Unbound

by Erica Stevens

***

  William

  William watched as Braith grabbed hold of Goran and yanked him forward. The red cloak the vampire wore tore in his grasp, but not before Braith wrapped his hands around Goran’s arms and pinned them down.

  He followed Aria as she cleared a pathway before them with her arrows. Keegan stayed at her heels, lunging at vamps and bringing more than a few of them down with his powerful jaws. Xavier lifted Aria off the ground and held her against his side as a vampire leapt at her.

  Thrown off balance, the vamp tumbled onto the ground. Lifting his foot, William drove it into the back of the vampire’s skull, caving it in. Daniel bent and drove his stake through the vampire’s chest before jerking it free.

  “Have to help him!” Aria gasped as she squirmed in Xavier’s hold.

  William met Xavier’s reddened eyes over the top of Aria’s head. He knew Xavier was debating keeping her away from the fight unfolding at the end of the road, but Aria wouldn’t survive it if Braith died again, and she had every right to fight for both of their lives. William gave a brief bow of his head to Xavier before spinning and firing at two vampires running toward the wood line.

  Tempest snatched a staff from a downed vamp and gripped it in her hands as she fell back against William to batter back the vamps around them. He pushed her behind him, swinging out and punching the vampire trying to get at her. His fangs lengthened as he jerked the vamp toward him and drove his hand through the man’s chest. Wrapping his hand around the vampire’s heart, he tore it free and threw it aside.

  Another vampire came at him as they seemed to realize that, if they took him and the others out, they may be able to crush this rebellion. Many of them probably knew what Aria looked like, and they most certainly knew who Braith was. William’s gaze shot toward his brother-in-law when Aria released a strangled cry.

  Braith and Goran were entangled with each other, tumbling over the ground as they sought to kill one another. Sabine looked on beside them before her head lifted, and she took in the commotion surrounding her. Xavier set Aria down when Sabine launched herself onto Braith’s back.

  William doubted the woman had ever gotten dirty before, or willingly tangled with anyone, but she had to realize she was losing this battle and the only chance she had left was to take out Braith while he was busy fighting her son. Beneath him, Goran launched a fist straight at Braith’s heart when Braith tried to pull Sabine off his back.

  Braith lost his grip on Sabine as his hand encircled Goran’s wrist to keep it from plunging into his chest. Goran screamed when Braith jerked his hand to the side, snapping the bones in his wrist before throwing a punch over his back. He caught Sabine in the face, knocking her hold on him loose enough that Braith could seize Goran’s head.

  Sabine shrieked as Braith wrenched it to the side. For the first time, William saw true distress in Sabine’s eyes as she tried desperately to free Goran from Braith’s deadly hold, but Braith would not be deterred.

  When William had first encountered Goran, he’d thought about how much he would enjoy watching Braith tear Goran’s cotton ball head from his shoulders, and he did, he really, really did enjoy watching it. A smile curved his mouth as Braith tossed the head aside.

  Braith sat back, grasping at Sabine over his shoulder when her hand encircled his throat and her blood-red claws pierced his flesh. Blood flowed down his neck and over his shirt.

  “No!” Aria screamed and stopped running to release another arrow.

  With her wounded shoulder, Aria’s aim was off, but Sabine didn’t have time to turn and catch this one. She threw herself to the side to avoid the arrow that plunged into the woods beyond her. Braith used the distraction to his advantage and seized Sabine by the hair to fling her away from him. She bounced across the ground before coming to a stop near one of the houses, a hundred feet closer to them. Her eyes were a fiery red, her control finally having unraveled completely as her malicious gaze landed on Aria.

  William realized that if Sabine couldn’t take Braith down one way, then there was another way she could do it. A way that would make Braith pay even more. Sabine must have realized this too as she launched to her feet and charged at Aria.

  ***

  Daniel

  Daniel’s hands clenched around his stakes as he planted his feet. Xavier snarled and lunged forward. He jumped in front of Aria when Sabine came at them with the force of a rampaging bull. She lowered her shoulder, crashing into Xavier and flinging him back as if he weighed no more than a child. Xavier’s head snapped awkwardly forward as he flew through the air. Landing on the street, he bounced across the ground before coming to a stop against a house where he remained motionless.

  “Aria!” Braith bellowed when Aria became exposed to the woman. He leapt to his feet and ran toward them, but with the vampires swirling forward to try to protect Sabine, he’d never reach them in time to stop Sabine from killing Aria.

  Aria lifted her bow and fired off a shot, catching Sabine in the shoulder, but it wasn’t enough to stop her rush toward them. Daniel would not let everything they’d accomplished over the years be destroyed by this woman, and no one was going to hurt his sister.

  “No!” Daniel shouted and jumped in front of Aria.

  “Daniel, no!” Aria screamed.

  She grabbed his shoulder to pull him away at the same time Sabine grasped his other arm and yanked him forward. Something in his shoulder wrenched. It felt as if blood spilled forth, and for a moment, he swore his arm had been torn from his socket. When he looked down, he saw it still hung there, and hung was the right word as it remained limp against his side, dangling at an unnatural angle.

  A hand enveloped his throat, lifting him off the ground. Sabine’s nails pierced his throat.

  William launched forward, slamming into Sabine at the same time Aria threw herself onto the woman, punching and kicking her.

  Daniel’s feet dangled off the ground as his sibling’s weight knocked Sabine back a step. “Aria, run!” Daniel managed to choke out through the crushing grip on his windpipe.

  A cruel smile curved Sabine’s mouth before she threw him away. Air rushed around him as he soared backward before crashing into a tree. Something cracked in his back, and his skull hit the tree with enough force to rattle his brain. White stars burst before his eyes. His head swayed on his shoulders as he struggled to remain conscious.

  Sabine turned to try to grab Aria. His sister threw her head back and then drove it forward. Daniel smiled when blood burst from Sabine’s shattered nose before oblivion claimed him.

  CHAPTER 38

  Aria

  “I’ll kill you!” Aria screamed as she looked to land any blow she could on the woman with her hands and feet.

  The blood had already ceased flowing from Sabine’s broken nose. Her eyes were the color of rubies, but Aria barely saw her as the sight of Daniel’s limp body soaring through the air replayed in her mind and the scent of his blood hung heavily in the air.

  Daniel!

  At her side, William released a series of punches that would have shattered the bones of another vamp’s face, but Sabine was barely staggered by the blows. Sabine’s fingernails tore at Aria, slicing her flesh as she sought to get even with Braith for destroying Goran, but the more Sabine tore at her, the harder Aria and William fought against her.

  Aria barely felt the pain or the blood spilling from the gashes in her arms. Tempest dashed to the side and swung her staff out, crashing it against the back of Sabine’s knees and knocking her legs out from under her. Max and Maeve leapt forward, beating against the woman who still refused to release her. Keegan circled around them, driving back anyone who dared to get too close.

  Sabine briefly loosened her hold on Aria as she swung around, her arm flying out to smack all of those behind her. William bellowed when Tempest was flung backward, the staff knocked from her hand as she sprawled on the ground. Maeve bounced across the earth and landed near Daniel’s body. Like a cat, she bounded back to her feet, but Max re
mained unmoving in the middle of the road.

  More of Sabine’s vampires surged forward, looking to protect their leader. Over Sabine’s shoulder, Aria spotted Braith battling his way through the dozen or so vampires between them. Blood splattered his face and his clothes were soaked in it. She scented his blood on the air, but most of the blood covering him came from those he ruthlessly carved out of his way.

  Sabine’s fingers wrapped around her throat, lifting her off the ground. Aria’s feet kicked against the woman. She beat at the hand holding her throat and digging into her skin, but it was like pitting a lamb against a lion.

  William punched Sabine in the stomach; she never flinched. Lifting her hand, Sabine swung it out to smack it against the back of William’s skull. He didn’t have a chance to get his hands out to break his fall before he slammed face first into the dirt road.

  “I’m going to kill you!” Sabine spat at Aria and drew back her hand in preparation to tear her heart out.

  Aria’s eyes widened. Her feet kicked against Sabine’s stomach and her fingers tore at the iron hold on her throat to no avail. She was going to die and there was nothing she could do to stop it as Sabine’s fist shot forward so fast she barely saw it move.

  A hard punch crashed into her chest, cracking bone just as another hand shot out and encircled Sabine’s wrist before she could tear into Aria’s chest. Braith’s red eyes loomed over Sabine’s shoulder, his massive size dwarfing her slender frame. The power of them both rippled over Aria’s skin, causing the hair on her body to stand on end and her mouth to go dry. There was no denying they were the most powerful creatures on this earth, and they were going to destroy each other.

  Pulling his other hand back, Braith drove his fist straight into Sabine’s face. As Sabine howled, her grip on Aria’s throat constricted and she staggered back a few steps. More blood burst from Sabine’s nose and now split lips.

  Braith didn’t hesitate before unleashing a series of brutal punches on her that pushed her further and further backward. Aria’s fingers tore at the hand encircling her throat as Sabine’s fingers tore deeper into her flesh to spill more of her blood. Sabine’s grip didn’t ease as she pulled Aria along with her. Braith jerked the arm he was holding back, snapping bone at the elbow before he grabbed the hand encasing Aria’s throat and squeezed the wrist with enough force to shatter it.

  Sabine wailed as her grip on Aria finally released and she fell to the road. Aria’s hand flew to her brutalized neck as blood continued to spill free. Seizing Sabine by the throat, Braith lifted her up and propelled her off the road and into the woods before smashing her into a tree. The tree shook from the impact but held firm, even as a jagged crack raced up the center of it toward the canopy.

  Aria pushed herself back to her feet and took an unsteady step to the side as Braith lowered himself so he was eye level with Sabine. Aria’s gaze went to where Daniel remained unmoving against another tree, fifty feet away. Max already knelt at her brother’s side with Maeve, while William, Tempest, and Xavier, who had regained consciousness, sought to keep back the remaining vampires. They would all take care of Daniel and get him through this, but first she had to help make sure Sabine was destroyed.

  “How?” Braith growled at Sabine when Aria approached them through the woods with Keegan at her heels. “How is it possible we can come back?”

  Sabine wiggled in his grasp, her feet kicking against his shins, but with both of her arms useless, she could do little to fend him off. Sabine’s eyes narrowed on him. She didn’t respond as her gaze flicked between him and Aria.

  “Did my father know about this?” Braith demanded.

  “No,” Sabine finally replied. “I was killed before I could tell him.” Sabine’s gaze remained on Aria as she stopped behind Braith. “You pollute our blood with this creation,” she sneered at him.

  Braith pulled Sabine off the tree then slammed her back into it. The crack in it grew, and the tree swayed ominously, but continued to hold. “Do not talk about my wife, your queen, that way.”

  Sabine shook her head as if to clear it before she focused on Braith and fairly spit with fury. “Never would such a pollution of our line be my queen.”

  “That’s why you’re doing this,” Aria said, causing Braith to glance back at her. “It’s not because Atticus was killed and you sought revenge for your eldest son’s death. It’s not because you want to rule. It’s because you see me as an abomination who will taint your line if we have children.”

  “You have already tainted it!” Sabine spat. “Just by having our blood in your veins you have weakened us. Your children would be abominations of our pure blood.”

  “Do you even care your sons are dead?” Aria inquired, and Sabine turned her nose up.

  A sick feeling settled in Aria’s stomach as she realized how depraved and indifferent this woman was. She’d lost both of her children, yet all she cared about was the fact she had a turned human on her family tree.

  “She’s made me strong enough to defeat you,” Braith replied, and the look Sabine gave him made it clear she would happily see him dead a thousand times over.

  “Our line was created by Lucifer himself and you degrade us with a changed human. Let your brother pollute the line with such garbage, but not you.”

  “So it is the first born of our line only then,” Braith said quietly, the muscles in his forearm flexing and bunching as his grip on Sabine’s throat tightened. “If I am to die again, would I rise once more?”

  The fingers on the wrist Braith had broken flexed before Sabine launched a punch at his face that cracked his cheekbone with an audible thwack. Aria had seen her broken nose heal fast, but she hadn’t expected the woman to heal that fast.

  Braith grabbed Sabine’s hand and bashed it into the trunk of the tree. The blood drained from Aria’s head, she took a step back when he spun Sabine’s hand around and tore it from her wrist.

  Sabine screamed, her face turning red as her stumpy wrist flailed against Braith’s side and her blood sprayed him.

  “I’ll tear you apart piece by piece,” Braith promised her. “Your next hand will be one finger at a time if you don’t tell me what I want to know. I can make your end quick, or it can last years, but you will not walk away from any of it with your head still attached to your body.”

  A branch breaking behind Aria drew her attention to Jack as he stepped from the shadows of the forest with Hannah at his side. Their clothes were stained and torn; blood and dirt streaked their faces, but they appeared unharmed as they stepped beside her. Hannah visibly paled when she spotted Sabine’s missing hand. Jack took hold of Hannah’s shoulders and pressed her head against his chest.

  Aria’s stomach twisted sickeningly when Braith grasped one of Sabine’s fingers. Unlike the vampire she’d caught with Xavier and Max, who had been unwilling to speak for hours, words tumbled from Sabine’s lips at the possibility of torture. “The only thing that can kill the first born of our line is beheading! Even fire, unless it reduces us completely to ash, is not enough to destroy us.”

  “What?” Braith demanded and Aria’s mouth fell open at the revelation.

  “It’s a trait that Lucifer gave to the first vampire he created. Each first born of that vampire’s line will be able to withstand that which no other vampire can,” Sabine said, her eyes darting to Braith’s hand when it tightened around her finger. “We will rise as often as it is necessary to do what must be done.”

  “The phoenix was not a bird,” Braith murmured. “But one of our ancestors rising from a fire.”

  “The legend was changed by an ancestor for our protection,” Sabine replied.

  “Why do we rise stronger?”

  “You have survived death, survived having fallen in your own way. You’re closer now to Lucifer than you ever were before.”

  “Are there any other ancestors of ours out there?” Braith demanded.

  Sabine’s lips skimmed back to reveal her fangs in a feral grimace. When Braith started be
nding her finger back, she blurted more words. “Many of our ancestors were beheaded in battle or by their attackers. Some were taken out by their own children after they were killed in order to keep the secret of our line buried, and any others have long since perished. We are the last of the first born children.”

  With that, Sabine launched forward and sank her fangs into Braith’s throat. Braith placed his hand against her forehead as he tried to pry her off of him. The power of his blood caused the bones in Sabine’s arm to repair themselves almost immediately as Aria leapt forward to free Braith from the woman’s hungry grip. Sabine hadn’t been talking because she’d been defeated and concerned about losing her fingers; she’d been biding her time in order to lower their guard.

  Aria punched Sabine as hard as she could, but the woman showed no sign she’d felt it as she continued to drain Braith’s blood.

  “Get off!” Aria shouted. Blood spilled from her battered fists as she continued to beat at Sabine.

  Sabine’s reddened eyes met hers over his shoulder while his blood spilled from her lips to soak his skin. Aria’s heart sank when she realized Sabine truly believed she would kill Braith now, if she was willing to drink his blood. Otherwise, he’d be able to track her anywhere she went.

  Jack raced over to them and grasped Sabine’s hair. He tried to yank her head back, but she refused to release her hold. Braith drove his hand into Sabine’s chest. With a snarl, Sabine switched her tactics and her teeth bit at his neck as if she were chewing on him while his hand continued to work its way through her chest. Keegan growled as he waited for an opportunity to jump into the fight.

  Braith yanked back, tearing the heart from Sabine’s chest, but she didn’t stop biting him. Disbelief swirled through Aria as she gazed at the heart within Braith’s hand. The loss of the organ had done nothing to slow Sabine’s feeding frenzy. Blood loss may not kill Braith, but if Sabine succeeded in taking him down by weakening him this way, they’d never stop her from doing whatever she sought to do here.

  Realizing her attempts at dislodging Sabine from Braith with her hands were futile, Aria pulled an arrow from her quiver. The tip of the arrow was stained red, the scent of Braith’s blood drifting from it made her realize this was one of the arrows that had been used to kill her husband.