Page 123 of Samhain Savior
“Fils de pute!What have you done with my Queen?”
“Your Queen is of no consequence to me,” I said. I could feel Vine and Mex, their steady presence squaring up, covering my back, allowing me to concentrate fully on the nightmare playing out before me. “What is of consequence is that witch you are holding against her will.” Arnaud narrowed his eyes, his hand yanking on Delilah’s hair, exposing her throat as he curled his lip back, fangs gleaming in the darkened kitchen.
“Delilah,” I said, still not able to look at her. “When I tell you…run.”
Holding the stake high, I moved, reaching for Arnaud at the exact moment he leaned down, ready to sink his fangs into Delilah’s throat. The moment his lips touched her, a spark exploded, and Arnaud screamed in pain.
The collar.
I could feel its satisfaction, the Pride the collar felt at the way it had defended Delilah, burning the one who had wanted to cause her harm.
“Merde!” he hissed, releasing Delilah so abruptly, she crumpled to the floor.
“Run!” I roared, stepping over her and placing my body between her and the fucking bloodsucker who had dared to touch my mate.
“Archer, no,” she tried to protest, but I wouldn’t have it.
“Mex! Take her!”
“No! Archer, I won’t leave you!”
“Come,cher,” I heard Mex whisper, and then the sounds of their steps— and Delilah’s protests—fading away as they escaped the kitchen into the night, Delilah protesting the whole way.
“Poor little Arnaud,” Vine taunted, moving his body to stand beside me. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you it’s not right to put your hands on a lady?”
“I told you demons weren’t welcome,” he panted, ignoring Vine completely. “I told you to leave the Nest, but of course you refused. Typical demon.” He turned his head, spitting aggressively onto the kitchen floor. “Your kind always acts so superior.”
“Kind of hard not to,” Vine quipped, his hand clenching and unclenching around his stake. “I mean, have youseenus? We’re fucking awesome.”
“You lord it over the rest of us, pretending that you’re protecting us when you do nothing of the sort. That fucking bitch,” he said, jerking his head in the direction Mex had disappeared, “couldn’t even protect her own people, and now she rules alone, a broken throne in an empty kingdom. And she thinks we needher?” He scoffed, the sound so undeniably French that I would have laughed if he hadn’t been the one to lay hands on my witch. “Demons have held themselves above for far too long. Now is the time of the vampire.”
Raising his head, Arnaud shot us a look of pure hatred, his lips peeling and bloody where the collar had burn him.
“Tas de merde,” Vine spat in intentionally poor French. “Is that what the kids are saying these days?”
Staring at Arnaud, I let a dangerous smile spill across my face as I relaxed the hold I kept on my demon and brought him to the surface.
“I gave you a chance,” I growled, feeling the change come over my body. My fingers stretched and elongated, the tips turning black as my claws appeared. My own lips curled back, revealing not just two fangs like he had, but an entire mouthful of sharp, vicious teeth that were capable of so much more damage than his. At my back, my wings extended, tearing through the thick fabric of the fine jacket, and I spread them wide, enjoying the flash of surprise and hesitation that rose in Arnaud’s eyes. “All you had to do was let her go. I would have let you live. Allowed you to continue to enjoy whatever miserable existence you were able to eke out, serving at the pleasure of a deranged queen. But now?” Cracking my neck side to side, and exhaled as the final change washed over me, my horns rising from my forehead to curve up and back as I welcomed my demon fully. “Now, I’m not just going to kill you. I’m going to make it fuckinghurt.”
To his credit, he didn’t run. No, the stupid, bull-headed vampire actually squared up to me as though it was going to be a fair fight. He may have been familiar with the shifter fights, he may have even fought in one himself a time or two, but I could tell from the first moment that he had never fought a full-fledged demon before.
His first mistake was drawing his fist back before throwing a punch. Vampires may have moved with supernaturalspeed, but it was no match for my Hell-forged reflexes. Leaning to the side, using my tail for balance, I easily dodged his attack, bringing my own fist up to slam into his ribs with the force of a wrecking ball. The vampire hissed, his whole chest caving in under my blow, but he didn’t go down.
Behind me, I could hear Vine moving back, giving me all the space he could, which I appreciated.
Because he knew that I had a score to settle.
Listing to one side, Arnaud moved around, eyeing me as he attempted to find an opening, but he was slowing down, and I grinned at the anger and frustration on his face.
“Come now, Arnaud. I thought you said this was the time of the vampire?” He scowled at me, huffing out a breath as he charged me, his big body clumsy and awkward. I stepped to the side, my wing swooping in behind him andpushingas he stumbled past. Unable to right himself, Arnaud tumbled into an antique hutch, the no-doubt priceless china resting on the shelves crashing to the floor in a shower of delicate porcelain. “How can your kind hope to rule if you can’t even manage a single demon?”
“Putain!” He howled, extricating himself from the shattered remains of the cabinet and flinging himself at me again. He had been sloppy before, but now his rage madehim next to useless. His fists came at me, his fangs on display as he screamed more French curse words, but it took next to no effort to dodge his pathetic, haphazard swings. “You will die, demon scum! And then I’ll gut your fucking witch.”
I snarled at his words, and what had been an easy defense suddenly turned into an offense Arnaud would not escape. His next swing came for my face, but I raised my hand, catching is fist in my palm and glaring at him.
“You willnottouch her!”
“I will,” he insisted, hissing as I twisted his arm, but the fool refused to shut up. “I will drink her dry and throw her corpse to Bijou. My lady’s pet will enjoy feasting on your little mate.”
