“And now I’m going to finish it,” he yelled, swinging with his blade.
The sharp edge narrowly missed me as I dove to the side. I hit the ground—hard and without finesse in case you wondered—rolled—not intentionally but because I had no idea how to land—and smacked into a crate. I pushed myself to my knees and only barely managed to flatten myself in time as the blade flashed past, slicing into the wooden box and getting caught.
It proved to be a short-lived reprieve as Belial planted a foot and yanked his sword free. In the process, he created a decent-sized hole that spilled soccer balls. The orbs bounced all over and proved enticing enough for one of the hellhounds to take off chasing one. Aw, just like a puppy.
A blade-brandishing Belial stalked for me. “I am going to enjoy disemboweling you.”
“Have to catch me f—” I slipped as my foot hit something spongy—dead imp—and threw me off balance. Being naturally clumsy, I couldn’t recover and I fell.
Again.
This time, though, instead of hellhounds pinning me spread eagle, I had a smirking dark fairy kneeling on my chest with a sword tip pressed to my throat.
“Any last words?” he asked.
“Hasta la vista, baby.” Yeah, I gave him my best Terminator voice, because what else could I say when I saw who came to my rescue?
I watched in fascination as lips latched on to Belial’s neck and pierced the flesh. His eyes widened. He gasped. His body stiffened. But Belial didn’t even fight. He stood still as his life’s blood was drained to the last drop and his body released, folding like a rag doll to the floor.
Ding dong, the fairy’s dead.
I smiled at my savior. “Thank you for saving me,” I gushed. I’ll admit, Sophia would have never made my list of people who might come to my rescue. Yet, when I’d seen her silently appear behind Belial with a finger to her lips, I’d never been more relieved.
Sophia’s nose wrinkled as she glanced around, her gaze stopping only for a second on the hounds chewing on Tom’s corpse. “What a mess. I should have known those two couldn’t be trusted to handle you.”
I blinked. “Er, what?”
The beautiful vampire smiled with a coldness the Antarctic couldn’t have matched. “Surely you didn’t think those bumbling idiots managed to plan this all on their own.”
“Tom said he wanted revenge.”
“Which made him eager to volunteer. As for Belial, he owed me a favor.”
“You had them kidnap me, but why? What did I ever do to you?”
“You exist, and that is insult enough.”
Chapter Fifteen
An already crappy situation took a sharp turn and somehow managed to get worse. My brand-new vampire butt against a veritable Queen of Fangs? I was so fucked.
“I’m sorry if I’ve done something to offend you. I assure you that wasn’t my intention.” I tried to diffuse the situation.
“Technically, you’ve done nothing, but Cillian…” Her lips pinched. “Damnable man is constantly vexing me. He should have known better than to push me too far. Oh well, guess he paid the price.”
The realization hit me and I blurted, “You had Cillian killed.”
“As if I had any other choice with how rudely he behaved at my party. The nerve of him, embarrassing me in front of my guests, not to mention the insult of daring to show up with his new uncouth and inelegant protégé.” Sophia stated with a moue of distaste. “His demise was long overdue.”
“That hardly seems reason enough to have Cillian murdered.”
“Which goes to show how little you know. In our society, you can’t appear as weak.”
“In that case, you failed, because from where I’m lying, it just seems like petty revenge against a former lover.”
“And so what if it was? Retribution was long overdue, given what he did,” Sophia spat, revealing the real reason behind her vindictive plotting.
“Holy woman scorned. You mean to say you did all this because you’re pissed he dumped you and hooked up with someone else?” I exclaimed. “You broke up ages ago.”
