Page 87 of Veradel
She kicks me in the stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs. I double over, dropping to all fours, but then immediately use the momentum to swipe my head at her legs and send her sprawling.
My relief is short-lived, though. The Eleventh Guardian jumps onto my back from behind, curls an arm around my throat, and squeezes.
I rear upward, toppling backward so that he smashes against the ground beneath me. It works, but then the Tenth Guardian is on top of me, slashing at my stomach with his fingernails like claws. I snap at his neck and toss him off as far away from me as I can.
Just as the other two vampires close in on me again, the Tenth Guardian’s body slams into one of the power lines, making it crash against the nearest housing complex. Sparks ignite. Flames burst to life. The rooftop catches on fire, and several people scream.
Double fuck.
On a whim, I jump up and melt back into my human form, relishing the way all the watching humans suck in a breath as they witness my shift. Maybe now they’ll rethink everything they’ve ever been told. Even the Eleventh Guardian pauses behind me, caught off guard.
The Tenth is already back without a scratch, narrowing his eyes at me next to the Fourth. I was trying to get all three of them herded together, but these two will have to do for now. “What’s this? Surrender? Ready to get on your knees and bow?”
“No,” I rasp, the pain from their nails and fangs searing through me even more in my human form. I swear, they carved out entire chunks of my flesh. “But you’re about to.”
A sound, wet and sticky, squelches through the night.
Before the two Guardians can even turn around, their eyes flash open in shock. For a moment, they stare at me, mouths gaping, blood leaking from the corners of their lips.
Then they fall to their knees and keel forward, faceplanting at my feet.
“What?” the Eleventh Guardian cries behind me, but I smile up at the glorious sight that will be painted on the canvas of my brain for the rest of my life.
Saskia. A terrifying, beautiful nightmare haloed in a backdrop of flames, splattered in blood…
Holding a shriveled vampire heart in each fist.
The hearts are spongy in my hand, like old pieces of meat that have long begun to rot.
Lucan beams up at me with such a breathtaking look of adoration all over his face that I almost drop the hearts just to jump into his arms. While the Eleventh Guardian stands there, staring at the vampire corpses in shock, Lucan strides toward me and brushes a finger beneath my chin.
“Such a good girl. Thank you.”
I swallow the dryness in my throat at what I just did—how I snuck up behind the Fourth and Tenth Guardians and punched my hands into their backs until my fingernails found the right organ. “Do you know how hard that was?”
He frowns. “Ripping out their hearts? I know it’s not in your nature.”
The whole time he was fighting the three vampires, we were communicating mind-to-mind, forming a plan of attack where he was the distractionand I was the element of surprise. But loitering in the shadows of the Healing Center, watching them creep closer to him three on one…
“No.” I shake my head and step closer to him, inhaling his woodsy scent that permeates all this too-sweet blood surrounding me. “It was hard to wait until their backs were turned before I helped you.” My eyes flick to his neck, where a gash wraps around the back of his throat. “They hurt you.”
It’s the only reason I was able to do what I did. Part of me still can’t fathom that I actually destroyed a living—no,twoliving bodies—like that.
But we’re not done. The Eleventh Guardian stands motionless, staring at the lifeless body of the Fourth Guardian in disbelief. At the weight of our attention, he drags his head up, blinking at us while the rest of his body remains frozen in shock. Just like the vampire in the catacombs, his eyes trace me, putting the pieces of Arad’s claims together.
“How dare you?” he exhales finally, stepping closer. Lucan throws an arm in front of me, but the Eleventh Guardian doesn’t even seem to notice him anymore. “You think you can turn on us and win? Wemadeyou!”
“No,” I hiss, clutching the vampire hearts even tighter. I’m afraid that if the Eleventh Guardian gets ahold of them before we can burn them, he’ll stuff the organs back into the marble corpses at our feet to revive them. “You do notmakeanything. You hurt and take and destroy.”
The apple in his throat tightens with anger before he puffs out a humorless laugh. “You know nothing about pain and selfishness and destruction. We’ve shielded you from the true horrors of the world. You should be thanking us. Youoweus.”
“She owes you nothing but death,” Lucan scoffs.
The Eleventh Guardian cuts his eyes to Lucan as if suddenly remembering he’s there. Then he changes tactics, his arms stretch widely out to the sides as he spins in place to address the horrified crowd.
“Citizens of Xantera.Thisis what we have shielded you from. This Monster who piles bodies at his feet. And once again, my fellow Guardians and I will slay him—and anyone who aligns with him—to teach you all a valuable lesson: we cannot be defeated.”
Some citizens, however, eye the two vampire bodies with doubt reflecting back in their eyes. The Eleventh Guardian’s confidence slips. Despite Lucan’s protective stance in front of me, he drops into a crouch, eyes trained on my chest, right where my heart is.
