Chapter 10 #3
I decided to focus solely on Lola. She’d moved slightly closer to me, and I focused on her steps, memorizing the speed and distance between each one.
They were shortening as she grew closer, and I took a step outward in order to make her work a bit harder.
She chuckled quietly and I quickly jumped in her direction to test her reaction time and speed.
She was prepared for me and swung outward, but as she did so, I noticed her fumble a bit on her left ankle.
I’d remember that.
“You should join us, Ava. We’d treat you like a queen in the ranks of the Venuti,” she murmured.
“I’d rather die,” I snarled, and her grin grew wickedly. A cold chill passed over me at the sight of her pointed teeth as she stared directly at the vein in my neck.
“I could arrange that first,” she threatened, and I practically snarled at her myself.
“It was my idea to turn your father into a monster,” she replied quietly, lifting her fingers and studying the red of her painted nails like they were the most interesting thing in the world.
“Your idea?” I scoffed.
“It was something my lover and I came up with together to force my father into an unbreakable alliance with the Venuti. It was the perfect way for me to become a vampire in the most spectacular way too,” she replied.
“Your lover?”
“Nicolai. I think you might remember him. You’re the one that shot one of your fancy bullets straight into his skull,” she snarled.
I grimaced and her face turned dark.
“I’d planned to come for you and make you suffer for killing him, but I’m delighted to get that chance far sooner than I anticipated. I’m going to enjoy this,” she murmured, lifting her chin. Her eyes glinted with a deranged delight, and I took a step back, trying to figure out my next move.
At that moment, Lawson and Toboe leapt forward and landed on top of the shoulders of a couple of small vamps in the ring. Without even a second’s hesitation, they tore through them, and I took advantage of that momentary distraction to rush straight at Lola.
She tried to swerve away from me, but I’d expected that. I kicked her left ankle as hard as I could and when she attempted to twist away from me, she crumpled just enough for me to grab at her upper arm and throw her to the side.
All her life, she’d been primped and cared for. She hadn’t trained like I had. Sure, she was a vampire, but she wasn’t prepared to fight against the likes of me.
I wound my arm around her neck and practically dragged her up by it. She sputtered and coughed, but I didn’t show her any mercy. With practiced swiftness, I pulled the sunfire knife from my belt and pressed it against her throat just hard enough to elicit a single droplet of blood.
She froze, suddenly realizing that she was in far deeper than she thought she was.
“You can’t kill me with a knife,” she spat viciously, but I detected just the slightest grain of fear in the way her voice shook.
“This isn’t just a knife,” I answered simply.
The wolves descended on the vampires surrounding me, ripping them apart and decimating their ranks in a coordinated attack. The Venuti had no time to recover and for a fraction of a second, Lawson held my gaze with his.
“End her. Make her pay for what she did to your father.”
I didn’t need to be told twice.
My hand flew back and with every single ounce of strength left in me, I buried the blade of that knife straight into Lola’s skull. She screamed, but there wasn’t enough time for her to stop what was coming. My thumb wound around the base and pressed the button at the bottom firmly and it clicked.
Just like the sunfire bullets, a massive ball of light started to consume her.
It was far larger and so bright that it mimicked the rising of the sun in the dead of night.
Her remains sizzled away in the savage heat and she collapsed to the ground as the light began to fade away.
All that was left was a headless corpse in the end.
I stared down at her for a long time. Lola and Nicolai were the entire reason behind my father’s death. Now that both of them were dead, I felt like I could breathe, like a massive weight had been taken from my shoulders and I sighed quietly in my victory.
I knew what had happened now. I knew my father wasn’t a monster and that was all I wanted in the end.
The world went silent. The vampires stopped fighting. I’d killed their leader and they were standing around now, listless and uncertain.
I began to speak.
“I want the remaining Venuti to take a message back to their leaders,” I began. Lawson and Toboe moved to either side of me, sitting down and observing all around me.
“You will leave the quarter and never come back. The Venuti have lost New Orleans and it is now the territory of the Crescent Moon Pack. Find refuge elsewhere. You are no longer welcome here.”
I stayed silent for a moment, letting my words resonate all around me.
“Additionally, if a Venuti Clan member wanders into our city without special permission, they will have signed their own death warrant. There will be no feeding on locals, no more killing of tourists so that you can eat. None of that. You will leave and never come back,” I shouted, and the vampires took a step back.
I looked around, taking in the expressions of all of them watching me. Some were terrified, others furious, and yet even more seemed to be ambivalent.
“Now go,” I roared.
Slowly, the vampires began to disappear, one by one, several pairs and even a few small groups took off together. Before long, the only people left were the shifters and me.
In the minutes that followed, I stayed silent, watching as the wolves gathered in front of me in a massive group. I looked out at them, and they all lifted their heads, howling in unison for me.
It was more than just a simple howl. It was the manifestation of their respect for me as their alpha’s mate, as their leader in my own way and my heart swelled with love and loyalty for every single one of them.
I was truly one of them now.
“You were wonderful, mate. I’m so proud of you,” Lawson told me.
I smiled, feeling nothing but love in my heart. I reached for my alpha, climbing up onto his back. He made his way back toward the house, taking me away from battle and back into the safety of my new home.