The doors slammed against the walls as they sprang open, and I rushed in, zeroing in on the hunched figure near the throne at the back of the room. The long, greasy curls of Malakai’s hair gleamed beneath the flickering light of the innumerable candles lining the walls, illuminating the room as clearly as if daylight streamed through a window.
His head snapped back at my entrance, lips curled, and fangs extended as he tried to look as menacing as possible to whoever dared enter.
It was fascinating to see such an ugly sneer on his face, showing Malakai in the seconds before his face morphed into the mask I’d so quickly come to know over my years here. A false smile plastered over his face as he widened his eyes and threw his arms out in welcome. “You’ve returned to me, just as I knew you would!”
The second his voice washed over me, nausea pooled in my stomach and my heart thumped all the way up in my throat. It felt as if I was glued to the floor suddenly, unable to take a step toward him.
Presenting his back to me once more, he continued to shove gold from a hole in the ground beneath his throne into the bags sitting open in the seat of it.
He didn’t even regard me as a threat.
Did he think I was too weak? Too soft to end someone’s life? Or did he truly think he’d brainwashed me so thoroughly that I wouldn’t think to raise a finger to hurt him?
His blatant disregard was the exact shock I needed to snap me out of my momentary stillness. Grabbing the thick wood used to barricade the door, I snapped it into place to hopefully fend off any guards that might come to help him.
A feral growl fell from my lips as I launched myself across the room toward him, pulling my arms back to get enough momentum to shove my daggers through the back of his neck and decapitate him.
At the last moment, as I began to arch the weapons toward him as if in slow motion, he turned, revealing a short sword pointed directly at me. As he thrusted it toward my midsection, I twisted in the air at the last possible second, doing a barrel roll away from him. Falling toward the ground, I barely managed to find my center before landing on my feet.
“I have returned,” I seethed, letting my voice drop an octave and drip with my hatred for him as he stood to his full height and sneered. “I’ve returned to end your reign of terror for good. I won’t let you hurt anyone else, Malakai.”
“I own you, girl!” he snapped, heat rising in his cheeks to paint them red as spittle flew from between his blubbering lips. “Your blood runs throughmyveins. You won’t defeat me in combat, and even if you manage to bite me during it, I’m immune to your venom,dhampyr. My guards will be here any minute to take you back to the dungeon beneath my feet, exactly where you belong.”
It felt as if he was bluffing, boasting about his immunity to me as if I didn’t know there was a time limit on the protection if you didn’t continue to drink from me. Or perhaps he truly didn’t know that himself.
The way he lobbed that last word at me, though, as if I was something to be ashamed of or disgusted by, made a chuckle come from my center and bubble up my throat.
“You are so incredibly blinded by your arrogance,” I mused as I lifted my daggers at the ready and planted my feet, prepared for a defensive strike. Undoubtedly, a blow to his ego would force his instincts into attacking me, which I was counting on. “Your guards aren’t coming. You were out strategized, Malakai. You’re tucking your tail and running like a child because even someone with a brain as small as yours realizes this is over for you.”
On cue, the blow to his ego was like snapping the thin strand of control he maintained.
Digging my back heel in, I quickly took in the thick and gaudy gold chains hanging around his neck as he launched himself at me. I’d have to attack him in a way he’d never suspect to have enough time to bite him and jump away in case my venom didn’t work as expected.
For once, I turned my brain off and simply reacted, believing in my gut-instincts.
Dropping my daggers to the ground, I pulled myself out of my defensive stance, standing still in an offering to him. I saw the hesitation enter his eyes as he watched my movement with a beady-eyed intensity. The stilted moment was the split-second signal I needed as he slowed, so I put a burst of my own speed on. As I closed the distance between us, I ran toward his right, opposite the sword in his left hand. Reaching toward the gold chains, I slipped my hand under them and grabbed as many as I could as I continued to run.
Keeping a firm grasp on them, I quickly brought up my right hand and dropped to my knees, pulling the chains tight against his neck in one quick movement and using his momentum against him as they strangled him. I groaned in pain as the metal dug into the flesh of my palms but refused to let go.
Using his weight as his body jolted backward, I dropped my shoulder until his body began to fly over it and then surged upward, flipping him over me completely. I was on him before he could even crash to the ground, letting go of the necklaces and grabbing his flailing right hand as he arced through the air.
My daggers were too far away for me to grab and pierce through his heart, but I trusted my gut, and it told me that my bite would be enough. He was blind to his weaknesses, and luckily for me, that spot was his arrogance and belief that he was untouchable. I was banking on the assumption that he thought himself too untouchable to train or stay in fighting-shape. I didn’t doubt that he would be rusty in combat and not have the quick thinking of someone who had to think outside of the box in training scenarios if they wanted to win.
Sinking my fangs into his skin, I prayed to whatever being out there that there was nothing more needed to inject my venom into his bloodstream and that he wouldn’t have immunity anymore.
As I felt his blood flowing from the puncture wounds, I quickly dropped his hand and sprang backward, spitting out what little of the crimson liquid remained in my mouth. I didn’t want a single fucking drop of blood from this man within me.
“You bitch!” he spluttered as he landed roughly on his knees before quickly shoving himself to his feet. “I’m going to paint the fucking walls of this room red with your blood. I will drain you just enough to keep you from entering death. When I’m done with you, you will be nothing more than a fucking husk of the useless woman you already are.”
He took a single menacing step forward, mirroring my own step backward.
How long would it take for the venom to hurt him? Did I not inject enough with just one bite?
“Do you really think you’re special merely because three vampyres saved you like some damsel in distress?” he questioned, skepticism thickly coating his tone. Cocking a single eyebrow at me, he paused as if he was truly waiting for my response. When I gave him none, he clutched his stomach as laughter shook his body. “My girl, you really think they care for you? Oh, how naive you are, child. They only care about the pussy between your legs and the blood in your veins.”
He was trying to goad me, but I wouldn’t fall prey to such base words and actions.
“You don’t know a single thing about those men,” I hissed. “And you definitely don’t know a single thing about the woman I am now.”
