Page 78 of Resurrection
“Vincenza.” From the corner of my eye I see my old friend Eshe. She calls out, rushing through the fighting bodies, throwing people like dolls left and right in her hurry.
“It’s April, my friend.” Grabbing her arm when she reaches my side, I still don’t look away from Khan. “Vincenza died centuries ago. She was a little too soft hearted for the likes of those like him.” Pointing my chin at Khan, I hear Eshe laugh softly. “She also had poor taste in men, I must say.” This time Eshe laughs out loud, and I chuckle. “April fixed that little problem.”
Reaching behind me, I grab hold of a still-stiffened Sebastian and pull him next to me. Without looking, I flick the mask off his face. Eshe laughs harder. I wonder if she will do it for much longer after I say my piece.
“You see Sebastian.” He turns his face to me, his intent gaze like a caress on the side of my face. “Khan here was my consort centuries ago. I bet all the scrolls and texts never revealed that little detail. He is too smart to have that just lying around.” I can feel the muscles on his forearm turn to granite under my hand. “It wasn’t all of them together that killed me and cursed my blood. It was him and his mistress, Irina. Piercing my heart with a wooden stake carved with runes. They took everything from me and cursed you all, humans included, to this existence.” My gaze finally swings to each of the others sitting stunned on their thrones like the dumb puppets they are. “And he planned to kill all of you tonight. Isn’t that right, Khan? How did you put it…Ah yes!” Mimicking his voice, I still don’t pull off the crazy edge in it. “‘I will get rid of all of you tonight. It’s a new era, and it will be mine.’ Did I get it right?”
“She lies, trying to turn us against each other.” Finally snapping out of his trance, he waves his hands when the rest of them jump off their thrones. “Don’t you see she’s the disease that we must get rid of?”
“I sense no lies in her words.” Niklas squares off with Khan, his glass blue eyes glinting angrily. “You, however, reek of it.”
Kali throws herself at me like a whirlwind. Sebastian materializes between us, intercepting her with a loud crash of bodies, both of them taking the wooden cross down from the force. I turn to look for the woman only to find her gone. Good, the two Guardians did the job I gave them well, taking her to safety. The screeches and roars are lessened with each passing moment. A yellow blur comes my way, but Eshe steps in the way, coming face to face with Elizabeth. With a grin, Eshe attacks, sinking her fangs in Elizabeth’s shoulder. I guess everyone is busy with their own favorites. It’s time I deal with mine.
Walking up to the thrones, Niklas moves fast, showing up in front of me with his claws extended and fangs bared. His eyes bulge out of his head when he jerks abruptly to a stop with my hand wrapped around his neck. Grinning, my hand sinks in his chest, and he blinks stupidly at me when I rip his heart from this chest. Opening my fingers, it plops at my feet, and still looking at his astounded expression, I sink the thin heel of my sandals in it.
“You almost got me when I was saving Sebastian.” He turns to dust, and I wave my hand in front of my face to clear the air. “I didn’t like that very much.”
Facing the three remaining Council members, I smile.
“And what shall we do with the three of you?” Guardians have surrounded them, keeping them seated while their bodies tremble with rage and the need to attack me. Tapping a finger on my lips, I feel the blood dripping down my chin. My tongue sticks out, cleaning it off my lips. “Whoever survives between the two of you can join me,” I tell Abraham and Sharif.
Without a second to even think about what I’ve said, they turn, ripping at each other. How disappointing. Glancing around, I see the Guardians have cleared out the throne room. Body parts litter the once sparkling-clean floor, everything covered in sprays of red like a masterpiece. Eshe and Sebastian stand close, also covered in blood. A shiver runs down myspine at how sinful Sebastian looks, disheveled, his intense eyes glimmering. Abraham lifts off the dust that used to be Sharif. He looks at me expectantly. Searching the room, my eyes lock on Marcus. I nod, and the next second, he is behind Abraham, his hand bursting through the front of the Council member’s chest.
“Loyalty can’t be taught,” I tell Abraham evenly before he evaporates.
When only Khan is left, I stand there watching him. The idiot doesn’t even try to run, or bargain. I definitely expected a deal from the sleazebag. He keeps staring, madness swirling in his dark eyes. The silence is too loud in the room.
“Stand back, Sebastian. I’ve waited a very long time for this.” A humorless smile lifts my lips. “I guess it’s you and me, Khan. Just like the old times.” With a roar, he slams his shoulder in my chest.
Chapter Seventy-Four
The air is knocked out of my lungs, leaving me gasping until I remember that I don’t necessarily have to breathe. Khan sinks his claws in my arms, the ripping of skin under their sharpness fueling my determination to see him suffer. He expects a scream, but he receives a grin instead. My own claws rake down his sides and back, his pained roar making me chuckle.
Khan snaps his jaws too close to my face, his madness making him reckless and wild. One sharp fang splits the skin on my cheek, and the stinging is forgotten from the putrid smell of his breath. My stomach roils from the stench, allowing him an opportunity to wedge himself between my legs, his erection pressing on my belly through the thin fabric of the dress. Bile like acid floods my mouth, and I throw him off me, gagging. He is back in a flash, lifting me up and slamming me on the ground. Tiles crack under my body, my bones rattling under my skin. Anger bubbles in my chest, and something snaps in my brain, causing me to shove him away with everything in me.
“Aww, does it hurt?” I send him flying into Irina’s throne, breaking it in half. “Oops, we broke a throne.”
Lifting up, I stalk to where he is sprawled on the ground, groaning. Blood runs freely from his wounds. I can feel it from mine too, warmth spreading down my shoulders, but centuries have passed, and the thirst for revenge is stronger than blood loss.
“Get up!” I kick him, and he slides a few feet, writhing on the ground.
Walking up to him, I grab his robes, yanking him up. His eyes glint with triumph when I lift him to face me, my claws shredding the fabric of his robes. Too late I notice the movement of his arm. Searing pain like my body is burning from the inside out spreads through me. I try to stumble away from him, but I can’t. Looking down between our bodies, I see his hand gripping a large piece of the crystal throne that he pushed between my ribs, sinking his hand all the way to the knuckles inside me.
He grins victoriously.
A red haze overtakes my vision, bathing everything around me in swirls of pulsing rage. Not again! He will not win this time even if he takes me with him. Yanking him closer, I stifle a scream when the shard sinks deeper in my side. Finally, the terror he should feel widens his eyes a second before I strike, ripping half of his neck with my fangs. The hot, sour taste of tainted blood sprays my mouth, face, and neck, but I keep tearing the flesh, tendons, and bones until his head drops with a heavy thud at my feet. Disgust makes me spit the remaining blood out of my mouth, and I shiver from the bitter aftertaste.
“Pathetic for a god, don’t you think?” Shaking him like a dog would a bone, I watch his headless body with loathing.
A roar echoes around me from the Guardians. Startled out of my killing lust, I turn to see them all down on one knee, heads bowed together with whoever was left alive of the guests to this debacle. Eshe and Sebastian are, as well, their heads lifted while they watch me with reverence on their faces.
I wipe my hand off the sodden skirts of the dress, my fingers brushing over the wooden stakes. I don’t have time to take a full breath before the bond with all my kind snaps back into place. Forgetting that it will happen now that Khan is dead, it brings me on my knees. My back bows, bending me backward, my arms flinging back to my sides. An awful scream of pain shatters every glass in the room into dust, the walls around us cracking when the remaining crystal thrones amplify it.
It echoes for a very long time, no doubt heard by everyone in a hundred-mile radius, leaving all those kneeling around me splayed on the floor with their hands pressed tightly to their bleeding ears. My throat feels raw, and vocal cords are ripped apart. When I finally drop on the ground, blood sprays through my lips when I cough. The blurriness clears after a moment, millions of emotions from around the world hitting like a tsunami in my chest, leaving me breathless.
Strong, callused hands lift me up, and I press my face to Sebastian’s chest, inhaling his familiar scent. Sebastian. My eyes snap open, and I lift my face to his. His dark gaze full of concern is intent on me. My hand glides down his chest to my lap, then further down my hip to my thigh. Pain stabs my chest, but I push it away.This is the way it has to be.Reminding myself sternly, I look around, searching for Andrei. He is nowhere to be found.
Good.
