The hunter turned away from her, and the Savages standing behind him parted until she had a clear view of Declan again. He lay on the ground with his hands pinned behind his back while eight Savages knelt on top of him.
The black and red color originally in the corners of his eyes now encompassed his face, neck, and what she could see of his skin. It made his eyes shine brighter as violence oozed from him. If he broke free, he’d destroy them all… and possibly himself.
“We already have you,” the hunter purred.
“I’ll leave here without a fight,” Declan said.
“Fight all you want; you’re still going to lose.” The hunter turned dismissively away and back to her. His eyes narrowed as he leaned forward to inspect her more closely. “Are you a purebred?”
Willow refused to recoil from the stench he emanated as he leaned so close their noses nearly touched. The sound Declan emitted caused the hair on her nape to rise. Over the hunter’s shoulder, she saw a couple of the Savages edge away from Declan while some of the ones holding him cringed.
“Your blood reeks of power,” he murmured. “I think you’re a purebred.”
Willow kept her attention focused on Declan; she wouldn’t give this monster the satisfaction of looking at him again. Declan’s eyes held hers as the red faded from them. Instead of returning to their beautiful silver color, they turned an obsidian shade. Her mouth parted as the black vanished and his eyes turned red again.
What the hell? She hadn’t imagined it; she was sure of that. His eyes had turned black. She’d never seen or heard of anything like it before.
The hunter laughed as he rested his fingers against Declan’s marks on her neck. It was all so surreal that only hours ago, she was in his arms, making love to him, and now they were surrounded by these monsters and bleeding all over the sidewalk.
Turning to look at Declan, the hunter’s mouth curved into a cruel smile. “And she’s your mate. How sweet. Maybe when Kirkau finishes with her, he’ll return her to you. I’m sure she won’t be much good to you by then, but he only needs her to bear his children.”
Declan growled and lunged against the weight on top of him. The Savages on his back shifted, and one of them bashed his face into the pavement. Declan barely felt the pain as his head buzzed with the asshole’s words.
The hunter turned back to her. “You’re the one we really want. If you’re a purebred, you’ll be the perfect incubator for Kirkau’s seed.”
She inwardly recoiled at the idea of anyone other than Declan touching her in such a way. She had no idea who this Kirkau was, but she knew demons were behind the increase and grouping of Savages. Judging by the strangeness of the name, she suspected Kirkau might be one of them. She’d die before she ever let one of those things use her body to breed its offspring.
“And don’t worry, if you’re already pregnant, he’ll have no problem tearing it out of you,” the hunter continued.
Willow restrained herself from jerking against the arms holding her as she sought to protect her belly. She was far from ready to be a mom, but the idea of anything harming her and Declan’s child made her murderous.
The Savages restraining her didn’t let go when the hunter rested his hand against her belly and patted it. Willow’s fangs snapped near his ear as she lunged at him. The hunter laughed and removed his hand.
When his head turned toward her, she spit blood in his face. “Fuck you!”
Red filled Willow’s vision when he petted the top of her head like she was a dog.
“Derrick,” one of the Savages hissed.
The hunter turned away from her. When he did, his knee-length, duster jacket opened enough for her to catch a flash of the red-orange stone in the sword strapped to his waist. She recalled seeing the weapon near the waterfall too.
“Derrick,” another Savage said.
Willow smirked when she saw why the Savages wanted Derrick’s attention as Declan struggled against their hold. There were eight of them on him, but he was working his way free as the red and black color encompassing him pulsed and swirled around his skin. More Savages stood nervously nearby, but none of them looked like they were going to get any closer.
“Kill him,” Derrick said flippantly.
“No!” Willow screamed and threw herself forward. “No! I’ll go with you willingly. I’ll do whatever you want and won’t put up any fight. Don’t kill him.”
Derrick cast a pitying glance back at her. “You can fight; Kirkau will probably enjoy it more if you do. Kill him.”
The Savages hesitated as they glanced between Derrick and Declan. “Doesn’t Kirkau want him alive?” one of them asked.
“Then bash his brains in until he can’t move anymore,” Derrick said. “He’s a liability, and we can’t have that. Either make it so he can’t move or kill him.”
“No!” Willow screamed as one of the Savages lifted a brick and approached Declan with it.
When the Savage lifted the brick over Declan’s head, something inside her snapped. With a ferocious snarl, she succeeded in ripping one of her arms free and spun toward one of the Savages holding her. She didn’t have time for a killing blow, so she plunged her index and middle finger of her right hand into its eyes.
The Savage howled as his hands flew to his brutalized eyes, and he released her. Willow jerked free of the rest of her captors and dove at Derrick. All rational thought vanished as she brought him down beneath her and pummeled his face. He’d ordered Declan’s death, and because of that, she would make him regret ever learning how to talk.
His cheekbone cracked and gave way. Grasping his shirt, she lifted him and caved in the back of his skull when she smashed his head off the pavement. She’d never felt this amount of strength and power before, and when her gaze fell to her hands, a ripple of shock ran through her. The red and black color was seeping out from her fingers to spread across her skin.
Derrick’s words, and the brutality of what they planned for Declan, had unleashed the demon part of her, and it was going to make them pay. She basked in the power it gave her as she punched Derrick’s demolished face one more time.
Wrapping her hand around the hilt of his sword, she pulled the weapon free. The red-orange jewel in the hilt glinted in the moonlight as she turned it in her hand. She’d never seen a gem like it before, but she didn’t have time to study it as something hit the back of her head and knocked her forward.
Chapter Forty-Four
When Declan jerked his arms toward him, he pulled the Savages holding him forward. The one who had picked up the brick stood frozen as he gaped at where Derrick lay unmoving and bloody on the ground. The bloodlust of the Savages and Willow’s terror and fury were living, breathing entities inside him.
His heart still wasn’t completely healed, but the strength of the other’s emotions continued to expedite the process as they coalesced inside him. He used them to try to break free of his captors. If he and Willow didn’t escape this place, what they would do to her was a fate worse than death.
The idea of one of those demons—and he knew this Kirkau was one of them—raping her until she bore its child was enough to drive him mad. But the idea of that beast tearing their baby from her womb sent him into a killing frenzy. There was a chance she already carried his child, and he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to that innocent life.
His muscles expanded with power as he sought out the emotions of those surrounding him and drew them deeper into himself. He’d stopped trying to shut the emotions out, but this was the first time he’d actively sought them out and pulled them into himself.
And with the power came a slowing of time and an enhancement of his senses he’d never experienced before. Having been born a vampire, he’d always possessed heightened senses. However, now he could hear the separate breaths from the Savages, detect their inherent odor buried beneath their stench of rot, and see the different particles of sand in the concrete sidewalk.
Something whistled as it cut through the air
toward him, and he dodged to the side a second before a brick smashed into the sidewalk where his head just was. Snarling, he jerked the Savages holding his arms toward each other and banged their heads together.
When one of them released him, he pulled his arm away from the other and seized another by the throat. More of them crowded his back and legs, but with his arms free, he placed his hands under him and pushed up.
He dislodged a couple more of them as another whistling sound came toward him. Except, this was not the sound of a brick cutting through the air. No, it was something far more deadly.
Declan threw himself to the side, wrenched his legs free, and rolled as a stake drove into the ground where his heart was. These things weren’t screwing around anymore; Derrick gave the order to kill if necessary, and they were obeying it.
He twisted the head off another Savage as a stake plunged into his thigh, and another sank its fangs into his wrist. For most vampires, the agony of having their blood unwillingly drawn from them was enough to immobilize them.
But he relished it. He’d denied himself after what happened with those women, but there was a time when he would sit in a chair and allow vampires to feed on him while he resisted the pull of his blood. Sometimes, he’d allow as many as ten to feast on him while another fulfilled him sexually.
The mixture of pleasure and pain was an aphrodisiac to him. It also enabled him to endure the bites of others. Now, he welcomed it as the pain fed the fire inside him.
He grasped the face of the Savage feeding from him and squeezed his fingers together until it became nothing but pulp beneath his hand. Shoving the mutilated creature away, he grasped the arm of another who was about to drive a stake into his chest. He crushed the Savage’s wrist and jerked it over the top of him before flinging it away.
When the stake clattered against the concrete, he snatched it up and plunged it into the chest of another Savage about to fire her crossbow. Ducking to the side, Declan couldn’t completely avoid the bolt that rammed into his shoulder, but at least it didn’t hit his heart.
Fighting off the rest of the horde coming after him, he managed to get to his feet and searched for Willow through the crowd. He spotted her crawling off Derrick, with a hand on the back of her head.
When another Savage ran at her, she rolled over and lifted the sword into the air. At the last second, the Savage darted out of the way of her vicious swing. Willow twisted onto her knees and pushed herself up again. The Savages closing in on her jumped back when she swung the sword at them.
When her gaze briefly met his, he wasn’t surprised to see the red and black color seeping through her skin or the fire burning in her eyes. She was a purebred vampire whose mate was in danger, and he sensed her volatile emotions.
She swung the sword at another Savage, who ducked back in time to avoid being eviscerated. Determined to get to her, Declan tossed aside more Savages as he carved a line through them. He was almost to her when the twang of multiple crossbows firing at once filled the air.
With his heightened senses, he heard each separate arrow slicing through the air, but there was nothing he could do to stop them. He couldn’t get to her, and neither of them had time to get out of the way, so he threw his arms out as he leapt in front of her.
“Declan!” Willow croaked and lurched toward him as his body jerked from the impact of the bolts hitting him. “NO!”
Her scream was a visceral sound of anguish as fresh blood spilled from his lips, and he took a couple of jerky steps toward her. Some of the bolts had pierced straight through him to reveal the blood-covered tips poked out of his body. Willow gawked at those tips as she tried not to picture one of them sticking into his heart.
“Please, no,” she pleaded, and the words kept tumbling from her lips as she fought through the remaining Savages separating them.
Whoever fired the crossbows hadn’t cared they were taking out some of their own too as a few Savages lay dead on the ground while some others squirmed. Reaching out, her hand enclosed on Declan’s wrist.
She was rewarded with the exquisite feel and warmth of him before she released him and swung the sword at a Savage who jumped back in time to avoid the blade. She tried to get a better look at Declan’s wounds, but it was impossible. The Savages wouldn’t give them a break.
If one had hit his heart, he would be down already, wouldn’t he? The other Savages who took the bolts were already dead, so he would be too. But then, those other Savages weren’t pissed-off purebreds on a rampage and looking to protect their mate. That might be enough to keep him going for a few more seconds, maybe even minutes.
Declan was severely injured, maybe dying, but fire burned in his eyes when they met hers before he spun and clutched the shirt of a wounded Savage trying to flee. He jerked the Savage toward him and broke its neck.
Declan held the Savage with its head twisted halfway around and used it to shield his back when more bolts released. The Savage let out a startled cry when the bolts pummeled its body. It squirmed for a few more seconds before going still.
Declan continued to use it as a shield as Willow held back the others surrounding them with her sword. He didn’t know how bad the damage from the bolts was, but with the blood he lost earlier, he was starting to weaken. However, none of them had hit his heart; even with as furious and empowered as he was by the emotions engulfing him, a fatal blow would have dropped him.
Behind Willow, he spotted Derrick rising. The turned hunter staggered to the side before his fingers went to his temple. Willow had fucked him up, but he would recover soon, and when he did, he’d regroup the Savages. Right now, half of them looked like they were contemplating running while the other half kept coming at them.
Willow jabbed at another Savage who jumped out of her way. When the crowd surged forward, she swung the sword so fast none of them could get at her without losing a limb. With Declan at her back, and using the dead Savage as a shield, they edged down the street.
She kept her eye on Derrick. She’d love to carve him into tiny little pieces, but he remained behind the others, and she wasn’t about to chase him into a horde of Savages. She wanted him dead, but she wasn’t an idiot.
“Take him down!” Derrick commanded and then staggered and fell against one of the buildings.
When Declan staggered behind her, she sensed the weakening in his body, and her pulse skyrocketed as a clammy sweat coated her body. If they didn’t get out of this soon, it wouldn’t matter that she wasn’t stupid enough to chase after Derrick.
She glanced over her shoulder at Declan, but she couldn’t tell he was weakening by looking at him. His skin continued to pulse with that red and black color while he used the Savage to batter back a Savage stupid enough to lunge at him.
She heard the twang of more bolts releasing, and Declan grunted. “Are you okay?” she demanded.
“Yes, keep going.”
She wanted to ask him where, but she bit the question back. If they went into the woods, the Savages would track them until Declan was too weak from blood loss to continue. But they couldn’t go for one of the houses; these bastards would burn it down. When she glanced at the sky, she saw no hope of the sun rising anytime soon.
She lunged at a Savage who tried to get around her and at Declan, but the monster was too fast. It slammed into Declan’s side and shoved him against the truck parked at the curb. They hit the vehicle with enough force the fender dented, and it lifted off its front tire before crashing to the ground. Declan released his shield as he punched the Savage.
Some of the others took the opportunity to close in on them. Willow didn’t have enough room to get the blade into it, so she twisted it in her hand and bashed the hilt into the skull of the first one who attacked Declan.
She didn’t know how Declan was standing with the amount of blood loss and damage he’d sustained tonight, let alone still fighting them. However, he wasn’t slowing as the amount of power emanating from him caused her skin to crackle.
The
darker and more encompassing the color swirling around him became, the stronger he was. But how long could that strength continue if he didn’t stop losing blood?
Declan tore the head from one before ripping a bolt out of his body and driving it into the heart of another. When another one jumped at Willow, he plunged his hand into its midsection, caught it in midair, and flung it aside before smashing his bloody fist into the face of another.
Kill. Kill. Kill. Keep her safe, no matter the cost. Kill. Kill. Kill. The thoughts hammered relentlessly in his head. It was as if all reason had fled his body, and only the most primitive part of him remained. He welcomed that primordial part as he tore into the flesh of these monsters.
When more of them joined the fray, they pressed against him until his back was pushing into the metal. Beneath the weight of them all, the metal dented as the bolts still sticking out of his back were pushed deeper into his body.
He had to get out of this. If his ribs stopped one of those bolts, it could be pushing through to his heart now. When one of them tried to drag Willow away, he caught her wrist and yanked her back as he punched the others. His blows staggered them, but that didn’t provide any reprieve from the crushing weight.
The only good thing about being in such close quarters with them was they couldn’t release any more bolts. That didn’t stop them from twisting the ones already embedded in him. He welcomed the rush this newfound pain gave him. If these things knew they satisfied the needs of the demon inside him, they’d stop, but the creatures didn’t realize how much he thrived on the agony they inflicted.
Then Derrick was breaking through the crowd and coming toward them. Declan ripped another bolt free as he lunged forward. Derrick hadn’t been expecting the sudden movement or for Declan to break through the Savages surrounding him.
He didn’t have the time to drive the bolt into Derrick’s heart, but he sank it into his belly and jerked up. The hot rush of Derrick’s blood poured over his hand before the Savages pushed him back again. Derrick gripped his stomach as he staggered away from the fight.
Bound by Torment (The Alliance Series Book 5) Page 23