The fury I felt seemed to roll over me in a deadly wave. I drew my sword and sliced off the soldier’s head easily, not hesitating for a single moment. Scum like that didn’t deserve to live.
Trying to push myself past the moment as we reached the castle gates, my eyes went immediately to where my parents were brutally executed. I felt a snarl slip from my mouth as memories flashed in my head, and I realized with horror that there were corpses there even now.
Not just soldiers, but innocents. I blinked, seeing a child’s lifeless body. Horror washed over me at the sight. Without a doubt there would be casualties in war…but a child? That should have never happened.
I knew our forces wouldn’t have killed a child, which meant there was only one other option.Malakai’s vampyres were killing children.Children who probably lived in the city, either from families or street orphans who someone like Malakai would assume wouldn’t be missed.
It couldn’t matter to someone like Malakai what their age was or if they were even capable of fighting. The only thing that mattered was that their lives could be forfeited to protect his own.
Everything went dark as rage roared through my veins.
Memories from the day my parents were unduly executed eclipsed me, and suddenly it felt like I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened, searing with pain, and I was left feeling like it was on the precipice of exploding. My eyes burned with unshed tears, the sound of my parents begging me to run rattling my brain.Fuck.
Crimson coated my vision; reality having faded completely to black and leaving me in a dark-red void. I was drowning in the memories, unable to focus on anything except all the children who had been slaughtered. All the families that would be broken apart by this. All the deaths.
So many bodies...so many that we couldn’t save—
“Dakath!”
At the sound of Kyella screaming my name, my eyes snapped open, and I cursed. Drawing my sword, I barely had time to position it defensively as a soldier barreled toward me. I gritted my teeth, plunging my sword toward him and watched as he embedded himself on my sharp blade. Blood dripped down the metal to my gauntlets seeping between the interconnected metal and burning into my skin with the realization that I had allowed myself a moment of vulnerability at a time when it could not be afforded. “Fuck.”
“Sorry,” I hissed to her as she grabbed my arm, looking panicked.
“We are fighting for every single child that isstillalive, Dakath,” Kyella said gently, her eyes soft before they filled with a fierce light. “We are fighting to stop that from happening to any more of them. Wecannotlet memories of the past stop us from helping them in the present.”
Her words ignited my hunger for retribution. I yearned to obliterate every vampyre who thought it was okay to take the life of an innocent.
Before I could respond, Kyella’s head snapped up, like her name had been called and drew her attention. On either side of us, Elijah and Kolvar fought their own small hordes of soldiers, but Kyella’s focus turned to Barnabus, who flew ahead of us.
“Shit,” Kyella bit out. “We must get into the castle. Barnabus said Malakai is trying to escape.”
Our priority had always been saving as many innocent lives as possible, but we simply could not allow Malakai to escape. Turning our attention away from the battle in the shadows of his castle was the only way to ensure more lives wouldn’t be lost because of his continued, tyrannical reign.
Chapter Fifteen
Kyella
Igroaned as I considered our current problem. It seemed the highest concentration of human’s being used as shields were at the castle’s doors, exactly where we needed to go.
Breathing in deeply, I glanced at my men, silently questioning how we were going to tackle this problem. Getting through them would prove harder than I wanted, and we didnothave the time to delay.
Hurry, Empress! I cannot guide you further, but he was in the throne room during my last inspection. A bigger threat is presenting itself that I must focus on—I can feel Lazarus’ energy and need to search for him while you handle Malakai.
“Shit,” I hissed with a heavy breath at the mention of the possibility of the old vampyre god being nearby. “Barnabus is leaving to search for Lazarus. Malakai was last seen in the throne room—we need to get there. Now.”
Foolishly, Lazarus hadn’t been on my mind at all, not with my focus on saving lives and ending Malakai’s. I was simply trying to face one threat at a time for now, or else it would feel overwhelming and unattainable, so I put it out of my mind for now.
“Let me try something,” Dakath muttered before walking toward the humans who held shaking swords pointed in our direction. “Guard our backs,” he instructed, yelling the command over his shoulder.
Elijah and Kolvar had already turned to do exactly that, so I kept my gaze on Dakath, unsure of if this was going to blow up in our faces. If he needed any help, I would be there in an instant. I had no idea what his plan was and was still concerned over him falling into trance not long ago, but I would trust in him as he would me.
I barely contained a strangled cry as he sheathed his long sword and held his hands up to the nervous group of humans.
“We do not wish to hurt you,” he stated in a very calm, yet strong, voice. “We just spent the last few hours evacuating the nearest villages that would accept our help. They told us how you were forced to come here. You are not our enemy.”
Some of the human men immediately sagged in relief, lowering their swords ever so slightly, though a select few remained guarded, albeit shaking still.
“The humans that aren’t fighting for Malakai are being slaughtered by his vampyres,” Dakath acknowledged, likely highlighting their fear and why they were so shaky. “I’m sure you know that too, so I’m going to ask you very quickly to help us all get to where we need to be. It could save your lives. Do you know if there are guards behind that door?”
