Page 17 of Alpha Exile

She screeches with hunger, fangs snapping towards me, so I grab her neck and hold her away from me. Then I turn and throw her as hard as I can against the wall of the tunnel, pummeling her for good measure.

There's a loud crack, a sickening crunch, and then a deafening silence as she slides down the cavern wall, blood spattering her chest.

She blinks at me, her eyes wide and feral, unseeing.

Then she turns into dust all at once.

There are snarls and hisses from Delphine's cadre. I hear her yell from up ahead, her voice risen in rage, but ignore the sound. For a brief moment, my body is mine, so I give Finn a hand and drag him to his feet.

In a low, bewildered voice he asks, "How did you—?"

We both get our answer a moment later when Delphine rushes towards us. She slips her hand onto the vials on her belt, and I feel my body stiffen. Her control takes over completely—and she looks me straight in the eyes, not breaking eye contact as her mouth wordlessly moves through the syllables of a spell.

Whatever happened, her attention was away from me, and her hands off her belt, long enough that I slipped free of her grip. But it didn't last—because she became aware of her loss of control. If we're just able to distract her for long enough, one of us can get those vials and destroy them.

Hopefully, that will be enough to end the spell for good.

Surveying the damage from the vampire's death, and the blood smearing Finn's healing neck, Delphine snarls in rage. Her face pales and her overwhelmingly beautiful features twist in a macabre, nearly feral mask. I brace myself for the effects of her anger, knowing she'll be furious that I escaped her grasp, even if briefly, and killed one of her precious cadre.

"You stupid bloodsucking neanderthals." The hybrid shocks me by directing her rage at the vampires. She stalks towards them, and they scuttle back, hissing and pale-faced in the wan blue underground light. "It's one thing when one of you loses their head, but another when the rest stand by to let her feed. You can't be trusted with anything. Ambrosia!"

The shout rings out, and there's a ripple in the pale-faced crowd. A familiar figure stalks forward, her skirts swirling around her ankles, a smirk on her pale, pretty face.

Unlike many of the other vampires, she doesn't have that strange, feral look in her eyes, or the nearly inhuman body language that the rest of them now sport. She's standing fully upright, not crouched, her fangs and claws retracted, a pink glow to her pale cheeks.

Seeing her in the middle of the feral vampires just makes it clearer how far off the deep end they've gone. Something about their hollow cheeks, ashen color, and the strange way they crouch, claws extended, reminds me eerily of animals. It has to be a result of something Delphine has done to them.

Ambrosia, however, is special enough, or important enough, to spare the same treatment. Finn leans up against me, murmuring, "Look at ol' almost-alive over there."

The vampire's eyes dart to us, and she narrows her gaze. I calculate the feet between us mentally and take note of her hearing. While the feral vampires didn't seem to overhear Roarke and I whispering earlier, clearly Ambrosia can.

Or maybe it's not hearing that differentiates her from the others. Maybe it's intelligence. That disturbs me, but there's something about the way the feral vamps act that makes me wonder if they're still fully human and cognizant of what's going on around them.

"Ambrosia, I want you to stay with my new mates from now on." I stiffen at the wordmatesin her mouth, narrowing my eyes at her. It's only the magic tightening around my body that keeps me in one place. "Clearly the rest of your cadre has lost their senses, because they actually believe they can feed on my boys and not be punished for it. Keep them in line."

"Of course." Her eyes dart around for a moment, and she seems to have to gather the courage to point out, "Though it would be easier to keep them in line if—if you let some of them feed. Or undid whatever it is that's causing them to be so... hungry."

Delphine narrows her eyes, and I get the sense that Ambrosia just misstepped hugely. So does the vampire, because her eyes widen, and I see real fear slide across her face.

But Delphine just snaps out, "If I ever want your opinion, I'll be sure to ask for it. Which I don't, so I haven't. Is that clear?"

"I understand."

Ambrosia stiffens as one of the feral vamps beside her reaches out to stroke her hand, its pale, thin nostrils widening as it sniffs her, as if she must smell good. I can barely tell if the feral is male or female. Unlike the vampires we're used to, these are far more devolved from their human form.

I can only guess that Delphine is feeding off her vampiric cadre in some kind of way, leaving them these hungry, hollow shells. That isn't good for us. It means both that the hybrid will be even more powerful than we hoped for, and that we can't bargain with the vampires to turn on her somehow. We can barely expect them to speak and understand English.

"Let's keep going."

Delphine stalks past us without even looking our way, seeming not to care one bit for the health or well-being of her new "mates." I can't help but feel that she's interested in us for reasons besides mating. Beside the initial undressing and staring hungrily at our naked bodies, she hasn't even touched us, much less looked at us.

If it isn't sex that drives her, though, what does?

"You hit some kind of super strength there for a second, Lance?" As we march forward, Finn yet again manages to free his mouth enough to murmur to me. Ambrosia is behind us, but at a distance, herding the ferals away. "I swear, that vampire went flying. I've never seen anything like it before."

I did feel strength pulse through me, but it must have only been the adrenaline of being temporarily freed. Besides, as I point out to Finn, "All those bloodsuckers are absolutely famished. I'm sure the calorie deficient had weakened her."

"Felt pretty strong to me. But if you say so."

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