Chapter Five #2
prey before I even have a chance to finish them. It’s my fucking right. The
voice is so strong, I turn to raise my sword and take care of the interlopers
when the sight of Meg’s face stops me.
She stands, her fingers gripping the railing and her face
pale. I can feel her worry. She’s worried for me. She shouldn’t be worried for
me. She should be scared of me.
It’s enough to pull me out of the impending rage. Meg will
never come to me if she sees what an animal I can be. I can’t allow that to
happen. I swallow down my rage as the horn blares, and the battle begins anew.
The remaining vampires don’t wait this time. All eight rush
me immediately. I’m knocked back by the unexpected charge. Though my back hits
the sand, a fierce joy takes over. I do love a good fight. Up until now, the
battle has been rote. Now, I’m thrown a bit off balance, and it sets me free.
A big vamp, with fangs and claws out, leaps on top of me.
Sharp claws sink into my left shoulder, pain flaring. The blood starts to flow,
and it’ll make the vamps a little crazy. I fear chaos, and now I’m going to get
it. Shoving my foot upward, I launch the vamp up and over as I swing my sword
in time to skewer the next vampire who jumps on me.
Gravity is my friend, pulling the vamp down, and my aim is
perfect. As the vampire sinks onto the sword, the iron of the ancient weapon
tears through his heart, one of two sure ways to kill a vampire. The race is
tough as nails but vulnerable when it comes to their hearts. Even a minor
injury to the heart usually kills a vampire. The only other sure way is
decapitation. I roll away as fast as I can, knowing what will come next.
Vampires don’t die quietly. They sort of explode.
The rest of the vamps take a quick step back as their fallen
compatriot comes apart. I narrowly manage to avoid being covered in gore, but
my senses fill with the smell and scent of blood. It does nothing to calm my
inner beast. The warrior soul inside me glories in the death of an opponent.
They deserve death. The female is mine. They’re attempting
to take what is rightfully mine. Mine and Cian’s.
I move out of the way of the next assault. Two vampires
throw themselves down, one catching me while I’m still blinded by the bits of
dead vamp covering my eyes. A roar goes through me as I feel the vampire sink
his fangs into the vulnerable flesh between my neck and shoulder. Luckily, I
squirm enough so the bastard doesn’t get my jugular.
I hear—no, feel—Meggie’s scream. It spurs me to action. I
take a single, strong punch from a second attacking vamp. Several more step
forward to take a shot, too. The vamp on my neck pushes at me, trying to get a
better angle. I reach up and pull him off my back, tossing him into the
vampires attacking my front. The place where the vamp’s fangs sank in aches.
The fucker has gotten away with a hunk of my flesh.
It doesn’t matter. I heal quickly.
I move even faster. I skewer the vamp who took a chunk out
of me, and my aim is perfect. The vamp explodes, even as I pull my sword out
and move on to the next.
The blood and gore is having an effect on the vamps as well.
Two of the vampires have turned on each other. Out of the corner of my eye, I
catch sight as they scream, fangs and claws out. The pair attacks each other
viciously. They sink their claws into each other’s bellies, and the
high-pitched sound of their pain riles me up even faster. The two quickly drop
to the ground. They roll in the sand, each desperate to gut the other.
Vampires, for all their claims to civilization, are as brutal as the rest of the
planes.
There are only six left, and two are doing their damnedest
to kill each other. A fierce joy races through me as I bring the hilt of my
sword down on a vamp I trip as he attempts to run away. Silly creature.
There’s nowhere to run. I raise the sword to bring it down on the vamp’s
throat. I’m swinging it in an arc toward my unconscious rival’s body when I’m
tackled from the side.
Rage pours through me as I hit the sand. How fucking dare…
“Quarter!” the vampire yells as he scrambles to get his
knife properly in hand. “He’s out, Beck. You can’t kill a man who’s already
gone down.”
It’s the same vampire who drew Dante’s ire before the
battle. He’s covered in sweat and blood. His hood has fallen back, and his pale
skin is already burning. “Give it a rest, Beck. It’s over. The female is yours.
We surrender.”
I don’t properly process the words the vampire speaks. I
hear them but what I feel is anger and a need to kill until none of them are
left. Only then will I be able to properly protect Meggie. They’ll come after
her. They won’t stop. The vampire offers me a hand up because I’m on my back in
a submissive position. I am not fucking submissive. This is never acceptable. I
can hear my father telling me to shove this part of my personality down, that
it’s evil. But I don’t care at this point. With a single hand, I toss the
vampire away like he’s a child’s toy. Somewhere in the back of my rage-addled
head, I see that the gnomes have taken to the floor. They’re trying to help out
the injured combatants.
It no longer matters. My rage requires blood.
“He’s gone insane!” Palgrave shouts, trying to get the
referee’s attention. “You have to put him down.” The vampire backs up as I
growl low in my throat and begin to stalk him. He tosses down his knife and
shows me his empty hands. He retracts his claws, but the fangs remain. “I
concede, Beck. We all concede.”
A horn blares but it’s a distant, meaningless thing compared
to the roar in my ears. There are still bodies twitching. My work can’t
possibly be finished. My senses open, and everywhere I smell glorious death.
The vamp is forced against back the arena wall. He tries to shrink back as
though he can force the stone walls to pull him in.
“I am asking for mercy, Your Highness.” There’s a hitch in
the vampire’s voice that sparks my predatory instincts. He pulls away as though
trying to disappear inside himself.
It won’t stop me.
I smell the fear on him. I raised my sword as the crowd
begins to scream, but it’s a single voice that stays my hand.
“He asked for mercy, Beck,” a soft feminine voice says.
“There’s no reason to kill him.”
Meggie. She’s here. The vamp takes the opportunity to run.
I’m too shook by Meg’s presence to do anything about it. Dante stands at her
side.
Dante was tasked with protecting her. Dante is the reason
she is in the middle of a deadly battle. “Get her out of here. How dare you
allow her on the battlefield!”
Dante has the good sense to back up. “The battle is done,
cos. It’s time for you to come down now.”
“Not until I’m finished,” I promise, my voice rough with
dark emotion. Jealousy threatens to take over. What was my cousin doing all
this time he was sitting beside my woman? Has Dante been courting her? Dante
has no consort. Does he think he can steal Meggie? “You should never have
walked out here. Are you challenging me?”
Dante’s eyes go wide, but Meg moves between us. “Beck, Dante
is not challenging you. No one is challenging you anymore. They’re all running
away. You scared the crap out of them.”
I bare my teeth when I realize she’s correct. They’re
running. They’re getting away. I take a step and make to follow when her soft
hand finds the middle of my chest. She doesn’t seem to notice I’m covered in
blood.
“Meg, he’s too far gone,” Dante says in a soft tone. “You’ll
have to…”
“I heard you in the stands.” Meg places her other hand on my
chest and stands very close. So close her delicate scent washes over me. She
smells sweet, nothing like death. Meg smells of flowers and some womanly scent
I can’t name. She smells of life. “Beck, I’m yours. Are you going to leave me
alone to chase after the others? Shouldn’t you take care of me?”
“Not going to work.” Dante continues to back up. “Meg, if
you can’t handle it, then I need for you to run. Run to the stands. I’ll
distract him.”
“Shut up,” I yell at the vampire. Jealousy is a roiling pain
in my gut. “You don’t talk to my mate.”
Meg huffs Dante’s way. “Fine, but you better be right. If I
find out this was a stupid joke, I’ll stake you myself.”
I try to move her out of the way. She doesn’t understand
that they could still harm her.
She throws her arms around me, going on her tiptoes to press
her mouth against mine. “Please, Your Highness, I am yours. You have to take
care of me.”
My sword falls to the side as another type of need blazes
through my body.
I worry she’s awakened the darkest beast inside me, and I
pray I don’t hurt her.