34. Montana

Ipushed through a line of guards but was slowed by their immovable strength. A clamour of noise rang out as they surged toward Magnar and a gap allowed me to slip past them.

Julius called my name and I turned, spotting him driving Menace through the chest of a guard. She scattered to ash in front of him, and he strode toward me at a fierce pace.

I shook my head in refusal of his intentions.

“Get Callie!” I yelled, but two more guards turned at my voice, spotting Julius behind me. They pushed me aside to engage him and I slammed into a pew, catching myself before I was knocked to the ground.

“Fuck,” I hissed.

Julius roared as he intercepted them, and my heart leapt at his ferocious expression. I wasn’t worried for him; I wouldn’t have wanted to be a vampire standing against his wrath.

I climbed up onto the bench, gazing across the madness, ignoring the sting of my freshly acquired bruises. My heart lifted as I spotted Callie in Magnar’s arms, but Fabian was closing in on them at a terrifying speed.

“Callie!” I roared, but she couldn’t hear me over the commotion.

“Rebel!” Erik bellowed, and I spotted him throwing guards out of his way like sacks of shit as he made a beeline for me. My stomach fluttered as I started scrambling over the pews, jumping from bench to bench as I headed away from him, knowing if he caught me, he’d take me from here. Away from my sister. And with this new bond playing havoc with me, I just might let him.

My heart tore apart as I was tugged in two opposing directions, the mark on my palm aching, telling me to turn back, but I fought it with all my might.

I have to get to Callie. She’s all that matters.

I spotted a whip of dark hair at the back of the hall. Valentina was by the doors, wrenching them open and letting vampires flood away onto the street.

“Hey!” I called, quickening my pace towards her.

She could help. She could bring a storm down on this place and get Callie out of here.

A severed arm came spinning through the air, slamming into my back, and I cursed as it knocked me forward a step. I slipped on the netting of my dress and my knees crashed into the floor, my chin colliding with the bench so hard I tasted blood. The crown fell from my head, clattering to the flagstones with a ringing of metal.

I groaned, crawling along the cold stone and forcing my way out of the aisle.

Blonde hair spilled in front of me and soft hands grabbed my arms. I looked up, my heart lifting as I prayed it was Callie, but my shoulders sagged in disappointment.

Paige stood there, her cheeks drained of blood and her eyes wide. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Listen, I can get you out of the city. You have to trust me,” I said.

“What do you mean?” she asked in shock, but I didn’t have time to explain.

“Where’s my sister?” I demanded, trying to peer past her head. She pushed me toward the doors, ignoring my question.

“Come on, we have to move.”

I spotted Valentina hurrying outside and quickened my pace to catch her. “Hey! Wait! Help us!” I turned to Paige. “Follow me,” I commanded, and she nodded, fear dancing in her eyes.

I sprinted to the doorway, gazing out at the street where rain was pummelling the ground like bullets.

Run, Moon Child! Nightmare screamed, scorching the inside of my hand.

A shadow fell over me, and I didn’t react fast enough. I was shoved hard, thrown down to the floor on my back as an impossible weight fell on me.

Panic seized me and I clawed at the vampire who held me in place, his hands pushing my hair from my throat.

“We have the right to bite,” he growled with a manic grin, then dug his fangs into my neck. Pain flared through me and white stars exploded before my eyes, a scream pitching from my throat.

The rebels were here.

My fist tightened around Nightmare, and I plunged it into the vampire’s side, once, twice, three times. Rage guided my actions, and Nightmare cried out a beautiful song in my mind, praising my vicious work.

The vampire choked, coughing blood over my dress as he reared backwards in pain. Nightmare guided my next movements, and I forced the blade into his chest with a shout of defiance tearing from my lungs.

He crumbled to dust before my eyes and I threw his clothes from me, taking a breath as I regained my feet. I touched the wound on my neck to make sure it wasn’t life threatening. Adrenaline kept the pain at bay, and there wasn’t too much blood, so I guessed I’d survive.

Terrorised cries caught my ear, and I spotted Paige pinned to a pillar, thrashing as a female vampire drank from her neck.

More of the rebels poured into the hall, falling upon the guards in droves, their attacks savage and reckless.

I sprinted toward Paige, Nightmare raised with a deadly promise, but before I reached her, strong arms surrounded me, yanking me back.

I wriggled desperately as my captor caught my wrist and ripped Nightmare from my grip. “I’ll have that.”

I recognised Valentina’s voice and my stomach clenched. She turned me in her arms, grabbing hold of my throat and lifting me of off the ground, her fangs bared in victory.

Confusion riddled my mind and fear scratched at my heart. I raked my nails up her arms, desperate for her to release me as my air supply was cut off.

“Rise biters! Take the humans! Drink the blood you are owed!” Valentina cried to the room, and horror flooded me. I kicked the bitch who had hold of me, trying to force her to let go as I struggled for air, but she was immovable.

A group of salivating vampires ran towards us, and Valentina dangled me before them like a hunk of meat.

“They’re going to rip you apart, Montana. I’ve been looking forward to this moment.” She smiled wickedly, then threw me away from her, and my arms flailed wildly above me as if I could grab onto the nothingness between my outstretched fingers.

I screamed as I crashed to the ground, the air leaving my lungs in a hard whoosh from the impact. All four of the biters leapt on top of me, searching for flesh to bite, teeth gnashing and hands clawing at me. They tore at my dress, slicing the lace apart with desperate fingers like starving beasts.

My cries were lost to the tumult of noise around me, and as I kicked and fought, throwing punches that cracked against cheeks as tough as stone, a terrifying reality fell over me.

Without Nightmare, I couldn’t fight. Without Nightmare, I was dead.

Panic burst through me as the first set of teeth sank into my arm and I threw a hard punch, kicking and flailing so that they had to take hold of my limbs to hold me still. Pain tore through me as venom sailed into my veins and I was pinned between the monsters, firm, cold hands shoving me down. Teeth sank into me from every direction, and a scream tore from my lungs.

One of them crawled up me like a wraith, her eyes like the pits of hell as she took in her prize.

Terror flooded me, my fate closing in on all sides, and if the gods were watching now, it was clear they had no inclination to step in. I was just a feast for hungry mouths. It was a more horrifying truth than any other. That I had never claimed the freedom I’d dreamed of, never had even a taste of liberation with my family.

The female dipped her head toward my neck, but before her teeth reached me, she was wrenched back by her hair.

Erik stood there, holding her head between his hands, his face a picture of wrath built by the gods themselves. With a roar of monstrous rage, he tore her head from her shoulders with impossible ease. Scarlet blood splattered over him, and he kicked her body to the floor, stamping on her chest so hard, her heart was crushed, and she turned to ash.

The biters released me in an instant, cowering beneath him in terror.

“Wait!” a male cried, but Erik caught him by the collar, plunging his hand straight into his chest and ripping out his heart, tossing the bloody lump of flesh to the floor and crushing it beneath his heel with a cold brutality, the body bursting to dust in the next moment.

Erik grabbed another biter, tearing out her throat with his fangs before slamming his fist into her heart and dropping her body beside me. She twitched once before turning to dust, and the final biter fled. Erik gazed after him as he darted out of the door into the rain, fangs bared and murder in his eyes.

I stared up at his snarling expression, shock keeping me frozen on the floor.

He bent down, dragging me up by the hand and checking me over with a fierce intensity. When he spotted the bite marks, his eyes darkened with a need for vengeance, his lips twitching with purest ire.

Pain sizzled through the wounds, but I tried not to focus on them even though the venom burned like a bitch.

I turned to find Paige, and shock jarred me to a despairing halt as I spotted her broken body on the floor, her lifeless eyes glazed over.

A sob caught in my throat and Erik pressed a hand to my back, drawing me close.

“I couldn’t get to her,” I choked.

“It’s not your fault,” Erik said firmly, but I couldn’t turn away from her. She deserved more than this. “Look at me, rebel.”

I dragged my attention to him and found a sea of resolve in his eyes.

“You didn’t do this,” he growled, and I nodded, accepting that even though it didn’t lessen the pain of her loss.

“Valentina let them in,” I growled, my grief turning to fury. “She’s one of them.”

He searched the crowd behind us with a snarl, and I spotted Valentina using Nightmare to kill guard after guard, proving her betrayal.

“Traitor,” Erik growled, keeping my hand in his as he stormed toward her with death in his eyes.

Valentina gasped as she spotted him, forcing her way between the guards to get away.

A bellow filled my ears, and I was knocked sideways as Julius collided with us, trying to drag me away. He aimed his sword at Erik to keep him back, and I cried out in fright, catching his arm as I tried to stop him advancing.

“You promised,” I hissed at Julius.

“I’m keeping my promise, now let’s go.”

“Not happening,” Erik said icily, stepping menacingly toward him. His eyes swung to me momentarily, realisation blazing in them. “You invited him here?”

“I had to,” I breathed, and Erik’s gaze flickered with that betrayal.

He growled, advancing on Julius. “You’re not taking her. I will kill you before you make it a single step out of this cathedral.”

Erik lunged forward and Julius swung Menace in a deadly arc.

“No!” I screamed as Erik darted aside, missing the blow by inches. I leapt onto Julius’s back as he swung Menace again.

“Stop!” I commanded, pulling on Julius’s neck.

The slayer wheeled around, trying to shake me off, but I clamped my hands over his eyes so he couldn’t see.

Erik gazed at me in alarm, then bared his fangs at Julius, like he was about to take the advantage I’d just given him.

“Don’t you dare!” I shouted at Erik.

Julius grabbed my legs, pulling sharply so I fell backwards and hit the floor. I swore, kicking the back of his knee, and he buckled as he swung the sword at Erik again, missing him by inches.

“It’s self-defence,” Julius snapped, but I was sure he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Erik if he got too close.

Clarice dove over Erik’s head like an angel of death, colliding with Julius and taking him to the floor beside me with an echoing bang. She straddled him, kneeling on his arms and grasping his neck as he flailed, trying to turn Menace toward her, but she had him pinned down.

I rolled onto my knees as Clarice’s nails dug into his throat.

“Don’t hurt him!” I cried in panic, dropping down beside Julius and shoving Clarice to try and stop her.

Erik stepped on Julius’s wrist, and he cursed in pain, releasing Menace from his grip. Erik kicked it away from him and snarled at Julius, looking ready to rip him apart.

“Clarice, please don’t kill him,” I begged.

She gazed down at me in dismay, then looked to Erik for direction.

“He’s a slayer,” Clarice implored. “He’s killed countless of our kind.”

Erik glanced at me, at war with his decision, and I glared right back, letting him see what it would cost him if he killed this man. I would never forgive it.

Julius suddenly yanked an arm free from where it was pinned down by Clarice’s right knee and he punched her square in the face. She was thrown off of him, slamming onto her back. He was on his feet in seconds, dragging me up with him and pulling me against him like a shield.

“Sword,” he commanded, and Erik released a noise like a feral animal.

“You’re dead,” Erik promised.

“Not before she is,” Julius bluffed, and I hoped Erik distrusted him enough to believe him.

Erik glanced at Clarice, his jaw ticking angrily. He kicked the sword to Julius, and he snatched it up with a low noise of contentment.

“Go,” I hissed at Julius, prising his fingers from my neck.

“I won’t leave y-”

“Go!” I shoved him, and Clarice darted forward, forcing Julius to run. She chased after him and they sprinted out onto the rain-swept street, disappearing into the storm.

“We need to get out of here,” Erik demanded, still seething as he gazed after Julius and his sister.

“Not without Callie,” I said darkly, hunting the room for her.

A heated trickle ran down my neck, and I lifted a hand to the blood there, wincing as the throbbing pain sharpened. Erik growled at the sight, my wounds sparking a fury in him that knew no limits.

I pushed past Erik, not caring what lay ahead as I searched for my twin. Because there was no way in hell I was going anywhere without her.