"Keep going!" she yelled at him.
She ignored him as she leapt onto the railing and seized the porch roof. Her fingers scrambled for purchase on the slippery shingles, but she got enough of a hold to lift herself onto the roof. Without the added burden of her cloak, she pulled her bow and arrows swiftly from her back. The guards were closer than she’d realized, and there were more of them than she expected. Her heart sank.
Lifting the bow, she had no time to aim as she rapidly fired arrows at the rushing group. Some of the arrows hit their marks, others missed, and still more were dodged. Some of the guards fell back from their injuries but most kept coming.
Aria grabbed her bow and quiver and tossed them onto her back as she leapt to her feet and ran. She didn't attempt to jump onto the next porch roof; she would never make it. Instead, she jumped from the roof.
Her legs scissored in the air before her feet connected with solid ground again. She took off down the road. She rounded a corner to find that William and Daniel had taken up shooter stances on either side of the road. Max was further down; his bow lifted as he prepared for the guards.
She heard the twang of her brother's strings seconds before Max started to fire.
"Run, Aria!" Max yelled at her.
Bolting past him, she raced another fifty feet down the road before taking up position behind a water barrel overflowing with fresh rain. She gripped her bow and arrow and steadied herself as she readied herself to aim at the creatures hunting them. If they could keep this up, and if their arrow numbers held, they may be able to escape the town intact.
Daniel and William appeared from behind a row of houses. Aria ignored the blood dripping from William's head; she couldn't think about it now. Not if she planned to survive.
She was about to release her first arrow when an arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her against a hard, broad chest. For a disconcerting moment, she thought Braith had seized her, the dimensions of the bodies were about the same size, but there was something cold, unfamiliar, and wrong about the man holding her. A hand snaked around her throat and clasped over her mouth.
She tried to kick at the man but connected only with air. She screamed against the hand muffling her as a cold certainty crept through her.
Lips pressed against her cheek. "Well, well, well, look at what I have here."
Her body turned into a block of ice at Caleb's words. She hadn't spent much time with him, as Braith had gone out of his way to keep her away from his brother, but she would recognize his voice and the cruelty lacing his words anywhere. This was so much worse than she initially thought.
Every horrible nightmare she'd ever had screamed into reality as his arm constricted cruelly around her waist.
"We're going to have so much fun you and I," he murmured. "So much fun. I'll get to see just what it was my brother saw in you."
Aria struggled within his grasp as she wheezed from lack of oxygen. Over the top of Caleb’s hand, she met her brother's horrified gazes. They had to get free; they had to run, now. Aria jerked to the side, threw her head back, and kicked as she tried to loosen Caleb's grasp. She had no hope of getting free, but she needed a brief reprieve from his firm grasp.
His hand slipped on her as she managed to dig an elbow into his ribs. "Bitch!" he snarled as his hand entangled in her hair.
"Run!" The scream, born of terror, ripped violently and harshly from her throat moments before Caleb drove his fangs into her neck.
Agony exploded through her, tears formed in her eyes and froze there as her whole body went rigid. Even when he had deprived himself, even when he was on the verge of losing all control, Braith had never hurt her like this. Caleb attacked her brutally; he pulled her blood from her in deep waves that caused her heart to stutter and her muscles to lock.
Her fingers curled into claws, but she couldn't move, couldn't feel anything other than the torture consuming every cell in her. He meant to draw out her suffering, she was sure of it, but she feared that in his fury over her actions, he would kill her.
Caleb pulled away before biting deep again in another spot, and then another, and another. Her skin was raw; blood trickled over her as blackness rose and threatened to drown her in the dark depths of unconsciousness. She struggled against it, certain that if she succumbed she would never wake again.
Her fingers went numb; her body was growing colder as she felt her life slipping away. She had only a glance of William as he launched at them. Daniel grasped his arm and tried to pull her twin away as he struggled to break free. Max rounded the corner and horror spread over his face as he skidded to a halt in the muddy road.
The last thing she saw was the arrow William shot at Caleb before darkness finally claimed her.
It was dark when she woke. Cold.
It took her some time to realize she wasn't in the caves. She was somewhere far worse.
Memories engulfed her in a rapid, brutal wave. Her chest constricted, and she could barely breathe through the panic trying to consume her. She was in the palace dungeons; she was sure of it, and she was at the mercy of Caleb and the king.
A chill crept down her spine; she couldn't bring herself to think about the implications of that as she mentally took stock of the damage to her body. She was sore, tired and weak, but she was alive. For now, at least.
Slowly, past the terror of her current situation and her pain, she realized something else. She would now know how Braith would react without her there; if he would keep control of himself and put the greater good ahead of her, or if he would allow the bloodthirsty, vicious, and malevolent side of himself retake control.
He would come for her, she knew, but would it be the vampire who came for her or the monster that vampire could become.
Another chill slid down her spine, but this one had nothing to do with fear for herself, and everything to do with the fact holy hell may have just been unleashed on her family, her friends, and her woods.
And that hell may very well be Braith.
The End
Turn the page to keep reading Salvation, book 4 in the Captive Series!
Salvation
The Captive Series, Book 4
Special thanks to my husband for all his patience and support, my parents for always being there, my siblings, nieces and nephews who make life more interesting and fun, my friends for their laughter, and Leslie Mitchell from G2 Freelance editing for all her hard work.
Chapter One
Braith's shoulders heaved, his chest tensed, and his arms were sore from the amount of damage he'd rendered. His vision was blurred by a hazy cloud of red that coated his eyes and made it nearly impossible to see. He'd never experienced anything like it.
When he'd lost his vision, the world around him had consisted entirely of blackness. Then Aria had come into his life and brought the illumination back, brought color back, and given him the gift of vision again.
Now the blackness had become the deep hue of blood. Instead of being completely blind this time though, shadows still moved across his field of vision, and he could make out the blur of other obstacles in the clearing.
He couldn't see them clearly, but he knew Gideon and Ashby had retreated far from him; David, Daniel, and William were standing by something solid, perhaps a rock, maybe a tree. Only Jack was brave enough to remain anywhere nearby. He didn't know what caused this shadowed haze, he'd never been able to keep his vision this far from her, but it had been steadily improving when they were apart. He thought it was due to the increasing amount of her blood within him.
She had strengthened him, and he'd let her down. He'd lost her.
He never should have agreed to her going into that town, never should have let her go. However, there was no letting Aria do anything. One way or another she was going to go, and he'd vowed she would have the freedom to spread her wings. He'd been trying so hard not to squash her wild and beautiful spirit with his heavy-handed, overbearing manner.
He'd been concerned about her safety, but he
hadn't thought it would be overly risky for her in the town. The weather had driven most people inside, the dark servant's cloak would cover her, and though she'd been his blood slave, few people within the town had ever seen her, and even fewer would remember her. Or so he assumed.
He'd been an idiot.
His entire body shuddered as he grasped a small tree. His muscles rippled as he ripped it from the ground and hurled it through the air. Gideon and Ashby scrambled to get out of the way as it bounced in their direction. Braith stood, shaking as he tried to gather some semblance of control, but he was quickly spiraling toward something dark and dangerous.
This dark spiral was worse than when he'd fed from his kind, worse than when Aria first left him in the palace. The only thing allowing him to hang on was the fact he knew she was still alive, and he could find her. Soon.
Now. Spinning on his heel, he stormed across the clearing toward the town.
Jack moved to intercept him. "Braith you have to calm down, think about this rationally. We don't know where she is."
"I can find her," he grated.
"Yes, yes you can, but if you go charging after her, you'll ruin every aspect of surprise we have. Until we know who has her, and where they have taken her, you have to stay in control; you're our leader…"
Jack broke off mid-sentence when Braith moved toward him. Apparently, Jack's survival instinct was firmly intact as he held up his hands and took a couple of steps back.
A muffled sound in the woods whipped Braith's head around. He strained to make out the figure emerging from the forest, but it was nothing more than a dark shadow amidst the red. Even his heightened sense of smell seemed to be failing him, or it was buried beneath the crushing wrath and worry consuming him.
"Max," Gideon murmured.
"Max," Braith snarled. Lost in the confusion, the boy hadn't returned with William and Daniel.
Max's blurry figure staggered; he fell to his knees and attempted to get back up, but fell back again. David, William, and Daniel fled the safety of whatever they had been hiding behind to reach Max's side. They helped Max back to his feet and hoisted him between them. The cloying scent of Max's blood hung heavily in the air, but Braith couldn't see the extent of the damage done to him.
"How bad is he injured?" he demanded.
"He'll survive," Jack assured him.
An extreme thirst for blood was beginning to ravage his veins as he stalked toward Max. "Where have you been?"
"I followed them," Max croaked out. "I had to make sure I knew where they were taking her. I broke away when they entered the gates of the palace walls."
Braith's hands fisted as he fought the urge to rip everything around him to shreds to assuage the volatile monster looking to burst free of him. The palace, his father, it was the worst possible fate for her, but if he got to her soon…
He would get there soon. He would tear the palace apart with his bare hands if it became necessary.
"The soldiers will take her straight to father," Jack muttered.
"Not soldiers," Max inserted. "Soldiers don’t have her."
Something in the boy's voice briefly pierced through Braith's cloudy haze. He nudged Jack out of the way as he struggled to focus on Max. "Who? Who has her?" he barked.
"It was your brother."
Braith felt as if he'd been kicked in the gut; Jack let out a low curse. "Caleb?" Braith managed to choke out.
"Yes."
This time it wasn't rage that overtook Braith, but a fear so intense it left him momentarily immobile. Caleb would destroy her; Caleb would break the spirit Braith had sought to keep free.
He didn't know who he hated more, himself or his brother. Red suffused his vision once more as a bellow of anguish ripped from him.
Broken. He felt broken, but nowhere near as broken as Aria would be when Caleb finished with her. Even if he could reach her right now, it may already be too late for her.
Daniel spread the papers out before him; his nimble fingers ran over the lines of the street and homes he'd hastily sketched into the plans. Jack kept one eye on the drawings, and the other warily focused on Braith. His brother was wound to the point of breaking.
This silent, seething Braith was more frightening than the one who ripped trees from the ground and snapped them in half with a flick of his wrist. This Braith was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
If they didn't get into that palace soon, Jack was worried Braith would turn on them to get to her. He prayed Braith's reason, and ability to lead, would win out over his determination to reach Aria and the unraveling Jack could sense slithering beneath his brother's still exterior. He'd been hoping and planning Braith would be able to keep it together without Aria, but he sure hadn't expected this to happen.
The worst thing he ever could have imagined happening to Aria was Caleb getting his hands on her. It made him sick to think of what his father and brother would do to her, made him feel like heedlessly rushing into the palace to get her back. She didn't deserve such a hideous fate.
"We can split up through the streets," Daniel stated.
The drawing wasn't Daniel's best, but then he hadn't exactly had the time to put the detail into it he usually would have. The other group they’d planned to send into the town to survey it, had become more of a rescue team when they stumbled across Daniel and William trying to escape the king's soldiers.
Daniel's fingers trembled as he pointed to the two main roads of the town. His left eye was nearly swollen shut, and his cheek bore a nasty bruise that Jack suspected shaded a broken, or at least a fractured, bone.
Beside him, William was pale and his face nearly as bruised. His lip was split open, and dark stitches had repaired it. Max had fared slightly better than the brothers, but he’d focused on staying with Aria instead of trying to fight through the soldiers with Caleb. If it hadn't been for Daniel's sensibility, Jack was certain William wouldn't have returned at all.
"The town won't divide us as much as we thought,” Daniel said. “The roads are big enough for us to move through in large groups that won't be easily taken down by the people, and whatever vampires remain there. Though, I suspect that after today the king will increase his forces within the town."
"Or he'll pull them all behind the palace walls and into the palace town to strengthen his forces there," David murmured. "We know he cares little for human life; it is the palace he'll look to protect the most."
"David's right." Braith didn't lift his head to look at them as he remained focused on the ground. "The king may send some troops into the woods to search for me, but from here on out the full force of his might will be concentrated within the walls surrounding the palace."
"How will he know you're here?" David inquired. "Just because Aria was discovered doesn't mean he knows you're here, or that any of us are here."
Braith's jaw grated back and forth; his hands clenched on his biceps. "He may suspect there is a militia within these woods, but he’ll know I’m here because he will smell my blood in her."
Jack was motionless as he awaited David's reaction to Braith's blunt statement.
David blinked once, twice, and then his mouth parted. "I see."
Daniel's fingers tapped on the drawing as his focus turned to Braith. "I also believe we should raze the town as we move through it."
Jack did a double take at Daniel's words. Braith's head slowly turned toward him; even behind the thick glasses, Jack could see the burning ruby coals of his eyes. A chill crept down his back; he wasn't entirely sure it was Braith standing over there anymore, or if it was something far more hazardous and feral.
"There are humans in that town," Braith reminded him.
Or perhaps Jack was wrong; his interest piqued as he studied his brother. He was showing signs of concern and reasoning beyond Aria again. Was it possible Braith would keep it together? Was it possible Aria and Braith could be separated?
He felt no hope at the realization. If Aria survived this, the worst thing Jack wo
uld ever do in his long life was take her away from Braith again. They had all done things they didn't want to do though, and they would all do far more before this war was over.
Daniel was paler than normal, but his eyes were unwavering. "That town is a death trap. If the king doesn't pull all his soldiers from the town, and they somehow get the chance to come up behind us, there will be nowhere for us to retreat to if it becomes necessary. There are far too many homes and places for them to hide and wait for us. It should be burned as we move through so they can't set a trap for us."
Jack was taken aback by the ferocity of Daniel's words. Gideon quirked an eyebrow as he nodded approvingly. Xavier's head cocked a little, and a small smile played across his lips as he surveyed Daniel, William, and David with the same strange look he'd been studying Aria with ever since he'd met her. Jack found it bizarre, even for Xavier.
Daniel's gaze darted to his father. David was as pale as his son; his lips were pressed firmly together as he stared at the hastily scrawled plans.
"There are innocent casualties in every war, and it needs to be done," David confirmed.
"They aren't that innocent," William growled. He tugged at his hair as he strolled around the table and continued toward the edge of the woods. "Burn it then. Burn it all, and I'll make sure we burn that bitch who turned Aria in with it."
"William," David's tone of voice was low and warning, "this is not for revenge, no matter how badly we want it to be, that is not what we are about. We will limit the amount of innocent bloodshed."
William shot him a dark look; his busted lip curled into a sneer, but for once he held his tongue. David stared at Braith for some confirmation, but when none was forthcoming, Jack responded. "We will."
David didn't look overly relieved, but he didn't press the issue. Jack anxiously watched Braith as he approached the table and plans. The other aristocrats stood behind him as they awaited his decision. They sensed something off in Braith, but for now they seemed to be willing to trust his judgment. Jack didn't know what would happen if Braith refused to see reason and put them all in peril, didn't know what would happen if Braith turned on them to vent his wrath.
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