Page 21 of Vampire Sins
In spite of my better judgment, I ran towards the sound, only to stop when screams followed. A beast burst through the red fog of mind-control, but he shook his fur and the dust drifted to the ground as dead ash of his latest kill.
Glorious blue eyes met mine, a kindred to angelic power in that of a wolf. I reached out, barely brushing his snout, before he ran off in a blur and was gone again, sending more screams in his wake.
Perhaps I hadn’t followed the plan, but I grinned, because I’d called freaking werewolves to help us fight Derek’s men.
It's Over
Sonya
“Vampires fly?”I asked as Hades soared through the air, leading us down the streets of Venice.
Xavier smirked as he paused at my side, then winced and adjusted the bandage at his neck. It amazed me that a vampire needed a bandage, but wounds from a vampire’s bite took longer to heal. Something about kindred magic. “Just Hades,” Xavier said as he cast his father an envious look.
Breaking into a run, I felt like I could fly myself, the vampiric power compelling my legs making me blur through the streets of Venice. “This is awesome!” I called to Xavier who managed to follow.
I lost sight of Hades as he blurred into a nest of buildings, but we were still bonded by the ties of blood. Focusing, I sensed which way he’d gone and followed.
I reached a very shocked Derek and male muse who faced the seething vampire.
“Betrayal!” Hades hissed at Apollo, his brother.
Derek was the first to break free of his shock. He glanced at me, his eyes going wide when I revealed my fangs. “Sonya,” he whispered as if heartbroken. “What have you done?”
Glowering, I stormed up to him. “What haveIdone?” I hissed at him, not caring that my fangs probably made me look like a monster. “I did what it took in order to stop you.”
Apollo rested a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “He was only acting in my interests. If anyone is to take the blame, it is I.”
Hades snarled. “I care not about the incubi. Why, brother? Why, after all these years, do you seek to destroy me?”
Apollo’s face fell. “I intended to allow you to sleep. When the city would have succumbed to my control, then I would have made sure you were never to wake again. This world doesn’t deserve you, brother, and you deserve eternal peace.”
Claws extended from Hades’ fingers. “I think you have that backwards,brother.This world deserves to be free of you.”
Stunned, I locked my knees as Hades moved so fast that no one could have stopped him. He gripped Apollo’s hair and twisted until the muse’s neck arched in an unnatural direction.
Apollo’s eyes went wide. “Brother, wait,” he rasped. “I’m powerless against you. You know this. Have mercy!”
Hades growled, his vampiric nature swarming red streaks of power over his body and transforming him into a taller, bulkier version of himself. His fangs extended and he growled with pure rage. “You are no longer my brother.”
Apollo cried out as Hades twisted further. He lashed out with an invisible wave of power, the compulsion of a muse knocking me to the ground and sending stabs of pain cascading through my body. The way that Hades flinched, I knew he felt it too, but he continued totwist.
A sickening crunch sounded, followed by an agonized groan as the skin around Apollo’s neck split, and then his head was no longer attached to his body anymore. Blood spilled onto the streets as the rest of him collapsed into a heap.
Derek’s blood drained from his face and for the first time, fear crossed his features. He looked at me with desperate hope in his eyes, but I clenched my jaw shut as the echoes of Apollo’s retaliation faded into nothingness.
Hades considered the incubus, but snarled his revulsion. “Be gone from my sight, incubus. You will repay your failures by serving me now. Clean up your mess, or you will join my brother.”
Derek swallowed and bowed his head. “Yes, Hades. Thank you for your mercy.”
Xavier slippeda hand around my waist as we walked through the streets of Venice. Blood painted the walls red and horror scented the air, but when I came to the wolves gnawing on Derek’s men, I swallowed. We eased around the beasts that snapped and snarled, but otherwise ignored us. I straightened when I heard something I’d recognize anywhere.
Luke’s laughter.
I ran. Rounding the bend I jerked to a halt when I found Luke wrestling with two wolves. Their fur glistened with a supernatural white that would have been beautiful, had they not all been covered in blood.
“It seems that your angel has found some new friends,” Xavier remarked with a tilt of his head.
Luke laughed as a pair of wolves tussled with him. Their gleaming blue eyes set them apart from regular beasts, as well as their majestic coats.
