Page 85 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
“Stop!” another voice shouted as a girl who couldn’t be more than twenty flung herself in front of us. “The wolves are sacred. The penalty for killing a familiar is death! This is Damien’s chosen leader. We should be on our knees, thanking her.”
It was the witch with the white raven. The bird had hoppeddown from the statue and was sitting on her shoulder, and now she was standing between her family and my wolves.
“You simple-minded fool! She’s stolen your grandmother’s gift, Cora! And you protect her?”
The girl’s bird hooted dolefully. “The law is the law, Mother, whether you uphold it or not. We’ll have to face the consequences from The God of the Underworld if you kill them. Gran wouldn’t have wanted this.” She raised her wand. “Those loyal to Temperance, stand with me.”
No one moved.Except Bastien.
“Listen to sage advice and stand down. You dishonor the memory of Temperance with your actions. She stood for peace. My sanguine partner is not responsible for the result of your spell. Damien, in his wisdom, names her the worthiest in this graveyard. As your liege lord, as the protector of the peace the Blood Treaty demands, I command you tostand down.”
The sentence landed and the world tightened. Animals hissed and growled, but they didn’t attack. And for a moment, I thought this meant I was safe. That we could leave and Bastien could figure out how to get rid of this magick. Maybe if he drank enough of my blood, it could be removed like alcohol.
Hera sauntered forward, approaching Bastien with her wand drawn. “I don’t think we will.” Her red eyes skimmed Bastien’s shoulder, then landed on me, and that look was a knife’s edge. “If you stand between us and our gift, we’ll do whatever it takes to retrieve it,Your Grace.”
Bastien’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t flinch. “I came here in peace. I don’t want to kill anyone tonight. But if you don’t lower your wand,I will.”
His vow swallowed the remaining noise, along with every doubt in my heart. He was standingagainstthem,and with me. For all to see. The moment stretched and stretched until I was hopeful Hera would see reason and stand down. Her lips liftedin a grin, and somewhere deep inside me, I knew she would never, ever stop hunting me for the power she believed lived inside my veins.
I had a choice. Run, like Bastien said, knowing he’d die protecting me. Or, I could stand and fight.
I’d wished for magick every day since I understood I was different. Now I had it. Freshly charged magick burned hot in my veins. If I just gave into the darkness, if I let this demonic power in, I could finally be useful. It might not be the gift I’d wanted, but it was the gift I got.
“Run!”Bastien shouted, dropping into a defensive crouch.
The white wolf raced to my side, but the biggest of the wolves, the gray one, snapped at her. He flattened to the ground, offering me his back.
The graveyard erupted with the sounds of battle. Bolts of fire and flashes of light illuminated the darkness around me. Bastien snarled as he threw one of the cloaked witches into a copper statue, and they landed with a sickening crack. He landed his dagger into the neck of another.
I twisted my fingers into the wolf’s shaggy fur and, using all the strength I had, pulled myself onto his back. Something warm trickled down from my cut, but I swallowed my fear.
I couldn’t let that stop me now.
Hera wanted to kill me and start her power-grabbing spell all over again. Or maybe she’d eat me whole so she could imbibe her grandmother’s magick like a snake eating a chicken egg.
Bastien wanted me to run to the woods to hide from the fighting, just like my family when they left me to haunt Prideaux Hill alone.
I drew in a deep breath and my eyes glowed red. Power coursed through my body like lightning. I wasn’t useless anymore. People didn’t need to protect me. In fact, they wereafraid I didn’t know how to control the darkness inside me. Maybe I didn’t. But that didn’t matter anymore. I didn’t need to be ashamed or afraid of the dark thing inside me.
Iwasthat dark thing.
Me and my wolves weren’t going to leave. No. Not without Bastien. I was going to unleash all my anger on these witches who did this to me. This was their fault. And they were going to pay.
Chapter 40
Combattre
CLAIRE
Deciding to stay and fight was the easy part. Living long enough to escape this graveyard was going to be much harder.
I swallowed hard as sweat broke out across my feverish skin. I didn’t know how to use my power. Earlier, when I’d pushed Bastien away, it shot out of my hand, but I thought Dark Witches needed a wand to focus their magick.
Through the pain throbbing in my head and my blurry vision, I watched as Bastien continued to battle the murderous witches surrounding him. Opening my hand, I willed the dark thing inside me to crawl out once again.
I wanted to hurt them. I wanted to make them pay.
I chanted those words over and over again. Curling my fingers in anger, I begged the magick to come, but nothing happened. Frustrated and beyond disappointed with myself, I let my weary head fall against the big wolf’s neck. Why couldn’t I do it again?
