Page 69 of Rose and Shadows
A sarcastic slow clap sounded and I looked out to see Victor climbing through the broken walls. “So very close to actually being believable, revered sire of mine. You truly are a master manipulator. Or, is it calculating puppet master these days?”
My dad didn’t even flinch, or acknowledge Victor’s words at all.
Instead, he smiled at me and laid his hand on my shoulder. “Sit this out. You may be starting to feel better, but you also require time—sleep and further feeds.”
“Stop!” Victor roared. “Don’t pretend to parent him! To have any true affection for him! You were never capable of that, you can’t be now! And he knows it! You didn’t even tell him your true name.”
My dad did react then.
His gaze flicked to mine. “Information is not always powerorconnection. It is danger, my son.” He stroked my hair again. “Do you understand me, Lazriel?”
“I do.”
Victor sneered. “I already told him!”
I saw my dad’s fists clench.
“Rhodric,” Victor bit out, as if he needed the extra emphasis.
My dad’s eyes flamed dangerously and he snarled over his shoulder. “You’ve condemned my son. He will never be free of this burden now. You took away his choice.”
Victor let out a creepy laugh. “In more ways than one, yes. And it was the ultimate thrill. Mmm… I can still taste him on my tongue—his glorious mouth, his fear, his fight… so much I’ll forever cherish.”
My dad’s hand clenched around the bed post, decimating it in an instant, then lifted me off and away as the entire thing collapsed.
As Victor laughed, I heard my mom’s wolf roar again.
She wanted to come in here, to see me, to be here with me, and to deal Victor a whole lot of damage.
My dad called back in Wolf Tongue, telling her to deal with the soldiers that Victor had brought here, to stay back from this aspect of the fight. In Wolf Tongue.Shit!A vampire speaking that… it was basically unheard of. The depth of their connection… it really was something so special.
“I’ve been waiting on this for centuries, Rhodric!” Victor yelled. “You breaking, smashing and cracking for me. Just think, all it took was me developing deep feelings for your only son. The son you thought you could hide from me. You replaced me with him, now I’m replacing you with him. He’s the better version anyway. So much better. Open, passionate, so full of life. Go back to your whore wolf!”
“Victor,” my dad ground out.
It only spurred Victor on, “Ah, right, you can’t make another child with her, with anyone. It was a one-time thing only, courtesy of Jaxon Silver. Ah, and Cornelius’ Martel’s magic. They thought it would calm you, reel you in. Twenty years back, you could’ve gone either way… become much like Lucian Black in his Ravager days, but far worse with an army at your back. My betrayal saw to that. Until that whore fell pregnant.”
“It’s an oversimplification of the truth. You have always been sacred to me, Lazriel,” my dad told me, as he eased me over to a chair by a gilded dresser. He beamed down at me as hesettled me onto it, earnestness emanating from him as he spoke, “Remember, you are my greatest creation. You will forever be.”
I saw a smile light his eyes.
And then he was gone, tearing toward Victor with blink-or-you’ll-miss-it speed.
I saw Victor swinging his fist, his speed very close to my dad’s.
But my dad came to a jarring stop just before crashing into him, then smashed his boot into the ground, creating one of his incredible shockwaves that tore the floor and the ground beneath into pieces and sent Victor hurtling into the ceiling above and even crashing through it.
The walls cracked in several places, the one already damaged actually even crumbling, the destruction so vast that I could see through it deeper into the mansion and view the damage my dad’s first propulsion of Victor had caused further in.
And I could see my mom bounding back and forth, whipping her tail at some magic-wielders, while ripping a vampire’s head off in her wolf teeth as she went, even crushing the hearts of two magic-wielders beneath her paws.
My breath caught in my throat as I saw Cassius surrounded by Dark Fae, like Ketheron had been that day. He was holding his hand to one ear, a silent scream forming, while he held a shield with his white power up with the other that was fading in and out.
They were trying to take control of his mind, and gold Celestial power melded with their own magic.
Sylas was battling two dozen off to the right, blasting some into the walls, even ripping through flesh in such violent ways that blood splattered everywhere, bodies literally exploding. I saw him register Cassius’ predicament.
“Teleport out now!” he bellowed over.
