“What the hell-?” he muttered, pulling back.

I smiled. “Surprise!” And then I struck.

It would have been a killing blow, but Liam was faster than I anticipated. He swept my feet out from under me just as I jabbed, so my silver missed his heart by inches. Instead of attempting to regain my stability, I let myself drop, rolling away from the kick he aimed at my head. Liam moved in a streak to try it again, but then jerked back when three of my throwing knives landed in his chest. Dammit, I’d missed his heart again.

“Sweet bleedin’ Christ!” Liam exclaimed. He quit pretending to be human and let his eyes turn glowing emerald while fangs popped out in his upper teeth. “You must be the fabled Red Reaper. What brings the vampire bogeyman to my home?”

He sounded intrigued, but not afraid. He was more wary, however, and circled around me as I sprang to my feet, throwing off my jacket to better access my weapons.

“The usual,” I said. “You murdered humans. I’m here to settle the score.”

Liam actually rolled his eyes. “Believe me, poppet, Jerome and Thomas had it coming. Those thieving bastards stole from me. It’s so hard to find good help these days.”

“Keep talking, pretty boy. I don’t care.”

I rolled my head around on my shoulders and palmed more knives. Neither of us blinked as we waited for the other to make a move. What Liam didn’t know was that I was aware he’d summoned for help. I could hear the ghoul creep quietly closer toward us, barely disturbing the air around him. Liam’s chattering was just to buy time.

He shook his head in apparent self-recrimination.

“Your appearance should have warned me. The Red Reaper is said to have hair as red as blood, gray eyes like smoke, and your skin…mmm, now there’s the real distinction. I’ve never seen such beautiful flesh on a human before. Christ, girl, I wasn’t even going to bite you. Well, not the way you’re thinking.”