“Bertha…” I want to tell her overcoming denial is the first step, but I’m worried it will only make her angrier. “Look, I know what you’re going through. I know it’s hard. But—”
“Please. You don’t know anything,” Bertha cuts me off, her voice thick with scorn. “You’re just a total idiot who fell for my trap. All I had to do was hint that Pyrus knew about Sunny’s whereabouts and you were on the next plane—in some moronic attempt to save her. Then we simply had to follow our noses—or, more technically, the bug our loyal Consortium member Marcia placed on Jareth’s dry-cleaning. And BINGO—the two of you led us straight to our prize.” She smirks. “Way to go, slayer. You’ve done your job and then some! Sunny, Magnus, and some other vampires in the refugee camp whom we’ve been after for centuries—what a bounty! Feel free to head back home. I can take it from here.”
“Come on,” I try, switching tactics. “You know you don’t want to do this. Sunny and Magnus have been wrongfully accused. They’re innocent. Sunny only did what she had to, to save my life.”
“Keep on defending her,” Bertha replies smugly. “It’ll be fun to report back to Slayer Inc. about how you not only denied your commission but also purposely set out to obstruct justice.”
I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from informing her that actually I’m following Slayer Inc.’s directives to the letter. Don’t want her to go back to Pyrus and tell him he’s been played like a fool this whole time—and that the organization would much rather dust HIM than my sister’s boyfriend. That would ruin everything.
“What commission?” Sunny demands. Uh-oh.
Bertha turns to her smugly. “Oh, didn’t you know? Your sister was assigned to bring you back to justice. And if she doesn’t follow through, her employment—and also her pathetic little life—will be terminated, permanently.”
I cringe as Sunny’s eyes widen in horror. Great. For the millionth time, I wish the two of us had telepathic powers—so I could let her know the real deal without spilling the beans to Bertha.
“Rayne!” Sunny cries, grabbing my arm. “Let her arrest me. It’s not worth you getting nano-ed over.”
I try to shake her off. “Sorry, sis, but that’s not going to happen. I refuse to stand here and let this Barbie-doll bitch take you away for a crime you didn’t commit ’cause she’s trying to please her sicko, abusive boyfriend.”
“Well, I refuse to let you die for simply defending me.”
Argh, she is so impossible. “Well I refuse to—”
Bertha makes an exaggerated yawn. “Can you two let me know when you’re done bickering so I can get on with arresting Sunny already? I don’t want to miss American Idol.”
“I hope you set your TiVo,” I tell her. “Because while there is breath in my body, you will never take my sister away.”
“I don’t own a TiVo. So I suggest you prepare yourself for a fight!”
Now when most people use the word prepare, that means they’re planning to give you time to get ready for the upcoming event in question. Not Bertha. The moment the words leave her mouth, she’s diving at me, screaming like some freaking banshee from Hell. It’s all I can do to leap to the side, a split second before she nearly stakes me through the heart. As she whirls around, I shove her as hard as I can, now wishing I’d taken Cinder up on the human blood—to shore up my admittedly pathetic vampire strength.
Bertha stumbles for a second then regains her balance, waving her stake in my direction, ready to spar.
“Sunny, run!” I yell at my sister as I dance at my enemy, attempting to get a punch in while avoiding her stake. It really sucks that she can end my life in a second with her weapon and I can only give her glorified splinters with my own. Of course I can do some serious damage with my teeth, if only I can get close enough.
Time to make my move. A roundhouse kick takes out her stake; it goes skittering across the room. Then I follow up with a one-two punch to the stomach, attempting to knock her back. She blocks my second punch, then makes a right jab at my head, her fist slamming into my temple. The world spins, and I stumble backward, trying to see through the blood that rains down my face—cut by one of her razor-sharp rings. Bertha takes advantage of my momentary blindness and slams a fist into my stomach, causing me to double over in pain.
She grabs me by the shoulders, slamming me against the rock wall over and over again until I think my back’s about to break. It takes all my might to smash my boot down on her foot, then kick her to the stomach. As she falls backward, I throw myself on top of her, wiping the blood from my eyes and then finding her throat with my two hands and squeezing with all my might.
Her eyes bulge from her head as I tighten my grip. From behind me I can hear Sunny screaming—begging me not to kill her—to think of the consequences. But the rage inside of me is too great, and the sudden bloodlust washes over me in a tidal wave. All the kinder, gentler vampire training flees as my anger takes control, pure fury spilling over at this girl who thinks she can hurt my family and get away with it. My fangs descend from my gums and I sink them into her now-bloated jugular, ready to steal away her life as she tried to steal my sister’s and my own.
“Rayne! Stop it!” Sunny’s cries are dim and muted under the bloodlust rushing through my ears. “Don’t kill her! Don’t sink to her level! Remember what you learned in rehab. Remember what happened to Corbin!”