Page 44 of Cinderella and Her Vampires (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 5)

“Excuse me?” I asked, glaring at the back of his head. “Turn around and face me.”

Brock slowly turned to face me. He leveled his dark eyes on me, full of so much hate. It startled me. “You heard me.”

“Listen to me,” I said, pointing a finger at him.

“No. You listen to me,” he said, taking a couple of steps closer to me. He shoved a finger toward my chest. He knew better than to stab me with the tip. At least, I hoped.

Though it had been years upon years and years since I prayed to any god, I did so while standing in front of my son. I really didn’t want to put an end to Brock, but I would if I was backed into a corner, and Brock’s behaviors were pointing in a very regrettable direction.

Then I realized exactly what was going on. He was throwing a tantrum. Like a human toddler. Relief flooded through me with the thought. So, I patiently stood to let him have whatever time he needed to vent and get off whatever weighed on his chest.

“I’ve busted my ass for centuries obeying every single rule and law and for nothing,” he said. “I deserved something even you couldn’t take away from me.”

“Your obedience wasn’t all for nothing,” I said and rolled my eyes. “But please do continue to explain to me about how everything is all about you. How every decision that is made is all in spite of you. How upholding the laws and traditions are too much for you to bear.”

Brock’s eyes hardened. “At least I’m not blind and selfish!”

“No. You’re just bigoted… and self-centered,” I said. “Enough of this tantrum. We need to find Collin before he kills someone.”

I started to turn around. Brock growled. I tensed and twisted to find him charging toward me. I braced for the impact. As his body slammed into mine, I was pushed against something hard. It cracked with the sound of thunder, sending bits and pieces of debris flying in all directions.

A branch fell to my right, and I realized the thing I crashed into was a tree.

This tantrum was the worst by far. He was going to force me to deliver a lesson he was never going to forget. All of this over a girl? Seriously?

At some point, I ended up on my ass, staring up at Brock as he stood above me, thinking he had won the challenge.

Oh, if he only knew…

“Are you sure this is the route you want to take?” I asked.

Brock spat at me. “Whatever it takes for you to recognize me as your equal.”

I quirked an eyebrow and chuckled under my breath, breaking away from his gaze for only a moment. Once my attention resettled on his, I launched myself toward him, forming a fist and slamming it into the side of his head. He spun and clutched his face.

I stood taller, hands clenched into fists at my side, and waited for him to collect himself. Once he did, the battle was on.

Buildings like the ones people used as restrooms… trees… everything that stood in our way was destroyed, reduced to rubble. The park was becoming a war zone. And a loud one. We were going to draw too much attention to ourselves. I couldn’t think of a single, good excuse to cover for the noise we were making. The fight needed to end before humans started showing up.

I punched Brock in the face, landing my right fist along his cheek, sending him spiraling away from me. He managed to launch me into the ground and barreled his fists into my face. Sirens had kicked up from the distance. Dogs barked, alerting their owners to trouble. We had to end this. Now.

The more punches I got in; Brock had managed to land just as many. The more kicks into his frame were the same he delivered into mine. We were getting nowhere fast. And there wasn’t much left in the park to destroy. Not to mention the attention we were drawing. I could almost feel the eyes from the neighboring houses resting on us.

Finally, we stood at a standstill, glaring at each other.

Brock waited for me to make the next move.

I waited for him to make the next move too.

Neither of us was going to win this one. And it seemed neither one of us was willing to give in either. But we were out of time, and I needed to be the bigger, better vampire.

“Perhaps our efforts are better spent finding Collin. We can deal with our disagreement later,” I suggested.

Brock shrugged. “You might have a valid point. But it doesn’t matter. Collin is gone. His trail went cold here. I can’t find him. I think he went to the other side.”

I stood straight and pinched the bridge of my nose. I should have killed him when I had the chance. I should have made Brock kill him. I was reminded of the saying about hindsight. Much good it did me after the fact.

“Regardless, we need to stop him. He’s too new and ignorant to our ways and prone to going into a blood rage. He might inadvertently start the war he so desperately wanted in the first place. No thanks to you.”

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