Page 3 of Thirst
“Sidney, sweetness,” she tsked. “Did you truly believe this amateur ambush would succeed?”
I swung at her with my free hand. Instead of catching both of my wrists, she scored my leather jerkin with her claws. Though Aetherius’s light had burned that hand, her nails worked perfectly fine. Good to know. I jerked from her hold.
“Hmph. A shame, but not a surprise. I should’ve known my mercy would lead us here,” she said.
“Mercy?” I echoed in disbelief.
She surged forward, claws aimed straight for my neck. Idodged to one side and swiped at her knee. Both of us carved air. Even wounded, she moved like liquid death.
Analyze. Adapt.Easier said than done while we rotated around Eona’s marble feet in a deadly dance of slashing and stabbing. She’d slit my throat if I blinked for too long.
In a blur of speed, she disengaged. We circled one another, keeping the fountain between us.
“Yes, mercy,” she said.
By Aetherius’s light, the bitch wants to talk.I sighed. However, my advantage grew with her desire to fill the air with her voice. I noticed her shallow breathing and how she curled her burned hand at her side. She favored one leg. Weakened, even with a vampire’s advanced healing and plenty of blood at her disposal.
“What else would you call it, Sidney? I didn’t come for you after you murdered my son. I didn’t even touch you when you started working for the Temple of Aetherius.” She spat the god’s name like a curse.
My eyes narrowed on her with disgust. “No, you went for Zane instead.”
She flashed her fangs. “I sensed the power in his blood.”
“He was my betrothed.” I tightened my grip on my weapons, so much so that their leather-wrapped hilts creaked.
Queen Nemea breathed a silken laugh. “And now he’s mine and soon to call me his Beloved. Is that what this is about? Some man? Male vampires are hardly worth this amount of trouble.”
As I rounded the fountain, she raised her hand, blackened fingers extended. Yet her hand trembled as she struggled to spread her fingers. A weak flicker of magic skittered across the side of my face, seeking purchase in my mind.
Vampiresses wielded their mates’ magic alongside theirown, but her power flickered weakly now. I had my own talents, two small abilities I’d inherited from my vampire father. Neither were very powerful, but together, they were enough to help me fight bloodsuckers.
For the kind of addling magic she was trying to use against me, I summoned a shield over my mind to protect my senses. The touch of her magic faded.
In addition, I could nullify or disrupt other vampire magics. Used at just the right moment, both were helpful tools at my disposal. Queen Nemea bared her fangs in a hiss. “That magic felt like…”
While she was momentarily distracted, I charged at her and aimed my attacks toward her weakened side.
“I left.” I punctuated the words with a jab. “Never to return. Until you stole him. This is your doing.” I took three more jabs at her.
One of my daggers opened a line on her forearm, drawing blood.Finally.Rupture entered her system as the tips of her claws raked my jaw. Fiery pain gripped my face as my blood mingled with hers in perfuming the air.
“If you crave him so desperately, you can have him.” She licked the crimson from her nails with a taunting flash of her ruby eyes. “You could rejoin the House of the Sanguine and put your talents to proper use serving your family. I will turn you at last. All could be forgiven, sweetness.”
I sneered in disgust. “As if you’ve ever forgiven.” I gritted my teeth; I couldn’t speak without more pain. The wounds prickled, pulling together in a slow, burning pace.And as if I would ever forgive you for what you’ve done.
“Was that a refusal, then?” Boredom crept into her tone. She’d probably had this conversation a hundred times, in ahundred different ways, yet likely found the same outcome each time.
I answered with a roundhouse kick that clipped her wounded side. She staggered and caught herself with a hissed breath before launching forward in a flurry of fangs and claws. We traded blows and wounds, each more brutal than the last.
She held her burned palm out at me, and colored light flared along it. A different mate’s magic, which I nullified with a glare and a moment of focus. On a scream of outrage, she threw herself at me once more.
Blood streamed from my fresh scrapes, but I didn’t falter. My pace held steady. Hers inevitably started to slip.
Vampires succumbed to predictability more than any weakness. This one especially. At any moment, she could disengage and dash into the mansion to summon help. A queen commanded every soul in her domain, yet she wouldn’t do it. Not against a half-breed bastard she’d always deemed worthless. Pride would kill her more surely than any stake.
A claw carved my elbow, and my left hand went numb. The dagger tumbled away, and she kicked it beyond reach. Blood loss made the world tilt, but I leaned into the dizziness, feigning greater weakness than I felt.
She lunged for the deception. I timed another kick perfectly, sending her crashing through one of her overgrown rose bushes with a brutal snap as several tendrils broke under her weight. Vampire blood filled the air from dozens of pricks and cuts made by the thorns skewering her.
