Page 142 of The Firebrand
Wearing a long, curve-hugging red dress for the wedding, his mother sighed as she gripped her gown, slitting it from hem to hip. “That’s better, but someone’s going to die for making me ruin this.” Castia waved a lengthy blade in her hand.
Indigo buffed her nails on the golden diaphanous gown swirling around her bare feet. Her smile was serene while her dreamy eyes stared into the distance, undaunted by the coming assailants.
Alarik positioned himself beside Castia in a warrior-like pose, his stance wide, a short sword at his side.
George, not stupid, moved behind the other guests, scraping a hand through his hair, drawing his shoulders back, setting his jaw. Someone handed him a dagger.
Brae kicked off her shoes and, ripping a good six inches off the bottom of her wedding dress, she sighed. “It was so pretty. Sabine is going to be pissed when I show up for the reception like this.” She sighted a path for her blades.
Elisabeta withdrew a blade from the bodice of a stylish black silk tuxedo ensemble.
The vampires neared. Bushes rustling, they shadowflashed from one to the other. Rein held out a hand to cast a spell. “They’re all young except for Silas.” The news was a plus and minus because, despite their youth, the vamps seriously outnumbered the wedding party.
About fifteen males and females popped out of the woods, all armed and fanged as if Rein would quiver in his dress shoes.
“Silas, you’re a fool,” he shouted above the growls of the attackers, keeping an eye pinned on them.
The disgraced Firebrand stepped in front of his renegade companions. “You killed Aisen. I will have your life.”
“The only thing that’s going to happen today, asshole, is that you’ll die along with your sad crew.” Without twisting around, he shouted, “Silas is mine.”
“Let’s kill these bastards so we can get to the party. I want to dance.” Castia crouched low, turned to the side, and pointed her long knife at a young bloodsucker with reddish-tinted hair. “Come here, handsome,” she purred. He looked reluctant, glancing at Silas. “You don’t need Daddy’s permission.”
At that moment, Silas lunged forward, and the fight began.
While he fended off the disgraced vampire, Rein kept a visual on Braelyn and the other wedding guests. None of them were warriors.
Indigo cast her hands high in the air. A summoned gryphon lumbered out of the woods on massive lion’s legs, choosing not to fly with his jet-size wings. She motioned toward one of Silas’s males. When Oskar reared up, he tore out his victim’s eyes with his talons. Before they could heal, he used the same claws to rip out his heart. Indigo withdrew a dagger from a pocket in her dress to slice through his neck. She patted her beast, leaning against him before zeroing in on the next target.
Circling the disgraced vampire, Rein growled, marking Silas’s red eyes. Gone was any trace of the once-honorable Firebrand. “You should have brought older companions.”
They flashed around each other, their movements a blur. Rein snarled, hooking an arm about Silas’s neck. Before he could twist, the ex-Firebrand threw him over a shoulder and to the ground.
Thud.
Elisabeta shook her arms, relaxing them, flipping her long black hair behind her while she readied for a taller, bludfrenzied vamp. His lips curled into a snarl when he bared his teeth. “Cute.” Elisabeta smiled. “You call those fangs? Look at these.” She exposed her own larger ones while she lunged at her opponent.
Castia, with several hundred years on the redheaded youth, played cat-and-mouse. First, she appeared in front of him, scratching claws along his face. Next, she flashed behind him, cooing in his ear. When she grew tired of the game, she broke his neck. Using her bare hands, she decapitated him. After the kill, she spotted a vampire approaching George. Jumping onto his back, she wrapped her legs around his waist, plunging a knife into his heart.
The demon minister held his own with a tall but thin male. They circled one another, trading swipes. When the renegade slashed across the minister’s chest, the demon unleashed a bolt of lightning at his opponent, frying his ass.
Indigo signaled her gryphon, who had a female clamped between his teeth. “No time to eat, Oskar. See to my brother.” With a disgruntled snort, he dropped his meal.
With few offensive spells at his disposal, Alarik hurled blazing orbs at two males, their fear of fire keeping them at bay for the moment. Indigo’s gryphon dragged the dark-haired attacker off him. Faced with just one opponent, her brother used a staying spell to get close. He placed a hand on the chest of the vampire, drawing his heart out through his ribs. When the bloodsucker slumped to the ground, Alarik sliced through his neck.
Rein shoved to his feet, racing behind his challenger. Before he could rip out Silas’s throat with his claws, the bloodsucking traitor broke the hold. Again, they crouched, circling, each clenching blades. Silas lunged but missed. Rein pivoted, kicked, maneuvered in close, nicking his opponent’s shoulder.
Beside him, Rein’s bride and mate thrust out a hand, pointing toward an attacker. The vampire tumbled head-over-ass, sliding about five feet in the dirt, a hole in his chest. Indigo winked at her just before she sicced Oskar on another tasty morsel.
Darting behind Rein to use him as a shield, Braelyn launched spikes at an opponent, burying one in his chest. She didn’t see a second assailant take aim. He flung a knife at her.
Rein howled. Ignoring Silas, he jumped at an angle, hurling himself into the knife’s path. It caught him in the gut. Landing on his feet, he pulled it out, targeted the attacker’s heart. He pitched it, hitting his mark.
Brae smiled, thanking him for the assist, but her eyes widened in warning as Silas took advantage of Rein’s injury. He charged, driving a claw into the Firebrand’s gaping wound. Rein saw stars, his knees buckling.
His crazy-ass mate jumped on Silas’s back. When he flung her to the ground, a pissed-off Rein, his pain irrelevant, shot forward with both knives slashing.
Silas jerked away too late. Rein zeroed in, one knife plunging into the once-proud Firebrand vampire’s chest, the kill zone.
