33. SNOW-CAPPED CARNAGE

SNOW-CAPPED CARNAGE

T he snow crunched beneath us as my sneakers–a poor shoe choice for warring–sank into the powder almost up to my knees. Unbearable dread squatted in my gut as I slipped into the clearing on shaky legs like a newborn fawn. I don't belong here. Andras and Nadia, on the other hand, prowled toward the disheveled creatures littering the clearing like it was any old Thursday. The gap between us and them closed, now less than a hundred feet. Andras and Nadia glided over the snow like it wasn't even there, while I fought to keep pace, my feet heavy and clumsy

The gaunt faces of the closest halflings came into view as we approached. Some sneered at us, others had wild, unfocused expressions. They all had pallid skin. Callum was nowhere to be seen. We stopped no more than fifty feet from the closest halflings, with Andras and Nadia flanking me. I lifted my chin and pushed my shoulders back, careful to look every bit the part of someone who might be dangerous, of someone who belonged there, even if I felt like my nerves were going to combust and turn me to ash.

Snowflakes clung to my lashes, blurring my vision, and I could barely feel my feet—numb from the cold or maybe from the rising fear. My right hand gripped the sword, much heavier than the foil I'd spent years fencing with, while my left hovered over the gun holster on my hip, fingers twitching over a weapon I barely knew how to use. I prayed silently to the universe: keep me alive, let me go home to my babies, let me raise my girls.

My girls. I saw their faces—dark, curly hair like mine, their tiny hands in mine—and something shifted inside me. Fire and wrath ignited in my core, spreading like a storm through every fiber of my being. My hands steadied, and I lifted the sword just as a halfling man with salt-and-pepper hair and a hooked nose hissed and charged.

Nadia met him head-on, her movements fluid and fierce. Without hesitation, she vaulted up his body, her legs wrapping around his neck. With a brutal twist, she snapped it, sending him crashing into the snow, which exploded on impact. In a seamless motion, she spun off him, raised her sword high, and severed his head. Blood spilled, dark against the snow.

I waited for the urge to gag, for the flashbacks of my father's office to hit me, but nothing came. I felt nothing. Even as five more halflings sprinted toward us—so fast their movements blurred to my painfully slow mortal eyes—I was steady.

Andras darted away from my side as a halfling erupted in a burst of snow. I saw nothing but a blur of shadow, blood spraying, something wet and heavy rolling across the ground. Another explosion of snow followed, and a headless body crumpled into the endless white. Nadia shot forward, hooking her finger inside one of their mouths, using the momentum to propel herself behind him. Her sword flashed in the sunlight, and in an instant, his body collapsed, decapitated like so many others.

I was so captivated by Andras and Nadia's effortless death dance that I didn't notice the halfling on my right until it was too late. The creature slammed into me with bone-crushing force, knocking the air from my lungs and sending me sprawling. We flew through the air until my back collided with a fallen tree, pain ripping up my spine. A rabid elderly woman in a cat-themed moo-moo landed on top of me, her gums gnashing at my face and throat, two fangs (her only teeth) gleaming like a rattlesnake's.

I barely managed to block her attack with my forearms, twisting desperately to throw her off. Despite her frail appearance, she was terrifyingly strong. I headbutted her hard, feeling the crunch of her nose breaking beneath the blow, yet she barely flinched. Blood dripped from her crooked nose, warm and sticky, but it only seemed to fuel her frenzy.

Panicking, I jabbed my thumbs toward her glassy gray eyes, making her recoil. She struck back, her delicate hand slamming into my left eye with the force of a boulder. Pain exploded behind my eyelids, stars dancing in my vision as tears streamed down my cheeks.

Suddenly, a large male hand gripped her throat and yanked her off me. I gasped, rolling onto my stomach, clutching a handful of snow to press over my throbbing eye as I scrambled to my feet. Behind me, I heard bones crack, followed by a short, piercing cry. Then, silence.

"Are you hurt?" Andras's voice came from behind me, his large, warm hand settling gently on my shoulder. "Let me see you."

I turned slowly, one eye half-closed and swelling. His lips tightened as his gaze swept over my face, then down the length of my body, checking for harm, checking to make sure I was still whole. He winced as he took in the wound on my arm, but his touch was unbearably gentle as he took my hand. Without a word, he raised it to his mouth, his jaw working, tensing, as he hovered over the marred flesh left by the old woman's bite. Then, ever so slowly, he lowered his lips to my skin, his bloody tongue tracing over the bite. A tingling sensation spread through my arm as I watched the damaged flesh begin to knit itself back together.

"You bit your tongue?" I asked, my voice a mixture of curiosity and awe.

He dipped his chin once. "Our blood can heal, remember? Close your eyes."

I obeyed, and a moment later, felt the warmth of his tongue glide up the side of my face and over my swollen eyelid. The same tingling sensation followed, and just like with my arm, the swelling vanished as if nothing had ever happened. I wiped the moisture from my face with my sleeve, staring up at Andras. His blood-splattered golden skin was a sight to behold, and his blue eyes, filled with sorrow and worry, locked onto mine.

"I'm okay. Thank you."

He opened his mouth, hesitating. "I'm so—"

"I'm okay," I interrupted, squeezing his hand and pressing a kiss to his palm.

A crooked smile tugged at his lips. "If you kiss me again, I won't be able to fight. I'll be too distracted by thoughts of burying myself inside you," he purred, his voice deep and husky.

"Alright, Casanova," I chuckled softly. "Get back out there. I'll be fine—and Nadia looks like she could use some help."

In the clearing, Nadia was completely surrounded, her blade a blur as she slashed through the halflings closing in on her. Her movements were fierce and precise, the conductor of a brutal symphony, a cacophony of growls and screams rising all around her.

He searched my face for a moment, looking for something–maybe a sign that I'd actually be okay. A warm smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he bent to kiss my forehead, lingering as though time stood still and he had nowhere else to be. He backed away and, with a wink, spun towards the fight, cocking his head to the side, a predator locking onto prey. Icy winds swept loose tendrils of hair into my face. I blinked. That fast, Andras had joined the fray. Only this time, the fighting looked different. He stood next to Nadia, hands in his pockets, utterly still. Around him, halflings fell to the snow, clawing at things that weren't there, screaming as if they were afraid of some invisible demon. Some new hell had brought them to their knees and made them beg, cry, and howl. The sounds were unbearable. Nadia seemed almost bored as she took in the chaos. Her face was impassive, one hand on her hip, the other hand clenched on the hilt of her sword, the blade resting casually on her shoulder. But her chest heaved. Was she scared of something, too? Or was she feeling their terror, because that's her gift? Andras had become a statue: alive but not, there, but not. Alive, but not. His eyes were as black as the midnight sky, dark as obsidian stones, unfocused, unmoving, otherworldly. Mindweaving , I realized. He's using mindweaving to pull them into a nightmare .

And then Nadia was upon them. While they screeched and writhed in the snow, lost to some horror, she cut them down.

I inhaled a shuddering breath as a halfling stepped into my line of sight, teeth bared, eyes frantic with bloodlust. Instinctively, my left leg slid back into first position as I raised my sword, the point aimed at the creature barreling toward me, his long black hair whipping behind him in a tangled mess. He closed in fast, claws slashing through the air, grabbing at my hair, my clothes. Each time he lunged, I met him with the blade, slashing violently at his hands and arms until, finally, I saw my opening. Without hesitating, I drove the sword forward, aiming for his chest. Flesh and muscle gave way as I plunged the blade in, grinding sickeningly against bone. Dark blood spurted from the wound, and for a moment, I froze, staring at the gushing stream in shock. But I knew I had only seconds before the stunned halfling would recover and strike again. Planting my feet, I went for the neck and slashed, throwing all of my strength into it. Blood splattered and pumped as the creature's head flopped back, a gruesome gaping wound across his throat, but his head, covered in flowing onyx hair… Oh fuck, no, no, no,

I didn't cut all the way through. Wincing, I tried again, this time knocking him to the ground, where he writhed and flailed, blood pumping from his slit throat, head still somehow attached. Looking down upon him, I hacked, my blade scraping bone. Again. Again. Again! At last, my sword went clean through, into the icy red ground.

Blood splatter smeared my lips, mingling with the melting snowflakes on my skin. I could feel the droplets running down my face, but I barely registered them. Andras and Nadia had both paused to watch me—Andras, his brows raised, mouth slightly parted in shock, while Nadia's lips curved into a tight smile, her eyes flickering with amusement. I shrugged. What would they have me do? But before I could catch my breath, another halfling charged—a tall female with hair-like burning embers.

I went for the gun on my hip and aimed with unsteady hands for the creature's pretty, pale forehead. I fired as she zig zagged out of the way. I fired again and missed. No! No! No! I held my breath and begged the universe–the stars, the moon, even the energy beneath my feet–for the bullet to find its mark. I fired again and struck true. She jerked to a stop. I fired once more, this time hitting her in the face. No longer pretty, her peach lips pulled back in a sneer, revealing long, white fangs, before she crumpled into the snow.

Her head came off a little bit easier.

I tried not to think about who she'd been before this. Did she have children? A favorite book? I knew these questions would haunt me forever, and now was not the time. I forced myself to shove the thoughts away, burying them deep. I stood frozen in the clearing, watching as Nadia and Andras effortlessly cut down the remaining two dozen halflings, their movements swift and brutal.

Before, when I'd known Andras simply as the hot new neighbor, I would never have guessed he'd been an army general and mercenary in another life, long ago. But seeing him spin and slash, whirl and duck, I couldn't imagine him as anything else. A burst of snow, then blood and death.

Three halflings were on Andras. He crossed his swords at the base of one of their throats and flung the swords outward as the body collapsed, headless. Sheathing the swords on his back, he punched into the chest of the halfling on his right, yanking out its heart. He let it roll off of his fingers into the powder, then did the same to the one on his left. In three moves, in three seconds, all three halflings were dead.

Nadia was no less lethal, but she took her time, and fought with deadly grace–pivoting, spinning, leaping–as if this were a sort of ballet. I wondered what her life had been like over these past centuries, to have become so good at killing that it was almost an art.

Once the last of the creatures had fallen, the fresh snow now muddy and streaked with scarlet, Andras and Nadia strode toward me, drenched in dirt and caked with blood. Andras's dark hair glistened with a crimson sheen where his bloody hands had raked through it, and Nadia's blade, like mine, dripped steadily at her side.

"Where the fuck is he?" Nadia snapped as they reached me, her voice sharp.

"I don't know," Andras muttered, his eyes searching the tree line.

Nadia's eyes narrowed, her body tense. "I can feel him," she said, her voice dropping into a low growl. "You're an angry piece of shit, Callum!" she shouted towards the woods.

"I can smell him," Andras muttered. His jaw ticked as he continued to scan the horizon.

"Come out, you prick!" he finally snarled, his voice dark and commanding. The sheer force of it made me flinch.

A slow clap sounded behind us. Clap, clap, clap.

"Bravo."

A voice made of gravel followed, laced with that strange, unplaceable accent. We spun around to find Callum lounging on the cabin steps, his elbows propped casually on the stairs, legs crossed at the knee. He looked both ancient and unsettlingly modern, clad in a bizarre mix of Roman military armor and contemporary clothing—a golden breastplate over a black tunic, sleek black trousers, and leather boots. His lips curled into a mocking, hateful smile.

His eyes gleamed with malice as he turned his hateful gaze to Andras.

"Az, I see you're enjoying yourself," he crooned. "Look at that! You killed them all! Men, women—just like the glorious old days of Rome, before everything became so dull. Revertere me ad illud tempus."

"Ire ad inferos!" Andras spat.

An eerie silence settled over us as Callum narrowed his dark brown eyes, locking them on Andras with unhinged intensity. Nadia again rested her sword casually on her shoulder, legs spread in a wide stance, ready. A scowl creased her face, her full mauve lips curled into a sneer. Andras, seemingly unaffected, simply tilted his head, his beautiful features a mask of perfect indifference. My right eyelid twitched from nerves, and my chest heaved with each breath, the pounding of my heart unmistakable even from twenty feet away. The fear that had momentarily left me during the fight surged back, stronger than before, knowing that this evil shithead was poised to unleash himself on us.

"What is it you want, Callum?" Andras asked coldly.

"Want? I want you to pay . I want you to hurt . I want you to die . You trapped me in half-conscious hell for centuries, Andras, centuries . I went completely mad and spent day after day dreaming of clever ways to ruin you."

"Oh, you were mad long before that, Callum," Nadia taunted.

"Shut up, bitch," Callum snarled.

"Careful, Callum," Andras ground out. "You deserved what you got, and worse, after everything you did. Much worse."

"What is it that I did, Andras? Gifted you immortality? An army to lead? A castle to live in?"

Andras sighed loudly. "Tsk-tsk," he began taunting, "all of that time to self-reflect, for naught. What a waste. You're conveniently leaving out the murder, the torture, the psychotic fits of rage..."

Callum scoffed.

He pushed off of the steps, slowly stalking towards us.

"You were always so fucking dramatic," he sneered, unsheathing an iron sword. "I'm tired of talking. I'm going to kill her ," he pointed his sword at Nadia, who smiled wide, as though she were counting on it, "and then her ," he pointed the sword at me and I inhaled sharply, feeling dizzy, "and I'm going to take my time with the human one, carving her up while you watch."

Fear and rage slammed into me. I fumbled for the gun on my left side again, my grip loosening on the hilt of the sword on my right.

In a blink, Callum lunged for Nadia, but Andras stepped between them, shoving Callum back before launching into a flurry of strikes. Their swords clashed, gleaming in the dusk light, the sound sharp and relentless. Callum bared his teeth and went for Andras's throat, but Andras blocked, spun free, and wrapped his arm around Callum's neck, squeezing as if he meant to rip his head off. Callum regained the advantage, throwing Andras over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing, right as Nadia charged in, slashing at Callum with her sword. He dodged her advances and landed a blow, slicing her leg. Blood oozed as she scrambled up, limping, bright red trailing behind.

The fight blurred into a whirlwind of grunts and slashes. Nadia and Andras tried to flank Callum, but he moved with supernatural ease, outmaneuvering them both. Panic surged. He was going to massacre us, find my family, my children, and…

No. My legs were moving before I could stop myself. I pulled my gun, fired, and missed. Without thinking, I fired again—this time hitting his thigh. Callum's face jerked toward me, snarling, teeth bared. I fired again.

Click. Empty .

My heart pounded. I tossed the gun to the side and ran toward him with my sword ready to strike. Steel clashed into iron, but everything I sent his way, he parried with ease, knocking my sword from my hand. He lunged to jab, and I braced for the impact of his blade in my gut, waiting for the pain, and death. I would never see my children again. What would they tell my family when they find me disemboweled in the snow? Nadia roared as her sword crashed down onto Callum's, knocking it off course and sparing me. I recoiled, stumbling back as Callum came for me again, wildly searching the ground for something, anything to protect myself. Andras appeared between us and blocked Callum's next blow, and the next, and the next, getting closer and closer until the tip of Callum's sword struck his chest, cutting deep.

Andras cursed and staggered back, bleeding.

"Andras!" I screamed.

Callum lunged again, without hesitation. Time slowed as he raised his sword for the kill, muscles tensing in his jaw, Andras leaning back out of the reach of the blade. I knew I had to do something. I had to do something fast.

I sprang forward, roaring as I slammed both of my hands into Callum's chest. My body felt hot, molten.I could feel power flooding through me. Both our eyes went wide as electricity surged from my palms into him, sending him careening back and into the snow. Gasping, I examined my palms in disbelief. Callum panted as he sat up and crawled onto his hands and knees like a wild animal ready to charge. I inched back.

Blood had bloomed from Andras' chest. But the red sticky stream that had trickled down his abdomen and seeped through his t-shirt was already slowing as he healed. He observed me, eyes darting all over my body before settling onto my hands. Then those dark blue eyes, bloodshot with blown-out pupils, flicked up to mine in question. I shrugged, having no fucking idea what just happened. But Nadia smiled widely at both of us, like she understood something we didn't.

It had happened before, when that creature had attacked me in my home, but I thought I'd imagined it, thought it had something to do with adrenaline. This time I had witnesses, and they'd seen the power, the raw energy, that had come from me. My heart raced. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense. I was in a foreign body, in a new reality. Who was I? What was I?

Before any of us could register what was happening, Callum seized Nadia from behind, fast. So unbelievably fast. A crack sounded as he snapped her neck, and let her crumble to the ground. Andras howled, "NADIA!" and charged at Callum, who twirled out of reach, grabbed Andras's arm, and plunged his sword into Andras's side. Andras panted and winced, falling to his knees.

"No!" I cried out.

We're dead. We are all dead.

The sun had disappeared fully just beyond the hills, and the valley was quiet and cloaked in shadow. I could see Andras's quick, shallow breaths in the frigid air. Callum leaned down close, grasping his sword at the hilt, and whispered, "That's for betraying me for her all those years ago," he gestured at Nadia, "for choosing her after I gave you everything ." He pulled his sword free from Andras's body, then shoved it back in, "and that's for stabbing me the other day, you prick." Andras growled through clenched teeth. Callum studied Andras's face. His rage softened, black eyes glistening as he whispered, barely audible, "I loved you."

Andras stared back at him, his blue eyes glossy from the pain. "I thought I loved you, too," he grunted out. Then his pupils swelled, and Callum went utterly still, his gaze vacant.

Realization dawned on me. Andras had pulled Callum into his mind–a distraction.

It was my only shot.

I moved. As fast as I could run, I seized my sword from the snow and was upon them in a few steps. I had seconds, just a few heartbeats, to do it. To end this. Positioning myself behind Callum, I realized that if I swung even slightly off, I'd hit Andras, too. Raising the blade with unsteady hands, I widened my legs and spread my toes, anchoring myself to the frozen ground–just like I'd been taught by my fencing coach more than a decade ago. Any moment Callum would rip himself free of whatever illusion he'd found himself trapped in. Panic began to take hold of me. Go now , I willed myself. Go NOW. Breathing deeply, my lungs expanding until they ached, I exhaled and brought the sword down hard, with everything I was, everything I wanted to be, and everything I'd ever been, slicing through bone, through muscle, until the blade met the snow and something rolled off to the side with a horrible, wet thud. Callum's body turned black and then disintegrated into ash, carried away on an icy breeze.

Still on his knees, Andras blinked, staring at the place where Callum's body had been. Then he turned, wincing from his wounds, looking me up and down.

"Thanks, darling," he whispered.

Nadia still lay unconscious nearby, a thin veil of flakes covering her, clinging to her delicate blouse, her dark rose lips parted just so, as if she were having a peaceful nap. Kneeling beside her, I finally let the blood-stained sword fall from my hand. I leaned over her to examine her neck, craned at an odd angle. The sound of her broken body hung in the air, thrumming in my ears, while my hand gently caressed her cheek.

"Nadia? Nadia, can you hear me?"

I didn't know the first thing about vampire healing or how long it might take for one of their kind to recover from a broken neck–or if they even could. The snow sank to our left as Andras knelt there, scooping his long, muscled arms underneath Nadia's back and legs before hoisting her up close to his chest. He got to his feet with her in his arms as if she were the size of a doll.

"Let's go inside where it's warm," he said gently.

"What about all of this?"

I gestured to the mud and gore, the headless bodies strewn for hundreds of yards around us, haunting and polluting the otherwise undisturbed beauty of these mountains.

"Halflings don't turn to ash right away, like we do. But they can't go in the sunlight until they're fully made. The sunrise will take care of this, of them."

I surveyed the carnage one last time and swallowed hard to stifle nausea as I climbed to my feet. The sword I'd dropped had sunk nearly out of sight, and ice nipped at my already frozen fingers as I freed the steel. The hilt biting into my hand, I led the way back to the cabin.