As we rounded the bend, a large gathering of people in the center of the village distracting me, Kyella spoke quietly, “It doesn’t help that none of them are aware we are here to save them and their loved ones. These villagers feared us before we could explain. I don’t blame them, of course, but I just hope fear doesn’t stop anyone from taking the shelter necessary to survive this.”
Unfortunately, there was a chance the fear would make people so leery of us that they wouldn’t accept assistance. Being conditioned to be afraid was something that embedded itself deep inside of you.
The next ten minutes were spent assuring that anyone who wanted to leave could do so as quickly as possible. Thankfully, no one from the village decided to risk staying. It seemed that, though they may not trust vampyres, they would at least take the opportunity to escape to protect their families from the terrifying reality of war.
I hoped when they made it to the ships, they would find comfort in the abundance of humans present and see examples of the equality that Kyella patiently continued to emphasize and assure them of.
I watched as the villagers studied the human and vampyre soldiers interacting with one another, surprise and shock coating their features at the easy, respectful interactions. It also helped that Kyella’s calm and controlled ability to respond to any of their concerns was like an anchor to them—the comfort it brought in such a hard time was clear in their expressions.
As they began to leave the village, Kyella turned her gaze to the road ahead, her features morphing into a far more serious expression. We couldn’t see the capital city from here, but the road would take us through multiple villages, allowing us to send them toward the ships and to safety.
“The forces showing them to the boats will be able to quickly catch up to us. I think we can push forward toward the next village and start to prepare those who want to leave. I have no idea how many villages we will come across, but once we do reach the capital, we should wait until our forces have rejoined us to attack, ensuring we are fully prepared,” Elijah suggested.
Kyella nodded sharply. “Can we make sure everyone is aware of the plan?”
“Yes,” Kolvar confirmed before leaving to share our strategy with the soldiers. I looked around the deserted village, relief flooding my being at the sight of it. One down and…Well, I had no idea how many to go.
As we traveled, we came across several more villages on the direct path toward the capital going inland. Luckily, the second next village, despite facing the same confusion and panic at our appearance as the first, quickly decided that evacuation was the best possible way to handle the situation.
The same could not be said about the third village. The people there decided to wait it out, not believing the threat was as real as we assured them it was.
With the realization that they wouldn’t bend, we quickly moved on, hitting two more villages, and transporting those needing to evacuate. The fear of us was far less here because of the battle that was taking place so close to them—close enough that we could hear it with our enhanced hearing as we left the last village, marching over a hill and coming within sight of our target: Malakai’s castle.
Kyella stood frozen next to me as she stared at the castle, where she had been imprisoned for so damn long and where all of this had started. I could feel myself hardening emotionally, thinking about the bloodshed that would need to take place—hell, the blood shed thathadtaken place. No matter how hard we tried, lives would be lost, but I would do my damn best to make sure it wasn’t the wrong ones.
“Kyella,” I intertwined our hands, looking down at her as she met my gaze. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Her eyes shone with a fierce determination as Kolvar squeezed her hip gently from where he stood behind her and Elijah dropped a kiss on top of her head. She kept her gaze forward but spoke in a soft tone, “I love all of you so much. When this is done, I can’t wait to go back home.Together.”
And we would, I would make sure of it.
We were about to enter the real battle and there was only one true way out: victory.
From the moment we hit the outskirts of the capital, we were thrown into chaos. The battle taking place, through every city street, storefront, and darkened corner, was violent and volatile in nature. Properties had been destroyed in the process of fighting, and while I knew deaths had taken place, it seemed our forces were holding strong.
We didn’t hesitate as we stormed through the streets and threw ourselves into the heat of the battle, a rage-filled cry leaving Kyella’s lips as I felt my own surge of adrenaline. I snapped into a mode that had been honed from years of training, using my enhanced speed and strength to meet the enemy head on.
The first vampyre to surge toward me was one basking in the violence; he was covered in blood and smiling maniacally. I didn’t hesitate to draw out my sword and dart toward him, taking him down in seconds.
The castle loomed over our battle and the chaos taking place, the sound of swords hitting one another paired with angry and agony-filled cries that echoed through the air. Bodies and severed limbs were piling up, beheaded vampyre corpses and mortally wounded humans bleeding out and painting the streets with their carnage. I watched vampyres clash with one another using their full strength, their weapons, and instruments of death as they tried to pierce through the hearts of their opponents.
A bloody scream was cut off as a vampyre from Malakai’s camp ripped off the head of a human, lobbing it toward a pile of massacred bodies.
“Move toward the castle!” Kyella ordered, my sword arcing through the air and defending her from an attack that came out of fucking nowhere. I knew her armor was durable, but I hated the idea of anyone coming for my woman. I slammed my sword into the vampyre bastard’s chest, not caring if he was forced to fight or doing it willingly. If he was a threat to Kyella, then he died.
Kyella grabbed my arm, pulling me away from him and navigating us through the city streets turned into a battlefield, following Kolvar’s. Elijah held the rear. I noted that there were many humans here and that they were far less eager to fight, trying to stay on the sidelines and out of conflict unless forced.
None of our forces were targeting them unless provoked. In the mix of terror and bloodshed, I hoped some were slipping away to leave the city. It would be the smart thing to do because Malakai was creating a mass grave with the number of humans he was trying to barricade his castle with. The truth of his plan revealed itself as we neared the castle and met more and more humans.
“Watch it!” I called out to Kolvar as a human man, looking terrified, was shoved forward by a vampyre. The human was forced to run at Kolvar, a sword raised above his head in an untrained move. Without hurting him, Kolvar knocked the weapon from his hands so we could carry on, and the human man dropped to his knees, looking as if he might cry in relief.
Until the soldier who had pushed him forward stabbed him.
The human’s face blossomed with horror, anguish coating his features as he looked down at the sword that had sliced cleanly through his chest. The flimsy armor they had given him, probably the standard for humans, did nothing against the force of his attacker. When he looked up at me, I felt momentarily frozen at the despair filling his expression.
The cackle from the soldier who killed him filled the air as he spit on the dying human. “Useless—they’re all absolutely fucking useless.”
My gaze darted around briefly, and my stomach turned with the realization that many of the dead humans may have been killed by bastards like this. It was likely there were some thralls fighting for their masters, but most of these individuals were being thrown into the line of fire as fucking shields. If they couldn’t accomplish that, they were irreverently disposed of.
