Page 57 of Orion: Galaxy Huntress

Chapter 26

Orion

“Stormy, no!”The words flew from my mouth just as my feet carried me two paces forward. Closer to the vampire. Closer to my death. “Let him go and you will live.” I fitted my bow strong with an arrow, pulling it taut, aiming it right at the vampire’s heart.

Vexlel laughed. Cold. Cruel. Calculating. The sound scraped every bone in my body. He roughly jerked Stormy by the neck, and I tensed, my bow ready to shoot my arrow and pierce the vampire, turn him to ash. “I’ll release him for your life. A fair exchange. Otherwise, I will kill him with you watching.”

I released my first bow to show Vexlel I didn’t plan on bargaining with him. He caught it with a vicious laugh that set every nerve on edge. Wood snapped as the vampire crushed my weapon and my confidence.

“Your weapons are useless against me.” The vampire let the fragments fall to the ground and I feared he might do the same to Stormy if I didn’t succeed with my next shot. I tried again, only to fail. Vexlel treated my shots to the same care, showing his speed and strength. “Come here now, before I snap his neck too.”

Every joint in my body jarred. My heart thudded with fear for one of the few times in my life. Stormy would die if I didn’t give myself up.

“Release him first and I will come.” I jerked my loaded weapon, refusing to lower it. If I could just get off one shot. Hit him in the arm. Injure him. Unsettle that stony poise. Bring him down with another strike to the heart.

“No, my mate.” Stormy’s voice rung like drawn steel. “Get away from here. Leave me.”

Unlikely. Hunters didn’t run from danger. Never had, never would. And I wasn’t about to let any man sacrifice himself for me. I’d deal with this as I always had. Weapons, sheer will, and skill. The bow string creaked from the pressure I applied. My arrow groaned, begging for release and puncture through the cold, black, dead heart of the vampire holding my mate.

“Uh, Incensum, what’s going on here?” Vice interrupted, addressing the largest of the demon army. “Did you fuckers double cross me? Are you working for the dead stinkers now? Dad won’t be happy.” Tail flicking, he strolled forward, using his classic diversion tactics. I was so proud of him for coming here had shown true courage. He wrestled and conquered his fears all in one. My sinful demon was getting a flaying tonight!

“Quiet, demon,” Vexlel hissed. “These soldiers are under my command.”

Vice rubbed his forehead. “I’m not taking the heat from Dad for this.”

I let off my arrow and the vampire sensed it and moved, but it was too late. It struck right where I’d wanted it to. Right in the joint of his shoulder. Startled, he released Stormy, and my lover collapsed to the ground.

Reznor swept him away and to my side, the rush of air flicking my lose strands of hair over my shoulder.

The distraction was enough for me to release another arrow. A vampire swooped in, knocking it away and protecting his leader. Gods. I couldn’t reload and get another off in time.

Incensum grunted and shifted. “Not under your command anymore, dead meat.”

“Good.” The devilish smile I’d come to love stretched over Vice’s face as he rolled up the sleeves of his buttoned shirt. “Because I was about to remind you bitches that you work for me.”

The demons all turned to him like a synchronized unit.

“Demons, destroy the vampires so that we can move on and dine on as many shifter scum as we can stomach.”

Several of the demons caught a few vampires. The rest fled.

All but Vexlel. His red eyes narrowed on me. He batted away a demon attempting to clobber him with ease. I was his prize. His promised gift for more power. Not something he’d leave behind. Lust for supremacy ran through his veins even though his heart no longer pumped blood.

My gut stung with warning. I couldn’t let him get me and extract my starlight. The energy of the cosmos charged inside me, a coronal mass ejection waiting to happen. As he dashed for me, I screamed, discharging an eruption of starlight. Bright, pearlescent light blinded every monster, and they stumbled backward, shielding their eyes. Electric particles shaped like arrows hit every vampire, every enemy within a three-mile radius. Straight through the heart. Fire crawled over Vexlel’s skin as he perished, turning to ash, blowing away in the breeze that swept through the forest. I felt the other intruders’ hearts stop and their bodies fall still.

“Damn, kitten.” Vice curled an arm over my shoulder. “Those were some impressive moves.” He squeezed me to his side and nudged me. “I’m glad you saved the day and saved me from having to go all hero.”

I snorted and whacked his abdomen. “You’re still a hero to me.”

Moved, he leaned down to take my lips in a sinfully fiery kiss that scorched me from head to toe. Lucky I was made of starlight or else I would have gone up in smoke like the vampires.

Vice licked at my ear. “Got any of those arrows for me, kitten? Think you could do a little slicey-slicey with those later?”

I leaned my head into his chest and smiled. “Maybe.”

“That’s my Hell Kitty.” He kissed the top of my head. “My little, fierce huntress.”

Sliding my arm around his waist, I cast out my starlight, probing the fifteen intruders in Stormy’s territory. Wolf shifters. Enemies. Dead.

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