I clung to his neck and the warmth of his skin heated my fingers.
His mouth skated from my lips to my ear and I gasped as a fire lit inside me. Desire gathered in the pit of my belly until it was too much to bear. “We have a child to find,” I giggled, pressing him back and his eyes sparkled with the game.
He blinked suddenly, shaking his head. “What?”
“Our little girl,” I laughed, trying to get past him.
His expression darkened and he caught my waist again as I tried to escape. “Wait, this isn't real.”
“What are you talking about?” I ran my hand down the hard plane of his chest.
“Rebel,” Erik growled and his face seemed to pale, his skin almost glimmered with the power that lay beneath it.
Reality struck me so fast, I wasn't remotely prepared as I was suddenly thrown out of the vision and into the waves. I inhaled water and spluttered, frantically trying to swim up to breach the surface. Arms surrounded me and in moments, I fell back against the rocky shore, gasping for air.
Erik knelt over me, cupping my cheek, looking distressed as he checked me over.
“Warrior born and monster made.” Andvari's shadow fell over me. “You know what to do, Erik. I have waited many years and you have suffered deeply. It is time to fulfill the prophecy.”
I felt myself traitorously turning my head, exposing my neck to Erik. My pulse pounded in my ears and fear slid into my chest.
I don’t want this!
“No,” Erik growled, planting his hands either side of my head as he fought the will of the deity.
“Turn her,” Andvari encouraged. “See if your guess is correct.”
“Never!” Erik roared, but he bared his fangs and started bowing toward me.
“Erik,” I gasped as his mouth grazed my throat and I trembled beneath him, a slave to Andvari’s will.
Idun appeared, her golden light falling over us. “Enough. The fight will happen, Andvari. The slayers have waited a thousand years for this chance.”
“It is time for the games to stop,” Andvari bit at her, but Idun's aura grew around Erik and he was able to move back from me as it surrounded him.
“One more game,” Idun demanded and her eyes flared with crimson fire.
Andvari tilted his head, surveying her and his gaze grew cooler. “This is the last time.”
“I swear it,” Idun agreed.
Erik moved back onto his knees and Idun floated to his side, running her fingers into his hair. He flinched away from her, but she didn't stop, caressing his cheek as she angled him to face me. “Fight for her, monster. Prove your love.”
Andvari gripped my arm, dragging me upright and shoving me back. My heart lurched as I stumbled into the mist and golden bars appeared around me.
Callie caught my hand, turning me to her. “We're trapped,” she gasped.
Panic reared inside me as the mist lifted around the cage and I spotted Erik and Fabian standing rigidly before the statue.
“Erik!” I called to him and he turned to me with acceptance in his gaze. He lifted his left hand to his mouth, pressing his lips to the wedding band on his finger.
“No!” I begged, grabbing hold of the bars.
I shared a look of desperation with Callie. We were stuck here and we were going to be forced to see the men we loved fight each other.
My heart bled for Erik. He couldn't die. I couldn't bear it.
Realisation crept over me as I stood at Callie's side. In this cage, either my sister or I were going to be broken forever. And there was nothing we could do but watch.
I threw my weight against the doors for what felt like the hundredth time. Julius roared as he slammed into them beside me. The gods had trapped us within the confines of this forsaken room just as our enemies had been due to arrive.
Callie was stuck out there with them now and I had no way of getting to her. Guilt formed a lump in my chest as I imagined her falling under Fabian’s spell once more. I’d taken the ring to protect her from the wrath of the gods but in doing so, I’d left her at their mercy. And to make it worse, I couldn’t even place myself between her and that monster.
“Curse you, Idun!” I bellowed as the door continued to resist our combined strength.
Tinkling laughter filled the room as she watched us.
I backed up and Julius moved to my side as we set our sights on the wooden barrier to the outside world once more.
We took off together, racing towards the doors like a pair of human battering rams.
My shoulder slammed into the wood and it finally gave way with a splintering crash. The doors were thrown from their hinges as we burst out into the hazy golden light of the setting sun and my gaze fell on the creature I’d given my life to hunting down.
Erik Belvedere bared his fangs at me as our eyes met and a terrible stillness fell over the world. The wind dropped. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore seemed to pause. Even my heart stilled in my chest just long enough for a silent promise to take place between us.
This was where our feud would end.
Neither of us would turn from this fight. The moment for revenge had come and there would be no backing down. It was time for this to be over.
My father’s final words echoed through my brain alongside the oath I’d made to him. The cost of his blood would be repaid. Death demanded death.
“Elder!” Callie’s voice rang out and I forced my eyes away from my foes as I sought her out.
She stood with her sister in a giant, golden birdcage which stood beneath the shadow of the statue. It was positioned to our left but was at an equal distance from us and the undead monsters who faced us. Her fingers gripped the bars and her blue eyes were pleading as she gazed at me.
The goddess had dressed her like something from a dream. Her beauty spoke to me in a way which set my blood alight. I wished I could have heard her speak my name. In case it was the last time.
“You swore you’d discuss the prophecy!” Montana shouted, her eyes on Erik.
He ground his teeth, clearly finding it as hard to resist the urge to start our fight as I did. He turned to look at her.
“If the answer to the prophecy lies in giving you my curse, I won’t do it,” Erik said firmly.
“Then we agree on one thing,” I growled.
“And there is nothing more to discuss,” Julius added.
“Please don’t do this,” Callie begged, reaching out to me between the bars.
My heart ached to give in to her. To give her anything she asked of me and more. But not this. This was the one thing I could never do for her.
The Belvederes’ deaths were written into the essence of my soul. Erik had cost my family everything and he needed to pay the price for it.
“You know that we must,” I replied, forcing my gaze away from her and fixing it on my immortal enemies once more.
I couldn’t look at her again. I couldn’t see what my refusal was doing to her.
I took a step forward, my muscles flooding with power as I readied myself to destroy the monsters who faced us.
Before I could continue my advance, the air shimmered and Idun appeared, seeming to step out from behind a curtain made from the very fabric of the wind. She moved between us and the vampires, barring our path and stopping our combat from beginning.
Twisting vines covered with yellow flowers moved across her body like writhing snakes, revealing and concealing her nudity in a constantly changing pattern.
She stepped towards the cage which held the girls and placed a shimmering padlock around the bars, locking it with an ornate golden key.
All eyes followed her as she moved between us, her gaze sliding from Julius to me, then to Fabian and finally Erik as a coy smile pulled at her full lips.
She held the key aloft and it floated from her hand until it hung in the sky above us. Tantalisingly close yet impossibly far away.
“We’ve waited a long time for this day,” she murmured.
&nb
sp; Another fissure opened in the air and Andvari spilled from it, his brown cloak ragged and his back stooped.
“Let’s make it a fair fight,” he growled, pointing a gnarled finger at my brother and I.
Venom and Tempest were dragged from their sheathes on my back and Menace was ripped from Julius’s hip. They spiralled away from us, cartwheeling end over end until they were embedded in the chest of the huge statue high above us.
“That suits me just fine,” I growled. “I will happily tear their black hearts from their chests with my bare hands.”
Fabian bared his teeth and hissed in response to my words while Erik only glared.
Idun pursed her lips like she wasn’t pleased with him changing the rules.
“But what of concealed weapons?” she asked. “I don’t trust your twisted creatures to have come here unarmed.”
“We don’t need tricks or blades to kill your slaves,” Erik snarled in response.
“I don’t believe you,” she said, moving towards him.
The goddess reached out and brushed a finger down his chest, reducing his shirt to ashes which blew away on an unnatural breeze. She repeated the process on Fabian and clucked her tongue as she failed to find any weapons.
“My mistake,” she purred, a wicked smile lighting her eyes as she turned her gaze on us. “I suppose in fairness, I should check you too.” She began her advance upon us and I growled in anger.
Her touch removed Julius’s leathers and she leant close to him, making a show of checking him over.
“Enough!” I shouted, pulling my fighting leathers off and tossing them aside before she could close the distance between us. “Does this satisfy you? We carry no weapons. Now move aside so that we can finish this.”
Idun’s eyes lit with anger for a moment and a jagged spear of lightning forked through the evening sky.
“As you wish. To the victors go the spoils,” she breathed, pointing her finger at the key floating above us.
Lightning flashed in the burnt amber sky once more.
Andvari moved to her side and his pale face slid into a mocking smile.
“Fight,” the gods commanded as one, the word slamming into me like a shockwave rolling through my body.
The gods vanished and I locked eyes with Erik, my blood boiling with hatred.
A ragged growl grew in my throat and I raced towards him with Julius at my side, his gaze set on Fabian.
Callie and Montana were screaming but I drowned them out with my thirst for vengeance. There was only one way to end this.
Erik leapt at me and I jumped into the air, meeting the force of his attack with my own.
We collided and a great crash tore across the heavens as he slammed his fist into my face. I absorbed the blow and caught his throat in my grip, using his momentum to spin him away from me and launching him into the giant statue behind us.
The sound of him crashing into it was enough to split the sky in two. A huge chunk of stone fell away and he hit the ground in a mountain of rubble. I bellowed a challenge as I raced after him, ready to finally finish this.
I hit the ground in a cascade of bricks. Magnar sped toward me with his teeth bared and I stooped down, fishing up a jagged stone and waiting for his attack.
He leapt at me and I swung my right arm, smashing the makeshift weapon against his temple. He stumbled back as blood poured.
A scream tore through the air which I was sure belonged to Montana's sister, but I refused to acknowledge it. The girls had been in our lives for so little time in comparison to this age-old feud. Magnar and I had been enemies for a thousand years. No force on earth could rectify that but death.
Magnar threw a heavy punch and I danced aside, evading a barrage of attacks as he stormed toward me. Vengeance burned in his gaze like acid. “I will have your heart in my fist by the end of this.”
I dodged another punch, but his other fist impacted with my jaw and I snarled as pain flared through the bone. I slammed my palms to his chest and launched him into the air with all my strength. As his body hit the ground a hundred yards away, a great crack tore along the centre of the cement and a tremor quaked the earth beneath my feet. Adrenaline surged through me as thunder cracked like canonfire above.
Fabian and Julius were fighting near the shore, moving in a blur of motion as they parried each other's fists.
My gaze whipped to the key high above us and I stalked toward Magnar as he gained his feet, rolling his shoulders back. This fight was written in the stars. Today we'd finish this madness. I'd be rid of Idun's pawns forever. And I'd take my goddamn wife back.
Magnar roared a challenge as I approached, sprinting to meet me. I moved at full speed, readying for the collision as the two of us hit with the force of a car crash. A tremor resounded in my bones as I tried to keep a hold of him.
He swept out my legs and my back slammed into the ground. In half a second, he fell atop me, throwing a jaw-splitting punch into my face. I caught his next fist, twisting his arm so sharply he growled in pain. His free hand locked around my throat and laughter bubbled from my chest.
“I don't breathe, idiot.”
“I'm not trying to choke you.” He yanked his other arm free and I slammed my knuckles into his gut as he locked a second hand around my throat. “I'm trying to rip your head off!”
I gritted my teeth and locked my own fingers around his muscular neck, squeezing until he started to turn blue. He twisted my head so sharply, I could feel my vertebrae on the verge of breaking. Pain daggered along my spine. I tightened my fingers, snarling my ferocity. It had come down to who was going to kill the other first and I was determined to be the victor.
Julius threw Fabian toward us and he crashed into Magnar full-force, knocking him far away from me as the two hit the ground in a tangle of limbs. I gained my feet, rolling my head side to side as the damage Magnar had caused slowly healed.
I spotted Fabian on top of Magnar, grinning at the turn of events.
“I'm taking my wife home you son of a bitch!” Fabian bashed Magnar's head down on the stone, but the slayer swept an arm into his side, forcing him away.
Julius rammed into me from behind, knocking me forward several steps as he clung to my back. Something sharp bashed into my head and I shouted my rage, launching myself backwards onto the ground and crushing him beneath me. A bronze door handle came free from his hand, bouncing across the stones out of reach.
I sat up, throwing an elbow back into Julius's face as he tried to hold onto me. He groaned as I got to my feet; I waited for him to rise too and face me man to man. If this was my last fight on earth, it wasn't going to be without honour. I'd do anything I could to increase the chance of my soul being saved. Even if that was a pointless endeavour.
Julius sprang upright, bending forward and sprinting to tackle me. As his shoulder slammed into my gut, I threw a solid punch into his kidney. He coughed, never faltering and I shoved him away. Backing up, I batted his next attack aside with a dark grin.
Energy poured through my veins. I had so much pent up anger from the past few days, it felt good to unleash it at last.
Julius kicked out, slamming his boot into my knee and something popped unnaturally. I had to limp back a step as it took a second too long for my body to heal. Julius smiled ruthlessly, pressing his advantage as he smashed a palm to my chest. I caught his elbow, twisting until a satisfying crack filled the air. He hissed as his left arm fell limp at his side.
“I still have one arm left to kill you with,” he snarled, his eyes hooded as he advanced on me.
My leg healed, but I continued to feign my limp as I retreated. As he darted forward to seize his mistaken advantage, I brought up my healed leg and kicked him squarely in the gut. He flew backwards through the air, crashing into the golden cage with a deafening gong before slumping to the ground unmoving.
Satisfaction spread through me in waves and the sound of Andvari's laughter rang in my ears.
“Erik!” Montana's eyes locked wi
th mine as she reached for Julius's prone form through the bars. He seemed unconscious, possibly dead, but I only felt bad about that because of the look in my wife's eyes. Guilt niggled at me, but I didn't have a moment to dwell on that as Fabian's agonised yells filled the air.
I turned in a panic, speeding toward him as Magnar tore my brother's right arm from its socket. All I could see was red as blood poured from the gaping wound.
An oncoming storm of anger, pain and death was approaching fast. But I would not see Fabian die.
Callie screamed as I ripped Fabian’s arm from his body and hurled it away from me. I could feel the pain in her voice as I drew closer to finishing the monster who called himself her husband but I refused to let it stop me a second time. Killing Fabian should sever her ties to him. In the end she would thank me for it.
Fabian howled in pain but he managed to twist away from me, regaining his feet before leaping at me again.
His weight knocked me back as we collided and an Earth-shattering groan split the air. His teeth sank into my neck and the acidic burn of his venom flooded into me. The pain was sharper than any bite from a lesser vampire and it overwhelmed my senses for a moment as I stumbled.
In the corner of my eye I saw Erik sprinting towards us at a ferocious pace.
Adrenaline surged through me and I grabbed the back of Fabian’s neck, ripping him off of me. I caught his remaining arm in my other hand and lifted him, spinning him around and launching him at his brother.
The crash that sounded as they collided set the ground rumbling and the two of them tumbled away from me. I looked beyond them and spotted Julius slumped by the cage which contained the girls. They were both reaching through the bars, shaking him in an effort to rouse him.
My anger tripled at the sight of my brother on the ground and I roared at the Belvederes as I raced towards them both. They may have been able to heal faster than us but we were stronger than them and they were about to find out just how much pain I could inflict.
Age of Vampires- The Complete Series Page 99