Page 137 of Blood So Brutal

That archangel-killing power. It was all mine now.

I stood up to make sure Asmodeus was truly dead, standing on wobbling knees and weak legs, but before I could take a step, someone entered from the right, sword raised.

I couldn’t have moved to protect myself even if I wanted to.

But the attacker wasn’t after me.

No, the attacker aimed directly for Asmodeus. What was left of him, anyway.

It was Luseyar, his white wings now coated in blood, a roar of fury on his lips as he brought the sword down on Asmodeus one final time.

We felt it ripple in the air, like the lifting of a weight that had been holding us down.

Asmodeus was dead.

Finally dead.

A stranger in my own body, I looked down at Wolf. I knew instantly that something was wrong.

I took too much; he gave me too damn much, but I didn’t have a choice. Ihadto take it all to kill Asmodeus.

My breath grew shallow.

I fell to my knees, placing both hands on Wolf’s chest, feeling for any sign of life.

Someone said my name behind me.

I searched and searched for a heartbeat, begging Wolf to open his eyes.

But Wolf was long gone.

Chapter 53

Wolf

Most people die only once. One final death to end it all.

I was not so lucky.

The first time I felt it was the night my father turned me into a vampyre. Vampyres were born creatures, not turned. To accomplish this, my father needed a sacrifice, one worthy of such a transformation.

My life.

It was a swift death. One of his men slipped the dagger into my heart as I lay on the stone table in his study.

I barely felt a pinch, the pain too insignificant to care all these years later.

The darkness that followed, that was what I remembered. I remembered the way I drowned in it, how I fought to climb back up to the surface, to breathe, but there was no air there. There were only more shadows, more black air and void existence, nothingness.

That’s when she appeared, her face a beacon in the dark void of my death. She appeared to me first with bright eyes, her power cascading around me and pulling me from that endless pit.

Her eyes were sad.

“Your father has sacrificed you to me, child. He requests that I return you as a vampyre. Are you aware of this?”

Though I wasn’t even sure she could see me, I nodded. “He’s made his intentions clear to me, yes.”

She eyed me carefully, as if deciding whether my life was even worth the trouble. “You’ll be useful to me in the future, child. However lost you may seem, however twisted this may all get, I’ll need you.”

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