Page 2 of The Vampire’s Mercy (Blood Melody #1)

CHAPTER TWO

PARIS

White eyes burned like twin fires in the frostbrood’s crystalline face.

Being one of the landborne types, it was humanoid with muscular thighs, most its body made up of glacial blue ice spikes.

But not its stomach. The long appendage of fleshy ice burst out of its belly, cold enough to give me frostbite if I didn’t get it off me soon.

Damn thing.

“Will destroy you,” it grumbled, yanking me forward.

Voices yelled behind me.

I went to summon my stakeblade before thinking better of it. If the authorities clocked me waving my pointy weapon around, they’d know who I was and put me down on the spot. Bullet to the head, another executioner exterminated.

Instead, I grabbed the appendage, giving it a forceful squeeze, then twisted it. Thanks to the cocktail of bloods from other races brimming in my veins, I possessed a multitude of skills, including the strength to scrunch the appendage so hard it released a satisfying pop.

Awesome.

The frostbrood released me, that long monstrosity retracting back into its guts. I think it called me a pus eater as it stomped up and down, but I was hurting too much to hear clearly.

Or was it a piss licker? Who knew? I was too busy crossing the veil and gasping for air, my neck screaming with pain. But the werewolf part of my blood that granted me healing kicked in, already applying pain relief and its nurturing caress.

Aidan bless their furry arses.

But a second appendage exploded from its chest, slapping me in the face. It was sticky as fuck, cutting off my breathing supply. I grabbed it, finding nothing but extreme solidity with no give.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Hauled off my feet, I went hurtling through the air. Spinning, screaming under the sticky jelly on my face, my chest on fire.

I crashed into a frozen wall, my right arm taking the brunt of it. My bones complained with painful aches, but nothing broke thanks to my body’s constitution.

I hit the ground. The sticky thing peeled off my face like duct tape. I moaned, rolling onto my back. I took a moment to breathe, facing a ceiling of ice.

Moment over, I sprang to my feet.

I was inside an icy room, sunlight spilling in from a hollow window. The fucker had thrown me several stories up, judging by the glimpse of the view I got from a hole in the wall that used to be a window.

And hadn’t joined me yet.

This time, I did summon my stakeblade into my hand. I curled my fingers around the cherry wood handle, the pointy steel blade ready for action.

Assessing the room, I found nothing of interest but a doorway. This was one of those damn skyscrapers, which meant climbing down the outside of the building.

Usually, that might be a possibility with my natural elf climbing ability. But not on the sheer ice coating this building.

This door it was, then.

Drawing luck down my chest, I hurried out into a hallway of ice, going left but finding a dead-end, so turned and dashed the other way, coming to a staircase.

“Elf isn’t leaving.”

The frostbrood waited on the stairwell, no appendage in sight. It spread its lips in a menacing grin, exposing a white void in its mouth.

I vaulted over the banister, landing on the stairs below it with elfin grace and took off.

“Elf will die! Elf will die!”

It came after me, the stairwell vibrating with its heavy steps.

Shit!

I got maybe a few floors down before it snared me with its appendage again, smothering my face, cutting off my air supply again.

Staying calm, I stabbed at it uselessly with my stakeblade.

Fuck!

Triumphant laughter came at me in a sickening cloud.

Hell to the no. This scumbag wasn’t winning. I’d kill it before it killed me.

How? How? How?

The answer manifested into my hand, heavier than the stakeblade.

Blade is here.

Blade is in me.

Rather than question it, I got to stabbing. I felt it tear through the icy appendage, the stickiness falling off my face.

The frostbrood wailed.

Awesome! I’d cleaved the long thing in half, the severed part twitching at my feet.

“Pus eater! Pus eater!” The creature jumped up and down, the ice cracking beneath it.

I charged, shutting down every emotion, becoming a vessel of destruction—an executioner trick to get the job done.

Before it could take a swing at me, I stabbed it in the belly with the crystal dagger. It slid into the fucker so easily.

Wow. What the hell was this thing?

The frostbrood drew in a shocked, raspy breath, white eyes extinguishing.

“Bye,” I told it.

“Elf…will…” Its body collapsed into a pile of ice

Dead.

The dagger vanished in a puff of silver smoke.

Blade is mine…

Yeah, but how did I get it back? I waved my hand, flexed it, even tried manifesting.

Nothing happened.

Great. Anyway, time to get out of here before another frostbrood showed up to avenge the death of the pile of ice over there.

I made it back to the edge of the nest again, a line of guardians there.

“Elf will pay!”

Ah, the icy avenger. Cue another appendage around my neck.

The guardians unleashed a tirade of breaker bullets. The frosty prick released me and tried running, but the onslaught broke it apart, leaving it a pile of ice in less than a minute.

Phew!

A guardian helped me to my feet, throwing my arm around his shoulder. “You good?”

“I’m sweetcream,” I rasped, rubbing at the tender skin.

“You’re what?”

“I’m okay.”

“How? I saw it drag you into the building. You should be dead.”

“I got lucky?”

He chuffed like an angry bull, brushing down the front of his navy uniform. “What the frig were you doing out there?” he demanded.

“I… I don’t know…”

“Why do people like you exist?” he cursed.

To break your face?

“Why is it always up to likes of me to save your behinds?”

Firstly, my poor ears. No one needed to speak at that volume. Secondly, he could go lick a battery.

He proceeded to lecture me on the dangers of frostbrood nests, his voice melting into a stew of rambling I couldn’t give two fucks about.

Blah. Blah. Blah. Little did he know that I’d fallen victim to some bullshit shenanigans. Dragged out there against my will after some crazy dream in creepy darkness, finding a vanishing crystal dagger to hurt my brain further.

The dagger…

He shoved me in the chest. “You’re a wanker, you know that?”

Shove me again and your balls are getting tossed into that nest.

I wanted to summon my stakeblade to show him what the pointy end could do to his throat, but there were more of him than me. And I’d already risked using my gifts out in the open enough for one day.

Executioners were considered renegades where they’d once been essential in the war against the vampires.

Our creation was now illegal, as was killing vamps.

All academies were swiftly shut down after the deal, by decree of the Global Order—a collective of scumbags rolling over and spreading their legs for the vampires ten years ago.

They made a deal to stop the fighting, ending the sixty-year war overnight.

Neither side was winning, so the vampire king brokered with us mortals to make things better.

Offered to work with us against the frostbrood, aiding in the creation of the nest veils, on the condition that they could snack on our blood in a non-murderous way and create the odd vamp and thrall in return—with willing volunteers.

Oh, and the Executioner Program must be wiped out. For the greater good. A whole if you can’t beat them, join them’ moment.

The Global Order agreed. They shut down all the academies, hunting and killing executioners after so many years of us fighting for, well, everyone. Made us the outcasts.

The storming of my academy still rang in my mind. Guns firing, people screaming. So much blood and terror and running, running, running. Pearl and I barely got away, all of our friends slaughtered.

Aidan damn the souls of the Global Order. Of all traitors.

The vampires made good on the deal. They helped rebuild the cities and towns that’d suffered the most, everything coming back stronger and better than ever within a few years.

A combination of the magic of mages and the physical speed and strength of the vamps helped, along with their magical engineering skills.

Technology advanced beyond our wildest dreams at an accelerated rate, everything changing overnight.

Frostbrood aside, we were now living in a golden age of peace. A utopia even. Progress. No more hiding every night from vampire hunts. A world united in understanding, no more war, everyone moving on from a terrible past together.

What a sick betrayal.

It made my blood boil.

Vampires were all surface level. I knew from firsthand experience that they were monsters through and through. And Aidan looked down on us all with shame for sleeping with the enemy like this.

“Where’s your breaker?” Big Gob barked.

Breaker. A government-issued gun for blasting frostbrood. Everyone carried one by order of law. Mine currently sat in my underwear drawer.

“It’s at home,” I answered.

With that, Big Gob went at it with the scolding. Turned up the volume, spittle flying in my face.

How long would I need to spend in a cell if I stuck my fist in his mouth?

I weighed the pros with the cons.

“Leave it out, Clive,” the woman who’d called to me interjected. “You’ve made your point.”

“But—”

“Zip it,” she warned. “Get back to your post.”

Red-faced, Clivey Boy looked between us then skulked off, grumbling to himself.

“Thanks,” I said, rubbing my neck.

The woman dragged her eyes up and down my body. “He’s right, though. What were you doing on the ice?”

I closed my eyes, sighing. “I woke up there.”

“You woke up there?”

Maybe she should answer how I managed to get past all this twenty-four-seven surveillance, as well as crossing the veil without setting off an alarm.

I kept that to myself.

She looked me up and down again, her nose wrinkling. Okay, so this wasn’t my cutest outfit, and maybe my pits were a little pongy. But I was hardly the dog shit she seemed to regard me as.