Page 38 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)
CHAPTER 38
SUMMER
I shrieked as dark shadows wrapped around me from behind and a hand yanked on my hair. Malachi and I had almost made it back to the side entrance — I could see the arched outline in the distance.
My fangs and claws punched out at the threat, my wolf snarling at whoever had snatched me. The hallway was dark, but the scent was sharp, copper and smoke telling me we were surrounded by vampires. I moved my head against the tight hold on my hair, trying to see Malachi beside me, wrapped in the same shadowy magic.
“Well, well. Who do we have here?”
The shadows binding my arms rippled, forcibly turning me around to face —
Grigor’s eyes widened in rage. “ You .”
Without the golden throne, club music, and writhing bodies, the vampire lord from Boston was far more threatening. His blond hair was slicked back from his face, like a Prohibition Era villain in his pinstripe suit. The only thing setting him apart were the long fangs hanging down over his bottom lip, just as dangerous as the guns the bootleggers were known for.
Baring my teeth, I tried to wrestle free from his magic, but even my wolf’s strength was no match. Something else was reinforcing his magic, then.
Behind Grigor, two other vampires materialized.
“Get the angel,” he ordered with a flick of his fingers, his unblinking eyes focused on me as he pulled on my hair, tipping my head to the side to sniff my neck. “This one is mine.”
His magic tightened around my arms, pinning them to my sides. I bit down the edge of panic, focusing on the magic around me, looking for weaknesses to break his hold. They dragged us back through the darkened halls, Grigor and I a few steps behind the others with Malachi.
Leaning in, he tightened his hold on my hair until I winced in pain and hissed in my ear, “I so hope your master is nearby. It will make it so much sweeter to drain you dry if he’s here to watch.”
I fought the shiver threatening to overtake me at his words. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he rattled me.
As we moved through the halls, the noise around us grew louder near a set of large double doors. Grigor spoke in rapid-fire Italian to his men, who hurried to open them ahead of us. Malachi hung limply in their hold as we stumbled into a large atrium behind the doors.
Everything was chaos.
In the center of the room was an immense table, a chandelier crashed down in the middle, glass everywhere. Moonlight shone through the broken windows overhead, casting the room in an eerie glow. The sounds of death were everywhere, snarling vampires filling the large room in a deadly brawl. Some had their leathery wings out, others kept them hidden, all with fangs glinting in the moonlight.
“Where is the king?” Grigor shouted to one of his men, pulling me back towards the doors. Whatever magic held me lessened as one of the vampires holding Malachi took a stake to the chest, launched from somewhere in the distance. My eyes blew wide as he crumpled to the floor, hands clawing at the wood protruding from his chest. In seconds, his body dissolved into a pile of ash.
Bile rose in my throat as I looked back over the room, looking for any signs of Max or Gia. Even Rhain or étienne. They had to be here somewhere.
Shouts and cries of agony pierced the air as vampires attacked each other, blood spraying everywhere, roiling shadow magic whipping and coiling as they battled. Two humans lay dead on the floor — either witches under their employ or humans brought in as refreshments, I didn’t know. Another three huddled together in a corner under a table, their eyes wide and terrified.
Everywhere I looked lay dead and dying vampires, the entire scene a mixture of gore and ash as their bodies dissolved around stakes protruding from chests. My eyes shifted to my wolf, but even being able to see them clearer, I couldn’t tell who was on our side.
“ ENOUGH!” a deep voice boomed from the center of the room, followed by a rippling aftershock of shadow magic. Black inky clouds exploded from the man’s hands, washing the room in darkness as he levitated above the broken chandelier, floating in midair. The dark rolled over the room like a tidal wave, freezing everyone it touched, paralyzed with his power. The bindings around my arms dissolved and I reached behind me to grab my hair out of Grigor’s hold. But as the magic swept over me, my lungs seized.
Eyes wide, I couldn’t look away from the huge vampire floating above the mayhem. Grey shot through his thick dark hair, faint lines creasing his Mediterranean olive skin, but nothing was as noticeable as the rage igniting his features while he scanned the room. His eyes were the blood red of his predator, and giant wings stretched from his back, so incongruous with the dark formal brocade suit. At first glance, he appeared mid-fifties in age, but the power rippling off him gave away that he was much, much older.
The room was silent, not a single breath taken without his permission as he floated back to the floor and walked through the crowd, seething with anger. My lungs clawed for air, like being held underwater too long, but nothing I did made a difference to break his hold over me.
When he was satisfied all the fighting had stopped, he lifted the magic just enough to allow us to breathe. Shadows pulled from every corner of the room, soaking back into his skin as black veins ran up his neck and face, then disappeared. I blinked, my heart racing as I considered the amount of power it must have taken to control this whole room, all these people. It was terrifying.
“Pathetic,” the vampire said, his laugh a low rumble that held no humor. “This is the best you can do? A coup?” He laughed again, his arms spread wide. “I have ruled the Conclave for a thousand years, keeping us hidden from the humans and supernaturals alike. Biding my time, and yet you dare turn on me? On each other? ”
Another wash of power exploded out of King Osric, forcing us all to our knees. I crashed to the floor, the tiles biting into my skin as I gasped in pain, not daring to lift my head.
“I will find those responsible for this little attack,” the vampire king said, his words echoing off the walls. “I will find you, and your entire line will meet their final death.”
The room was immobile, whether by magic or just pure fear, I couldn’t decide. He walked through the crowd, black shoes tapping on the tiles, daring anyone to stand against him.
“My king,” Grigor spoke up when he neared us, his breaths raspy as if he too had been without air. “A gift.”
King Osric stopped, his hands in his pockets as if a coup hadn’t been taking place moments before. In slow motion, he turned soulless eyes on us, looking me up and down. Grigor yanked my ponytail until I moved towards him.
“A wolf?” Osric cocked his head to the side, studying me, then dismissed me just as quickly. “That is the least of my concerns, duke. Find me that little French weasel.”
He turned away from us, walking on. Grigor tensed, dragging me forward again, needing to prove his loyalty. “Not just a wolf, my king. A Hunter .”
Osric’s head whipped around, nostrils flaring as black inky magic shot through his veins, his eyes flashing red. “Is that so?”
He stalked closer and I couldn’t help trying to scoot back, but Grigor held tight.
“She found my den. Found the Conclave tonight.”
Panic shot through me as Osric flew forward, shadows erupting around him. Before I could blink, my back smashed into a wall, his hand wrapped around my throat. Osric squeezed as he studied me, his eyes flashing between red and black.
“I thought we killed the last of your kind,” he murmured, tilting my head to sniff my neck. My wolf thrashed and snarled in protest, but even my immunity to vampire magic seemed subdued compared to Osric’s power.
“Don’t touch me,” I managed to hiss through his grip on my throat.
Ignoring me, he jerked my jaw until I met his gaze. “Where are you from, little wolf? Who is your pack?”
Steely black eyes bored into mine, swirling with power. I tried to wrench my head back, realizing he was attempting to see into my mind, my memories. Magic tingled at the edges of my awareness, but I clamped my mind shut, just like I did to keep my emotions private from the pack.
Osric growled, his eyes going red again, and his magic turned from a light caress into knives, trying to bore into my mind. This was different than the magic Grigor had used against me in Boston, and the more powerful magic they’d used together in the halls outside. This burned , like my skin was being peeled back an inch at a time to see everything inside me.
My breaths sawed in and out as I held firm, sealing my mind, even as I bared and gritted my teeth, as a tear slipped down my cheek from the effort to keep him out.
There was no universe where I let him see my family, my home.
“Husband.”
Gia’s voice rang out through the room, and the weight of Osric’s magic lifted ever so slightly. As if he couldn’t resist her pull, Osric turned to her, loosening his grip on my throat.
Max’s mother glided forward, her bearing cold and regal, every bit the queen she apparently was here. Raising an imperious brow, she inspected me like she’d never seen me before, and wrinkled her nose. “What is this stray doing here, amore mio ?”
My nostrils flared, searching for Max’s sandalwood scent, but couldn’t find him. He wouldn’t have abandoned us, so I followed her lead and kept quiet.
“A remnant of the Hunter line, beloved,” Osric told her, stepping away from me but maintaining his shadows that bound me in place.
Gia tilted her head. “The Hunters? They were exterminated.”
“Some of them must have survived.”
Stepping forward, Gia moved in front of Osric, partially blocking me from his view. “Then we must find their hideout.” She lifted a hand to my forehead, but asked Osric, “May I?”
“As you wish, but I believe she’s had training. Her mental shield is quite strong.”
Gia’s fingertips traced my temple as I uselessly tried to yank myself backwards, something flickering in her eyes I couldn’t read.
“Shh, be still, wolf,” she murmured, and to anyone watching, she was merely trying to calm her prey.
But instead of attempting to force her way into my mind, she let me into hers, a series of images flashing behind my eyes.
Osric, a stake through his chest.
Max, swooping in from the broken window to my left.
Several faces I recognized as other vampires in the room behind her. Presumably, who else to look out for.
Seconds passed before her fingers dropped and she snarled, pretending she hadn’t been able to enter my mind.
“Who trained you?” she seethed, raising a hand to slap me.
Osric rushed forward — to stop or help, I couldn’t tell — and Gia spun around.
A glint of silver, a choked gasp, and Osric’s eyes widened.
As Gia stepped back, a wooden stake with a carved silver hilt protruded from her husband’s chest, and he collapsed to his knees.
“You have ruled unchecked for too long, amore mio ,” she said, her hand cupping his jaw as he spluttered for air. “I’ll meet you in the next life.”
Without hesitating, Gia whipped out a knife, and sliced his throat.
A gasp lodged in my throat as blood spray hit my knees, and his magic dissolved from the room, from the world.
Silence hung in the room for a long moment, and then the frenzy reignited. No longer paralyzed, several vampires launched for Gia while others fought to defend her. I caught sight of Rhain a second before he threw a vampire through the historic stained glass window.
He appeared in front of me with a wink, grabbing my arm to pull me towards the window.
“Contingency plan,” he whispered.
Max leapt onto the window ledge, his boots dislodging shards of glass, his dark wings outstretched. His eyes were rimmed in red, his shadow magic dark in his veins, and lightning skittered over his black feathers.
Malachi hurried over to us, but with a snarl, a vampire tackled him to the ground, one of the faces Gia had shown me. He reared his head back, fangs bared and ready to tear out Malachi’s throat, when a heeled leather boot kicked him, hard enough the snap of his neck was an audible crack, even through the chaos.
Straightening her skirt over her boots, Gia reached for Malachi, helping him back to his feet, and ushered him over to us like she hadn’t just killed two Conclave members.
The second Max had both me and Malachi in his grasp, Gia shoved all of us out the window, not giving us a second to hesitate. Without a backwards glance, she returned to the fight.
Max’s magic wrapped around us as we fell backwards, the sounds of the fighting muffled to silence, and we vanished.