Chapter 15 Lazriel #2
It was the same voice that I’d heard before who’d given the command to take him.
I followed it this time and looked to see a guy who appeared to be in his late thirties by human years with long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, his tall yet lean form clad in a fancy pastel blue suit, seeming all elegant and stylish.
Being a part of Puritas it meant all that was trying to hide the shithead that he really was, masking the sadism behind the glamor.
He smirked at my dad as he toyed with an orange shimmering ball he’d conjured, moving it between his upturned palms.
A sorcerer.
“Lucas,” Remnant spoke stoically.
Through all this, I hadn’t seen an ounce of emotion from him—except the wink he’d given me.
No rage.
No bloodlust.
No snide barbs or any remarks whatsoever.
He was so poised.
So controlled.
So… streamlined and focused.
Even with all that power at his disposal.
And most staggering to me… with him drawing on the full force of the vampire within.
It didn’t make him a bloodlusting maniac.
It didn’t have him losing control or being consumed by it.
And, unlike me, he’d didn’t have a wolf side to reel himself in.
“Are you done making your point?” Lucas asked with a sardonic smirk, as though it was all a game to him. As though he was safe.
“And what point might that be?”
“Trying to drive fear into the recruitment meeting you obviously got wind of through your whispers and whatever-the-fuck. Sure, your theatrics here might have a few running for the hills after this gory display of yours. But that’s all.
So, come on, get to it. Save your energy.
What deal is it you wish to strike?” He levitated his ball of magic, then cocked his hip, slapping his hand to it.
“To be clear, though, you don’t need to make any deal.
The Shadowed is always safe from us. Your agents are all purebloods.
Either vampires or magic-wielders. Even at the top with the big boss, we’re forgiving you taking out some of our cells recently, because we understand you need to assert your dominance in the supernatural world, maintain the balance. There won’t be any retribution.”
“If you are so certain that I intend to make a deal, why have you called in seventy-two reinforcements as you’ve engaged me in this tedious small talk?”
I frowned and concentrated, calling on my vampiric senses, searching the area.
And there they were. I couldn’t see them yet, but I could definitely feel them.
Magical portals opening up and vampires and magic-wielders alike emerging from them—several hundred feet away.
Remnant had clocked it instantly and while immersed in that conversation.
I couldn’t count them all like he’d been able to.
Or, could I?
I pushed harder, drawing on the heat rolling through my veins from the fresh blood I’d ingested just before we’d left—five glasses of it. Yeah, I was starting to like it. A whole lot.
That barrier that I always kept in place, usually held there by using my wolf side to restrain the vampire, crumbled as I allowed myself to fully feel it, to give the vampire free reign.
There.
I could feel all of them, every individual heartbeat, every difference in the rhythm of their pulses too.
Seventy-two it was.
While I was immersed so deep in my sensory perception, I heard my dad’s heart skip a beat. His gaze flicked to mine and he smiled.
He’d felt that?
Me unleashing that aspect of my abilities?
“When the reinforcements arrive, join me.”
His whisper on the wind reached me, his eyes burning into mine briefly, enough for me to return it with a confirming nod, before his gaze flicked back to Lucas.
Although, honestly, I was sure he hadn’t taken his attention off him with his other senses, not even for a moment.
“What?” Lucas asked. “Who are you talking to?” Lucas’ eyes darted around. “You’re bringing The Shadowed in?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Well… good. Let’s get to the deal.”
“Chief Recruiter now,” Remnant mused.
“That’s right,” Lucas confirmed, puffing out his chest.
“Also Architect of Puritas Rhetoric.”
“You know my exact job titles. I’m honored.”
“As you should be. To garner the personal attention of one such as me is no small accomplishment.” He raised his hand, seemingly casually, then flexed his talons.
And then his features contorted, his fangs dropping.
All this time and it was the first instance that he’d brought that out.
His eyes narrowed while blazing red. “And it is that pride in your sadism and dogmatist outlook that you will perish by this night.”
Lucas jolted, failing to stifle a gasp.
He shifted his weight in a bid to cover up the fact he’d just exposed his true fear of my dad and his eerie threat—well, promise.
He gestured at his ball of magic still levitating before him. “Do you know what that is?”
“Concentrated sunlight swirling within a sphere of your energy.”
Fuck.
Lucas started when the extreme threat that the awful thing was even to an Ancient didn’t garner a lick of a reaction from my dad.
Then the sorcerer scoffed. “Fucking Ancient. We’re gonna die by our pride and whatever else you spouted off?
You’re gonna die by your goddamn arrogance, old man.
” He sneered and threw his hands out, gesturing all around him at his members.
“Look what you’re up against. These aren’t all baby vamps either.
We’ve got near-Ancients amongst them. Learned magic-wielders.
Those you already took out were a mishmash—old and young. ”
“You’re suggesting that I got off easy? Is that it?”
“Damn fucking straight. So, like I said, arrogance is gonna be your fucking end if you make one more move against any of us.”
“I see.” Remnant licked his fangs, drawing his own blood then drinking it down in front of them, like he was just doing something mild like clucking his tongue.
“Then let me be clear. What you experience from me is a far cry from arrogance, youngling. That implies an inflated sense of self and not possessing an accurate understanding of one’s abilities or limitations.
” He took a step forward and the army jerked back.
“I assure you that is not the case here.” His lips lifted. “As I will duly demonstrate.”
In a burst of speed, he slammed his fist into the ground.
It created another seismic shock, but it became damned clear to me in that moment that the first one had been child’s play to him, because this one decimated the entire area, cracking and splitting the ground down to the bedrock, sending the army collapsing but also blowing backward from the violent pulse it created.
In the chaos, vampires trying to get to their feet, magic-wielders calling their power, others failing to from the shock of it, he didn’t miss a beat, bursting around and swiping his talons through the throats of ten magic-wielders rapid-fire without even breaking his barely-perceptible stride.
With a cumulative effect, it was possible that the magic-wielders could slow him down, so he was taking out the chief threat first—those who had abilities he didn’t.
He didn’t stop with the ten, bursting toward another cluster of them and snapping neck after neck—in front of some, behind others—as he wove in and out with insane accuracy and finesse.
It culminated with him grabbing the last remaining two and crushing their skulls in either hand, bones cracking, blood and a whole lot of other fluids spurting out.
“Take him!” Lucas roared, shaking with it.
He threw his ball of sunlight.
My dad jerked to the side and it slammed into a cluster of twenty vampires, exploding over them and covering them all, blinding sunlight burning into them—literally.
They shrieked as it destroyed them from the outside in within seconds due to the concentrated nature of it.
It couldn’t be escaped, even as some rolled on the ground, trying to snuff it out, to get it off them.
It was already done.
They all burst into flames in moments.
And then they were just ash.
Lucas cursed, but didn’t give his own people a second glance, clearly upset not at the loss of them, but that he’d missed hitting Remnant.
Remnant burst toward him and smashed his hand into his chest, blowing him back against a concrete wall. He hit with a violent thud which knocked him out, then he scraped down the wall onto the ground.
The remaining soldiers—all vampires now—moved in, encircling Remnant.
Before the circle was complete, he burst through the gap, then whipped around the outside, slicing necks, staking others, around and around.
He moved so fast and continuously this time that it created a cyclone effect, and I choked as I watched vampires begin being pulled into it, into the actual fucking air, helpless as they were forced around and around. Dust and debris picked up too, all becoming a part of it.
As more were caught up, Remnant slashed through throats, ripped out hearts, and rapid-fire staked.
Over and over.
When he suddenly burst from the cyclone, I staggered back on the silo as I saw all the bodies drop to the ground—two thirds of the army. Dead.
Blood. Severed limbs. Rolling heads. All around him, littering the ground.
There were about forty left.
They turned and ran.
Remnant shot after them, taking them out in pairs, in threes, some solo, until they also joined the dead.
There was no time for processing as I caught sight of movement through the shadows.
The reinforcements.
Not moments later, they dropped down from the destroyed roof with the assistance of the dozen magic-wielders with them, levitating them. Guess they couldn’t handle that drop like my dad could so well.
The seventy-two of them formed a four-line deep wall opposite Remnant.