Hundreds of rebels started running from their camp in the fields beyond to fight. This was no reconnaissance mission—the attack had begun. I heard the wolves howl—they leapt out from behind the trees and surprised the small rebel team near us. More stakes whizzed through the trees, nearly hitting me. They must have been launching them from some sort of contraption.
“Stay down!” Austin hissed. He ducked right as a stake flew in his direction. “Bloody hell.” We scrambled to the safety of nearby underbrush. “My father’s going to insist on annihilating them for this.”
“Because they’re prepared?” Another stake sliced through the air overhead and stuck in a tree.
“They’re trying to kill as many of us as they can. That must be their main goal.” He looked at me. “I’m afraid we won’t be taking many prisoners.”
I sniffed the air. “I understand. We have to fight to protect ourselves. I can smell it on them, you know.”
Austin inhaled but looked confused. “Smell what?”
“Their desperation. Their fear. On some of them it’s blinding-white hate.”
He nodded. “I can’t smell that. Perhaps this is your gift: you can tell what people have in their hearts. That would be a good one.” He looked thoughtful as another stake whizzed by. A werewolf howled, and a human screamed. “That’s my cue. I have to reach Rhys and the others.”
“I’m in.” I gripped his hand. “But I think we should stay low. Actually…” My gaze swept the ground until I located the tunnel. “I was thinking…”
“Bloody hell.” Austin looked disgusted.
“But I bet it would bring us to the other side so we could join the wolves and surprise the rebels out in the field. We could stop them before they even reach the forest.”
“Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He grabbed my hand, and we crawled to the entrance as more snarls and screams echoed nearby. “Ladies first. Remember what I showed you. Hands over your head. Close your mouth.” I positioned myself, and he inspected me. “There’s a good girl. Go now.”
I dove into the tunnel. It was the strangest feeling. The earth was cool and dark around me as slid through. I didn’t have to crawl or dig—that was the wild part. I slid quickly through the moist darkness, almost as if I was on an underground slide. Is this what it feels like for worms? I’m afraid I had underestimated them!
Moments later, I flew out of the tunnel on the other side, landing in a heap of dirt. I rubbed my eyes. There was a pair of paws in front of me. I looked up and found myself staring at Rhys in wolf form.
He tilted his head at me questioningly as if to say, “Blake? What the bloody hell?”
Austin shot out of the tunnel behind me. “Gar!” he roared, wiping the dirt out of his eyes. “That never gets less disgusting.”
I shook some dirt from my hair. “I thought it was sort of fun.”
Rhys growled, and that was the end of chatting. I could hear our attackers running through the fields. I’d been right—the tunnel had taken us around to the side of the rebels. We could sneak up on them now.
Austin nodded toward Rhys. “They’re all in on the attack. I have no orders except to fight to the death. They were coming at us with metal stakes launched from something… I dunno.” He rose to his feet. “Let’s go.”
Rhys emitted a low growl, and five other wolves stalked out of the woods behind him. I stilled, listening. I could hear the Black Guard riding through the forest, about to meet the first line of rebels. “Now!”
We ran out of the woods into the field, surprising the soldiers from the side. The wolves fanned out behind us. I could smell the rebels—their anxiety, their adrenaline. Just as Austin had predicted, my instincts kicked in. My fangs lengthened, and I hissed. I ran fast and low to the ground, a snarl of my own building inside my chest. They’d tried to stake me. They’d tried to stake Austin. Perhaps I would find the will to fight.
Austin and the wolves entered the fray first. The humans screamed as Austin made quick work of them, using a combination of sparring and draining. He would hit, punch, and kick anyone who came near him. Any soldier who got too close or wielded a weapon got his fangs. He drained the humans more quickly than I could imagine. Bodies crumpled to the ground around him. The wolves snapped their jaws around the rebels and threw them around like chew toys. Bloody hell.
I decided to go with physical force, not fangs. I grabbed any and all rebels within reach. I punched one. I kicked another off me as he tried to grab my tunic. Another rebel wielded a stake at me—I stole it and whacked her in the head. That worked fairly well, so I employed the same tactic on the next several soldiers within range. Austin and the wolves continued to work through the lines as more sentinels siphoned off from their main charge to fight us. I heard hooves, the blare of a trumpet. The Black Guard had arrived.
I looked up from the soldier I’d just knocked out to see the horses crashing out of the forest, the banners blazing in the wind. In an instant, the Guard was upon the rebels. The vampire army attacked without mercy, draining the humans dry at a rate I hadn’t fathomed was possible. It was gross, really. Good thing I had my stake and plenty of people who wanted to kill me. Engaging in combat was easier than watching the massacre unfolding around me.
Austin, the wolves, and I had severely cut into the rebel line. We worked our way through the middle, battling every soldier we encountered. Beyond the Black Guard, at the outskirts of the clearing, I spied Eve, Dallas, and Balkyn. Eve drained three soldiers dry before they could even touch her. Dallas moved like Austin, fighting when he could easily win and draining the rebels when he couldn’t. Balkyn fought with his sword. I saw him cut a rebel down.
Then someone sprang at Balkyn from the side—a small dark-haired devil. She clung to his back like a rabid monkey. But this rabid monkey was Chase, and she had a knife blade to Balkyn’s throat.
“Eve!” I screamed, but it was too late. Chase drove the dagger into Balkyn’s neck, and he crumpled beneath her. “No!”
Austin whipped around. “What?”
“Balkyn! Chase stabbed him!” The prince reached for my hand, and we struggled through the battle to our friends. Eve was fighting off five rebels. Dallas disappeared into the fray. And Balkyn was on the ground, gushing blood.
“It’s what you bloody deserve.” Chase spat at him and started running away, but Austin was quicker.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Austin whispered, his fangs bared.
“Get off me, you demon!” Chase’s leg was bandaged, but that didn’t stop her from trying to kick back at Austin. He grabbed her, tightening his grip, and she shrieked.
I used my stake to level the sentinels who fought Eve. They dropped to the ground, and she gasped when she saw me. “You’re better at this than I expected!”
“Eve…” Balkyn reached up toward her. Blood gushed from his neck. His skin was pale, so pale.
Eve hadn’t seen what happened. My heart broke for my friend. “No!” She flew to his side and took his hand in hers.
Chase watched them in disgust. “I can’t wait for your death—I hope you burn!” Her dark eyes shone with crazy, incontrovertible hate.
“And I cannot wait for your death. Or perhaps we should call it a rebirth.” Austin ran his fangs down her neck, and her eyes bulged in her head.
Chase’s whole body trembled. Her lips went white. “Get away from me, you filthy bloodsucker! Don’t you dare turn me!”
I crouched by Eve as she clutched Balkyn’s hand. He was saying something to her, pleading
She furrowed her brow. “Are you sure?”
A smile ghosted his lips. “I didn’t even have a chance to dance with you yet, Lady Eve. I am quite sure.”
Eve nodded. “I will do as you ask. But forgive me, for there is pain. Although it hurts, it doesn’t last forever…not compared to the life you gain.”
Balkyn nodded and she bent her head back, her fangs glinting in the sunlight.
She plunged them into his neck.
“No. NO!” Chase screamed, horrified. “You can’t turn him!”
Eve ignored her, drinking deeply from Balkyn as he moaned and writhed beneath her. I couldn’t stop staring—I knew what that felt like. I was suddenly glad that I hadn’t been able to respond to when the prince had turned me. He wouldn’t have been able to handle that.
Chase struggled to get free of Austin, but he held her like a vise grip. “I fancy you’re next,” he hissed at her. He smiled when she started screaming her head off.
The fight raged on behind us, but it was clear that the vampires were winning. The corpses piled up in the field.
“Blake. Blake.” Austin had to raise his voice above Chase’s screams. “Here. I want you to take her.” He tried to hand her off to me, but I jumped back.
“What? Why?”
Chase took one look at me and started screaming even more. “She’s turned too? What the bloody—” The curses she spat out were ones I’d never heard before.
“I don’t want her!” I gaped at Austin. “Can’t you smell that? She smells like pure hate.”
Austin deposited her squarely in front of me. He clamped a hand over her mouth and blessedly muffled her shrieks. “She is yours. You can smell her hate. You know what she has done. She tried to kill you, and she tried to kill Balkyn. You may do as you see fit. My instinct is to disembowel her slowly and let the werewolves use her entrails for sport. Or turn her—because as far as she’s concerned, that’s a fate worse than any death.”
Even muffled, Chase’s shrieks went a pitch higher.
Austin smiled. “But I realize that’s selfish of me. You are the one who should decide this demon’s fate. She is unarmed. She is yours. You have excellent judgment.”
Austin released her and took a step back.
Chase’s eyes narrowed in hate. She looked back to see Eve whispering over Balkyn, his body finally still. The rebel turned back to me. “You all disgust me. Demons from hell. You were a vampire’s whore—a traitor to your own race. Now look at you.” She spat at me.
Just like last time, I saw tiny bubbles on my boot. My own temper got a hold of me—before I even knew what I was doing, I slapped her across the face. Hard. She rocked back on her heels, almost tipping over backward.
Austin caught her from behind, then held her up for me.
I took a step forward and Chase recoiled. “You have no power over me—my life is already over.” She glanced back at Eve and Balkyn and for the first time, I saw a flicker of an emotion other than hate in her eyes. “I can’t believe she turned him.”
I stood before her. “That was his choice. What is yours?”
She turned back to me, her pretty face utterly transformed by contempt once again. “I choose death. If you won’t release me to fight with my brothers, and if Balkyn has chosen your world, there is nothing left for me here.”
“Our world…” I frowned at her. “But my lady, there is only one world.”
She shook her head, hate plain on her face even as tears spilled down her cheeks. “That’s not true.”
I moved closer and smelled her. Her scent was acrid, as if years of hate and fear had built up in her muscles and left her spoiled.
“Lady Kensington.” Austin still held her firmly in his grasp. “It’s time.”
There was still fighting behind us, but it was quieting down. Our side had vanquished the rebels. Their bodies were piling up around us. I glanced away from the funeral pyre the Black Guard was assembling. My gaze traveled to Eve as she hovered over Balkyn, holding his hand and whispering to him. There was so much pain all around me—I could smell it. Pain and waste, all for nothing. All for hate.
“Release her, my lord.” I took a step back. “This lady’s path is hers to choose. I do not agree with her position, but I cannot change her heart. She believes what she believes. I can only hope that, someday in the future, she might see something to support another point of view.”
“As you wish.” Austin let go of Chase slowly, never taking his eyes off of her.
Chase warily backed away. Then she turned and ran, her injured leg making her escape into the forest awkward and painful-looking. She didn’t give Balkyn another glance. I suppose he was worse than dead to her.
“Blake.” Austin clutched my hands. “Why did you not punish her? She’s responsible for a number of crimes, not the least of which is ending your human life.”
I bowed my head. “I’ve decided something, Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“I will not take another life.” I looked back up at him. “Not even those I deem dangerous or hateful. I will protect my family and friends, to be sure. But if I have a choice, I will always choose to let others live. It’s not in me, in spite of what I’ve become.”
Austin looked at me carefully. “You are extraordinary, my lady. I admire your standards, but I’m even more stunned by your ability to execute them.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “Most newly turned vampires do not have that sort of self-control.”
I shrugged, even though I was pleased by his words. “She didn’t smell very tempting, quite honestly. A bit on the acidic side.”
He laughed, and then kissed the top of my head. “What is it the humans call it? A ‘foodie?’ I suppose once a foodie, always a foodie.”
I pulled back and peered at his face. “It’s about a bit more than that.”
Austin nodded, looking thoughtful. “Of course it is. I don’t mean to speak too lightly.”
“She did smell a bit like spoiled vinegar,” I admitted.
“Still. You have shown grace, my lady. I expect that I’ll be learning from you for a long time.”
I grinned. “I expect you will. Now let’s stop congratulating ourselves on our moral superiority and check on the others.”
“Yes, my lady.” He bowed his head.
“Come on, then.” Still, I smiled. I could quite get used to this.