Page 30 of The Vampire's Lament
My lips curled into a smile. “Only I’m not going to betray the ones I care about to save myself.”
“Shut the fuck up!” He pointed his gun in various directions, unable to pinpoint where my voice came from.
Excellent. I’d touched a nerve. “Did you tell your friends here what you did?”
He spat, a tickle of magic in the air. He was a mage after all. “You’re not holding the cards here,king.” He said that last word with pure vitriol.
How amusing. “Are you sure, Hal? You speak so bravely with an army at your back, but you’re nothing more than a coward. Whatever I did to Paris, you offered him up as a sacrifice to save your own skin. I think that is much worse.”
Hal grunted as his companions stirred enough for me to know I’d rattled the henhouse.
My goodness, my smile was wide.
“I’ll kill you,” he rasped.
No answer from me.
“You made him a thrall,” he tossed out desperately. “Turned him into a slave.”
“Not really. He mostly hung around my bedroom looking pretty.”
How delicious the air became, rich with the stink of mortal anger. Reminiscent of stagnant water.
“Surrender and do the right thing!” he snapped.
Why not just attack? They’d come here with such flashy bravado, so why not see it through to a bloody end?
Their bloody end.
My bloodthirst flared like a rampant beast, and death was the only thing that could quench it.
“Your time is over,” Hal bleated on, throwing in many details about the losses of the war. How we ruined this world, how after my demise, the Global Order would be next. He mentioned the other palaces, confirming that particular detail.
Bastard!
I snarled, my hands curved into claws.
The smoke cleared then, dissipating quickly as if sucked away by a vacuum. It had been removed by a spell, the orange glow of magic on Hal’s hands made it obvious.
Did a spell help them bypass the defenses on the island’s causeway? Most likely, which would call for tighter protections going forward, seeing as these mortals were intensifying their strategies.
More people gathered in the garden dressed in black, balaclavas over their faces, stab vest across their clothes. The warchoppers hovered out to sea in a line of three, with more bodies showing up on the slope beyond the garden.
Hal wouldn’t be dying until he gave me what I wanted.
I met Hal’s green stare, the fear those eyes once held replaced by arrogance.
We’d see how long that lasted.
“Leave,” I demanded. “While you still can.”
Mercy? Again?
He snorted, removing his balaclava. “We’re not going anywhere.” The filth spat on the ground. “You should be scared, king. This is the end of your taint. I’m taking you down and taking Paris home.” There was another bite of laughter from the bearded mage. “Whatever you think I did, I always had his best interests at heart. He’s my friend, he’s my…” He didn’t finish.
More than a friend? Fascinating.
“He’ll be with me by sunrise,” he added. “And you’ll be bone dust on the wind with the rest of your brood.”
