Page 69 of Fangs and Family
I felt the tears stream from my eyes, but my laughter didn’t stop. From this point, everything was a fucking joke. Good riddance, poor naïve Nina and the happy ever after she’d thought she’d won with her Vampire Prince.
‘I wish I’d never met you. I hate myself for loving you. I hate that I can’t stop. Gods, I wish I’d never been born….’ I choked on my words, and Adam paled, shaking his head as if I’d slapped him.
‘Nina, please…’ He begged, his eyes pleading for mercy, but I had nothing left.
‘Please, what? Please trust me? Please live with me? Please give me your heart because I will never hurt you? You had it all. You fucking had it all! I trusted you, I lived with you, I… I love you. And what did you do? You killed my brother because your Master commanded it. You could have saved him and yourself, and I would die happy knowing you both would live. I told you this bastard was going to kill me, anyway. Do you think I want to live as his slave? Do you think I want it when the price is Pawel’s life and seeing you in chains?’
Adam’s pained expression told me my words hit the mark. I tilted my head to look at Sapieha. He observed me with a cruel, smug grin, almost as if he were a butterfly collector who wondered how many pins it would take for his newest specimen to die.
‘You think you’ve won, don’t you?’ I asked, shaking my head, realising he’d released my mind. The bastard wanted to see my grief, to hear me weep, but I had a nasty surprise for him. All it needed was the right moment.
‘You think this, controlling and destroying people’s love, means you’ve proved your point? Maria would look at you now, at the monster you’ve become, and spit in your face. She would curse your name and crush the locket beneath her heel, destroying that rotten heart in disgust. How happy she must be to be free from you and your twisted love.’
‘Nina, stop!’
Adam’s warning made me scoff in defiance, fuelling the flames of my rage. I needed Sapieha to release me so I could reach my dagger, and there was no way I was stopping now.
‘I bet she truly hated you, only using you for your position and a child she could actually love. Why else would she refuse to stay at your side? You, the coward who failed her to avoid death. How she must have hated you, you sad, pathetic old leech!’
Sapieha pushed me away, and the other vampire rushed to grab me at the same time Adam shot forward.
‘Stop!’ Sapieha’s raised voice stopped them in their tracks. I felt a wave of psychic power washing over me, but I wasn’t the target. Only the two vampires stood frozen by their creator’s magic.
The former Prince stepped in front of me, still smug, still entirely in control.
‘Be quiet, you foolish child. As if you could understand the love we shared. I admire your courage, Nina, but it is time for you to learn your place. I will work on your temper when you are reborn. However, I cannot let your insults pass, so you will feel the pain of death as I drain you. I look forward to making you yearn for such pain when you join me in bed, my fierce human.’ Bile rose in my throat at Sapieha’s threat, but I didn’t back down. I needed him as close as possible to execute my plan. Instead, I pressed one hand to my throat, masking my other hand with the sleeve of my shirt while I grasped the handle of the obsidian dagger.
Something akin to respect flashed in his eyes when I stood tall and proud with a sneer on my lips.
‘Oh, will you? How arrogant of you to think I would take pleasure from anything you do. Oh yes, your “Special Powers”. Pathetic! How does it feel? Knowing that unless you inject your venom into them, no woman will get off on your charm? Maybe you should take lessons from Adam; I long to see you calling him Master as he teaches you how to use your shrivelled cock,’ I scoffed as I slipped my fingertips into my open collar.
‘We shall see how easily you succumb to ecstasy at my touch, woman. I will let Adam hold you, unable to stop me when I take your body and mind, when I make you moan my name in pure ecstasy. You have a fire in you, Nina, and I will enjoy breaking you almost as much as I will enjoy breaking him. Look at his face and see his devastation. He knows he’s lost you. The child of my blood was willing to give you up if it saved your life. The poor, trusting fool can see it now, can’t he? Adam knows everything he did was all for nothing. Look at him. He can’t do anything about it, and it’s killing him.’ Sapieha said, pointing toward Adam’s struggling form.
Adam’s snarling, thrashing struggle to free himself matched the pulsing vein on Sapieha’s temple, and I felt a strange pleasure knowing that the Master Vampire struggled to maintain control over his former spawn. I watched as Sapieha ground his teeth, his fangs elongating, scraping his lower lip until little droplets of blood dribbled down his chin.
Laughter bubbled up again as I couldn’t help but be reminded of a nineteen-fifties B-movie.Oh fuck, I’ve really lost my mind this time.
I glanced over Sapieha’s shoulder, causing the former Prince to follow my gaze, turning his head to look at the scene behind him. With him focused on the snarling Adam, I made my move.
With one hand still covering my chest, I slipped the other underneath my blouse and grabbed the dagger, pulling it from the scabbard. The blade skittered across my other hand as I withdrew it, the keen edge easily slicing through the skin, and the blood that poured from the wound covered the handle, making it slippery and difficult to hold. It was easy to see why so many people believed obsidian to have the sharpest edge on the planet.
I couldn’t tell if Adam saw what I’d done, but I heard his shout of triumph as he broke free and rushed toward Sapieha.
With clawed hands raised, Adam launched himself forward. Just as I thrust with my dagger, the Master Vampire twisted to avoid his fist and grabbed me by the throat. The icy fingers of the Void ripped through me as we disappeared into the Shadows, freezing the blood in my veins. The place we’d stood moments ago was filled by the magnificent avenging angel, bloody and screaming his frustration.
‘Get back here, you coward. I challenge you!’ Adam’s voice was more like a roar as he stood there, but then Sapieha’s abandoned minion attacked him. Claws tore into Adam’s chest, and for a moment, I forgot about the lifeless body under their feet that used to be my brother, my heart leaping to the man whose blood spattered the steps to the clinic.
Sapieha emerged from the shadows, far away from the fight, but I could still see Adam locked with the other vampire. Contradicting emotions ripped through me. I wanted to sink the knife into Sapieha’s heart, but I was too shocked from travelling through the Shadow Realm, my hand barely holding onto the dagger. I suspected the only reason my heart didn’t stop this time was because it was only a short distance. Still, I could only stand there watching the battle, held tight against Sapieha’s body.
With a pained roar, Adam fell back, twisting to the side to avoid another slicing attack, and I saw the deep gash caused by the vicious claws of his opponent. I gasped as Adam’s wings flared out crookedly, still managing to slice forward and force Sapieha’s second to scramble away backwards to avoid decapitation.
In a blur of movement, Adam struck. His wings swept back, and his clawed hand shot forward, smashing into the vampire’s chest with vicious finality. With a last contemptuous kick, my fury incarnate ripped out his opponent’s heart.
There were no shooting flames or anything so dramatic. The vampire simply fell to the floor, folding like a puppet with cut strings.
The sound of cursing came from my captor as he grabbed my hair to wrench my head to the side.
I sucked my breath as Sapieha dragged me onto my toes. I knew I was on the verge of passing out, but I couldn’t give in. Not until I killed the bastard who held me captive.
