Page 36 of The Curse of Eternity
They swung the ax back, far over the guard’s head, and the other standing with the spiked mace mimicked the motion.Oh fuck—I was about to know what tenderized meat felt like. My fingers found the hilt of my sword, just as the kneeling, injured guard smacked my reaching hand with the butt of their own weapon, pinning my wrist. The pain was lost in my terror as the ax and mace hovered overhead.
My vampire appeared behind the two standing guards, his silhouette a blur. With a spear in one hand, and a sword in the other, he maneuvered both like they were only as wieldy as matchsticks. One weapon each protruded from the standing guards’ chests. The wolf’s head helmets squeaked in the silence as they looked down to their chest plates, dripping blood.
Snatching my throbbing wrist close, I rolled out of the way as Drake withdrew the spear only to stab the final third guard through their visor. It seemed like my body couldn’t move fast enough as the ax fell from the guard’s slackened grasp, landing inches from my lower leg. Sharpened steel tore into my green velvet skirt as a bang echoed, the mace crashing to the floor right where I’d been.
Another thud echoed when the third guard keeled over, and Drake lowered both his weapons. His stern dark eyes lost all emotion as he glanced from one dead guard to the next before striding closer. He didn’t pause before crunching the second guard’s head underfoot, assuring their death even if he hadn’t delivered a killing blow. Lightheaded at the sight, my eyes closed in a long blink, and a clang from nearby made me jump.
When I opened my eyes, Drake’s hand was in front of me, offering the hilt of the broadsword I’d claimed with my enemy’s life. Looking up, I met his gaze, but he was suddenly impossible to read. No ounce of humor showed on his face, and I exhaled a slow breath when I closed my trembling grip over the sword’s handle.
He straightened, offering his now empty hand. I took it in my left, and Drake lifted me up. Swaying from the sudden movement, I glanced around the ballroom to take in the horror. Seven bodies dressed in armor lay split, skewered, and scattered with missing limbs and heads. Their trail leading from where I’d begun the slaughter when Lucian had spun me to the floor.
On the ground behind me, another four guards lay dead, their blood already cooling despite making the room smell like cloying rust. I gritted my teeth, tasting an unfamiliar tang on my tongue. Surrounding us on all sides, beyond our circle of carnage, were the vampires.
There must have been two hundred of them in this room alone. My stomach sank while chills racked my spine. Hunger glinted in their eyes, each varying in shade and color but all containing the same depraved, murderous intent. I was shivering, and I couldn’t remember when I had started or if I’d been shaking the whole time. None of them had attacked, letting the innocents in armor stand between them and me. My throat tightened. It had all happened so fast. Had there been another choice?
The monsters surrounding us made it a fight to the death, and for what—to amuse their unbeating hearts?
All eyes rested on us, me and Drake. His cold fingers brushed against mine. Without a care, I grasped his hand, feeling right in this impossible manor of horrors when his palm pressed into mine. Our fingers entwined, fitting perfectly. For a second, Ididn’t give a damn about the blood and sweat coating my sticky hands.
Grins and grimaces of disdain surveyed us, the vampires ogling us like this battle for our lives was the best entertainment they’d had in a good long while. What a curse it must be. Maybe Lucian had a point, and suddenly I viewed these creatures in a whole new light.
Because the truth was that theirhumanitywas what couldn’t last against the test of time.
No remorse existed inside of me for these disturbing beings, the nightmare of thousands, but pity took hold. I’d never thought of them as anything more than animals, an invading species, but they’d all been human once. Now all that was left of them were the hollow shells staring back at me, forcing revulsion from my body in the form of tremors streaking down my back.
My shoulders shook when Lucian spoke in another language. Drake’s light pressure against our held hands tightened, and I shut my eyes. Whatever Lucian said made the audience of undead laugh, tittering like the aristocratic snobs they all thought they were.
This was it, as far as Drake and I could go on our own power. Those guards must have been human, weighed down by dozens of pounds despite whatever training they’d endured, and Drake had taken them out in the blink of an eye. If a starved vampire could handle a small militia, then the hundreds bordering our battle-ground could subdue us in a second.
Probably before either of us would realize. We’d be dead that fast if it was what they wanted. The backs of my eyes stung, and a hot tear slipped past my lash line to tread a warm path of saltwater down my cheek.
The pressure of a wet thumb caressed the tear’s track, and my eyes opened to look up into Drake’s agonized expression. His brow furrowing as his lips pressed thin, like he couldn’t think ofanything suitable to say while his palm held my cheek, slick from the fresh blood on his hand. He stood weaponless, as assured of our defeat as I felt—but then the orb shifted against my heel.
While the vampires cheered, distracted as they discussed our demise amongst themselves, I subtly pulled away from Drake’s grasp to fish the small golden ball from my sock. Covered in my closed fist, I raised my hand to offer it to Drake. He blinked, clearly confused as he stared down at my hand while I opened my shaking fingers one at a time.
The air puffed out of my lungs when his eyes widened. Clear recognition for its use brought his gaze up to mine as his lips parted. The constriction in my chest eased when I found hope reflected in his eyes. Moisture blurred my vision, and I blinked away the tears, not caring an ounce what the lions in this den would think.
I could only stare at Drake, who took the orb between his forefinger and thumb. As he nodded, a shout rose up from among the crowd. Whatever was being said was lost to me as Drake leaned in.
“Close your eyes,” he whispered, the soothing sound of his voice pulling another shiver from my tense shoulders, and I gave in to the heaviness already pressing down on my lids.
Losing one sense should have opened up the others, but I blocked out the eruption of noise echoing around the room. All at once, Drake’s hand became a light pressure over my brow to cover my eyes before screams pealed through the space, and light exploded all around us.
− 13 −
In Too Deep
The bare skin across my arms and neck flared with prickling heat like a bad sunburn. Keeping my eyes shut tight, I instinctively raised my hands to cover my face when Drake’s touch fell away. Shrieks and screams became tinny background noise to my ringing ears while the harsh light seemed to stretch on endlessly.
I tried to pry my eyelashes apart to see, but couldn’t make out a thing. Worse than looking at the sun, my vision turned purple and blue as the wailing abruptly cut off. It took several moments, counting my ragged breaths in the sudden silence, before my sight adapted to find the room dark once more.
White spots clouded my vision, but my legacy’s fast-healing genes must have kicked into high gear. My neck and chin stopped burning, and the muscles in my arms slowly loosened enough to let me lower my raised hands. A hissing sound like meat on a grill emanated from all around.
Pained groans echoed off the ballroom’s high ceiling, and I blinked. Images soon shuttered into focus while I turned on the spot, and my mouth fell open. Every vampire in the room waslaid out on the floor, along with the remaining guards who’d been positioned like static suits of armor around the perimeter.
Smoke unfurled from the slits in their wolf’s head helmets, and I understood the sizzling when I took in the downed vampires. It was their skin flaking off from their muscles and bones, one layer at a time, before turning to dust.
Drake—
