Page 72 of Cruelest Kiss and Fairest Blood (Tales So Wicked #2)

Lenore

S tabbing Cassius in the balls felt incredible. The feeling swiftly dissipates as he regains his composure. The blood staining his gold trousers dries. He healed even faster than before. Pale skin and golden hair lack every bit of the warm comfort he once brought me.

Yellow eyes glare at me. “You’re lucky you didn’t cut it off.

That would have taken much longer to heal.

This?” Reaching into his trousers, he pulls his cock free.

It’s stained with blood. “This, I can heal.” He strokes himself.

“This, I can still use to make you suffer for the mess you’ve made of our plans. ”

The sight of his cock hardening makes my gut churn. I expected a knife to the dick to prevent this exact thing from happening. I wounded him but it barely slowed him down.

“That mirror may be coming for you, but I’ll take every minute I have left to hurt you. Break you like you once begged me to.” The next step he takes toward me spurs me into action. I’m sure as shit not going to let that happen.

I fake a swing at his groin again. Big bad Cassius flinches.

I guess it wasn’t as fun to get stabbed in the balls as he made it seem.

When he blocks his lower half, I swing high, stabbing him just beneath his left eye.

Cassius pulls away so fast that I don’t have a chance to yank the dagger free. His snarl raises every hair on my body.

“Bitch.” With blinding speed, he pulls the dagger free from his cheek and rams it straight into my stomach.

Mytha’s gasp breaks through the ringing in my ears. I didn’t see her return.

The look of triumph on Cassius’s smug face makes me sick. “Why do you bother trying to fight me if you know you can’t win?”

A slow, sharp throbbing radiates throughout my abdomen. Mytha hooks her arms beneath mine and slithers back, putting some distance between us and Cassius.

“Where is Harrow?” I gasp through the pain.

“Busssy, but help isss coming. Hold on.”

Mytha’s movements are as fluid as water as she lunges for Cassius.

Sharp claws lash out, cutting Cassius over and over.

Bunching up my skirts, I fill in the space around the dagger’s hilt.

I can’t pull it out. There’s hardly any blood leaking out, but once the blade is removed, I could bleed out instantly.

Cassius practically lets Mytha cover him in scratches. Arrogant bastard. He laughs. “What’s your big plan? Scratch me to death?”

“Me? I’m jussst buying time.” She lowers her voice, “Princesss, whatever you do, keep your wound covered.”

She slashes him across the chest again. Cassius grins. Sadistic fuck. “What do you expect that to do?”

Mytha steps back, admiring the mess she’s made of him. “It will make it easssier for him to hunt you.”

“Who? Your precious harbinger won’t escape my sister’s wrath. No one is coming to save you.”

“What a droll kingdom,” an unfamiliar voice rings out from behind Cassius.

He spins. “Who the hell are you?”

The man who just appeared out of thin air stands even taller than Harrow.

He’s clothed in a pure black suit made of a fabric that shimmers with a pearlescent hue beneath the moonlight.

His skin is pale enough that I can see the tracing of veins under his skin.

A mass of blue-tinged black hair has been twisted up into a knot atop his head.

He’s currently staring down at his fingers, casually cleaning one of his pointed nails.

When he raises his head, his eyes are hidden by a pair of small, circular glasses with gemmy red lenses.

He inhales deeply and smiles. “Ah, the scent of magically inclined blood.” A pair of sharp, extended canines flash our way. “Dark magic. My favorite flavor. Makes my cold, unfeeling flesh all warm and tingly. It’s been such a boring evening. I could use a buzz.”

“It took you long enough,” Mytha bites out.

The man moves in a flash, appearing beside Mytha. Taking her hand in his, he raises it to his sharp, dark lips, kissing the tops of her fingers. “Beautiful Mytha. It’s always a pleasure.”

“I usssually can’t sssay the same, but under thessse circumstancesss, I’m happy to sssee you, Angel.”

“I’ll ask you again. Who the fuck are you?” Cassius snarls.

The man, apparently called Angel, ignores him. He’s currently frowning as he looks at the bruises covering Mytha’s face. “I see you’ve put up quite the struggle.”

“Thisss one isss powerful.” Mytha’s gaze flicks to Cassius who is slowly sneaking up behind the stranger. He’s quiet as he draws his sword from its sheath.

Angel smiles, showing those sharpened fangs once more. “Good. Predators are my favorite prey.”

Cassius lunges and I scream. “Watch out!”

My warning comes just as the prince stumbles forward, his sword cutting through empty air.

In the blink of an eye, both Angel and Mytha have somehow teleported across the garden.

Cassius whirls, his eyes massive. “This kingdom is a fucking magnet for magical beings. What are you?”

Angel removes his ruby glasses. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the most brilliant blue eyes I’ve ever seen. The blue is so bright, so mesmerizing that it feels as if I’m looking into the soul of the sky. Beautiful, strange, and… slitted. His pupils are long black slits.

Cassius notices the pupils too. He raises his sword in front of him. “What the fuck are you?”

“Princesss.” Mytha is trying to get my attention. It’s so hard to tear my gaze away. Firm hands shake my shoulders. Mytha is staring down at me. Her voice is urgent as she hisses. “Don’t look into hisss eyesss.”

With incredible effort, I shift my gaze to his mouth. His fang-filled grin is more terrifying with his eyes revealed.

“What am I? I am the night sky and the moonlit breeze. I am dread on wings. The thing in the darkest part of your dreams. The big bad bat. Your people favor to call me”—his grins widens—“Vampire.”

My own shock and fear are reflected in Cassius’s gaze. “Liar. Where are your wings?”

Angel shrugs, taking slow, languid steps toward Cassius. “It is such a bother to cart those things around everywhere I go. I barely fit through the doorways as it is. Keeping them glamoured out of sight is far easier.”

How is this guy so casual? Cassius stands his ground, but his knuckles blanch where they grip his sword. “Vampire or not, I will kill you. Magic flows through my veins. I have lived far longer than any other mortal. My years of training are enough?—”

Angel disappears in the same moment Cassius stops speaking. Blood drips from his gaping mouth.

“He sure does love to hear himself talk, doesn’t he?

” I nearly leave my skin when Angel speaks from right next to me.

He’s leaning up against the well. Raising an elegant hand, he examines a small item clutched between his claws.

“So small. How do you manage to do anything with something so flimsy?” He extends an impressively lengthy tongue and holds the item up next to it for comparison.

Oh my god. He ripped out Cassius’s tongue . That’s what he’s holding.

A whimper draws my stare back to Cassius. He’s clutching his mangled mouth. Gurgles choke out between spurts of blood.

Angel is back before him in a flash. He holds Cassius’s torn tongue in front of his own mouth before using his finger to waggle the severed flesh while making a lalalala sound with his own tongue. Who the fuck is this guy?

“Not even a laugh?” He tosses the tongue away. “You’re even more boring than I thought.”

The tip of Cassius’s blade bursts through Angel’s back.

I scream. Even through the pain of losing his tongue, Cassius is able to fight back.

He’s able to heal but a missing tongue will take far more energy to grow back.

Angel grips Cassius’s wrist. With a quick, sharp motion he snaps his hand completely backward.

Cassius wails. His arm falls to his side.

There’s a wet, crunching sound as Angel slides the blade free from his body and drops it to the ground.

His voice is a cold whisper, all of its former humor forgotten. “Did you think that would kill me? When Death bestows his favor on you, you become something other than living.”

A swipe of Angel’s right hand opens Cassius’s throat.

Blood gushes from the gaps. Angel’s face transforms, the lower half grows, fangs dropping until they’re the length of my hand.

The sight of Angel sinking those massive fangs directly into the freshly slit throat opening makes me nearly faint.

Clawed fingers shackle the back of Cassius’s neck, dragging his throat deeper into Angel’s mouth.

The veins lining the vampire’s skin darken. His throat bobs with long, greedy swallows. Cassius’s pale skin becomes near translucent.

When Angel pulls back, there’s a messy grin on his face. “You did have quite a bit of magic in your blood. Let’s make sure you can’t use it again.”

He moves so quickly his arms are a blur. They swipe across various parts of Cassius’s body. Hunks of flesh and bone fly in every direction. An eyeball lands at my feet. Mytha bats it away with her tail.

Angel is merciless as he carves away at every inch of the prince. When he finishes, the only sign Cassius existed at all are the two booted feet with jagged ankle bones protruding from the top.

No part of the courtyard escaped the gore-smattering Angel inflicted. Blood drips from shriveled roses. Fingers sit atop once-flowering shrubs. Half of Cassius’s face is impaled on a withered tree branch.

Angel slides his red glasses back on as he turns to face us. A bloody hand slicks back fallen strands of his long black hair. Removing a handkerchief from his jacket, he dabs at the blood coating his chin.

“Excuse the mess, ladies. I did my best to keep you both clean.” My skin and clothes have been spared the bloodshed. Angel was able to aim the blood and body parts. If I weren’t so frozen in shock I would be awfully impressed by the thoughtful and strangely gentlemanly mid-murder gesture.