36. Montana

Iploughed through the mass of bodies before me. Every time the biters got near, they turned into a frenzy, trying to grab me, but Erik crushed their necks, broke bones, and flung them from me with a frightening disregard for their lives, carving a path through them like they were no more than stalks of grass.

I caught sight of Valentina up ahead, and my eyes fell on Nightmare in her grasp. My upper lip curled back as I took a step toward her, longing to reunite with my blade and get some vengeance on her while I was at it.

Erik sprinted past me in a blur, knocking the blade from her hand and grabbing hold of her throat as simple as that.

“Mas-ter,” she begged. “Don’t hurt me.”

His eyes blazed with a destructive power that would see her crushed in moments, and I willed him to follow through. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t end you.”

I ducked down, grabbing Nightmare from the floor and calming a little as it purred in my hand. I pointed it at Valentina with an ache of revenge in my heart. She’d caused Paige’s death. She’d let those monsters in here and thrown me to them, happy to see me die.

“If only you’d try our ways,” Valentina rasped, glancing at me with hatred, the truth of her exposed. “Drink from her, then you’ll see the delights we can claim from them. The hunt is what we’re made for.”

A group of biters descended on us, and strong hands snatched my shoulders, pulling me back. I didn’t think, didn’t feel as I turned and slammed Nightmare between a vampire’s ribs. She dissolved into dust but another one pounced on me in seconds. I slashed out as Nightmare whispered encouragements in my mind, urging my movements, telling me to strike this way and that, though my blows weren’t precise and deadly as I needed them to be.

In moments, I was overwhelmed, and a male pulled me around to face Erik, his hand locked tight around my jaw.

“Unhand the one true queen!” my captor demanded, and Erik glared at him, squeezing Valentina’s throat tighter.

“Release my wife or I will kill you all. And I shall make it torturous beyond all measure.”

My heart clenched at Erik’s words and the mark on my palm burned as if a sunbeam was etched into my skin.

“Let Valentina go,” a female biter cried, taking hold of my wrist and bringing it to her mouth. Her fangs brushed my skin, and Erik’s eyes flared with fury. He threw Valentina to the floor, her head cracking against the tiles before he shot toward me.

The biters intercepted him, but his strength was pure and wild. He ripped them to pieces as if they were nothing more than dolls, their screams falling silent as their bodies burst apart and ash swirled around Erik’s feet. It had all happened so fast, I’d barely blinked before it was done, the ash of my captor swirling around me.

Erik turned to find Valentina, but she was no longer on the floor where he’d left her, the bitch having made a run for it.

“Gods be damned,” he snarled, taking my arm and tugging me close.

Biters circled around us once more, taking the place of those he’d killed, and Erik rolled his shoulders, his fine clothes stained with ash, warning them of the deaths he’d already delivered.

I knew I had to find Callie, but there was no way through the onslaught without fighting our way forward.

I readied Nightmare in my palm and Erik snarled a warning at our enemies.

“Remember what she said,” a male announced to the group. “Detain the prince, but the girl is ours.”

As one, they surged toward us, immediately breaking me away from Erik. Adrenaline bolted through me as I stabbed with Nightmare, gasping as I managed to bury it in a female’s side and yanking it free again. My heart lurched as she grabbed my hair, ripping my head back and throwing me to the floor. I rolled fast as she tried to leap on me, crawling through the sea of legs, then springing upright.

Erik collided with me as four biters took him on, and I stumbled in alarm, grabbing onto his jacket to stay upright. With a shriek of anger, I slashed Nightmare across the face of a biter holding his arm, and he reared away, screaming as blood poured from his eye.

Erik tossed a female to the floor, caving in her head with a violent kick. His next victim was cleaved apart by his hands alone and left in a bloody heap.

I finished off any biters who lay crumpled in his wake, clinging to their immortal lives beneath him, stabbing their hearts and laying waste to their bodies as ash collected at our feet, energy clashing through my blood and awakening a part of me that thrived on the fight.

Destroy them all, Moon Child.

Nightmare was alight with the battle, each death making it purr and sigh. This was what Julius had been talking about, my slayer blood making me built for this fight, and I knew the vow he spoke of could only make me stronger.

Erik finished the final two with a monstrous brutality, beheading one and snapping the other’s spine like it was nothing more than a branch in his grip. Blood coated him from head to foot, dripping from his hands in a steady stream and plinking against the tiles, a severed head hanging from his fist.

I walked toward the twitching body of the vampire he had beheaded, driving my blade into its chest, and he turned to ash. The blood soaking Erik turned black as night, falling to dust along with the head in his hand, and a swirl of debris scattered from his clothes.

He turned to me with a fervent look, striding forward and pointing over my shoulder.

Miles was on the ground, apprehended by nearly twenty biters who had managed to lock him in chains and were piling on top of him to hold him down. Erik rolled up his sleeves, dragging me with him as he bounded towards his brother.

Valentina pushed through the biters, pressing her six-inch heel onto Miles’s spine. “Stay back or I’ll end him, Erik.” She pressed her foot down and Miles cursed. “I’m taking over the New Empire. You and your family need to yield, or we’ll destroy you all.”

Out of nowhere, Warren appeared, swinging the huge stone font and smashing it into Valentina’s face. I gasped as she hit the floor with blood pouring from her obliterated nose. The biters looked to her in horror, but Warren was upon them in seconds, ripping off limbs as he dragged Miles upright.

The moment Miles had enough room, his muscles bulged against the chains and they broke with a wrenching of metal, the pieces falling around him.

The golden-haired prince leapt upright and rolled his shoulders back, advancing on Valentina with deadly intent. “I despise traitors.”

“Make it hurt,” Warren urged him, and Miles smiled wickedly.

Valentina gained her feet, glancing around in fright with a storm flaring in her eyes. Erik took a threatening stance, ready to take her on alongside Miles and Warren, and I was right there with them.

An almighty crash sounded, and a blinding light sent us stumbling backwards.

The entire roof tore apart as lightning scored through it and sent a cascade of bricks plunging toward us.

Erik slammed into me, and the breath was knocked from my lungs as I hit the floor. He arched over me, grunting as bricks crashed into his body, taking the brunt of the impact. My pulse thundered violently, and I squeezed my eyes shut from the dust and debris whipping up around us.

Screams rang through the air and another flare of lightning hit the pews across from us. A fire roared in its wake, and Erik rolled, pulling me between two of the pews and shielding my body with his.

“We have to run,” he said fiercely. “Hold on to me.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck in answer, praying Callie was okay. That she’d survived the collapsing roof and the rampant biters. Because there was nothing I could do for her now, and that thought terrified me.

Erik scooped me upright and started running, diving over pews and tearing toward the exit at a furious speed.

As we neared it, a well-dressed vampire staggered into us. “Sire, are you okay!?” she yelled in fear.

A piece of the roof fell onto her so hard that she was crushed in an instant. I gasped in horror, clinging to Erik as he leapt over the wreckage and darted out into the rain. I was immediately soaked as he kept running and the wind battered every inch of us.

Nightmare flared in my hand. Sun Child needs help.

“Stop!” I cried, and Erik skidded to a halt, leaning back to look at me with raindrops clinging to his cheeks.

“We’ve got to go, rebel,” he urged.

“Callie,” I gasped as Nightmare sent a rush of energy through me. It could sense her around the next corner. She was achingly close. “She’s not far.”

“Where?”

“That way!” I pointed and Erik resisted for half a second longer before following my command.