Savagery & Skills: Books 1-4

by Ciara Graves

  I spotted one of the fae guards nearby and blurred to him. “Get everyone to the towers. Make sure they reach them do you hear me? Go, now! Run!”

  Without hesitation, the guard bowed, then waved for the fae to start running. He called out orders to the other guards to form a line around the rear and push them onward to safety. Karina and Raine would make it, at least. Marlie. Where was he? There was no sign of him, so either he was way ahead of me in the line, or he’d fallen back to fight. I did the same, the sunlight coming with me. Those ahead were protected by Raine and Karina.

  I blurred to the rear, where the fighting took place, the summoned sunlight from my ring brightening with my anger with our being attacked. I thrust my fist above my head, and the light illuminated the grisly scene before me. Two of the nobles had fallen, throats torn out. Blood covered their bodies as they lay dead on the ground. Another guard was dead, and nearby, several innocents breathed their last.

  The vampires were engaged with Marlie, two guards, Draven, and Shane.

  The light forced the enemy back, and I yelled for everyone to get moving.

  My sunlight flickered like a lightbulb that was going out. I shook my hand, willing it to stay, but the adrenaline was the only thing keeping me going, and the second it dropped, my power went with it, taking the sunlight.

  Darkness fell over us, and the vampires stopped their retreat.

  “Shit.” I took a step back, then another, as Marlie, and the rest fell in beside me. “We should run.”

  “You think?” Draven yelled at the fae to get moving. “Go with them.”

  “I can fight.”

  “You’re weak right now. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  I hissed at his words, but then there was no more time to argue. The vampires charged our small line of defense as the fae sprinted toward the safety of the sunlight and the towers that marked the main stronghold of the Middle Kingdom. Draven shoved me behind him and took the hit meant from me. He and the vampire hit the ground hard, rolling as they punched and kicked. Their movements blurred with their vampiric speed. Marlie met another with his sword at its throat, but a second was right behind the first, and he was engaged in hand-to-hand. And he only had one hand.

  “Seneca!” Shane shouted in warning, then he was there, dragging a vampire with snapping jaws and fierce red eyes away from me.

  I couldn’t leave them here alone. I wouldn’t. Digging deeper than I had before, I lunged at the vampire moving to take advantage of Draven’s distracted state.

  I grabbed the vampire by the head and twisted until I heard a crack. Tossing him aside, I braced as two more came at me, each with an iron blade. I dodged under the first one’s slash, but the second one caught my bicep.

  I snarled at the burning wound. The vampire drove that blade toward my chest, but I snagged his wrist and flipped him over, then broke his arm. The blade fell to the ground, and I kicked it away then stomped down on the vampire’s face. He went limp on the ground, but the other was still here and armed.

  More vampires poured out of the woods, pushing our line back toward the innocents rushing to get to safety. But the towers were closer now, as was the sunlight from Karina and Raine. We just had to get back there—

  A slash down my back caught me off-guard, and I staggered forward as a second one took my breath away.

  “Seneca!” Draven shouted, but he sounded far away.

  The vampire cackled as he moved in.

  I spun around, and my foot collided with his arm, blocking a third attack.

  He fell away, but two more joined him.

  I couldn’t see Draven and the others anymore. I blocked a hit coming from my right, as another attacked from the left.

  Another burning slash exploded at my side.

  Too many, there were too many. I wasn’t even going to get a chance to kill Rudarius. His goons were going to be the death of me, here and now.

  Magic pulsed within me, but I was too disoriented to pull on it and make it work.

  My rings warmed. I thought I saw them pulse with life. I sank to my knees as the vampires closed in. I thought of how disappointed everyone who said I had a great destiny would be to know I went out this way.

  “Seneca! Get away from her, you bastards!”

  Draven.

  He was closer now, but my eyes were closing.

  I didn’t want to see the end.

  The rings pulsed with a bright light and as I was ready to fall over and give in, a burst of sunlight shot out from me, soaring into the sky and falling around us like a dome.

  The vampires shrieked and cursed as they were burnt to a crisp, their dead bodies falling around me.

  I feared for Draven and Shane, but then my vision went dark, and there was nothing.

  Voices shouted around me.

  I winced. Why was everything so loud?

  I thought I heard Marlie at some point. Someone else was hissing. Then there was more yelling. I didn’t know those voices, but they were pissed.

  I groaned as I rolled to my side and opened one eye. I was on the ground, but it was soft here, not the rough path we’d taken through the woods. Roses grew a few feet away, deep crimson and pink. I always hated pink roses.

  I opened the other eye.

  “How dare you come here?” one of the unfamiliar voices shouted. “You think we would just open our borders to you?”

  “Our home was taken over.” Raine sounded as if he was barely controlling his anger. “The Lower Kingdom is destroyed. There’s nothing left. Not our home. Not our towns. Nothing.”

  “So you say. By vampires. I always knew you were weak, but to let yourselves be overrun by that filth? And then to have the nerve to bring them to our home? And these three? What do you expect us to do with them?”

  “If you would give us a chance to explain—” Raine tried.

  An angry scoff cut him off. “Explain what?”

  I pushed myself upright, blinking. Everything came into sharp focus around me. We were in a garden surrounded by guards. The refugees were beyond them, huddled together, surrounded by more guards. Captain Lark stood protectively beside Raine and Karina. Marlie was next to Lark him.

  Two sets of legs blocked the rest of my view. Bodies wearing cloaks. Draven and Shane. It had to be them. The sunlight was gone, but the grounds were well lit with torches and braziers.

  The woman that was yelling had silver hair, tan skin, and sharp blue eyes that proclaimed she wasn’t buying anything Raine was saying. The man to her right seemed bored. Two younger men on her left kept looking toward me and the vampires as though they would be more than happy to finish us off.

  “Mother,” one of them said when his eyes locked onto mine, “she’s awake.”

  Draven and Shane moved to help me to my feet. Each of them had blood covering their clothes, and their faces appeared to be healing from burns. I wanted to ask how they’d gotten hurt, but instead, I gasped at the sudden throb of pain at my back and side.

  I curled in on myself and would’ve fallen back down if Draven hadn’t been holding me up.

  “She needs medical attention,” he demanded.

  “I will not treat that tainted fae until I get some straight answers,” the woman I assumed was the Queen said, glowering at us. “And if you speak again, vampire, I will have you executed.”

  “Really?” I muttered darkly. “You’re a piece of work. You know that?”

  “Do not speak to me, filth.”

  “Oh, yeah, because I haven’t heard that one before.” I gritted my teeth and straightened, each breath a searing pain, but I was not going to fall back down, not in front of this horrible woman. “These people need your help. Rudarius is coming with an army of vampires. And, believe you me, he will kill you.”

  “Really? And you expect me to believe you? Just like that? Or them? They’re vampires.”

  “They’re helping us,” Raine informed her. “Mina, please. All we ask is sanctuary for the innocents and a chance to
speak with you under less stressful circumstances. Rudarius has taken everything from us. We are calling on you for aid in this dire time. Will you truly turn us away to be slaughtered outside your walls?”

  Mina rolled her eyes but waved her hand.

  Her soldiers stood down.

  She nodded slowly. “Get them inside, find them food and fresh clothes. Have the healers see to their wounds. Raine and Karina, we will be having words as soon as you are presentable.”

  “And her wounds?” Marlie asked, pointing to me. “She needs to be tended to.”

  “They’ll heal,” I said, not wanting to piss the Queen off anymore at this current moment.

  “You need a healer,” Draven whispered. “Let him get you the help you need.”

  Mina marched toward me and grabbed my face in her hand.

  If I wasn’t injured, that hand would be gone, but as it was, all I could do was let her believe she was stronger than me.

  Draven and Shane hissed for me, though it didn’t seem to intimidate her.

  “I’ll give you aid, but do not think for a second you are welcome here. Any of you. Or that you could ever be a part of us.” She squeezed my face harder then let go. “Take them to a room and place a guard outside the door.”

  A guard came over to lead us inside a black stone castle that was huge compared to the one Raine and Karina had occupied.

  I tripped over my feet and didn’t protest when Draven scooped me into his arms again.

  I grimaced as he pressed into my wounds and he apologized.

  I shook my head, not caring.

  We were safe from Rudarius for another day.

  That’s all that mattered.

  Chapter 6

  Draven

  The guard handed over a basket as he backed out of the room.

  “What’s this for?” I asked, sifting through the items.

  “You said she needed her wounds tended to. I suggest you see to them, vampire.” He sneered, then closed the door in my face.

  It locked from the outside, and I heard him and another guard talking about having to house vile creatures such as us.

  “And you wonder why Rudarius came for you all.” I turned and walked further into the room.

  Shane had gotten Seneca to the couch, where she sat, doubled over, holding her left side. “Right then, you got this? I don’t do first aid very well. Right now, I’d like to get the stink of death off me.”

  That was a lie. He patched me up enough times. “Yeah. Go get cleaned up.”

  Shane saluted me with a smile, then headed to the bathroom and closed the door, leaving me alone with Seneca. We were really going to have to talk about whatever game he was playing.

  Seneca grunted in pain, and I turned my attention to her. I set the basket down and removed my cloak. As I draped it over a chair, she frowned.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “How did you get burned?”

  The last bit of the burns healed as she watched me.

  “You don’t remember?”

  “I remember being attacked. Then nothing, except waking up with those assholes that were yelling at us about coming here.”

  I sat on the coffee table, picking through the basket for a bottle of alcohol and a cloth to clean her wounds. “You looked like you were about to pass out, but then something inside you came to life. The sunlight you summoned burned the vampires alive. The ones that couldn’t get away. Burned through our cloaks, too.”

  “I could’ve killed you,” she whispered, horrified.

  “We survived, and so did you. Come on, let’s see these wounds.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said as her cheeks turned red.

  “They used iron, Seneca. I need to clean them and patch them up, or they’ll get infected. Show me.” I knew the one at her side and saw the blood staining her sleeve. I knew she had more but wasn’t sure where until she stood and grabbed the hem of her shirt.

  “Not a word,” she warned me.

  I was going to make a comment about seeing her in nothing, but a bra and how attractive I knew she’d be. With her shirt on, I knew she had a well-defined waist and hips and that she was solid muscle from her years of fighting. The smile fell from my face when her shirt was gone, and my eyes took in the scars covering her abdomen, wrapping around her ribs and sides, then onto her back, all covered in dried, sticky blood from her more recent wounds.

  A lump formed in my throat and once again I was reminded how much more Rudarius tormented her despite her only being in his keeping for four years. She held out her left arm, but I shook my head, getting my bearings.

  “The wounds on your back are worse. Let me see them.”

  She blew out a heavy breath but turned her back to me.

  I moved from the table to the couch, unable not to look at the scars from where her wings had been ripped from her body. Or the other scars and burn marks that created a roadmap of agony on her skin. The three new slashes she had would scar, since they were caused by an iron blade. The skin around them was red and irritated. If it’d been a normal blade, she would’ve healed by now, thanks to her vampire side, but the iron affected the fae that remained within her.

  I poured alcohol on the cloth and began at her left shoulder, wiping gently down her back.

  She sucked in a sharp breath as I cleaned the first one, sliding her bra strap out of the way to get to the whole wound. Her body tensed, and I paused, but she didn’t tell me to stop. Once the first one was cleaned, I moved onto the second and the third.

  I was far from a nervous wreck around women, at least, I hadn’t been before I was turned. Afterward, I was better with them. Until Rudarius got hold of me. With Seneca, I felt like a damned teenager all over again. If I had a heartbeat, it’d be pounding away in my chest.

  “Your uh… your bra, it’s in the way.” The words came out rough, and I coughed to clear my throat. “This one’s the worst. It’ll be hard to stitch it up.”

  Her green eyes found mine over her shoulder, lips pursed. “Sure, yeah.” She reached around and undid the hooks, holding the scrap of clothing up with her hands. “Good?’

  I nodded, realizing how very close I was to a half-naked Seneca. “Yeah, that should work.”

  Fighting to regain my composure, I wiped away the rest of the blood from her back then found a needle and thread. I’d stitched plenty of wounds in the past and asked if she was ready before I went to work tugging the skin together. She cursed a couple of times, but otherwise stayed quiet. I tied off the stitches and then bandaged all three slashes.

  “You can hook it back up, and I’ll take care of your other wounds.”

  She did so, put my shirt back on, and turned around to face me. Her cheeks were much redder than before, and her gaze remained averted. “Thanks.”

  “Can’t have you dying on me now.”

  “Yep. Still weird.”

  I smiled at her words, happy to see she did the same for a brief second. “I told you how powerful you are,” I said as I cleaned up the wound on her side and bandaged it next. “Believe me now?”

  “Not sure what I believe right now, honestly.” She lowered her arm, giving me access to the last injury on her arm. “That power, it may have come from me, but at the same time, it was like it came from someone else. That makes no sense at all. Maybe I’m just overtired.”

  “Not sure how long they’ll keep us locked up here. You’ll get some rest at least.”

  As I made to move away, she reached over and held my arm. “We need to talk.”

  “About what? Rudarius? There’s nothing we can do about him until they agree to talk with us.”

  She frowned. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Then what?”

  Her hand slipped from my arm. “Never mind, it’s not important.”

  “Seneca.” My fingers brushed against hers, and she paused. “If you ever want to talk to me about what happened, if you need to vent, let your anger out, you can do that around me. I can take it.�
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  “I don’t need anyone else thinking they can save me.”

  “Then save yourself.” I stood a good head taller than her.

  She had to tilt her head back to hold my eye.

  “Just remember, I’m the only one here who understands most of what you’ve been through, who’s traipsed in that darkness, in that evil, let it come close to consuming me. He did break you, but you don’t need to be fixed. You need to overcome what he created inside of you.”

  Her eyes darkened, and she closed her hand tightly around mine. “You make it sound so damned simple.”

  “It is, but it isn’t. You’re strong, remember that. Remember who you are.”

  She backed away from me in a hurry, shaking her head. “Those words. Why would you say those words?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. Something someone else told me is all. Told me a lot of things actually.”

  “Like what? Seneca?” I moved closer, but the bathroom door opened, and Shane stepped out, oblivious to his bad timing.

  “I’m going to get cleaned up. Thanks for patching my wounds.” Seneca hurried past Shane, then shut herself away in the bathroom.

  Shane finished towel drying his hair. “Did I miss something?”

  “Your timing sucks,” I growled as I sank back onto the couch, running a hand down my face. “Damn it.”

  “I stayed in there as long as I could.”

  “There’s something she’s not telling me. It’s eating at her. I can see it.”

  “You expect her to open up to you just like that?” He tossed the towel over his shoulder, sitting on the arm of the couch. “Give her time, man.”

  “We don’t have time. That’s the issue. Rudarius won’t wait long to attack.”

  Shane bobbed his head. “True, but you two were enemies just a few weeks ago. And now, well, you don’t need me to tell you.”

  I scowled. “Don’t want to hear it. Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong.”

  “Sure I am, but I’m not blind. I see how you act around her. You like her, whether you want to admit it or not. This stopped being about getting her rings the moment her demon boyfriend abandoned her because she sided with you.”