by Rae Foxx
"You know," Howl piped up, engaging in his own attempt to rid his skin of Tommy's blood. "I think I would rather face Katarina..."
"Plus my mother is coming," Finn said, now turning to me to deblood me. "We will fight in any way we need."
"Oh, I haven't stopped fighting," I said, flashing him a smile before turning on my heel and taking off toward the keep, and the smell of Katarina and some other foul blood that I wasn't sure I wanted to know the source of.
The castle-like door loomed at the end of the tunnel, the large wooden panels open a crack to let the sounds of an orgy in practice seep into the hall and bounce off the stone walls.
"Oh hell no," I snarled, picking up my pace and slamming my way through the unlocked door, ready to rip Katarina off my mate and rip her head off if needed. I was covered in remnants of demon blood. She was possibly naked and humping multiple men. Didn't matter, she was going down.
Instead, I skidded to a stop.
One of the Queen’s guards kneeled down in front of the crystalline throne, head canted to the side as Katarina leaned over him suckling from his neck as though it was a teat. The orgy sounds were coming from the two of them as they moaned and heaved, bodies rocking to and fro as though they were dry humping. She sucked deeper, they rocked harder, their moans echoing over everything as the guard, and Mama and even Saxon watched with blank expressions.
Like this was daytime TV and not a blood orgy on a crystal throne.
"And here I was thinking that Saxon was the only one that liked to fuck his midnight snacks," I said at full voice, jumping as someone shut the large wooden doors behind us, locking us all in.
"You!" The queen jerked up to me, death in her stare. "How dare you come here!"
With a scream, she opened her hands and pressed them against the head of her prey, her long nails digging into his skull as he screamed, the sounds of pleasure mutating to pain before with a twist of her palms they vanished and the guy collapsed lifelessly to the floor.
"Nice to see you too," I said, well aware that my voice had cracked in nerves like I was some prepubescent male in need of a hand job.
"Is it?" Katarina cooed, looking through our group before turning her focus to Saxon, the hatred in her eyes shifting to victory. In the mass of bloody dry-humping I hadn’t seen him sitting there--across the room from her--in a similar throne, but smaller and less bloody.
“Saxon?” I called as Howl came to stand next to me, probably as worried as me at the sight of him.
Or what was left of him.
His eyes were hooded, staring at the floor as he mumbled to himself.
"Saxon!" I yelled that time, pulling his focus and pulling his eyes right back to mine. Eyes that were nothing like what I had left. Blood red irises met mine, even the whites of his eyes were bloodshot everything veined and strained. As if he was overworked. As if he had too much blood to drink.
“I wouldn't taunt him if I was you. You don't want to know what she's done to him," Mama’s chipped-glass voice rose in the room and I turned to see her in the corner, arms folded over her pristine dress-shirt. Ten vamps stood in a rigid formation around her, guarding her--making sure she didn’t escape.
Or they stopped her from keeping Saxon safe. With my mom out of the way, Katarina had done... this.
“Lvsdkjngvsidujfm…” Saxon mumbled as Katarina slunk her way over to him, her clean white dress barely touched with red. Must’ve been early in the day.
"I know baby," she croons, her voice low as she exposes a breast and pushes him against it. "I'm excited too. Excited for all of our dreams to be reality."
"Must be some twisted-ass dreams," Howl snarled, his wolf as loud as mine as we stood with our hands in fists by our side.
"Bring me my book, daughter of the first, and let me give you your reward." She held out her hand like I was going to put some pocket-sized book in her palm and not the heavy leather-bound book. Right then, I wished I actually had the damn thing it would be nice to clock it right at her head.
Sucks to be her... You know what they say about assumptions.
"Oh yeah! The book!" I tried to keep my voice nonchalant as I bounced on my toes, holding my hands behind my back like I was hiding the thing. If she had paid any attention, she would have already seen I didn't have it. It’s not like I had any pockets to put it in either. I had left all of my make-shift clothes in ribbons back underneath the school.
“Why do you want it anyway?" I mused, still bouncing on my toes. "Seems like an awful lot of work to go through for a few spells. Didn't you try to get it before too... I swear I remember Saxon killing some ancient vampire in Nicky's underground dungeon a few months ago..."
I let my words trail off, prodding her in the exact direction I wanted. No one else seemed interested in my game. Finn swore, Tommy was mumbling warnings behind my back, and Howl might as well have been screaming in my head.
'The fuck are you doing?'
'Play along, wolf boy.' He wasn't going to back down and gave me a look to match. You would think he would be used to my antics by now.
Katarina stops trying to get Saxon to nuzzle against her saggy boob at my question, her eyes narrowing at mine as she stands. Her dress falls around her like snowdrifts, the hem dipping into that freaky ass blood river as she walks closer to me, boob still out, Saxon stumbling behind her.
"Oh, you’ve put it all together, haven’t you, Ivy?” she asks as he steps into the river, walking over the blood-slicked stone as he approaches me, closer. Closer.
One of my mates tried to pull me back, but I wasn’t having that. I was going to meet this bitch head-on.
"Of course I made a deal with Nickolinia," Katarina muses, giving a high tinkling laugh as she pulls Saxon against her. I wasn't sure if she was staking her claim or reminding me of the collateral, but it sent chills down my spine nonetheless. "She sees the world as I do, full of power and status. Like we used to have in the old days. How I long to see the fear in others again. You would too if you were born then. Don't you remember Talmund? It was why your father made your deal with her. All of us, working together..."
Her beady red eyes left mine, drifting over the room to meet Tommy... or Talmund, who was shaking so bad he was nothing but black smoke around the edges.
"How is your dear old father? By the looks of things, he paid you a bit of a visit. I would remember that smell anywhere."
“So?” Tommy tried to act tough but I knew better. The tone of his voice had changed and his breaths had become shallow.
“I can hear your tiny demon heart flutter all the way from here--so pathetic," Katarina flipped her hair, laughing as the red-tinted light of her keep glinted off her fangs. "Look at you, shaking in your fucking boots at the thought of Daddy coming to collect you.”
"The only one getting collected is my mate," I snarled, stepping forward even as she made to retreat back to her throne in another supposed victory. "Now hand him over."
"That wasn't part of our deal little girl," Katarina said, whipping around so fast the hem of her dress sprayed me with blood. "Of course, once you give me the book we may be able to discuss it."
"No can do. Even if I had the book, which I don’t, I wouldn’t give it to you.” I held my hands out before folding them over my naked torso. "Where would I put it even if I did? Now hand over Saxon and we will get out of here."
"Why are you lying to me, wolf girl?" The queen’s eyes widened, murder returning to her face as she sneered.
"I'm not lying. You said it yourself, the Demon King is with Nicky. There was no way we were getting past him," I resisted the urge to flip my hair at her; my sass wasn't going to help this situation. "But if you were to join us we could defeat them all, and then maybe you will get your book."
"Maybe? Give it to me now! I know you have it!" Her knuckles popped as she balled her fists and then flexed them again. She shook with rage, but I didn't move, I faced her head on, my three mates moving to flank me.
"I don't have the book--"<
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“You have it!” She roared, her chest heaving with breaths as she zeroed in on my face again. “I know you do, you fucking whore.”
Saxon babbled something from beside her and almost keeled over. Howl almost went to him but I grabbed his arm. I didn’t want any one of us to split off, giving this bloodthirsty bitch any chance to kill my mates. We were already vulnerable with Saxon across the room.
"Whore? Yes. Book? No."
"Liar!" In seconds, she’d spun around, her hand wrapping around Saxon's neck as he mumbled and whimpered, the incohesive sounds ending as she lifted him up, his body like a rag doll beneath her grip. “Give me the book, girl. It would be a shame if I had to kill my prince as I got him back. But for the book, the book of origins, I would. In a fucking heartbeat, sweetheart. You want this mate of yours alive? You want him back? Give me the goddamned book right this instant!”
I squared off my shoulders even though my heart was beating out of my chest, every bit of fear coursing through my veins. There was no way out of this. I didn't have the book. But she had said it herself, it would be a shame to kill her prince after she gets him back. She wouldn't do it.
I had to stand my ground.
“I said I don’t fucking have it, bitch.” I countered, lunging forward a little readying my wolf to tear Saxon out of her hand if I had to. “I know you hear the truth in my voice.”
"Oh, I hear it." She said, her voice calm, even though she didn't lower Saxon. Even though she didn't look away from me. "I don't care."
Her smile spread in a blood-red gash, it cut her face in two as she laughed, as her nails flashed with the color of blood and Saxon fell to the ground in a heap.
I raced to him, ready to pull him away and have Tommy get us the hell out of here, maybe catch the Fae army before they got here. I had Saxon, I didn't need their back up anymore.
"Let's go," I whispered as I tugged at Saxon's arm, as Howl gave a soft cry and Mama began laughing in the corner.
I released an ear-splitting scream as dried blood spilled from Saxon’s body onto the marble, the ruby red sand pouring from his mouth and his nose, from his ears.
She had killed him, killed him with the sharpened edge of her long nails. She smiled, licking the blood on her nails as she sat on her throne.
The throne I promptly shattered with one scream of my broken heart.
My magic did the rest.
Chapter 12
Glass tumbled to the ground, Mama’s cackles picking up as all of the guards burst to attention, their disinterest in the situation as shattered as their dumb Queen’s throne.
"You will die for that, Ivy!" Katarina shrieked, picking herself up off the broken shards of glass to face me, both her and my guard going into action.
The vampires with their pointy sticks rushed to circle their queen, my demon and wolf mates rushing to pick them off just as fast.
And Mama kept cackling in the corner, sounding as though she had lost her mind.
"I guess I could say the same thing," I ground out through the clench in my jaw, rushing the queen as she did me, giving Saxon's body one last look as I vowed to avenge him like some knight on a horse.
He deserved it.
He deserved so much more than that.
Six swift steps in the Ice Queen's direction and I had her throat in my grasp, my other reaching around to grab her hair and pull it back, tilting her neck up as though I was going to bite it. I wanted to bite it; my fangs were pushing their way out in preparation.
I had no interest in tasting her. Just ending her. Her throat bobbed against my palm as she swallowed and tried to laugh, but the hoarse sound caught in her throat and erupted in a hiss and snarl. As quick as I had captured her, she yanked at my hair, her long nails swiping at me like tiny little daggers that I had to jump back to dodge.
Mama’s laughter resounded like a gong in my head as Howl threw four guards against the wall and rushed to Saxon’s body, crumpling it up in his embrace and speaking words I couldn’t quite decipher, even with my enhanced hearing.
Howls sobs distracted me enough that I stepped right instead of left, sliding on the shards of glass that covered the floor and sending me slipping right back toward the dagger nails that were ripping through the air toward me. I let myself fall, slipping my way to the ground only to land flat on my back.
Okay, I could work with this.
I grabbed her dress and pulled, yanking her off balance as my magic reacted and arched her into the air. She tried to stop her flight like she could grab at air, but it was as pointless as me throwing her. She had barely touched down before she was by my side again nails slashing as she laughed like a broken jack in the box.
She was fast, but I was fucking fast now too. Ancient vampire blood and pure hatred towards a murderer will do that to you.
"Keep running, Queeney." I taunted as I grabbed a piece of glass, needing my own dagger against her nails. I had no idea how to use it, but with all the air-slicing she was doing it couldn't be that hard. "You're not going to get very far."
"As far as you got getting my book for me?" She laughed, slicing through the air with one hand as she reached for my hand with the other, the sharp edge of her nails hit against my arm and I pulled back, taking two quick steps back before she could catch me. "You deserved what you got, and I will gladly finish off you that rest of your whore house as the remainder of your punishment."
"All this for a book!" I gave one heartless laugh, that was punctuated by the neurotic cackle of Mama. "It’s a fucking book written by a desperate witch. Get over it."
I took another swipe for her hair, moving around her at a breakneck pace with the full intent to catapult her away by the long limp strands of hair. She ducked and with one arm hit my legs, causing me to flop onto the floor while she glided to another part of the room, but not before I was able to clamp down and bite into that neck of hers. She was like a fucking steel marble in a pinball machine, she was now free bleeding from her neck and bouncing around like it was little more than a scratch.
“You fool!" she yelled as she bounced off the far wall. "You ignorant little fool. Do you really think I would make a deal with Nickolinia for those petty spells and witchery? That wouldn’t be worth my time.”
I glanced over at my mates to see Howl openly mourning Saxon, Finn and the others gathered around him as they fought off the guards, felling one after another only to half jump back to their feet, ready to fight again. Mama was still laughing, great considering I knew she had enough magic to finish this.
So did I.
'End her, Ivy.' Howl’s voice shook with emotion. 'Fucking end her for what she did, little wolf.'
'Consider it done,' I snarled, running for her as she did for me, the two of us speeding so fast we might as well have been going in slow motion.
We impacted with the force of the bomb, my magic intersecting with her iron body with a bang that shook the walls and sent both of us back right on our asses. Shards of glass cut into my flesh, everything aching as I pushed myself to my feet. Letting my magic course through my veins as I prepared to end her, at this point I didn't even care if she took me down with her. She was going down.
“What’s so fucking important about this goddamned book that everyone is willing to end the world for it?” My throat bit back at me as I ground out the words as loud as I could before lunging at her with a preternatural speed courtesy of my new vamp blood. I caught her as she tried to move and again grasped her by the throat, intent on getting answers.
She scoffed and batted at my ribs with those dagger nails and the sharp points making contact. Thanks to my ass full of glass, it felt a little worse than stepping on a sharp rock. My hyperactive blood was already healing them, she was going to have to do better than that.
“Power, you twit. All of the power. You would think you would understand that with the precious blood of the first flowing in your veins. Wouldn't you want power like this every day of your life," I nearly dropped her with that ans
wer, but I held on, my muscles tightening as she continued. "To give life as easily as you can take it away. Not that you could."
I froze, the bitch sputtering blood and decay all over my face as she laughed. I shook her by her neck as blood gushed from her wounds in pulses of death. It flowed down her shoulder and saturated her dress, making it stick to her pale skin.
I tightened my grip on her neck, my thumb pressed against her gaping wound and making it bleed heavily as her grin faltered; as the life drained from her in spurts.
“You don’t deserve the blood I gave you. A whore like you doesn’t deserve the blood of my father in you. You are nothing and you will always be nothing.”
"I'm nothing," I snarled, leaning in until I knew I was in the danger zone. One move and her fangs were within biting distance. "But you do have one thing wrong. I already have the power to change everything."
'End her, Ivy.'
I smiled and shook her like a rag doll. Her arms and legs flopped like mine had when Oberion lifted me in the same way. I tossed her toward the nearest wall and watched as consciousness drained from her face as she crumpled to the ground. Bloodstained the wall behind her with a new coat of red.
I didn't wait to bask in my victory, I turned and rushed to Howl and Saxon as the guards all ran after their queen.
“Howl, move,” I snapped, nearly pushing him as I hovered over the body that was once Saxon's dried blood stopped flowing now. "I have the blood of the first in me. The blood that save--"
"Even vampires." Finn finished, all of them gathering around me as I let my fangs push out, wrist at the ready.
Please let this work.
“Okay, fang-boy, let’s see if this wakes your ass up.” I bit down on my own flesh, holding my wrist over the open wound on Saxon's neck, the long line where Katarina had dug her nails in. My blood was not liquid, but it wasn't dust either, in slow-moving globs. It flowed from my wrist like sauce from a bottle, globs falling against Saxon's skin and into the open wound on his neck.
