Chapter 1
Chapter
One
The vampire Queen’s throne room was a chaos of bodies fighting, the air thick with the stench of blood and sweat.
Marble columns stood tall like skeletons amidst the carnage.
Streaks of red marred the floor. At the center of the large space, Victoria’s throne stayed untouched and undamaged like the woman herself.
I had pounced to attack her when I found myself face-to-face with the vampire General, who intercepted me. He emerged from nowhere with a sinister grin and crimson eyes glowing with hunger.
All the frustration built up behind my rib cage wanted to burst out. The vampires had trapped us with rock avalanches twice in the underground tunnels. Then, the castle's shifting hallways, like a deadly labyrinth, made it difficult to reach Victoria’s throne room.
And once I marched inside her sanctuary, finding Torin kneeling and chained, only added to the heavy pressure in my chest.
The vampire General attacked me as soon as he spotted me, but when I swatted his sharp talons away, he slashed the leather sachet off my waist. The Lunarimar had tumbled among shuffling feet, and I’d lost sight of it.
Cold sweat formed on my temples, along with achy throbbing behind my rib cage. I couldn’t focus on finding the crystal since I had an angry vampire General sneering before me.
Looking over the General’s shoulder, I spotted Lucy cutting the throat of a vampire nearby. She and I locked eyes in understanding. I didn’t have time to make the General suffer in the way he’d inflicted pain on Lisa. I had to recover the crystal now.
I aimed my next precise movements to finally take revenge on the vampire who’d murdered Lisa. I swung my whip, catching the vampire’s arm. Then I yanked him toward me and kicked his flying body hard.
The intense strike in the chest sent him staggering back to Lucy. Narrowing her crimson eyes, she pounced forward, and plunged a short sword into the General’s heart, ending him once and for all.
Unhurriedly, Lucy pulled back her sword, smeared in red fluid, letting the limp body drop to the ground. We exchanged grateful glances, and she turned away, slashing at another vampire.
Not wasting a second, I darted my gaze around the room. I couldn’t believe I’d lost the crystal. I scanned the floor where it had escaped my grasp, mumbling swear words as I frantically tried to spot it.
It caught my eye just a few steps from where I stood. It looked as though it had been trampled and tossed by moving feet. I dashed toward it, but a woman picked it up before I could reach it.
The vampire Queen had a menacing smile on her face as she held the crystal with her long fingers.
Victoria’s fiery-red hair cascaded in wild waves down her shoulders, framing a face that possessed both beauty and sinister allure.
Her attire befitted that of a warrior. She wore a form-fitting black leather bodice over her slender but muscular figure.
Her knee-high silk skirt rustled with every subtle shift of her hips.
“Is that the thing that didn’t allow us to use our compulsion power?”
It sounded more like a rhetorical question since she didn’t wait for an answer. Her gaze traced the crystal, exploring it. My heart pounded, and my breath caught.
My worst fear became a reality as I stood frozen, my eyes locked on the crazed woman who held my only hope for winning this war.
Tension in the air thickened as the other vampires began to stir, sensing their Queen's newfound discovery and preparing for an all-out compulsion assault.
Grinding my teeth, I realized I no longer had the upper hand in this fight.