Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
Idarted my gaze around the chaotic throne hall and checked on the condition of my men before I rushed to the vampire Queen's side. My gaze landed on Torin.
His sharp talons slashed effortlessly through the vampires’ flesh, the pile of dead bodies increasing around him. He seemed to have the advantage without the sword.
While Torin held his own, my allies were in trouble.
Many of the werewolves had shifted into their animal form.
Snarls and growls filled the air as the wolves collided with the vampires.
But the enemy had unleashed the power of their piercing gazes, clouding my men’s minds, their gazes glazing over as they submitted to the vampires’ control.
Their fangs sank into the flesh of my friends, draining their life force with each bite. The cries of pain and despair made my stomach churn, and bile rose to my throat.
My people were dying without the crystal’s power. By the Gods, I didn’t like the helpless feeling forming behind my chest.
My gaze found Hayden, who was facing a vampire. He had assumed a protective posture, a smug grin on his impeccable face as the guard scowled with a tilted head, puzzled by the werewolf King.
Hayden smirked and, with inhuman speed, reached for the vampire’s throat and broke his neck. There was something very wrong with the menacing look Hayden gave the vampire guard before he took his last breath.
Something stirred beside Hayden, drawing my attention. A hunter drew back an arrow and pointed it at the guard close by, but then he dropped his crossbow without breaking eye contact with the bloodred eyes in front of him.
The hunter’s gaze looked cloudy, compulsion forcing him to walk unguarded toward the vampire who licked his lips and protruded his fangs.
Suddenly, Hayden pulled the hunter by his arm, shoving the human behind him. Then the werewolf King sprang toward the vampire and tore him apart.
The gruesome scene made me feel sick, but more than that, my heart clenched at the ruthless and meticulous way Hayden took lives. Yet, I was thankful for his help.
He should have been compelled by that vampire, but he wasn’t. More suspicion rose in my heart that Hayden wasn’t the man or species he told everyone he was.
Hayden turned around, strolling to the hunter. The man bowed his head, thanking him. Hayden had just saved a life, and I was certain he had saved many others before. Was his brutality justified, then?
I shook my head slightly and focused on Victoria, understanding that one of us wouldn’t leave this confrontation alive. Unless she would agree on a more peaceful resolution.
Victoria watched my every move, amusement in her crimson eyes. She must have been sure that she could easily beat a human witch lacking the knowledge of spells and missing her wolf spirit.
I moved closer to the vampire throne where Victoria now wore my crown, taunting me and holding my crystal in her hand.
“Aren’t you tired of asking everyone else to do your job for you?” I asked.
Victoria’s temper was as short as mine, seeing how she’d lost control fighting Torin. Dad had drilled into my mind that losing hold of your emotions during a fight was a sure way to lose.
But I felt differently about it now. My emotions were my weapon. My love for Torin fueled my desire to win. The revenge for leaving my father permanently injured sparked flames behind my chest.
I would use my emotions and channel them toward Victoria, ignoring Dad’s teachings. Dad was wise, and I loved him, but he was wrong about this.
The moon hung high in the night sky, casting a silver glow over the throne where I faced the vampire Queen.
With a sudden burst of speed, Victoria lunged forward, her movements fluid and graceful.
Her vampire agility allowed her to weave through the air, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye. I recoiled, barely dodging, as the Queen’s gleaming blade sliced through the air at me.
I raised my enchanted sword, meeting hers, and the clash of steel reverberated through the night. Victoria hissed, and her next quick, frustrated movements were relentless assaults.
Trying to keep my distance from her, I cracked my whip through the air with a resounding snap, but Victoria’s speed gave her an advantage. With each strike, I channeled my emotions toward my purpose. With every swing of my sword, I let go of the doubts plaguing me.
I was the werewolf Queen, worthy of fighting for what I believed in and ready to fulfill my destiny.
Victoria no longer held control over Torin, but she was still a threat to the werewolf kingdom and humans.
Although I didn’t know how to find The Book of Thoradis, I couldn’t let Victoria find it first, or it would be the end of our realm as we knew it.
The life I knew would be much different if the vampire Queen became its ultimate leader.
Victoria had to be taken off her high throne, and perhaps there was still a chance to reason with her rather than kill her. Even if she was an evil vampire Queen, killing another felt wrong—an emotion that overrode my revenge and determination.
We engaged in a deadly dance where she slashed her sword at me, and I dodged and returned the strike with my own enchanted sword.
I swung my whip and wrapped it around her wrist, and at the same time swung my sword toward her chest. Victoria blocked my sword with her own, but I still had a hold of her hand.
I yanked my witch weapon hard and pulled her forward. The vampire Queen stumbled, and her body flew to the ground. She fell hard on her knees. Her eyes flashed with shock. She had lost her sword.
Victoria twisted and sat on her butt, hesitant to stand as I approached her.
I had to put a stop to this war before more people on both sides lost their lives.
With a whip in one hand and a sword in the other, I dropped my arms. She blinked, but the surprise behind her crimson eyes remained. My heart pounding, I stepped closer.
Tension filled the space around us. Victoria’s eyes flickered with a mix of longing and regret. She looked at me as if she would be willing to plead for her life.
“In a war, everyone loses. No one wins, Victoria.” I exhaled loudly. “Get up and fight.”
I realized my mistake when the vampire Queen stood, and with her supernatural speed, she pulled me by my wrist so hard toward her side that I lost my balance and fell on the cold marble floor.
The Queen twisted her body and landed a kick to the side of my stomach. The pain that followed wasn’t as bad as the pain tightening my chest for naively letting my guard down and getting too close to the woman.
I took a deep breath, and my lungs constricted as Victoria picked up her sword.
“Your stupidity will cost everyone’s lives here,” she said, “and you’ll go down in history books as the Queen who killed her own people.”
A cold shiver sliced down my spine. I wanted to put my hands over my ears.
Victoria, using her supernatural speed, raised her silver sword. That would be the end of me, but I refused to blink or close my eyes to face death. She lowered her sword just as fast. Lacking wolf powers, I couldn’t dodge her hit fast enough.
The silver sword clung to metal only inches away from my head, blocking it. Victoria’s gaze traveled to someone behind me, and she screamed in frustration.
Torin’s brother came into my view as I raised my head. Pain scrunched up his face while he held a short sword with both hands, trembling, over my head. Victoria’s gaze drew him in and held his crimson eyes.
“Breanna, you may want to move faster now. She’s—”
He wheezed. Victoria was compelling him to drop the sword, but he struggled against her powers.
I did a backward crab walk with my feet and hands, sprang to my feet, and searched for my enchanted sword. Spotting it not too far away, I rushed toward it and picked it up, when Victoria’s sword cut through the man’s sword with a horrifying screeching sound.
Hurtling toward her, I propelled my sword forward with all my remaining energy and stabbed Victoria in the chest, piercing her heart. I withdrew my sword, her blood staining it and dripping to the floor.
Mercy was no longer an option.
The Queen’s painful scream echoed in the hall, and then her body fell lifeless on the ground.
Was it really over?
I attempted to stand tall despite my exhaustion. As the adrenaline waned, fatigue and triumph coursed through my veins. The latter was an unfamiliar feeling that elated me but also scared me.
With a trembling hand, I wiped the beads of sweat off my face. Relief washed over me since the threat of the vampire Queen’s tyranny had been eradicated and my kingdom was safe.
Torin was safe.
Countless lives were saved with the fall of only one. I realized with a smile that Dad had been correct, after all.
But why was I relieved that I took another’s life?
My gaze immediately fell on my golden whip shimmering with bright light. I held my breath, anticipating dark magic to emerge, but nothing happened.
Perhaps I was getting used to killing people, turning into a monster.
I shook my head. No. Victoria had her chance. A truce was never an option for her.
My body was so exhausted that I dragged myself to the closest chair with shaky legs, only to realize I sat on the vampire Queen’s throne.