“You should know better than to stand between someone like me and their prey,” the child growls, a feral and inhuman sound.
Indeed, I know.
The creature before me is more deadly and unpredictable than a Shadowfeeder.
Vampires are cursed by the Elders. Legend says they tricked the gods into letting them taste their blood and stealing some of their powers. For that, they were punished, and everything they have is a twisted parody of the Elders’ gifts. Even their immortality is not given but bound to their consumption of blood. They are forced to walk the night and crave the lives of all. This is not a boy before me but a millennia-old demon who sees us all, both humans and Fae, as livestock. A rich and powerful demon, though, with an army very useful to the crown.
What leaps on me is no longer human—it’s a monstrous abomination towering at eight feet, a beast with claws like scythes meant to tear flesh from bone and fangs that could crush a skull. Patches of brown fur cling to its gray, leathery skin, and its eyes blaze like gateways to hell. Its guttural growl reverberates through the woods, a sound so primal and terrifying it could freeze even a Shadowfeeder in its tracks.
I barely manage to roll to the side as it barrels toward me, my blade poised to strike. But the creature is unnervingly quick for its size, skidding to a halt and whipping around with a feral snarl.
It lunges, and before I can react, it’s on my back.
Elders!
Pain explodes across my shoulders as its razor-sharp teeth sink into my flesh, tearing through muscle and sinew. The smell of my own blood mixes with its rancid breath.
“Atos take you,” I growl, feeling its acid spit eating through my flesh. The pain explodes, throbbing and blinding, but my instinct doesn’t let me succumb to panic.
Gritting my teeth, I will my blade morph into a dagger, feeling the comforting shift of magic in my hand.
The beast’s chokehold tightens, its foul breath hot against my neck as it hisses in my ear, “Royal blood is a rare delicacy. I’ll bleed you dry, then take my time with her—”
The thought of her—mangled, screaming—drives a cold spike of fear through me. My grip on the Shadowblade tightens, the hilt slick with my blood, as I slowly force him to loosen his grasp.
I can’t lose her.
Not now.
With a savage roar, I plunge the dagger deep into its thigh. The blade cuts through the dense muscle, and the creature howls, a sound so piercing it rattles my bones. Acidic spit dribbles from its fangs, burning through the skin of my shoulder, the agony nearly blinding me. I twist the dagger and rip it upward toward its hips, the blade tearing through flesh with a sickening squelch.
The creature’s howls turn into shrieks of pain, and its grip weakens, the chokehold loosening just enough for me to shake it off. The Shadowblade morphs into a lance, the weapon lengthening in my grasp as I spin it in a lethal arc. The beast is fast, its hulking form dodging my first strike, but not fast enough to escape the two vicious slashes that carve through its abdomen.
Black blood spills from the gashes, steaming as it hits the ground. Now, this is a sight for sore eyes.
“Maybe you’ll bleed first, beast,” I snarl, a savage smile curling my lips as I launch myself into a somersault, the world spinning around me in a blur of motion. I land behind its back, and just when the Shadowblade descends to the abomination’s shoulder blade, the beast spins around faster than anticipated, its massive claws lashing out.
What a fatal miscalculation.
Pain erupts in my side as its claws rake through my flesh, and I’m thrown backward, crashing into a tree trunk. My vision blurs, my head dizzy as I struggle to rise, but the demon is on me in an instant, its colossal weight pinning me down. I can barely breathe under the crushing pressure, and my limbs scream in protest as I try to free myself.
And just when I think it cannot get any worse, it does.
“Aeidas?” Talysse calls from the clearing. “Aeidas, are you there?”
My blood curdles in terror.
“Do you hear that, Prince? Dinner is served,” the vampire hisses and releases me.
Cold air fills my lungs as the beast suddenly lets me go and leaps toward her, frenzied. Not wasting a second, I push myself up and give chase.
Talysse stands in the middle of the clearing, her form shimmering as if reflecting the starlight.
Deirhaîm leaps on her in one swift move, his claws raised like daggers. Elders, she’ll be dead before I can reach her. My blade morphs into a spear, and I send it flying. The abomination reaches Talysse just when the Shadowblade finds its mark, piercing it with lethal precision.
It’s too late.
My heart pounds as I race toward the monster, each breath a searing reminder that I’ve failed.
