"Touch my wife again," Alaric growled, voice low and inhuman, "and I’ll rip your arms off and beat you with them. Even if you don’t touch her"
His eyes glowed faintly now—not gold, not silver, but sothing... ancient. Cold. A flicker of the beast within.
Salviana climbed off the horse, breathing hard, heart pounding. "Alaric—"
"I’m fine, My love. Stay behind the rocks. This part gets ssy."
Lucius was already at work, his umbrella drawn—not for rain, but for slaughter.
He twirled it with terrifying elegance and unleashed it like a whip, slicing through the legs of a charging rcenary with a flick of his wrist.
Jean gasped. "You said it was just for sun!"
He smirked, "I lied."
Two hunters charged Alaric. He t them head-on, blades clashing, sparks flying. He fought like a man with nothing to lose—or everything to protect.
Steel t steel. Guttural growls filled the valley.
One hunter tried to grab Salviana again.
He never made it. Alaric launched a dagger straight through the air—straight through his throat.
Lucius dragged one of the rcenaries by the collar and hissed in his ear, "Do you know who you tried to touch? That’s the Divine Lady, you worm."
Then he crushed his head against the stone.
It didn’t take long.
Eight ca. Eight fell.
Only one was left crawling.
Alaric walked over, boot pressing down hard on his chest. "Go back," he said. "Tell them all. I am not a ghost. I am not just a prince. I am a demon prince that has led this silly kingdomto victory countless tis."
The man spat blood and nodded, trembling.
"Run," Salviana said coldly. "Before I change my mind."
The hunter ran.
The wind returned.
Silence.
Their breathing was heavy.
Jean stepped out first. "Remind never to join a bounty guild."
Lucius wiped blood from his glove. "You wouldn’t pass the entry test." he smirked.
Jean rolled her eyes, "There hadn’t been application that’s why,"
Alaric turned to his wife, his face still hard... but eyes softening. "Did they hurt you?"
"No. But next ti, let punch soone." She grinned as if she had attempted to and Alaric stopped her.
He smiled faintly. "As you wish, Fiery Wife."
They gathered their horses. Blood soaked the dirt behind them, but the road ahead remained open.
They couldn’t rest now.
But they were alive.
And they had each other.
Even in the storm.
The next evening found them deeper into the borderlands—wooded and quiet, far from any major road, and dangerously close to rogue territory.
The sun had long dipped below the horizon, leaving a cold dusk hanging in the trees.
They made camp beside a wide clearing, a modest fire crackling in the center. Smoke curled lazily into the sky, mingling with the stars.
Alaric had managed to catch a wild bird—Lucius skinned and cooked it with precision, complaining all the while, of course, and Jean had been useless, claiming the smoke made her hair sll like roasted sin.
But eventually, they ate.
And after the food was gone and the wine poured from Lucius’s traveling bottle, the world felt briefly still again.
Salviana curled against Alaric’s side, resting her head on his shoulder. He was warm—even for a vampire.
His arm was slung around her, hand absentmindedly stroking her hip. The firelight flickered over them like a blessing.
"You always sll like snow and ho," she murmured teasingly, running a finger down his jaw.
"And you never said that before, is it a complint?" he replied.
"It is. Kiss " She demanded with a grin.
He turned, t her gaze, and kissed her—soft at first. Then deeper. Fingers in hair. A whisper of heat against the chill of the night.
Lucius groaned from the other side of the fire. "Would you two kindly stop licking each other like wild cats? So of us are emotionally damaged."
Jean, wrapped in her blanket, snored softly—completely dead to the world. Lucius smiled as he glanced at her, he looked like a proud husband.
"Gods," Salviana whispered, pulling back breathless. "How does she sleep so soundly? WishI could"
"I suspect she’s enchanted," Alaric muttered, brushing her lower lip with his thumb. "Or she drank half the wine bottle."
But then—a sharp sound.
A rustle. A crack.
Salviana tensed imdiately. "Did you hear that?"
"I did."
Too late.
Figures erged from the trees—dark, fast, and silent. More bounty hunters. Four of them this ti. Faster. aner. One already lunged for Salviana.
Alaric shoved her behind him just in ti, but before the attacker could follow—
"Not my face!" Salviana yelped and, stuck out her leg.
The man tripped spectacularly and landed face-first in the mud.
She stared.
"I—did that?"
Lucius, drawing his umbrella blade again, muttered, "Congratulations, Your Highness. You’re lethal."
Alaric didn’t waste ti. He was already moving, sword flashing in the firelight.
Two bounty hunters went down in seconds, barely able to blink before their blades were knocked from their hands and their feet from under them.
One tried to sneak behind Lucius—bad idea.
He turned with a vicious grin. "Do you know how much I’ve needed to hit soone tonight?"
Crack. The umbrella slamd into the attacker’s neck.
Jean, sohow still fast asleep, rolled over, snoring louder now, blanket over her head.
"Unreal," Salviana muttered as she ducked another attacker. Alaric finished the last with a kick that sent him sprawling near the fire.
"I’m going to start tying Jean to the horse," Lucius said darkly, stepping over one of the fallen bodies.
Salviana chuckled, don’t let her hear you.
Alaric sheathed his blade. "I think that’s all of them."
"You think?" Salviana asked, cheeks flushed with heat and adrenaline.
He smirked, grabbing her around the waist. "Maybe I was distracted. By you."
"Don’t even," she said, but she was grinning.
Jean stirred. "Did I miss sothing?" she mumbled, blinking.
Lucius and Salviana both shouted: "GO BACK TO SLEEP."
And she did.
The fire crackled again. The air settled.
Another ambush survived.
Another night won.
But the danger wasn’t over. Not even close.
They would have to keep moving at dawn.
Because sothing bigger than bounty hunters was coming.
And deep in Alaric’s gut, he knew...
The storm had only just begun, or It was all about to end.
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