“Why do you do it? We loved you,” I whimpered, unable to come to grips with the fact that this motherly figure had turned out to be such a psycho.
She looked at me with disgust. “Vampires think they are superior, but anything that needs blood to survive is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord.”
I frowned. I couldn’t really fault her for the blood comment. I agreed it wasn’t natural. “And a Munai?” I asked. “A dark witch who throws black shadows and inky nets? If anyone is a demon, it’syou!” I spat.
She yanked her wrists from my hold and charged forward. I was helpless to stop her, lest I do harm to myself. All I could do was brace myself for the hit. Right when Maz was inches from me, Liv jumped out of nowhere and snapped the collar around Maz’s throat with a click.
Maz’s entire body seized as she seemingly tried to do magic and was thwarted.
“Go! I got this,” Liv called to me. “The king just challenged Luka to afriendlyfight.”
No. He was going to try to kill my man while I was in the bathroom touching up my make-up? How gentlemanly.
Bolting out the hallway and through the kitchen, I burst outside to the roaring crowd. Tink was injured but alive and Carmen was looking around frantically, no doubt for his collar.
Where was—?
The king and Luka were pounding into each other on the mats.
‘Finish him!’I called to Luka through our bond.
‘I have to let him try to kill me first so it’s in self-defense. Otherwise his people will charge forward and finish me off.’
Shit. This was a nightmare. I was living in a nightmare.
I could only pray that Ruby and the others were getting the women and children out, and that Austin, Chicago and the other cities were cleaning house, because right now I had bigger problems to worry about.
I perched on the edge of my seat and made a promise that if it looked like the king was getting too close to killing Luka, I would insert myself into the fight and take him out.
Luka sprang up to his feet and picked the king up, holding him above his head as all of the blood vessels in his face bulged. Then he tossed him in the air so high that when he fell, the ground shook.
Whoa.
The crowd burst into applause and the king flicked his gaze in my direction. I raised one eyebrow, hoping to convey my confusion at the situation. He erupted up from where he stood and grabbed Luka in a chokehold.
My fiancé went very still then, and the king yanked his head, probably intending to rip it off. A scream ripped from my throat, but Luka must have sensed that was the king’s intention, because he jumped upward, working with the king’s motion, and crashed his head into the king’s face. With a growl, the king released his hold on Luka’s neck and staggered backward.
The crowd fell silent and I stood. “He’s trying to kill him! We were invited as guests!” I shouted, hoping to make people see what was going on, because I knew Luka was about to kill the mad king. Or at least I hoped.
King Constantine roared in laughter and then looked at me. “I admit you are far too pretty of a prize to let go.”
Luka snarled at that, charging forward, but the king zipped to the side and grabbed a silver stake that just happened to by lying near Carmen.
How convenient.
Bastard.
All fighting rules had gone out the window. Whatever gentlemanly arrangement this was had soured, and the crowd noticed. They remained silent, eyes glued to the center mats as the men duked it out.
Well, if the king wasn’t going to play by the rules, then I wasn’t either.
You mess with my man, you mess with me.
Emotionally unstable Aspen was feeling stabby. Reaching down beneath me, I gripped the chair leg in my hand and yanked upward, snapping it off. It broke away in a perfect pointy tip.
Standing up, I surged onto the mat to stab the king in the back. One of the king’s men leapt forward to attack and intercept me. There was a blur of gray fur and then Tink leapt through the air in wolf form and attacked the vampire’s neck.
Most of the crowd gasped, but some cheered, and I sidestepped the fight with the werewolf and focused on the king. Luka had fallen to the ground and the king had his fist raised, stake in hand and ready to come down on Luka’s heart.
