by Izzy Shows
I flinched at the word it had spoken, not understanding.
What did it mean, traitor? I didn’t know these creatures. I didn’t owe them any allegiance. They were nothing to me.
With a fierce frown, I reached down to lay a hand on its chest, throwing my free hand up and away from me. I began a new chant, keeping up a spell really far too big for me to attempt, but…well, desperate times and all that. I was actively turning the other creatures away from me so I might focus on the one lying in front of me.
I inhaled deeply as I sent my magic deep inside its body.
It was familiar to me, and it had called me traitor. There had to be something here that would tell me exactly what it meant. I searched and searched, growing frustrated when I came up empty, until I reached the part of its genetic code that would tell me what I needed.
Hybrid.
I stumbled backwards, all the air driven from my lungs as I stared down at the creature with wide eyes.
Hybrid. Half-vampire, half-werewolf.
That couldn’t be. No hybrids had ever existed, and it wasn’t like there hadn’t been Romeo-and-Juliet-style romances now and again. Vampires and werewolves had mated, but it wasn’t possible to produce a child from such a mating.
This was something else. Dark magic had created these monstrosities.
Traitor.
The word rang in my head as I tried to figure it out.
It knew me.
But I didn’t have long to think about that. The spell had died on my lips the moment I’d discovered what the creature was, and now there were several hybrids rushing at me.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I whirled, raising my hands high above my head and, took up a different chant.
It was really quite simple, an easy enough spell to keep up, so why I was I shaking? Why did I feel like I might break apart any second now?
I was launching the supernatural migraine spell on a grand scale, focusing it in on the hybrids now that I knew their genetic code so it wouldn’t affect the vampires.
That shouldn’t leave me weak.
But I’d used so much magic already...
The hybrids fell to the ground, writhing screaming as the vampires made short work of them, decapitating them and yanking hearts out left and right.
My vision started to fade in and out, and I swayed on my feet, but I caught glimpses of Gray’s mother gliding gracefully through the lines, as vicious in her destruction as any of the other vampires, and yet somehow managing to make it look beautiful.
That pleased me. She’d been a favorite of mine.
I felt resistance pushing at me from some of the hybrids and I stumbled forward, fighting against them. I had to keep them down long enough for the vampires to finish this fight.
It was almost over. We’d almost won.
My vision blacked out fully, and my head was pounding. I fell to my knees with a shriek.
The spell broke.
I yanked my head up in time to see the few remaining hybrids launch to their feet, but they were outmatched now.
The vampires could handle it. I could rest now, couldn’t I?
I squinted, trying to get back up, willing my limbs to work, but they wouldn’t move.
Nothing would happen.
Then I saw a hybrid break free of the ranks and head right towards Gray’s mother.
“No!” I shouted, launching myself to my feet with energy I hadn’t been able to summon before.
Time seemed to slow down as I raced through the crowd to reach her. I just had to get to her.
I could save her. I could!
The hybrid leaped, and I knew I was out of time.
I threw myself into the air, barely managing to put myself in front of her. I hit her full-force, grabbing her shoulders, and felt the fire open up on my skin.
Claws raked into my back, something sharp and horrible bit into my shoulder, and—
The world went black.
36
Grayson
The battle was almost over. I could taste victory on my tongue, and I knew we owed it all to Nina.
The pride I’d felt when I saw her join the battle, taking on creatures twice her size and dominating the field in ways no vampire could dream of—God above, that had been more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen before.
My blood rushed through my body, and simply watching her, watching the force of destruction she was, had me wanting to take her to my bed now.
All memories of what she was, what she’d done, were gone from my mind in that moment.
All I could see was what she was now.
I plunged my hand into the chest of a downed creature—held down by Nina’s spell—and yanked its heart out, threw it to the ground and let the body drop.
This was too easy.
I grinned, enjoying the fight and the feeling of strength and fulfillment that came from the life-and-death nature of battle.
Then she fell.
My heart lurched, and I rushed toward her, my need to protect her too strong—but then she was up again.
What was she doing?
I turned my head, following the direction she was headed in, and my chest constricted against as I saw the beast headed toward my mother. I stopped, unable to take a step forward, frozen with fear.
And then the worst thing in the world happened.
Nina threw herself in the creature’s way, taking the blow meant for my mother.
NO!
“NINA!” I screamed, my body coming to life again as I plowed through the crowd of vampires.
Everyone was screaming, and those who weren’t busy cleaning up the few remaining creatures were converging on Nina and my mother. Accusations flew through the air, some saying that Nina had attacked my mother, but I knew better.
She’d saved her.
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” I roared, shoving vampires aside with a brutality I hadn’t realized I possessed.
What a fool I’d been, thinking I wanted her dead. I couldn’t take this—this not knowing if she was alive or dead. I couldn’t handle it.
My vision was tinted red. I could barely see. All that was in front of me was Nina’s lifeless form.
It seemed to take forever for me to reach her, but at last I did, and I yanked the monster from her back and threw it to the ground. There was no one to help me, and I should have been outmatched, but nothing could stop me now.
Nothing would keep me from Nina.
I tore its head off as if it were a rag doll and hurled it back into the crowd, then whirled back to Nina.
She’d crumpled. Her leg was bent awkwardly, and no, no, no, I couldn’t take this.
Slowly, cautiously, as if I might break her, I bent and gathered her into my arms.
I pressed my head to her breast, listening for what felt like hours until I heard her heart stutter in her chest, and then my breath rushed out of me in one great whoosh.
She was alive.
I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath of much-needed air, and forced myself to return to a somewhat normal state.
When I opened my eyes, the Council was there. Somehow.
How had they gotten here so fast?
Someone had helped my mother to my feet, but the rest of them were hissing at me to destroy Nina.
“Kill the blood mage,” Isaiah said. “Now’s your chance.”
“No, she—” my mother tried to interfere, but Isaiah cut her off.
“Kill her!”
I bared my fangs at him, a growl rumbling in my chest.
I’d destroy them all, for her. The world would run with blood if one of them dared to touch her, for she was mine.
Still cradling her to my chest, I stood and shouldered past the group that had formed around us. No one dared to touch me, not when I was more beast than man, and I stalked away from all of them.
They could clean up the rest of this battle. I was done.
I walked the battlefield of death, stepping over bodies as I went,
but I saw nothing of it, so focused was I on Nina.
“Live, little one. Live for me,” I whispered, gazing down at her.
I felt the small, shallow breaths she took, each one a struggle. She wasn’t conscious now, and all I could do was hope that she’d survive.
I wouldn’t survive it if she died. Of that, I was certain.
I swept into the castle, then charged through the halls and up the stairs until I reached our suite—our suite.
It was as much Nina’s as it was mine. It had been so empty without her there. Every day had felt so pointless without her, and now I was facing the possibility of losing her forever.
Again, I cursed myself for my idiocy.
What had I been doing, thinking of destroying her?
She was mine and always would be, no matter what had been done.
I wouldn’t give her up, not now.
I walked into my room and placed her gently on my bed, the beast inside me rumbling its approval.
This was where she belonged. With me. In my bed.
She’s mine.
I took a few steps back and settled myself on the chair beside the bed, brooding as I watched her.
She would live. There was no other option. She was a blood mage; she’d heal herself while she was unconscious. She would live, and then we’d figure out where to go from here.
This wasn’t over, not by a long shot.
But we weren’t out of the woods yet.
I might have realized that I couldn’t live without her, but that didn’t excuse her actions.
I didn’t know what I was going to do with her, but one thing was clear: she’d earned her freedom. She wouldn’t be put in a cage ever again. There would be no collar about her throat.
And I’d fight anyone on the Council who wanted to take her, or my throne, from me.
37
Nina
The darkness was choking me.
Why was it always darkness?
The darkness had always been both enemy and friend to me: holding me captive in the cells, setting me free in the streets on hunts, then back to the cell that Gray had thrown me into.
A shudder wracked my body at that painful memory.
He’d hurt me in ways no one had ever been able to before.
He probably didn’t even care.
My head hurt. Actually, all of me hurt. Why was that?
I felt like I’d been run over by a train, then hammered with a ton of bricks. And even that wasn’t an apt description of the pain coursing through my body.
Like every bone had been broken and regrown.
My skull was on fire.
But why? Why did I hurt so much?
What had I been doing?
I struggled to find the memories, but they slipped away before I could grasp them.
Frustrated, I tried harder, rooting through my mind.
I was certain I was sweating with the effort it took, and I twisted as I struggled—and felt silken sheets caress my bare skin.
I froze.
Where was I?
My eyes snapped open as a flood of memories struck me like random snapshots.
The fight outside the castle.
The hybrids.
Gray’s mother facing her death.
My leap of faith to save her life.
I lurched to a sitting position.
“She’s going to die!” I screamed, but I knew the warning was too late. I didn’t know where I was, but I wasn’t on the battlefield.
Had she died?
I looked around wildly, writhing in the sheets, and found Gray at my side.
He laid a hand on my shoulder, and the other cupped my cheek so I would look up at him. His touch radiated warmth through me, soothing the ache in my bones.
My lip trembled. “She’s dead, isn’t she?” I whispered. A tear escaped and ran down my cheek.
He wiped it away with a thumb, shaking his head and making a small shushing sound. “Easy. Lie back down,” he said.
I shook my head rapidly, then regretted the action. It felt like my brain was rattling around my skull, and it hurt so much.
“I can’t. I have to...have to...” My voice trailed off as I struggled to think of what I had to do.
Clearly, I’d failed in my mission.
But then, why was I here? A quick dart of my eyes around the room, and I knew where I was.
This was Gray’s room. I’d only seen it once or twice—when he’d opened his door to go to bed, I’d caught a glimpse—but I knew it.
This was his bed.
I glanced down at myself, at the tattered gown I was still wearing, and my cheeks flushed.
He was a gentleman to the end.
“You have to lie down, Nina. You’ve been through an ordeal.” His voice was gentle, but firm.
“No!”
“It’s over, Nina. Mother is alive. The battle is over. We won.”
I let his words sink in. It took a moment before I fully absorbed what he was saying.
We’d won the battle. His mother wasn’t dead.
I wasn’t a horrible failure, then.
I clenched my jaw, looking up at him with fierce determination. I still had to save myself from the cages.
“I’ll do anything,” I blurted. “I’ll be a double agent for you. Just don’t send me back to the cages.”
Preorder book 2, Blood Slave!
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Also by Izzy Shows
The Codex Blair Series
Grave Mistake
Blood Hunt
Dark Descent
Wild Game
Grim Fate
High Stakes
Other Books in The Codex Blair Universe
The Fallen’s Crime
The Fallen Hunter
Ruled by Blood
Blood Captive: Origin
Blood Huntress
Blood Slave
Space Mage
Provoked
Enslaved
About the Author
Izzy Shows writes urban fantasy novels for adults, and much more in her spare time. She’s also an avid LARPer and enjoys storytelling in all art forms. She can be a little cooky, and really enjoys talking about her works, writing in general, or all things fantasy. To learn more about her you can follow her on twitter or check out her website.
Read more from Izzy Shows
IzzyShows.com
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