Page 38 of The Vampire’s Mercy (Blood Melody #1)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

SILVANUS

My control over Paris’s violent nature broke with a shattering crash inside my skull.

No…

I watched him move with the speed of an executioner, driving his weapon into Rylan.

No…

Pain flared in the Heart of All, sending the familiar shockwave of vampire death into my bones. Rylan’s body collapsed into crimson bone dust.

The third death at the hands of this monster.

Screaming. So much screaming. I collapsed to my knees, agony quaking inside me in an overwhelming assault.

No…

“Kill him! Someone kill him!”

Rylan is dead…

I touched the Heart of All, a sting biting my palm.

The sting of failure.

This is because of you…

“He’s getting away!” The door clanged open.

Because you brought him here with foolish curiosity and untenable hope…

Running, vampires dashing into the hallways, panic rife.

He’s not here to help you.

He’s here to kill.

“Majesty,” Elio said, holding me by the shoulder. “I’m here. I’m here. I’m here.”

The loss of my dear Rylan gouged into me, tearing me apart, any semblance of calm dead. Reason collapsed with it, submitting to tremendous fury.

“Paris,” I growled, rising from my knees. “Paris Raine.”

The elf with the strange song.

The elf with murder and sadness in his eyes.

The elf I brought into my palace to kill.

“This ends tonight,” I growled, facing the door.

“Majesty?”

Thralls and vampires moved around me, all yelling and begging. The palace sirens wailed to life, screaming bloody murder.

Yes, there would be murder.

I tore after the elf, bypassing my kin, catching up to him in seconds.

“Shit!” he wailed as I slammed him into the wall.

Where did he think he was going? He didn’t know the way through these corridors.

“Fool,” I spoke into his neck, bending his arms behind him.

I dragged him away to kill him in private.