Page 108 of Deadly Alliances

And just like that, all my anger fizzled out. He was right. She had tormented him, not me. What right did I have to take thisopportunity away from him? He deserved this.

I gave him a single nod and stepped back, giving him whatever space he needed.

He walked up to face Marguerite, not a whisper of emotion on his perfect face.

“Julian,” she cooed, her voice girlish and desperate. “Please, don’t do this. I love you. I-if you’re going to go, let me come with you. We can run away together right now.”

“You say you love me, Marguerite,” he said softly. “But you never truly gave me your heart. Will you let me have your heart?”

“Yes! Yes, anything you want,” she pleaded. “I love you. My heart is yours!”

He smirked. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

In a flash, he thrust his fist into her chest and ripped out her still beating heart. Arya gasped sharply and turned away, but all I could do was stare with wicked satisfaction. Funny, I thought her heart would be black as midnight, but it was the same color red as the dress she was wearing.

I released the snaring spell, and her body crumpled to the floor. Julian squeezed her heart in his bloody hand, crushing it into moosh, then flung the pulp away, bending down to wipe his hand clean on the bottom of her dress.

Footsteps echoed up the staircase, and I hastily pulled Arya to her feet.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“But Alex—” she began, looking both traumatized and heartbroken.

“I know, and I’m sorry,” I said. “But if we don’t go now, we’re allgoing to die.”

She let out a mournful whimper but nodded, and the three of us ran back outside.

“I’ll take Piper,” Julian said, urging me toward Caesar. “Got on. Hurry!”

Caesar lowered his body to give me easier access, and Julian swiftly picked me up and planted me on his back.

“Hold on tight, no matter what,” he cautioned, then sped to Piper’s side, scooping her into his arms while Rainbow jumped onto his shoulder.

I adjusted my shoulder bag, then gripped onto handfuls of Caesar’s feathers, hoping I wasn’t hurting him.

“Everyone ready?” Julian called to the group as he darted to the edge of the roof.

The auburn-haired guy was still standing, looking around in desperation.

“I’ll take you,” Arya said, holding her arms out as she approached him.

“The hell you will,” Tobias growled in a deep dragon voice.

“Stop it, we don’t have time,” Char snapped, wacking him with her wing.

He let out a roar of frustration and swooped his wings upward, propelling himself and Kai off the roof. Arya scooped her arms under the soldiers arms, locking her hands around his chest, and kicked off. The rest of us did the same, flying away from the roof just as bodies spilled out of the entrance.

I looked down at the vampires who tried to leap for us, reaching out their hands and narrowly missing, only to fall to their certaindeath. My gaze followed one of them down, and I saw Julian blurring away into the forest. Thank goodness, he was getting away.

A sound erupted from the west and stole my attention, forcing me to look back only to duck my head as dozens of tiny objects went whizzing past me. The bastards were shooting at us!

“Faster!” I yelled as we flew through the fog, and I felt Caesar’s powerful wings pump harder.

I only relaxed when the fog swallowed us completely, and I could no longer see the roof or the fortress itself at all.

But not even the thick, shrouding mist could muffle out the sound of Hadrian’s maniacal laughter, which sent a chill deep into my soul.

~The End~

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