? Never mind, I don’t want to know. I’m going to kill something now. Possibly you."

"Romance is blooming in the bloodshed, Tessa. Try not to be jealous."

"Jealous?! Of you?!" Tessa swung again, slicing through two enemies like she was imagining they both wore Selis’s face.

"You two," Lucian growled as he charged into the fray, "shut up and fight."

The ground trembled. A piercing shriek echoed across the battlefield, sending a chill down every hunter’s spine.

From the shadows emerged a tall figure draped in a crimson cloak, his presence suffocating. His fangs gleamed beneath his hood, and with a flick of his hand, lesser vampires surged forward like a crashing wave.

"Oh great," Selis muttered. "Is that—?"

"One of Salister’s generals," Lucian confirmed grimly. "And he brought friends."

Tessa cursed, kicking a vampire off her blade. "Well. There goes my weekend."

The squad formed up quickly, fending off the horde.

Selis ducked a swipe from a feral vampire and slammed a dagger into its throat, muttering, "We better sleep in the inn after this."

Flames, blood, and silver clashed under the moonlight. For Selis, it was just another day of chaos, awkward one-sided romance, and trying not to get impaled by someone who was supposed to be on her side.

At least she wasn’t bored.

While everyone else was busy fighting for their lives—screaming, slashing, dodging vampire claws and fangs—Selis found herself staring.

Not at the vampire lord.

Not at the incoming horde.

Not even at Tessa, who had just punched a vampire so hard it lost a tooth.

No, Selis was staring at Lucian.

The man fought like the entire world owed him money.

One moment he was driving a stake clean through a vampire’s chest, the next he was flipping over another mid-air like gravity was optional. His coat didn’t even get wrinkled.

Selis blinked, nearly missing her own parry. "Okay, what the hell are you?"

She had always known Lucian was good. Ridiculously good. That was kind of his whole deal. Captain of the squad, legendary hunter, strongest human alive, the kind of man people whispered about in pubs while polishing their crossbows and wondering why they even bothered. The hero of this story.

But the more she watched him, the more suspicious she became.

His strength, his speed—it wasn’t just training or talent. It was inhuman. Like he’d been handpicked from a vat labeled "Super Soldier: Experimental Batch."

Some of the others had theories. Tessa swore a priest put a divine spell on him. The old guys in the guild liked to say he was "God’s chosen blade" or some holy nonsense like that.

Selis wasn’t buying it.

She’d seen him up close. Touched his arm once. (For reconnaissance purposes, obviously.) He bled like a human. Got mad like one. Sulked like one too, especially when another vampire hunter died.

She’d seen his injuries—broken ribs, stab wounds that should’ve had him bedridden for a month.

And yet . . .

A week later, he was up and walking like nothing happened. Not even a limp. Just a fresh shirt and that same grim scowl like he’d slept off a mild hangover instead of almost dying.

"Yep," Selis muttered to herself while stabbing a vampire in the thigh, "definitely suspicious."

He was human. She was sure of it. But there was something else.

Something he was hiding. And she was starting to think it had everything to do with why he was so obsessed with the inner sanctum, the old maps . . . and especially with why he was helping her find Emerald Blood.

And Selis wanted to find out what he was hiding. If no one wanted to ask about it, she would.