The First’s lips opened wide, scarlet-tipped fangs glistened in the moonlit, and the creaturehowled.
The sound was unlike anything Marius had ever heard.
It was long and drawn out, a predatory, ancient cry that seemed to go on and on. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and a shiver ran down his spine.
Vivienne glanced over her shoulder, her black eyes hard, and shot him a look that said,If we make it out of this, Prince, I’m going to kill you.
Honestly, he understood exactly where she was coming from.
In all his visions, he’d never actually Seen the First. Not really. Maybe if he had, he would’ve made different choices.
The time for regrets had passed, however.
For all its corpse-like features, the First moved like a phantom. It stood, digging its bare feet into the bloody snow, and rolled its shoulders. The motion was so mortal that for a moment, Marius forgot they were dealing with a creature of death.
And then shadows streamed off the First, dark ribbons of pure night.
A single heartbeat was all it took for the grey vampire to charge towards them. It snarled, the savage sound designed to make lesser beings quake in the face of death.
Clutching his daggers, Marius prayed that he would remember the High Lady of Life’s instructions. He widened his stance, leaned slightly forward, distributed his weight evenly, and got ready to attack.
Even though the First was far more dangerous than he’d originally assumed, he would not back down from this fight. If anything, seeing this horrible creature face-to-face merely affirmed that it needed to be stopped now.
Wingsflapped as Vivienne launched into the air.
She met the First head-on, her blade outstretched.
Steel collided with ancient flesh, ripping through the creature’s flank.
A regular being would have stumbled from that blow. A regular being might have died from the way Vivienne’s weapon sliced a chunk out of their middle. A regular being would have also bled red.
None of those things happened.
The First seemed incensed as it screeched, clawing desperately at its side. Thick, inky blood oozed from the wound. And the smell...
If the feral vampire stank of death, its blood smelled of mildew and rotten eggs.
Bile coated the back of Marius’s throat, and his eyes burned.
There was no time to react.
Vivienne pulled her blade from the First, and black blood sprayed as she spun on her heels. Her initial blow might have caught the First off-guard, but the creature was ready for her now. The ribbons of death streamed out of the creature until hundreds filled the clearing. They blotted out the moon and stars, surrounding them in a blanket of thick darkness.
The First charged towards them; its fingers outstretched in an awful imitation of claws.
Once again, Vivienne caught Marius’s eye and yelled, “Run, Prince!”
Did she want him to take the coward’s way out and flee?
Not a chance in hell. He’d brought them into this mess. He refused to leave her here to deal with the vampire alone.
Instead, Marius raced towards the First.
He might not have possessed the speed or strength of a vampire, but he’d been training for years. His blades were made of silver, one of the few materials capable of injuring vampires.
The First seemed almost entirely focused on Vivienne as it formed a wall of pure shadows. It snarled, lobbing darkness towards her.
Vivienne dropped to the ground, her wings flattening as the shadows sailed where her head had been moments ago.
