“Really glad we have an angel on our side,” Hayden sighs. “I have a feeling it won’t get any better from here.”
We run into more Templars as we continue through the grotto, but don’t suffer anymore injuries fighting them. We push our way down some stairs and emerge into near darkness. It’s quiet, the atmosphere hushed. A recognizable scent hangs in the air. One I wouldn’t have recognized before we fought the vampires.
“Death,” I whisper. “Not just old tombs, either. Gabriel’s here. Somewhere.”
“Yeah, there’s more than an angel down here,” Jaxton growls.
An eerie groan echoes and the hair on the back of my neck bristles. I’ve heard that before and so has the rest of my pack.
Vampires.
“Vampires? Here?” Wyatt questions. “What the hell are the Crimson Templars doing?”
“Fledglings!” Remy calls out.
We see them approaching, but when they get closer, we realize they’re not fledglings. Not like the ones we’ve fought before. These are Crimson Templars who have been turned. Hayden goes after the first one, but the armor makes it harder to remove the heart.
“These are way too strong!” Hayden yells.
“They’ve been turned by angel blood,” Lucifer’s voice echoes off the stone walls. “But they’re still mindless vampires. Use that to your advantage. Rip off their armor before you go for the heart.”
I can’t do much except parry with my sword, because it can’t pierce the armor that the Crimson Templars are using. Lucifer doesn’t have that problem, because he’s so strong he cleaves them in half when he hits them. But his instructions are what we need. The pack pins the fledglings down, tears off their armor, and then bites through what is left to destroy the heart.
“Are all the Crimson Templars vampires?” I question as we continue ahead.
“Not all of them,” Lucifer replies. “Drinking angel blood won’t do much for a human… But vampires… that’s a problem.”
“At least we’re immune to their bites,” I say, shuddering a little.
“Gabriel should have been as well,” Lucifer says. “But clearly they’ve found a way to get his blood, even if they can’t bite him.”
I’m only half-angel and a blood transfusion changed Daisy. Drinking it gave my mates immunity to the vampire bites. I’m not sure what pure angel blood could do for a vampire, but I’m sure it isn’t good. Not for us, at least.
We run into more vampires as we get deeper into the necropolis. Some of them are older vampires, but not ancient. I’ve learnedthe difference now. They’re more of a challenge than most of the ones we fought at the school, but with Lucifer’s help and my mates enhanced size and strength, we’re able to make our way through them.
“Ahead,” I say, pointing to large, wooden double doors. “Gabriel is on the other side.”
“Stay behind me,” Lucifer orders. “I’ll rescue my brother.”
Lucifer grabs the doors, rips them off their hinges, and rushes into the room. We follow behind him. It’s an enormous chamber that stretches so high the ceiling is lost in the shadows. The walls are lined with stone shelves stacked floor to ceiling with ancient caskets and burial niches. Thousands of them, creating a macabre tower of the dead.
Directly ahead of us, suspended by chains that appear to be made out of the same alloy as the Crimson Templars’ weapons, hangs an angel. Gabriel. He’s massive, even larger than my father, his body stretched and broken. His wings are shredded, torn, barely more than skeletal frames with no feathers remaining. His skin has been flayed in places, exposing muscle and sinew, streams of dried blood visible below the wounds.
“Gabriel!” Lucifer cries out his brother’s name, moving towards the angel.
“Wait!” I scream, realizing there’s something else in the room. Somethingfeedingfrom a gash in Gabriel’s flayed flesh.
“It’s a vampire,” Wyatt’s voice comes out as shouted whisper. “An ancient vampire, older than the last one we fought.”
Lucifer stops in his tracks as the vampire walks out from behind Gabriel. The vampire is so ancient he barely looks human. Hiseyes are blood-red embers. His skin is withered to the point that bone is showing on his scalp and sinews along his neck. He’s wearing a red robe with a white cross, but the cross is stained with blood, and darker spots on his robe appear to be from blood as well.
“Another angel,” the vampire hisses. “I’ll hang you next to your brother, and I’ll feed on you both. Mychildrenwill feed on you both.”
“No, this ends today,” Lucifer seems to illuminate the ghastly room as his anger fuels his angelic glow.
“We’ve killed an ancient vampire before,” Jaxton rumbles. “We can take another one, especially with Lucifer’s help. Even if he’s been drinking angel blood.”
“We’ve been preparing to finish the Scions, the scourge born from unholy blood, for centuries,” the vampire boasts. “You brought the fight to us, but the result will be the same. Don’t worry, I’ll even make a few of you into my servants. If you survive.”
