by Meg Xuemei X
There was assent to her words in every vampire’s eyes. They were truly under the impression that I had bewitched Lorcan, and that they were doing him a loyal service by eliminating me. I had no way to persuade these delusional assassins.
Fagan’s voice came from outside the circle. “What is this? It’s a coup! You can’t do that! Let her go. She’s important to the High Lord.”
That was the wrong thing to say. Now they wouldn’t let him live, either. I felt sorry for the guard.
“I told you not to follow, Fagan,” Gasper said.
The sound of blade cutting into flesh made me flinch. Fagan gagged and slumped to the ground, eternally dead.
None of the vampires batted an eye.
“We don’t know what kind of monster you are, Cassandra,” Dario continued. “But my queen was wise to lock you up in the cage. She’s heartbroken knowing you can’t be saved.”
The mere mention of the cage made my blood boil, but I contained my rage.
“We’ll all have a taste of your blood,” Jade said, her teeth glinting even in the dull sunlight. “Then we’ll see for ourselves why the High Lord is so taken with you.”
Thirst blazed in the vampire horde’s eyes. They all wanted to drink from me.
“No!” Jezebel shrieked somewhere.
Mother dearest had arrived, or perhaps she had been there all along. I’d been so distracted by the assassins that I hadn’t sensed her presence.
Would she save me? Would she try to whisk me to another cage?
“Do not drink her blood,” Jezebel said. “You promised me, my king.”
Dario’s eyes softened. “Worry no more, my queen.”
“Just end my daughter quickly,” Jezebel said, moving forward and standing beside her husband. “Don’t make her suffer.”
I smiled at her like a hungry wolf.
“I’m sorry, Cassandra,” she said. Sadness shone in her blue eyes. “High Lord Lorcan and the fae prince have no idea that you are destined to be the death of the world. Lorcan thinks you’ll kill the Olympian gods for him, but you’re one of them. A glimpse of one of my memories showed me that you’re the worst of them. It breaks my heart, but I must sacrifice my own child for the good of the world.”
“Shut your face, you cunt,” I said.
“You’ll respect my queen, you unruly little bitch, or I’ll silence you!” Dario snarled, his eyes turning crimson.
He was determined to kill this unruly little bitch, but at least he hadn’t called me stepdaughter. That would have given me the creeps.
A beast’s feral roar thundered across the land.
“Reys!” As I screamed his name, I turned and charged the vampires closest to my panther, piercing my dagger into a vampire’s heart.
15
I had no battle training, but I had the speed of rampant fire that no vampire could catch.
I yanked out the dagger from the vampire before he fell, then kicked down another, so I could charge out of the small opening toward Reysalor.
The panther raced toward me like a black shadow.
He slammed into a vampire, who was about to sink his claws into my flesh, and tore the bloodsucker’s throat out. Reysalor shifted, not to fae, but to something in between. A hybrid form.
His fae eyes burned through his panther head, glowing golden fire. He stood over eight feet high, his long muscled legs those of a fae. His right arm ended in sharp claws, but his left muscled arm was fae-like and a flaming sword appeared in his grip.
Reysalor swung the sword in a wide arc. The blade sizzled as it touched the vampire’s neck, burning through the flesh as the steel removed the bloodsucker’s head from his body.
I cheered him on, delighted.
Dario yelled, “Kill the fae, then the girl!”
“Run, Cass,” Reysalor shouted. “Run toward the mountains. Go to the shifters’ realm!”
He had once told me vampires and shifters were ancient foes and would always be, even though the two races weren’t at war right now.
Reysalor rammed into the vampires’ rank like a force of nature. He leapt high in the air, and when his sword of fire rained down its wrath, vampires fell around him.
But the vampires were also formidable predators and there were legions of them. They rushed toward Reysalor in sheer numbers and with monstrous strength.
“Go, Cass! What are you waiting for?” Reysalor roared as he thrust his blade into a long-haired vampire.
I wasn’t going to leave him behind, even though my safety had led to this battle in the first place. He was too hot, wicked, and loyal for me to leave him now.
I roared, waving my dagger like a mad woman and thrusting it toward the bastards who tried to sneak up on Reys, but Jade lunged and cut in front of me with a cold, cruel smile.
Seven vampires closed in on me while the rest battled Reysalor.
I shouted a warning as Dario dashed toward Reys from his blind side. The vampire king slashed his claws across Reys’s back and tore a patch of fur and flesh out. Reysalor roared in pain, and my blood bubbled with fear and rage. I wanted to go to him, to rip Dario’s head off his shoulders. But I couldn’t before I handled the vampires surrounding me.
I had no fighting technique, and all the vampires were trained warriors, especially Jade, who had captained Lorcan’s elite guards. Thanks to my mother binding my power, all I could rely on was my speed and my cunning.
I spun as fast as I could, and swung my dagger toward the vampires. I bled several of them, but none fell or withdrew, which didn’t bode well for me.
From Reysalor’s side, the cries of combat increased. He had over a dozen vampires on him, his fur and skin tainted with blood.
Just as my heart ached for Reys’s injuries, Dario, the most-skilled vampire fighter, slashed open another gush on the panther warrior’s side. The fucker had some big cuts from Reys, too. A deep gash on his neck pleased me.
It was a pity Reys hadn’t been able to finish the job. There were too many vampires attacking him. One on one, Reys probably would have taken the vampire king down already.
Reysalor swung his sword toward Dario again, intent on beheading his foe, but Dario’s broadsword rose just as fast to meet the flaming sword.
It seemed that Reysalor’s fire sword couldn’t break Dario’s black steel. The dickhead king’s sword was probably warded with spells, considering how his crazy wife had stashed spells.
Reys fought toward me, but the vampires swarmed him, stopping him from reaching me.
I kept spinning like a blur. As soon as I found an opening, I stabbed a vampire’s chest. I had aimed for Jade, as I was most eager to take her out, but she deflected every single one of my moves with her longsword.
The impact of our blades crossing almost threw me onto the tip of another vampire’s sword. I had the speed, but Jade was extremely skilled. Without my powers, I doubted I had a chance of damaging her.
As I dragged my dagger out of another vampire, my motion slowed a flick, and that second cost me. Jade drove her sword toward me. I ducked, but I couldn’t dodge fast enough. Her longsword missed my heart and buried into the flesh below my shoulder blade.
I cried out as pain exploded in me.
“Cass!” Reysalor roared my name.
His fear and panic for me cost him. I saw him go down, the vampires pinning him to the ground.
Jade laughed and dragged out her sword, and blood shot out from my wound.
I staggered back.
The vampires around me sniffed, their eyes turning completely crimson. My blood was even more irresistible to vampires than my mother’s, rigged with richness and magic.
They closed in on me in a frenzy. Every single one of them wanted my blood.
“No!” Jezebel screamed. “Just finish her. Don’t take her blood! Once you cut her head off, you’ll need to distribute her body parts to all corners of Earth, otherwise she’ll just regenerate.”
I gasped, both from the pain of my wound and the shock of my mother’s words. Wh
y did she still surprise me?
A claw slashed my leather pants open and left a gush on my thigh. Then another claw sliced across my other leg. They were now toying with me since my protector was no longer a threat— Dario had him pinned under his heavy boot.
My pants were in tatters in a matter of seconds.
Jade hit me again, slamming her fist into my face so hard I fell backward. My head crashed against a rock protruding from the grassy field.
I barely had time to draw a breath before the vampires were upon me, pinning me down and disarming me.
As Jade leaned closer with her usual leer, I spat at her, my own blood rich on my tongue. Everything in me raged at the malevolent spells that bound the power coursing in my veins.
“Cass!” Reysalor roared my name in infernal fury as he struggled to break the vampires’ hold on him. “Let her go. You can kill me. She’s but an innocent girl.”
The king sneered. “You’ll all die, but I’ll let her watch you die first.”
“Reys!” I screamed back.
Something snapped in me. I couldn’t let them kill him. I’d never experienced warmth and laughter until Reysalor came into my life. He and Lorcan had freed me, and Reys had given me more than just carnal pleasure. He’d given me friendship and more.
I no longer cared whether he wanted to use me as his weapon or not. He was willing to lay down his life for me. He’d wanted me to leave him and escape to the shifter realm.
My fists pounded on the earth. I knew I had an affinity to it, and it was all that could save us now. At my roaring call, the magic hidden deeply in the soil rose to me.
“Take my blood as my sacrifice!” I shouted, my voice filling the air. “Aid me. Rise in me. Merge with me. Free my binds!”
The ground rumbled, and rocks rose all around me.
“She’s going to free herself of the spells!” Jezebel shrieked. “Take her now before it’s too late!”
“Die, Cassandra Saélihn,” Jade hissed, raising her blade high and plunging it toward my heart.
“Don’t you touch her!” Reysalor roared, throwing off the vampires, even with a dagger half-buried in his chest.
Just as he pulled the dagger out of his body and tossed it toward Jade, my power blasted out. My hand broke free of the restraint, grabbed the female vampire’s blade, and stopped it from plummeting further. Another two inches and it would have punctured my chest.
Jade widened her eyes in disbelief as black fire streamed from my hand and melted her blade. Her body flew backward, Reysalor’s flaming sword piercing right through her rib cage.
I snapped my fingers and my fire engulfed her.
Jade screamed as the dark fire burned her inch to inch, licking the blood that dripped from Reysalor’s blade in her chest. It had pierced one of her organs, though not her heart.
My air current sent the vampires around us flying into the air, their shocked expressions dying on their faces. Before Dario could zoom toward Jezebel and take her to safety, my wind grabbed him.
“Going somewhere, stepfather?” I laughed drily.
The vampire king jerked back and forth like a marionette as he struggled to break free from my magical hold.
“Let him go, Cassandra! He’s your king!” Jezebel shrieked.
I sent a blast of wind to slap her pretty face, and my black fire danced on her thick hair. She was going bald.
“You monster!” she screamed.
“I came from your womb, Mother dear.”
I let my icy current enter Dario’s chest and grab his heart like an iron hand, only to find that his heart didn’t beat. Why was I even surprised? The only vampire with a heartbeat was Lorcan, and he wasn’t here.
Reysalor picked up his flaming sword and gave it a wide swing. The blade glided through Dario’s neck.
The rest of the vampires fled like flying shadows, yet my wind and fire were faster. They hit Gasper first.
While my air tore the vampires apart and my fire burned them to ashes, I wheeled toward Jezebel with a diabolic smirk, two columns of black fire twirling on my palms, traveling along my arms, hissing, raging, and desiring more destruction.
“Hello, Mother,” I said. “Are you proud of your little monster?”
Pain flickered over her face. Her ability to feel pain made my skin crawl.
Reysalor stalked toward her, the sword dripping with the vampire king’s blood.
“You’re the worst creature ever spawned,” he said to her. “You don’t deserve to be a mother. No mother could do to her child what you did to Cass. You don’t deserve to live, and I’ll rid Earth of your filth.”
She turned to Reys, her eyes widening as if his words wronged her.
I wouldn’t stop Reys from terminating her—as long as we both lived, she’d always be my worst enemy and would never cease to find a way to either cage me or kill me. But I didn’t want to watch him decapitate her.
Just before I closed my eyes, Jezebel threw her head back, her arms spreading, and shouted a string of ancient words.
Power—not hers—ripped the air, and black wind rose around us.
Reysalor swung his sword, but Jezebel vanished with the wind before the sword could bite into her flesh.
“What the fuck?” he yelled in displeasure.
I sighed, resigned. She would return once she’d found a way to do worse to me. I would have to wait for that day.
Reysalor scanned the corpses, ashes, and burned landscape. When he perceived no further threat, he muttered an ancient word, and his flaming sword disappeared.
He shifted fully to the gorgeous fae I’d seduced earlier and moved toward me in two long strides, pulling me into his arms.
I rested my head against his broad chest, wrapping my arms around his firm waist. We were alive. We’d vanquished my enemies. And I’d gotten my power back.
His body heat seeped into me, caressing and comforting me.
I waited for him to scold me for drugging him and then running away, but he didn’t. I was only glad that he was powerful enough to conquer the effects of the sleep elixir and reach me in time. Reysalor tightened his grip on me before releasing me, then he examined me, even though he’d been hurt worse than me.
My wounds were mostly healed already.
Since the earth power had aided me and purged the spells that bound me, my healing had sped up. To my relief, Reys was also healing fast.
He regarded me, a thousand words in his turquoise eyes that were like the bluest sea in my dream. I could tell that he had already forgiven me because I was in one piece.
I smiled at him. “Where did you get that wicked sword of fire, Reys?” I asked. “Think you can make me one?”
He sighed. “Don’t run from me again.”
Uh-oh, there he went. Now he was going to lecture me and ruin my victorious mood.
“The next time you do that, it’ll be the death of me, my little Cass,” he whispered.
16
“Reys,” I said with a clenched jaw as I looked in the direction of the vampire dome. “I won’t go back.”
“I’m not asking you to go back.”
My eyes must have sparkled, and a smile tugged up my lips. “Really?”
“ShadesStar isn’t safe for you anymore,” he said. “We don’t know who’s in league with the rogue vampires.”
“You’re so wise.” I gave him a broader smile. “Where are we going then? Should we go to the mortal realm?”
“The mortal realm isn’t safe, either. We’ll go to the edge between the mortal and immortal realm.”
“Is there such a place?”
“We’ll leave for the Academy,” he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“You mean a school?”
I had always wanted to go to school, where I could make friends and study. It wasn’t like my mother had seen any need to homeschool me. Everything I knew came from my dream-visits to the mortal realm. It was one of my gifts Jezebel had never found out about and thus couldn’t take fr
om me.
“It’s called The Gifted Academy.”
I bounced up and down on the rocky terrain in excitement. “How do we get to that awesome place?”
It had to be awesome, right? It was a school!
“You have me, Cass baby,” he said.
I grinned ear to ear. This was my lucky break. I would have a fresh start. There really was first time for everything.
First fresh air. First sight of the night sky. First school. First kiss. And first boyfriend.
I slanted a gaze at him. Would Reysalor be my boyfriend? His eyes shifted between turquoise and golden, burning with desire. My heart fluttered.
“What are you smirking at?” he asked, tousling my curly hair.
“We need to bring Frances and Shan,” I said. “I can’t leave them behind. The vampire lair isn’t safe for them.”
The girls were nice to me, and I wouldn’t forget a debt.
He frowned. “Frances and Shan?” Then it dawned on him, and his face turned to stormy clouds. “The ones who got you the sleep elixir?”
“They weren’t in on it,” I said. “They didn’t know. We need to get them and bring them to safety with us.”
“I’ll have them collected for you, but not now, not before Lorcan returns and cleans his house.”
I fell into step with him as we headed northwest, my original direction.
“Are we still going to get in touch with Lorcan?” I asked hesitantly.
Pain throbbed in my chest at the prospect of never seeing Lorcan again, but then—
Reysalor sent me a sidelong glance, never once breaking his stride.
“What’s that about?” he asked.
“What if he brings back another spell that can harm me?” I asked. “A spell that will bind me to his will and enslave me?”
He stopped in his tracks, his gaze roaming my face, studying every line and missing nothing.
“Is that why you ran away, Cass?”
The vein in my temple jumped. “I don’t trust easily. Don’t ask me to.”
“You can learn to trust us, Cass. But we’ll have to earn it first, right?”
“Well.” I gave a small shrug.