I bit the dog on the neck and sucked on the trickling blood. If I hadn’t been half-starved to death, I would have spit it back out, but I was hungry enough that the mangy taste of the dog’s blood was manageable. I would have drained the fae had it not been for Orythyia coming to its aid.
I felt a shock as she blasted me with icy lightning. The blow pushed me away from the animal. Its teeth were wrenched free, tearing flesh from my shoulder. The little bit of blood I had siphoned from the fae healed me quickly enough.
I rolled with the force of her blow, coming quickly to my feet. I didn’t give her a chance to attack again, but began running the second my feet hit the pavement. I had intended to plow into her gut, just as the Rottweiler had done, but she saw it coming and gracefully stepped out of my way, casually spritzing me with her water gun.
To my disgust, the small spray of water froze to my skin, imbued with her winter power.
I tried to stop my forward momentum, but ended up stampeding right through the large windows of the cabinet shop. I fell to the ground, covered in glass and tiny cuts. Sitting on the counter of the nearest display was a beautiful glass sculpture of an eagle. Without thinking I grabbed the eagle and flung it at the winter queen with the force of my righteous anger.
She had allowed Chloe to be killed by her minion and done nothing about it. Once she was dead, I would see to the minion too.
The glass eagle crashed into her face, giving her a thousand miniscule cuts and dislodging one of her Princess Leia earmuffs. The winter queen thrust out her arms, shooting ice at me. With vampire speed and strength, I wrenched a cabinet door off the display and used it as a shield. The wooden door turned icy cold, quickly growing heavy as layer upon layer of ice built up.
I ran forward, ignoring the clink of glass under my feet and plowed into Orythyia. She had been too focused on icing me to dodge my attack. Sadly, the Rottweiler had not been equally distracted. The dog pounced on my back, its teeth sinking into my leg. Keeping my body on top of the queen, I twisted, grabbed the dog by the leg. I gave the leg a powerful jerk, popping the joint out of socket, and possibly breaking the limb.
The animal gave a yip of pain as it jumped back on three legs. I wasn’t sure how quickly the fae would heel. I turned back to Orythyia who was still struggling under my weight. I could feel my body temperature dropping as she grabbed my arms and poured her frigid power into my body. I felt my limbs begin to slow as my joints froze.
Not wanting to give her a second to do more damage, I dropped down against her and clamped my mouth over her neck. She screamed, and I felt the dog latch on to my leg again, but the effort of the Rottweiler was weak and sloppy. I ignored the Rottweiler, allowing it to chew on my leg as I drank deeply of the queen’s blood.
The more I drank of her blood the less I noticed her attack. I wasn’t sure if it was due to her weakening state, and therefore the weakening of her attack, or if her blood was making me more immune to the powers of a winter fae.
With the last of her strength she shoved me away. Somehow the Rottweiler managed to coordinate his last pull on my leg with her push. Between the two of them I lost my grip on her neck.
“Why?” she gurgled as she clamped a hand over her bleeding neck.
I noticed her blood was a strange shade of dark reddish-purple. “Chloe,” I growled, my hunger increasing as I licked her blood from my lips.
“Who?” she asked, completely unaware of the pain she had caused me and Jordan.
The last of my control snapped. I lunged forward, grabbed her head, and snapped her neck before completely tearing her head off.
It took me a moment to realize what I had just managed. In all my thoughts of killing Orythyia, it had never dawned on me that I might someday succeed. Suddenly the effect of my actions came rushing down on me.
I looked up at the battle raging around me. It was as though a small portion of the warriors had stopped what they were doing to stare at me. The winter fae who were on the perimeter stopped working on the spell to hide our efforts. From where I crouched next to the building, I spotted at least three winter fae standing on the top of a destroyed car, locked in a grapple with a Valkyrie but caring more about what I had done than what their enemy might do. Two of those were stabbed while they looked at me.
Even a few of the vampires had glanced back to see what all the fuss was about.
Before I could react, I felt something collide with my back, sending me face first into the winter queen’s dead body. Belatedly I realized the Rottweiler was still alive. Strengthened by the queen’s powerful blood, I easily pushed myself back onto my hands and knees, the two hundred pound dog sprawled across my back, its teeth digging into my flesh where ever it could. I felt a claw rake across my hip before I managed to climb to my feet, thereby shaking the animal from my back.
I looked down at it, noticing the deep hatred pouring from its bright eyes. It was the final confirmation I needed to believe this wasn’t just a dog. It was a fae who likely could appear in human form too.
“She got my best friend killed,” I said to the Rottweiler, as though this would be enough to get him to stop.
He growled at me and lunged, momentarily ignoring his broken leg. I blocked his attack with my outstretched arms, diverting him from his path and sending him crashing into one of the unbroken panels of glass. The Rottweiler landed on the display that had held the glass eagle. It tried to climb to its feet, but slipped off the granite countertop and fell to the glass-littered floor.
Without hesitation, I leapt into the show room, grabbed a shard of glass, and drove it into the fae’s exposed neck. The animal gave one last whimper before it went limp. Within minutes it would be dead too.
“Ashley, what have you done?” Josh asked from the sidewalk.
I turned toward him, my eye taking in the current state of our fight, and in that split second I realized the mistake I had made. All the winter fae present had turned on the vampires. Though they weren’t attacking the summer fae, the wizards, or the werewolves, they were trying to decimate my clan.
“She got Chloe killed.”
“Now was not the time for a personal vendetta.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Josh grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the demolished kitchen showroom. Hephaestus, Periphetes’ father, had left his perimeter task and transformed into his natural state—a giant Neanderthal. In his anger he was doing more damage to the cars than either enemy.
“Hephaestus is mine,” I said, absently noticing that my breath steamed out as though the temperature of my mouth was off. Perhaps it was from drinking the winter queen’s blood.
“What did I just say about vendettas?” snapped Josh.
I didn’t even give him a glare before charging toward the giant, hairy man.
“Hey! Old man,” I yelled up at him.
Hephaestus turned his large, dumb eyes on me and growled. I nearly gaged at the smell of his breath.
“I just killed your queen!” I added for good measure.
It probably wasn’t necessary. He was already seriously pissed off. I turned and ran back to the cabinet shop, figuring it was already pretty damaged. Plus there were a lot of weird things to turn into weapons. I spotted Josh glaring at me from the edge of our battlefield, but ignored him. I jumped back through the window, glanced over my shoulder, and dove in between two displays. The enormous fae was right behind me.
He had to nearly double over to fit into the building.
I crawled farther into the maze of displays. “Hey, ogre. You keeping up?” I called to annoy him.
“Me no ogre,” growled the Neanderthal.
I chuckled darkly. “My bad.”
I heard a mighty crash as the fae clambered forward, tearing two displays off their foundations as he tried to squeeze between them.
“Little one, come back, little one,” growled the fae.
“Gonna have to find me!” I taunted.
I heard another crash as something else broke an
d began to smell burning flesh. No doubt a few of the handles and supports for the inner walls had bits of metal in them. Finally, the dumb beast turned a corner and stared down at me. I was crouched between a row of wall cabinets and an island of a different style. I smiled up at him before letting my face fall into a look of shock. I pointed up at the ceiling as though something was coming.
“What’s that?” I cried.
The giant fae half turned, half stood, quickly driving his head through the dropped ceiling and into the roof of the building. The strong wooden struts dug into his flesh and the metal that held the drop ceiling in place seared his skin. Hephaestus wiggled in place, trying to dislodge himself from the trap of the roof.
I laughed, clutching my sides as I enjoyed my own mirth.
To my disgust, the dumb thing wasn’t as dumb as I thought. Hephaestus quickly transformed into his human self and turned toward me.
“Dammit,” I muttered, suddenly serious. I rolled to my feet and dashed around the display.
If he was going to stay small then I needed to get out of the maze of the cabinet shop. I ducked and dodged, Hephaestus hot on my trail despite his limp. Finally, when I was sure he was going to catch me, I dove out of the broken window, rolling across the pavement, and bumping into the nearest car. I scrambled around to the far side of the car, my hand absently falling to the handle of the door.
As Hephaestus stepped out of the cabinet shop, he morphed back into his true form. He lumbered toward me, reaching down as though he was going to grab me and climb to the top of the Empire State Building. I waited until the last second, then opened the car door. Hephaestus thrust his fist into the rusting metal and howled in pain.
When he had regained a little composure he tried to reach over the top of the door to grab me. Again, I waited until he was committed, then slammed the door shut on his wrist. The glass shattered over my head while the frame of the door bent around his thick wrist, cutting a short way into his flesh.
The giant beast tried to jerk his hand free, but I pressed all my weight against the door, pinning his wrist in place. I held him there until he remembered his other hand. Having no other option, I ducked around the back of the ruined car.
With a mighty roar, Hephaestus picked up the car and tossed it over his head. The vehicle landed on the roof of the pathetic cabinet shop. What were those poor shop owners going to say to their insurance company—car tossed into building?
I scrambled back from the mighty giant, trying to find a new car to use as a shield/weapon. I noticed he was favoring the arm I had damaged with the last car. Could I do the same to his other hand?
I glanced over the parking lot. Things were not going our way. The winter fae were still pretty anti-vampire, thanks to yours truly. Thankfully, the vampires greatly outnumbered the winter fae. Half the werewolves had abandoned their duty of protecting the wizards and were now trying to get at Sedgrave, our original goal. Though the summer fae were still holding up the battle’s disguise spell, those not on the boundaries didn’t seem to be doing much. They were running around and making a lot of noise, but I quickly realized they were not engaging the Valkyries or trying to get near Sedgrave.
Had I not had a giant Neanderthal on my tail I would have inquired into their usefulness. Instead, I dashed toward the oldest car I could spot—an outdated diesel Mercedes. I jumped onto the trunk, ran over the roof, and slid down the hood, carefully placing the car between me and my attacker. Without stopping to wonder if I could even manage the task, I grabbed the car’s front bumper, lifted with all my might, and flipped it over. It landed on Hephaestus’ legs, causing the clumsy giant to toppled over onto hits backside.
I stumbled forward, falling to my knees in sudden exhaustion. I looked back, realizing Sedgrave was doing a spell and draining me of the new-found power I had received from killing Orythyia. Her power was making Sedgrave stronger.
Dammit.
To my surprise, Mikhail appeared beside me. “When this is over, you are in big trouble, missy,” he said before running headlong into Hephaestus’ chest.
The primus hit the Neanderthal so hard, he slumped backward, whacking his head against the pavement hard enough to create a mini earthquake. I pushed myself to my feet and ran up to the giant’s shoulder.
“This is my kill,” I snapped at Mikhail, who had one of the Valkyries’ swords pointed at the fae’s chest.
Without looking at me, Mikhail plunged the blade into the fae’s chest, piercing his heart and killing him instantly. Quickly, the primus turned to look at me.
“You don’t get to make that call after what you’ve done. Seethe first, Ashley. Personal crusades second.” Mikhail grabbed my chin and forced me to look him directly in the eye. “Do that again, and I’ll finish you myself. Now get back to the plan.”
Mikhail released my face with a jerk and ran toward Sedgrave. He was back against the restaurant doors, a fortress of cars built up around him.
How the hell had they managed that? I wondered as I ran to their fort.
The seven Valkyries still on their feet stood on the top of the car-made wall defending their master. Mikhail and I had just reached our small group of vampires not currently in action when a voice rang out over the general warble of battle.
“You killed my father!” yelled the voice.
I turned and recognized Periphetes a few feet away. I blinked, surprised by his action. Last time we had discussed the topic, Periphetes had made it clear that he hated Hephaestus. He had even promised to help me see Chloe avenged, but now that it was done, he seemed to have changed his tune.
“He killed Chloe,” I growled back, in no mood to talk it out; if Periphetes wanted a fight, I was ready for it.
That was a total lie, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. In truth, I felt as though Sedgrave had taken the last of my energy. It was also a lie because I really, truly liked Periphetes. I didn’t want to hurt my friend. That thought cooled the burning in my blood.
“Periphetes, please don’t do this,” I said just loud enough for him to hear me over the sound of the battle surrounding us. “I thought we were friends.”
“We were,” he growled, prowling toward me. “Until you killed my father.”
“He killed Chloe! You were there! You even said you’d not rest until he paid for it.”
“I never thought you’d actually manage it!”
In a wave of frustration, I said, “Mikhail dealt the death blow.”
Great, I’d just turned in my own primus. I glanced at Mikhail, who was glaring at me. “Sorry,” I mouthed.
“She’s all yours,” Mikhail said to Periphetes, before turning back to his troops.
Periphetes dropped his glamor, turning into a tiny puff of white fur with a face. Somehow, the tiny ball of fur managed to float in the air. He used his winter powers to fling a bolt of ice at me before flying off across the parking lot. I barely managed to dodge his attack as I tried to follow the tiny figure in his mad flight away. It was as though he knew how exhausted I was and hoped to tire me out even more.
Instead of playing along, I grabbed at a winter fae as it ran passed me. Without pausing to see who I had grabbed, since they were all our enemies now, I clamped my mouth over his or her neck and drained the body. Over the fae’s shoulder I spotted Periphetes glaring at me.
The thick, cold blood of the winter fae gave me a new jolt of energy. Now if I could just disable Periphetes before Sedgrave managed to syphon my new power. I stood were I was, waiting for Periphetes to come within range. I wasn’t going to chase him. In fact, I had no intention of fighting him at all. I would defend myself as necessary, but that was it. He was my friend!
The little fae zoomed to where I stood, stopping just a few feet from my face.
“I won’t fight you,” I said, my breath coming out steamy again.
“Then you’ll die,” squeaked Periphetes’ voice. His threat would have been more menacing if his voice hadn’t risen three octaves with his transformation
.
“I’m already dead, Periphetes. Take your best shot.”
Suddenly I realized Periphetes might be doing me a favor. After all, if I died Sedgrave would die too.
Periphetes took his opportunity and flung a bolt of ice at me. I didn’t dodge or duck, but took the attack in the shoulder. It hurt. It hurt a lot, and I’m sure I winced, but I kept my footing. Periphetes worked up another attack, this time hitting me with a wall of ice that knocked me off my feet.
The little beast dropped onto my chest, placed his tiny hands on my collar bones, and began pouring his cold essence into my body. This hurt too, but more quickly than I had expected I began to grow numb. I forced my head to turn.
Sedgrave was peering over his car-castle walls, his eyes wide and filled with fright. Even from where I lay I could tell that the cold seeping into my body was affecting him. He began to rub his arms just before his teethe began to clatter. I smiled.
“Why are you smiling?” Periphetes asked, his voice deep again.
I looked up at him to find that he had changed back into his glamor. Periphetes was tall and extremely skinny. Not the feed-that-boy-a-sandwich skinny, but that kind that looked normal on him, as though even his bones were thinner than most humans. His hair was nearly albino white, closely matching his skin. He made me look as tanned as a beach babe.
“If you kill me, Sedgrave dies,” I mouthed to him, barely making a sound. I didn’t want the others to hear.
Periphetes glared at me before climbing to his feet and dragging me up with him. He grabbed my wrist and towed me away from the fiercest part of the fighting, finally finding an unlocked car. He pushed me into the backseat before climbing in behind me and shutting the door against the battle noises.
I shifted across the worn leather seats of the old car, my bum bouncing over something hard and uncomfortable. I reached down and found my fingers wrapping around a hammer. I pulled it out from under me and hid it along the length of my thigh, out of Periphetes’ line of sight.
The Series that Just Plain Sucks: The Complete Trilogy Page 67
