Page 26 of A Wicked Dance of Obsidian and Light (Echoes of Darkness #1)

His meaty hand shoots out at the same time I take a step back and slam into something hard, again. But this time, an intoxicatingly warm, sensual scent fills my nostrils—black cherries, fresh cloves, leather, with just a hint of rum.

“Hello, angel,” someone whispers in my ear, the gravelly voice rolling over me like honey.

My breath hitches in my chest. I know this voice. “Kaiden?” I murmur, and my heart starts doing acrobatics in my chest as his arm bands protectively across my midriff, fusing my back completely with his front while the other lunges and blocks the vampire’s attempt to punch me. His tattooed fingers wrap around the fist, stopping it mid-air.

“No one fucking touches what’s mine!” Kaiden growls possessively as he tightens his hold. The sickening sound of bones crunching fills the air.

Um, what did he just say?

I barely have time to register his words because all of a sudden, the vampire is engulfed in a red fire so deep it almost looks black. He howls in pain as he’s being burnt to a crisp while the other vampires hiss and tighten their circle around us. The smell of charred meat burns the back of my throat, making my eyes water.

Kaiden pulls me back from the scorching flames. “Stay here. Don’t move,” he commands in my ear.

With a frown, I touch my onyx choker. It should have alerted me of Kaiden’s presence. This is the second time this has happened. Maybe it’s not defective after all…

Suddenly, one of the barricaded stained-glass windows explodes, sending tiny shards of glass and wood splinters everywhere. We all turn toward the commotion as a silvery-black panther lands nimbly in front of the altar, its fur glinting as if made of pure moonlight. I do a double take when it’s followed by what I assume is a gigantic wolf shifter with ash brown fur and honey eyes. The glass crunches under its humongous paws as they make contact with the marble floor.

When I think I’ve seen it all, a man in a black designer suit zips through the air from the direction of the shattered window, landing in a crouch next to the panther, holding a machete. He straightens his muscular body, brushing his shoulder of the remaining pieces of glass. Arresting blue-green eyes snap to mine when he catches me staring, and he flashes a devious grin in my direction before baring his fangs and snarling at the vampires surrounding us.

“What is happening?” I mumble in disbelief.

The panther roars menacingly, the animalistic sound bouncing off the decaying marble walls as it pounces on the line of vampires, starting to decapitate them using only the snap of its jaws and claws. In the next second, madness ensues. Everyone collides in a flurry of movements almost too rapid for my eyes to track.

I’m speechless, jaw on the floor, staring at the magnificent nine-foot feline made out of pure muscles as it decimates the vampires alongside the equally powerful gigantic wolf and the strange vampire in the designer suit who wields the machete as if it’s an extension of his body. They all work together synchronously, like a well-oiled machine, the vampires not standing a chance.

Kaiden joins the fray, popping in and out of thin air at will, disorienting them while ripping their limbs and heads off with his bare hands and setting them on fire. He’s even more powerful than I thought. My eyes drink him in, the way he fights like he was born just for this purpose, his magnificent body decked in black jeans, a leather jacket over a black tee, and combat boots. He moves gracefully as if he is death itself. He doesn’t even get blood on him; that’s how fast he is.

Sensing my burning gaze, Kaiden turns to look at me and tilts his head. He winks and shoots me a panty-dropping grin while holding a bloody head. A shiver passes down my spine the moment our gazes collide—his irises engulfed completely in crimson, the same color as the flames shooting from his palms. His scleras are turned black.

I break the eye contact, and rapidly approaching a broken-down pew, I send my leg in a powerful kick, splintering what is left of the wood. I manage to dislodge a few jagged pieces and dive head-first into the fight as a female vampire sneaks at Kaiden’s back while he’s busy dismembering another. The bitch is holding my sword.

She lunges at Kaiden, and at the same time, I jump, propelling myself into the air while swinging my arm in a wide arc. I impale the sharp piece of wood into her back, right where her heart is. The wail she lets out gets lost in the booming sounds of the battle as her body freezes, turning immobile. Using my left hand, I wrap my fingers around the hilt of my sword to take it back. But just as I’m about to face plant into her back, an arm snakes along my middle, stopping my movement.

I don’t even have to look to know who it is; the current surging through me is evidence enough. Swallowing hard, I whirl, and I’m face to face with Kaiden. The hand he has splayed on my lower back burns through my gear. He tightens his hold on me, pulling me closer. Something ignites in me and turns my blood into molten lava. My nipples draw to hard tips as they brush against the hard planes of his chest, and our heavy breaths mingle, chests heaving.

His jaw ticks. “I told you not to move,” he snaps while looking down his nose at me. His narrowed eyes are nothing more than two crimson slits. A few tendrils of inky hair have escaped the leather tie, framing his stupidly gorgeous face that looks too perfect to be real.

Ugh.

My palm itches with the need to brush them back. I clench my fingers and resist the urge. “Seriously?” I arch an eyebrow, huffing. “I think you meant to say ‘thank you, Iris,’” I snark with a saccharine smile.

His nostrils flare. “I didn’t need your help.”

I scoff. “You sure looked like you did to me.”

“You could have gotten hurt,” he fires back, acidly.

“I can hold my own, thank you very much.”

“Can you?” He tilts his head. “You have at least two broken ribs with the way your breath wheezes out of your lungs. Your pupils are blown out, surely from a concussion, and you’re so full of blood and bruises you look like you’ve been in a fucking car wreck.”

“It’s not all mine,” I mutter.

Kaiden’s gaze drops to the juncture between my neck and shoulder. A muscle thrums in his jaw, and the vein on the side of his forehead looks like it’s about to burst as his hand comes up. The pads of his fingers brush over my skin gently, making me shiver. “Who. The. Fuck. Did. This. To. You?” he grits out through clenched teeth. Golden sparks swirl with the crimson in his eyes. The floor starts to shake violently beneath my feet, chandeliers, and ornate altar statues threatening to topple down.

What in the? Is…is Kaiden doing this?

“He’s dead,” I say quickly. Deep cracks start forming in the already dilapidated walls. Fuck. If he doesn’t stop, the whole cathedral is going to crumble on top of us.

“Kaiden. What the hell, man? You’re going to bury us here,” the hot vampire with the machete bellows from somewhere behind Kaiden.

As soon as he finishes saying that, the Virgin Mary statue turns to rubble, and a piece of the wall smashes against the floor, leaving a dusty cloud and a gaping hole behind. Gold rapidly takes over the crimson in Kaiden’s eyes as his sclera turns a blinding white.

“Kaiden, you need to calm down,” I murmur, framing his jaw with my hand. At my touch, he seems to snap out of it, and the earthquake stops abruptly as he sucks in a sharp breath, body shaking. He blinks. Then his eyes turn back to normal.

I let out a breath of relief, and my tongue darts out to wet my cracked lips.

Kaiden’s eyes snap to my lips. The air sparks between us. Everything around us fades into a blurry background. My heart skips a beat; then it thuds hard against my ribcage. Butterflies swarm angrily in my stomach as they fight to escape the enclosed space. I’m mesmerized by the hunger in his eyes. He dips his head, but before his lips make contact with mine, movement catches the corner of my eye.

“DUCK!” I scream, and Kaiden pops off. He reappears at the back of the vampire who tried sneaking up on us, grabbing him by the nape of his neck and stopping his momentum.

Swinging my sword, I decapitate the vampire with a clean sweep, missing Kaiden’s fingers by half an inch. The head drops with a wet thud to the marble floor, and blood shoots out. It paints Kaiden’s face, and some of it drips down his clothes. He discards the cadaver, throwing me a scathing glare and wiping at his face with the back of his hand.

With another saccharine smile, I deadpan, “You’re welcome.”

Apparently, this was the last vampire to kill. An eerie silence fills the air as my eyes take in the carnage before me. Headless corpses, scattered limbs, and bloody heads cover the marble floor like a gory blanket thrown over a pool of blood. The musty smell of decay mingles with that of charred flesh, blood, and death. It coats my lungs and makes my stomach churn unpleasantly.

“Malik, Iris is injured.” Kaiden’s powerful voice snaps me out of it as the panther prowls toward us, stepping over the headless bodies.

The air shimmers slightly around its form, and all of a sudden, a man is standing in front of us instead of the panther. My eyebrows shoot up in surprise. I know about the existence of shifters other than wolves, but I also know they’re very rare. And isn’t Malik supposed to be a warlock? I have never heard of a black magic wielder who can shift into an animal at the same time.

He’s striking, with slanted, catlike, pale hazel eyes, the taupe hue of his skin enhanced by the long silver hair reaching his waist. I don’t think I have ever seen hair like his, shimmering and lively as if spun by moonlight. Even his body resembles that of a feline in the way he moves, as if he’s fluid, muscular, and lean at the same time. The black leather duster he’s wearing would look ridiculous if he weren’t so freakin’ hot.

Malik steps next to Kaiden. “I need to pull some juice from you. I used everything I had in the fight,” he says, his gaze locked with Kaiden’s.

“Take as much as you need,” Kaiden tells Malik.

“There’s no need; I’m fine,” I mumble. But as I inhale, I’m reminded of the state of my ribs, the pain shooting through my body making me dizzy. I sway slightly on my feet. Now that the fight is over, the adrenaline crash is starting to settle in.

“You’re not fine.” Kaiden’s shrewd eyes flick to mine. He arches an eyebrow as he tilts his head.

Malik takes two steps, stopping right in front of me. The piercing in his septum glints slightly when it catches the light of a flickering candle. “May I?”

Placing the sword in its sheath at my back, I simply nod, and he brings his warm hand to the center of my chest at the same time as Kaiden comes to stand next to him. Malik places his other hand on Kaiden’s chest. His eyes snap shut, wrinkles forming with the pressure at the corners as he starts chanting, his veins swirling with inky, dark magic. It flows in the air like a thick fog before it wraps around me until I’m surrounded only by darkness. A strange feeling overtakes me. With every inhale, I feel something inside of me mending as if skin and bone start to piece themselves back together.

The chanting stops after a few minutes, and the dark fog dissipates as Malik drops his arms at the sides of his body. His shoulders slump, and his face takes on a gaunt appearance, dark circles forming under his eyes as if the use of dark magic took its toll on his body.

“Thank you for healing me, and I also haven’t had a chance to thank you for the last time, you know, when the umbra attacked me,” I say.

Malik winks. “No worries, sweets. Kaiden would have murdered me if I let you die. I happen to like my head attached to my neck, thank you very much.” His feline eyes bore into mine like he’s searching for something.

Kaiden clears his throat, and he quickly steps back. “Where’s Logan?” he asks, addressing the vampire that’s now standing next to him.

“He went outside to shift and get dressed. His clothes were in his truck,” he answers. “I did a full sweep of the grounds. We killed all of them.” His gaze flicks to mine. “I believe these are yours,” he says as he extends five daggers, my phone, and my whip toward me.

“Thanks.” I take my weapons and slide my phone into the back pocket of my pants. “Wait, there was this guy tied to a wooden cross.”

A muscle ticks in his jaw. He’s incredibly handsome, with olive-tan skin, a short beard, and a proud Roman nose, his raven locks swept back with a clean shave on the sides, longer on top and wavy. “He’s dead. They drained all of his blood.”

“Oh,” I sigh, biting my lip. Another lost life.

“I’m Dominic, by the way.”

“Iris, nice to meet you,” I say before coiling the whip tightly to place it in its holster. Grateful to feel the weight of my daggers again, I slide them back one by one in their place at my ribs.

Dominic rakes a hand through his hair as his lips curl in a dangerous smile. “Oh, I know who you are. We met the night the umbra attacked you, though you were unconscious, so I guess it doesn’t count. Also, Kaiden can’t shut up about you.” He chuckles, making me blush.

A laugh belts out of Malik. “That he can’t. I swear to God my ear is going to fall any day now.”

“Shut the fuck up, dipshits,” Kaiden bites back with a snarl, earning a shit-eating grin in response from Dominic.

“I would shake your hand, but you look like you’ve bathed in blood, and I haven’t had the chance to feed today,” Dominic says. There’s a glint of animalistic hunger in his eyes. The way he scans my body up and down isn’t sexual by any means, though.

“Hate to break it to you, buddy, but you would turn into a pile of dust if you tasted my blood,” I tell him, arching an eyebrow, folding my arms in front of my chest.

Dominic, Kaiden, and Malik share a look before Kaiden asks, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I didn’t have time to explain this since you blew a gasket and almost buried us in rubble earlier. Anyway, they kept me in a crypt below ground. This vampire bit me when I tried to escape, but he acted as if he ingested poison. He asked me what I am, and then he started to disintegrate right before my eyes until only dust was left. That’s weird, right?”

Kaiden frowns, sucking on his teeth as if in thought. “Yeah,” he says after a few seconds of silence.

“Is this supposed to happen when a vampire bites a lightborn? I mean, I’ve never heard something like this happening before. Could it be the blessed bloodline?” I press while my gaze flits to Dominic. He must have an answer since he’s a vampire.

“It’s not the bloodline. Vampires have fed off lightborn and been fine before,” he responds but doesn’t offer anything more.

My lips purse. I feel as though there’s something they’re purposefully leaving out. Before I can pester them with more questions, Malik says, “I’m beat. Can we go? The smell of death is burning a hole through my brain.”

Without waiting for our response, he strides to the massive wooden door that is now open and steps through it. We follow him out of the church.