Gloria was selecting clothes for little Dave when the warning bell shattered the air. Her hand froze mid-reach. She looked down at the boy and forced a shaky slow smile. "We must go back, my dear. We can continue this later."
Dave nodded, sensing the agitation in her voice. Gloria clasped his small hand and hurried toward her father’s carriage, her stomach twisting into knots. Her eyes flicked to the towering white bell tower as she counted the number of tis they hit it. One... Two... Three... Four... Five...
Too many. They only rang the fifth toll when death lood over; it was when foreign forces breached their borders.
Panic spread through the town like wildfire. People scread and yelled at each other to open the way. Shops slamd their doors shut. Curtains were drawn with trembling hands. A mother clutched her child and ran, nearly tripping over her skirt. The bright afternoon had soured into chaos as black clouds rolled across the sky, swallowing the light. In re seconds, the lively town twisted into a ghostly shell, silent, haunted, and trembling beneath a storm it could not weather.
Gloria yanked the carriage door closed and barked to the driver, "To the castle, now!" She believed it was the safest place left.
The wheels groaned as they hit the cobbled road. They had just reached the edge of the old stone bridge when the earth quaked beneath them, rending, cracking.
Portals opened like wounds in the world. Gloria almost swallowed her tongue as fear slithered through her veins like a vicious serpent.
Then ca the giants with big spiky mauls in their hands. Gods!
Dave whimpered, then broke into terrified sobs. The poor child. No matter where they fled, the horrors followed. Vampires. Always vampires.
The driver cursed and jerked the reins, veering off toward the forest’s edge. "The gates won’t open!" he cried. "The giant guards are holding them shut, we’ll take the cliff road!"
It was narrow, and perilous, running along the rocky ledge where even daylight dared not linger. The sky was getting darker, and grey, as if hell had fallen upon them. Gloria could hear her own heartbeat.
"Sit tight, milady!" he shouted.
But before the wheels could fully grip the new path, a hiss split the air. A vampire had caught their scent. It scread, then lunged toward the carriage.
The battle had reached even this far so fast, stretching like wildfire to the black jagged rocks.
On the other side of the plain close to the bridge, Bear Shifters hurled one of the invading giants to the ground with a thunderous roar, cutting its veins. Blood gushed out like a massive fountain, making thick river streaks of blood current down mingling with the rain and pooling in a puddle. But two more giants charged their pace forward, their thunderous strides shaking the earth. The Thegaran giant sentinels, silent and grim, unsheathed their colossal swords. With asured steps, they advanced into the fray, bound by their sole command, ’Protect the gate at all costs.’
Chaos reigned and blood poured, watering the plain.
The charging vampire leaped onto the carriage, knocking the driver clean off his seat. The man hit the ground hard, his scream lost in the mayhem. The horses reared in panic, their hooves striking the air, and the carriage smashed sideways into a jagged rock. Wood splintered. Glass shattered. Inside, Gloria shielded Dave with her body as the impact threw them against the side.
Gloria groaned in pain but terror devoured her when her eyes caught the vampire drawing the blood of the poor driver, so feral, cruel, and evil. He was rigid and didn’t fight for his life, as though spellbound and relinquished to death when those sharp canines pierced his vein.
From the battlefield, Kamin’s head jerked toward the crash, his nostrils flaring. He caught her scent, Gloria.
"Gloria is in that carriage!" he roared over the din, his voice raw.
Coran, locked in brutal combat with a swarm of vampires, heard him but couldn’t break away. His claws sang as they t bones and he carved his path through the horde, blood staining the earth beneath their foot, painting his fur.
"Save them!" Coran growled, parrying a clawed hand aid for his throat.
Without hesitation, Kamin, the Gamma Reaper, turned and bounded toward the craggy black rocks, his paws thundering across the ground. But before he could reach the carriage, a force slamd into him like a catapulted boulder. The air left his lungs in a single grunt as his body crashed into the earth, skidding against stone.
"Kamin..." Zaira shouted, trying to make her way to him. The Oga female grew even more savage as she could see the nace close to Kamin.
He groaned, his massive wolf form coughing blood. His chest burned. Whatever hit him had pierced clean through fur and flesh.
He struggled to lift his head and froze for a split second.
There, standing like a shadow summoned from the abyss, was the Lord Vampire. Cloaked in flowing black, motionless as death itself, his light blue eyes glowed beneath the edge of his hood. A sword glead in his hand, still wet with Kamin’s blood.
Kamin bared his fangs, rage burning in his glowing amber eyes. Every muscle in his massive wolf form tensed with fury.
The Lord vampire tilted his head toward the wrecked carriage and smirked. He sniffed the air like a predator savoring the scent of his prey.
"Fresh human blood," he purred. "A virgin’s blood."
His tongue slid across his lips, slow and lecherous.
Those words ignited a firestorm in Kamin’s chest. His blood surged in his veins. His eyes drifted to Rail, his brother in all but blood, who loved that human girl. Loved her in a way only a broken man could love sothing that gave him peace. And now, this filthy abomination dared to salivate over her scent like a starving dog.
Kamin didn’t hesitate.
With a bone-rattling snarl, he launched himself at the vampire, claws gleaming and jaws wide.
The clash was brutal and breathtaking. Kam was shocked. This Lord vampire was extrely strong, nothing like the ones he had seen a few months ago in the Ice Land.
Steel sang and fangs tore. The earth trembled beneath their fury. Kamin fought with everything he had, his fury, his grief, his loyalty. But the vampire was a storm in once-human-maybe skin, moving with the precision of death itself. Their battle stretched only twenty long minutes, yet an eternity in war.
And then... it ended.
Zaira saw it before reaching closer.
A blur of motion. A cruel flash of steel. A thud.
And silence in her ears...
Rail halted, his eyes wide. His brother, his best friend...was gone.
A howl tore through the battlefield. Org charged in from the left, maddened by grief. Coran galloped from the right, fangs bared and eyes wild. But it was too late.
The vampire lord stood calm, unfazed, his long sword dripping fresh blood.
Kamin’s blood. His head tumbled to a stop, rolling gently across the dirt until it hit Rail’s boots.
Ti fractured just like his heart...
Rail couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak. He stared at the head lying before him, still bearing the traces of fresh mories, a smirk Kamin had worn at breakfast that morning. He rembered that laugh, loud, careless, infectious when he found him silly arguing with Calisa. He rembered yesterday’s sparring in the woods. Kamin teasing him. And then Rail caught him stealing glances at Zaira. Later found him kissing her behind a tree, grinning like a boy with a secret. And all those mories crossed his mind as though Rail, himself was kissing death.
And then...
A scream split the air behind him. Raw. Shattered.
"Kamin...!" Zaira. She had seen it. The female had just lost her mate.
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