by K.N. Lee
Koa glanced at Jax and Evina. Neither seemed surprised that their father would have them killed, just to rule in the human world. Koa didn’t like how this was going. Her jaw clenched. Fury started to rise within her belly. She did not know if she would be able to control herself. Her hate for Lera was stronger than her patience.
Koa drew her Lyrinian sword and waited. She counted a dozen soldiers, took stock of what weapons they carried, and prepared for an inevitable battle.
Her stomach bubbled with anticipation. The heat and power of the sword coursed up her arm and filled her veins. She felt strong. The sword gave her courage. She wanted their blood to cover the blade. The sword begged her, like an impatient child.
Gimme! Gimme! Koa imagined it saying to her. It did have a mind of its own, and when drawn, it had an unquenchable thirst for blood.
Lera’s dark gaze landed on Koa. Her grin faded and her lips curled into a snarl.
“You,” she growled. Lera’s face seemed to grow dark as she glared at Koa.
Koa flinched at the look of evil in that woman’s eyes. Her mouth couldn’t form the words that she wanted to say. She wanted to say something snarky like Evina, but her history with the vampire queen was a traumatic one. Instead she looked down at the blade and to Jax.
Jax sensed the tension and moved to put an arm out. Koa looked confused as he pushed her behind him.
Koa raised a brow as Lera licked her daggers. The sharp blade slit her tongue and she let the blood increase their power. “Out of my way, Jax. The half-blood and I have unfinished business.”
Koa’s heart quickened as Lera flew forward. Lera was so quick that Koa barely saw her form cut through the dark.
Koa simply reacted.
And Koa… was quicker.
Koa didn’t mean to do it. It was purely instinctual, but she gripped her sword’s hilt with both hands and ducked beneath Jax’s outstretched arm. She sliced across the air and through both of Lera’s legs with all of the strength within her body. Bone was sawed through and blood sprayed into the air and onto Koa’s white face.
The smell of burning flesh wafted into Koa’s nostrils, and the sound of Lera’s scream thundered in her ears. The Lyrinian sword’s blade glowed brighter, redder.
Hungrier.
Koa looked up. There were still at least a dozen more bodies to let it feast upon.
Gimme! Gimme!
Koa ground her teeth as she flew past and looked back at the screaming vampire queen as she reached for her bloodied knees in horror.
The soldiers, Jax, and Evina watched Lera fall down to the black ground below.
Jax’s eyes slowly rose to meet hers. His jaw still hung in surprise.
Koa cleared her throat and nodded to the soldiers. “Well, are we killing them and escaping or not?” Drunk off of adrenaline and the intoxicating power of the Lyrinian sword, Koa dove into the frenzy of battle.
She never looked back, but she heard Evina’s battle cry and the clashing of steel against steel behind her.
Koa was never a tidy fighter. She was more of a wild animal, uncaring about how she killed a foe, only that they died as quickly and effectively as possible.
And so, her sword was used as merely an extension of her arm. With wide movements, she flung her arm in a circle and sliced through one soldier’s belly. She grabbed the next closest soldier by the back of his head with her free hand and kneed him in the face, shattering his jaw. He fell from his disc and went crashing to the ground.
Koa grinned almost evilly. How dare they try to fight her in her element? No other vampire could fly, and their discs were not as reliable as her body.
She grunted as a dagger stabbed her in the side. Eyes wide with rage, she caught a female vamp’s arm and twisted it out of its socket. The soldier cried out. Then, Koa grabbed her by her long hair and flew with great speed higher into the black sky. The soldier’s flying disc hovered in the same spot below.
She grabbed Koa by the jaw and shouted at her in a language that she only understood vaguely. Netherworld dialect was burned somewhere in the dark recesses of her mind that she’d tried to forget, but she understood one word.
“Mercy.”
Like a cruel executioner, Koa sliced through her neck with her sword. She held the vamp’s head by her hair and watched her body fall lifeless below. Then, in Netherworld dialect she spoke to her severed head, bringing its empty eyes close to her face.
“No mercy.”
Then, alone above the carnage of what Jax and Evina did to the remaining soldiers, she tossed the head far off like a ball. Hot tears burned her eyes again. Images of what she’d suffered threatened to drive her mad. She tried to push them back into the box of unwanted memories, but they refused to go back. Koa growled and covered her eyes. How many times had she cried for mercy and King Greggan ignored her?
She shivered, cold and exhausted. She wrapped her arms around herself and spoke to the quiet that followed as Jax and Evina looked up at her, done with the battle.
“Halston,” she whispered between sobs. Her dagger wound throbbed, but not as much as her head. It threatened to make her black out, but for some reason Koa knew that she could not let herself go. She feared what would happen if she let herself go into that dark place. Sleep was not an option. Not until she and the others were free from the horror of the Netherworld. Not until she knew her loved ones were safe.
“Oh, Halston. Please hurry.”
4
Tristan scratched a long scar that stretched from his forehead, over his right eye, and down to his cheek. “She’s only a child.”
Halston nodded in silence. His eyes were steady on the poor half-blood princess that was being forced to marry a tyrant.
His gaze went to King Alsand. Even though the king of Elyan stood there without any emotion on his face, Halston could tell that this was a difficult moment. Alsand’s only little girl was being taken from him and he had to pretend he was content with it.
The dome-shaped room was brightly lit with elaborate chandeliers, candles, and torches that hung from high above. Carved statues of former Netherworld rulers looked down at them from pillars at each corner. Below, the people of Lyrinia watched Koa from neat rows on either side of the aisle that led to the Binding Circle.
In the center of the circle stood the princess and the king. There was no priest or judge, only a glowing orb that encircled the couple and bound them in a way that could not be undone. Halston knew this to be true because he and Viktor had created it. They’d created many things in order to keep the nephilim in order and peace.
Bells rang. Hundreds of vampires bowed before the new couple as the Binding Circle faded and returned to its place in a secure hole in the ceiling, locked away until another marriage ceremony.
Halston did not bow. As an angel, he only bowed to one, and it certainly was not a vampire king.
King Greggan barely acknowledged him. It was no secret that Greggan didn’t agree with being patrolled by the angel class, but he had no choice. Halston could kill everyone in that room if he wanted to. Instead, he was tolerated, a necessary figurehead that monitored their Netherworld dealings.
He wore all white, as was customary for an angel of his position and for such an occasion. With his gold sash and a metallic belt that held his infinity gun, Halston looked like a general, which he was.
Like a foreign dignitary, Halston arrived only when important occasions arose. This, the marriage between the anomaly of a creature and the king of Lyrinia was more important than most Netherworlders knew.
Once everyone came up from their deep bows to the couple, whispers and chatter filled the room. Halston picked out a few of the comments.
Everyone was stunned. They’d all come out expecting a wedding for the vampire prince, not the king who already had two beautiful wives. The gossip would last for months.
Halston tensed. He felt a dark presence, one that he was too familiar with. He put his hand on the handle of his silver infinity gun even thou
gh he knew that the special weapon could do no harm to the creature that watched him from the shadows.
Halston didn’t look at him, but he knew he was there. He could feel the demon named Bund’s eyes on him, burning into his flesh with hate. Halston took a breath. He knew this occasion would bring that demon out of hiding. They both wanted the mysterious, prophesized, half-blood princess… but for very different reasons.
Viktor, now the head of the entire Netherworld Division that they had created together, would be pleased to know that Halston had tracked him down. Still, there wasn’t much else he could do. Not yet.
Halston nodded to Tristan. “There,” Halston whispered, with a slight nod towards the corridor at the far end of the ball room, right behind the platform of thrones.
“Yeah, I see him,” Tristan said. Like a giant, he already stood taller than everyone in the room. He glanced in the direction of the skinny, pale demon that stood in the shadows, watching.
“Keep an eye on him.”
Tristan nodded. He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and scanned the room with his thin, hazel eyes.
To Halston, Tristan resembled an abnormally large human of African and Asian descent, with dark bronze skin and thin eyes. To the vampires, Tristan was a creature created specifically to kill them.
Tristan knew that he and Halston were making all of the vampires in the room extremely uncomfortable, yet he didn’t flaunt his status as a top ranked War-Breeder, one of the leaders of his clan.
Most War-Breeders these days lived in an uneasy peace with the vampires, keeping their distance in the separate boroughs of the city.
Still, if at any time a vampire posed a threat, Tristan would be ready. His cool façade would melt and he would become the most terrifying creature one could imagine.
Halston was glad to have such a loyal friend by his side… just in case things got ugly.
“Let’s go.” Halston glanced once more at Princess Koa as she was shuffled from the room by a squad of handmaids. Something stirred in his heart. He felt pity for the poor girl. It was too bad that her fate had already been decided.
Her face looked sad as she looked back at her father, crying for him to take her home.
Halston jaw tensed. Koa’s cries affected him more than he expected. They resounded throughout the entire room, full of misery. Koa didn’t seem to care what anyone thought of her in that moment and she fought like a wildcat, calling her father a liar.
Tristan shook his head and made a clicking sound with his teeth. “What a shame. She’s a cute one. Too bad she’s wasted on Greggan. That ancient bag of bones doesn’t deserve her. At least the kid has a conscience from what I’ve heard.”
Halston clenched his jaw and ripped his eyes from Koa as she was dragged away. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
He ran his hands through his bright blonde hair, a bit flustered. Halston almost dropped everything and flew over to swoop the girl up. He hated that Greggan asked for his permission. He knew it was a setup, that Greggan wanted Halston to go against the wedding and have the treaty thrown out.
There was a plan. She was to be wed to the young prince. He supposed it didn’t matter which of the royal men married her, but this isn’t what he wanted. At least Greggan didn’t know Koa’s secrets. He feared what would happen if the vampire king found out that Koa could fly and that she could walk in the sun, two things which no other vampire could do.
He and Tristan crossed the room. The guests all made a wide path for them. Their eyes widened as they beheld a pure angel, one of their ancestors.
Halston ignored their awed faces. He was disgusted by all of the nephilim of the Netherworld. To him, they were abominations, a constant reminder that his brothers and sisters had disobeyed God and created these horrific creatures.
Then, Halston would remember that he was not without blame. He too had rebelled. He’d followed the traitor Satan from Heaven in hopes of finding more to the world than what he’d seen in Heaven.
Not a day went by that Halston didn’t pray for forgiveness or scold himself for being tricked. Fallen angel or not, Halston still upheld the truths and values he had been created with.
Halston would still execute God’s will, even if that meant keeping these filthy nephilim at peace in the Netherworld, so that they would not turn their attention to the human world.
Halston’s face was set as he made his way to the quiet, solemn, King Alsand. He paused when he saw the tears in the man’s eyes.
King Alsand gave a slight bow of his head to Halston, showing the angel respect.
Halston nodded. “You did the right thing.”
Alsand frowned. He gave Halston a bitter look. His green eyes were full of pent-up fury.
Halston glanced down at the Lyrinian sword’s blade. It pulsed from all of the evil in the room. Halston could feel the blade’s desire in his bones, yearning to be set free. The way that blade pulsed was how Halston felt all of the time. It was his duty to seek out and destroy evil.
Why was he orchestrating marriages and keeping the peace? Halston reminded himself that it was necessary. For the greater good. Keep the Netherworld in order. Keep them from the human world. Simple as that.
Halston noticed how Alsand balled up his fist as King Greggan returned to his line of thrones with the royal family. Alsand’s eyes shot daggers into Greggan, who sat there with a self-satisfied look on his face.
“I gave my only daughter to that monster.” His voice faltered. “My pure, good, little princess to that disgusting creature.” A tear escaped the corner of Alsand’s eye. He brushed it off and straightened his shoulders.
Halston looked away, giving King Alsand a moment to compose himself. He didn’t have the patience for such displays of emotion. His blue eyes scanned the room. Most of the guests were enjoying the reception, drinking and discussing the history-making event that just occurred.
Goblets of carmia, the blood substitute that nourished the blood thriving population, overflowed as vampires toasted to the unification of two powerful kingdoms. Elyan and Lyrinia, bitter rivals, were now at peace.
For now they could relax. No one would have to offer up their male sons to the royal armies anymore if there was peace on this level of the Netherworld.
It was a night of joy, and yet no one seemed to care about what happened next to the half-blood.
Halston clenched his jaw. He shouldn’t be worried about her either. She was a pawn. At least, that what he tried to remind himself. He hadn’t expected to feel guilty when he looked into her eyes.
“Well,” Alsand’s voice broke Halston from his thoughts. His eyes were hardened. “What now?”
Halston motioned for Tristan. “We will monitor things from here. You’ll go back to the human world and watch over Koa’s mother. We’ll need her safe and kept from the Netherworld if this plan is going to work.”
Alsand nodded. “I’ve sacrificed my only daughter. This had better work.”
Halston gave him a sidelong glance. “It will.”
Alsand looked skeptical but kept his comments to himself. “And my son?”
Halston turned to him. “He will rule Elyan in your absence, and I will watch over him as well. Both of your children will be safe. I assure you.”
“Give me your word, Master Halston,” Alsand’s voice lowered. It wavered on the verge of cracking and trembling. “If something were to happen to me, you’d protect them?”
Halston looked away from his eyes, not because he was dishonest, but he hated to see tears in a man’s eyes, especially someone like King Alsand.
One thing was for certain, that vampire loved his family. Halston nodded and turned to leave.
“You have my word,” he said over his shoulder, and walked away.
5
Running, face set in determination and untamed rage, Halston reached for his infinity gun. Sweat dripped from his hair and forehead as he ran through the fire-ravaged corridors of the Ivory Tower. Deafening shouts followed him.
The Wraith had been set loose and no one was safe, not even the vampire soldiers of the Royal Guard. Halston rarely paused. The sounds of crunched bones and muffled cries of pain filled the corridor, bouncing off what was left of the walls. Prisoners were awakened, thrilled to be free from their cells, but horrified to hear the screams of agony and the howls of a monstrous creature with no loyalty.
Ahead, there was a pile of rubble. The exit was caved in. Halston looked up. With light emitted from the palm of his hand, he saw through the darkness. Stepping over dead bodies, bodies of Syths, his boot came down in a pile of slush. Someone had exploded and their guts were strewn about.
Halston grimaced.
“Help! Help!” A female soldier called from behind.
Halston looked over his shoulder, watched the armored woman struggling to free herself from fallen stones. The Wraith was not far behind.
Halston sighed inwardly. The soldier was wasting her breath. She was better off shutting up and pretending to be dead instead of drawing the creature’s attention.
Thundering footsteps echoed from afar, and Halston bent his knees, summoned a surge of power from deep within his gut, and took off into a burned-out hole in the ceiling. He shot up to another level of the Ivory Tower, one that was dark and smelled of burning flesh. The fire had no effect on him. He landed in the center and ignited his angelic glow.
He held up his infinity gun and pushed a button that opened a lens. Through the lens he could see into the darkness of the hall. Eerie. Quiet. Only the soft echoes of the terror below made their way to his ultra-sensitive ears. Stone walls on either side stretched far down the hall. Steel doors were left sealed. Perhaps the prisoners were too afraid to speak, too afraid to even ask to be free.
Halston raised a brow. Good, at least some of them are clever, he thought.
The prisoners were certainly safer inside their cells than out and about. Halston walked softly, holding his gun ready. Every sense was heightened as he listened for danger. If he could only get to the vaults, where the Wraith had slept for centuries, and reset the gates, then the Wraith would be called back and he would be free to follow Koa. If he could not stop the Wraith, then it would continue its massacre of the vampires and creatures in the Ivory Tower, and then turn its attention to her scent. It was the only way. Not even his infinity gun could stop that creature.