Chapter Ten #3
Victor squared off, his expression maniacal.
“Give up, you’ve already lost,” he taunted.
“Any moment now, his corruption will be complete, and you will have failed.” Victor favored him with a hideous grin.
“Care to know who had the honor of torturing you when you were captured?” He lifted an eyebrow.
“It was the highlight of my existence up until now.” He glanced at Tanner.
“I wonder what name I shall give mine and Tanner’s first child?
” Victor’s eyes burned red. “After I dispose of your mewling brat the second it’s born. ”
An anguished cry was torn from Ronen’s throat. The agony of the image Victor had forced into his mind was a pain he’d never known could exist. The gut-wrenching emotion was quickly followed by a murderous fury, self-control evaporating as he launched at Victor again.
Ronen barely registered Geordie’s battle cry as the room exploded into chaos.
Their bodies clashed with the sound of thunder, stone against stone as Ronen drove Victor back.
With each blow, Ronen channeled his rage, his fear, his love for Tanner into devastating strikes.
Victor blocked and countered, but Ronen fought with the desperate anger of a mate protecting what was his.
“You tortured me?” Ronen shouted, landing a crushing blow to Victor’s jaw that sent fragments of stone flying.
Victor staggered but recovered quickly, his crimson eyes gleaming with malice. “And I enjoyed every second of it. Your screams were music.”
Behind them, Tanner convulsed again, a strangled moan escaping his lips.
The sound cut through Ronen like a blade, momentarily distracting him.
Victor seized the opportunity, driving his elbow into Ronen’s sternum with a punishing blow, stealing Ronen’s breath.
He staggered backward, clutching his stomach.
Geordie had Marianne pinned to the floor, his claws around her throat as she bucked and snarled.
His eyes widened as he caught sight of Ezekiel crawling unnoticed toward Tanner.
He had to keep Victor busy. Even if it cost him his life, Tanner’s lone hope being the healing magic that only Zeke could provide.
“You’re the loser, Victor! I can beat a piece of shit like you with one wing tied behind my back!”
Victor’s jaw dropped, his attention seemingly captured by his worth being challenged by someone he saw as beneath him.
Ronen pointed at Victor, laughing with gusto.
Victor balled his fists, his eyes blazing as he hurled himself at Ronen.
They crashed their bodies together, more stone fragments scattering across the floor.
Ronen dug his talons into Victor’s neck, holding him in place so he couldn’t see Tanner.
Victor roared in agony but managed to catch Ronen’s wrist, twisting it at an unnatural angle. Ronen broke free with a violent wrench of his arm, ignoring the searing pain that shot through his shoulder. His gaze darted to Tanner, who was being lifted in Ezekiel’s arms.
“This is for Tanner,” Ronen growled, his voice barely recognizable even to himself as he slammed his stone fist into Victor's face.
Victor's head snapped back, fractures spiderwebbing across his cheek. He staggered but didn’t fall, his crimson eyes burning with hatred.
Ronen drove forward again, catching Victor's throat in his massive grip. The traitor’s stone flesh crumbled slightly beneath his fingers.
Victor's claws scrabbled at Ronen’s arms, scoring deep gouges in the granite of his skin.
The pain barely registered through Ronen’s fury.
“And this is for every Slayer you betrayed.” Ronen slammed Victor against the wall again, the impact creating a web of cracks in the granite behind them.
“I'm going to rip out your heart and feed it to you,” Victor snarled, his stone face contorted with rage as he lunged at Ronen again.
Ronen sidestepped, using Victor’s momentum against him. He slammed his elbow into the back of Victor’s head, sending him colliding into the wall. Rock fragments exploded outward, dust filling the air.
“Not if I tear your head off first," Ronen growled.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Ezekiel cradling Tanner, the healer’s hands glowing with faint blue light as he pressed them against Tanner’s chest. Hope flickered in Ronen’s heart. If anyone could reverse the corruption, it was Ezekiel.
Victor recovered quickly, spinning around with surprising speed for his massive form.
His tail whipped out, catching Ronen’s leg, yanking him off balance.
Ronen crashed to the floor, the impact sending tremors through the stone beneath them.
Before he could recover, Victor was on him, talons slashing toward his face.
Ronen jerked his head to the side, the claws missing his eyes by inches, gouging deep furrows into the floor instead.
Ronen bucked beneath him, struggling to throw the traitor off.
Victor’s weight pressed down on him like a mountain, his eyes blazing with madness and hatred, blood from his split lip dripping onto Ronen’s cheek.
The more Victor’s body weighed him down, the harder it became for Ronen to catch his breath. He gasped, trying but failing to draw in air. Victor wrapped his claws around Ronen’s throat, his lips peeled back in a hideous grimace.
This is it. I’m dying.
“Yes, die.” Victor’s rumbling chuckle vibrated through his chest. “Your light is weak. My darkness is strength.”
“Don’t count on it, shit face,” Geordie shouted as he slammed into Victor.
Victor went sprawling across the floor as Geordie’s massive frame crashed into him. Ronen gasped, air finally rushing back into his lungs. He pushed himself up, his muscles screaming in protest, stone grinding against stone as he forced his battered body to stand.
“Ronen!” Ezekiel cried out. “I need your help!”