Page 31 of Bound By Blood
“What are youdoing?” she asked.
Again, instead ofresponding, he drove the sword into the first dead body. Yep, he’dlost his mind, and hereallyhad to work on hiscommunication skills, but as she thought this, a spark lit theblack stone, and the body erupted into ashes.
Caro staggeredback.What the hell?
Her head bobbedbetween Saber, the sword, and the ashes marking the floor as shetried to processwhathappened.How is thatpossible?
Saber smirked ashe lifted the sword to examine it. “The stone works.”
“Whatwasthat?” Caro demanded.
“A demon stone atwork.”
“Awhat?”
Again, the oafdidn’t bother to reply as he walked to the other Savage and drovethe sword into its belly. Its body turned to ash before crumplingto scatter across the floor.
Caro gaped at theashes, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to comprehendwhatwas happening. When he turned toward her with thesword, she stumbled back, and her eyes darted toward the swingingdoor. Could she make it there in time?
The panic on herface froze Saber in place. Her heart beat loud enough for him tohear, and he hated it. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Her attentionshifted back to him while she remained on the balls of her feet inpreparation to sprint out of there. She’d rather take on theSavages than face that sword.
When she stilllooked like she was going to bolt, Saber plucked the stone from thehilt and held it up for her to see before slipping it into hispocket. “And just like that, it’s a normal sword again.”
Caro felt like hereyes were Ping-Pong balls as they continued to bounce from him, tothe sword, to the ashes. “How?”
“Millenia ago, thedemons forged stones and encased them in weapons they used againsttheir enemies. Their children, our ancestors, turned on theircreators and stole the swords and stones.”
Caro finallyclosed her mouth and got her eyes to stop bouncing. She was gettinga headache. Rubbing her temples, she kept her eye on the sword. Shedidn’t quite trust the thing.
“It sounds alittle like King Arthur,” she muttered. “Except the stone isinthe sword.”
“Maybe that’swhere the legend comes from; only certain vamps can get the stonesto work for them. You couldn’t do what I just did with thisstone.”
She trusted himless than a pissed-off alligator who hadn’t eaten in a month. Thealligator would probably be easier to defeat. “And you’re one ofthose vamps?”
“Apparently.Thisis the reason why I came looking for your father. Mysister located nine of the ten stones, and a woman I work with,Willow, has the tenth. Willow’s is the only stone still in anintact Sword of Damnation.”
“Sword ofDamnation?” she croaked.
“That’s what thedemons called them, and they would know something about thedamned.”
He said it asflippantly as she said she was taking out the trash. It was like aneveryday, common thing to him to understand so much aboutdemons.
“How closewereyou to them?” she asked.
“Too close, butthat was many lifetimes ago. Without your father’s help and uniquetalents, we won’t be able to recreate the swords to help us againstthe demons.”
He studied herface for a reaction to this revelation; there was none.
“Those swordscould help usdefeatthe demons,” he pressed.
“What about theSavages?”
“Only the completeannihilation of all vamps could destroy them, and since I have nointention of losing my life, that’s not going to happen. Defeatingthe demons will help us lessen their numbers and slow the Savages’rapid increase.
“The demons andSavages are actively working on creating more Savages to build agrowing army they’ll use to take over the world and bring us alldown. They’re also injecting some vamps and hunters with demonblood and turning them into mindless, killing machines.”
