“Don’t you have any bleedin’ respect for artifacts? That piece was older than I am! And how in the blazes did you get eyes like that?”

I didn’t need to look to know what he was talking about. My formerly gray gaze would now be glowing as green as Liam’s. Fighting brought out the proof of my mixed heritage that my unknown vampire father had left me.

“That bone puzzle was older than you are, huh? So you’re what, two hundred? Two fifty? You’re strong then. I’ve skewered vamps as old as seven hundred who didn’t hit as hard as you do. You’re going to be fun to kill.”

God help me, but I wasn’t kidding. There was no sport when I just staked a vampire and let my team sweep up the remains.

Liam grinned at me. “Two hundred and twenty, poppet. In pulseless years, that is. The other ones weren’t good for anything but poverty and misery. London was a sewage back then. Looks much better now.”

“Too bad you won’t be seeing it again.”

“I doubt that, poppet. You think you’ll enjoy killing me? I know I’ll love fucking you.”

“Let’s see what you’ve got,” I taunted.

He flew across the room-too swiftly for me to avoid him-and delivered a brutal blow to my head. It made light explode in my brain and would have put a normal person right into the grave. Me, I’d never been normal, so while I fought nausea, I also reacted quickly.

I went limp, letting my mouth hang open and my eyes roll back as I dropped to the ground with my throat temptingly tilted upward. Near my relaxed hand was one of the throwing knives he’d pulled from his chest. Would Liam kick me while I was down, or see how badly I was hurt?

My gamble paid off. “That’s better,” Liam muttered, and knelt next to me. He let his hands travel over my body, and then he grunted in amusement.

“Talk about an army of one. Woman’s wearing a whole bloody arsenal.”

He unzipped my pants in a businesslike manner. Probably he was going to strip me of my knives; that would be the smart thing. When he pulled my pants past my hips, however, he paused. His fingers traced over the tattoo on my hip that I’d gotten four years ago, right after I left my old life in Ohio behind for this new one.