Chapter 8

The echoes of the sun-javelin blast faded, replaced by a ringing silence.

Emergency witch-light orbs flickered to life, casting a cold, blue glow over the hall’s ruin.

Vincent stood amidst the wreckage, his form tall and unyielding.

Across from him stood a figure clad in the deep crimson and silver robes of the Sanguine Crest—Lilith’s uncle, Lord Valerius.

His face was a mask of glacial displeasure.

“I require an explanation,” Valerius’s voice cut through the quiet, sharp as an ice shard.

“My niece was nearly incinerated. In your territory.”

“The renegade hunters will be extinguished,” Vincent replied, his tone flat.

“Not enough.” Valerius’s gaze slid past him, pinning me where I leaned against the shattered pillar.

“That one,” he said, the words dripping with disdain. “Your lingering vulnerability.”

He took a step closer to Vincent, his voice dropping into a conspiratorial murmur that still carried.

“A mortal who complicates a ruler’s choice is a liability. My niece will not ascend as your consort with… distractions clinging to your past.”

Vincent said nothing.

The silence stretched, thick and heavy.

“Our covenant requires the purging of all internal weaknesses,” Valerius delivered the ultimatum, each word a death knell.

“She knows the secrets of your blood, your defenses, your habits. Resolve this before the bonding. Or our alliance is void.”

With a final, contemptuous glance in my direction, Valerius turned and swept from the hall.

Vincent stood motionless for a long moment, a statue in the eerie blue light.

Then, slowly, he turned.

His crimson eyes found mine across the scorched marble and scattered debris.

All conflict, all hesitation, was gone.

Eradicated.

Only the cold, calculating logic of the Vampire Lord remained.

He lifted a slender, obsidian communication stone to his lips.

“Marcus.” His voice was quiet, devoid of all warmth.

It struck me with the finality of a coffin lid slamming shut.

“Erase her”

I laughed then, a raw, broken sound that tasted of blood and ashes.

I wasn’t defeated by a rival.

I was erased by his ambition.

Summoning the last dregs of my strength, I pushed away from the pillar and dragged my broken body toward a side archway leading to the night gardens.

The cold air outside was a shock.

Lilith was waiting for me amidst the moonlit roses, their white petals glowing like bones.

“You heard him,” she said, a victor’s smile gracing her perfect lips.

“Don’t blame Vincent. For the future he deserves, you must… fade away.”

A ghoul stepped from behind her, blank-eyed, and placed a slender, silver syringe in her hand.

It glinted, filled with a viscous, dark liquid.

“He asked me to make it peaceful. A final mercy. A clean, dreamless end.”

She gave a slight nod.

Two more ghouls, their movements eerily synchronized, started toward me.

My hand went to the silver-plated dagger at my thigh.

As the first ghoul reached for me, I moved with the desperate precision of a cornered animal.

The blade flashed in the moonlight, opening his throat.

Dark, sluggish blood sprayed across the pristine white roses, a violent stain on the perfect night.

The second ghoul lunged, his hand going for a weapon at his belt.

I dropped, rolled over the damp grass, and came up inside his guard, driving my dagger up beneath his ribs, into his heart.

He collapsed with a soft gurgle, surprise etched on his lifeless face.

Lilith certainly didn’t assume I still got strength like this.

She screamed, stumbling back, her composure shattered.

For the first time, this spoiled vampire princess was afraid of a human.

“You mad creature! You killed them!”

I got to my feet, pulling the dagger free.

Black blood dripped from its tip, onto the emerald grass.

“They were sent to kill me.”

“Help! To me!” Lilith shrieked, her voice rising in panic.

“The blood-attendant has gone berserk! She’s trying to kill me!”

The thunder of footsteps answered her call.

Estate guards, both vampire and ghoul, poured into the garden from all sides.

Their weapons were all aimed at me.

Then Vincent was there.

He took in the two dead ghouls on the ground.

He saw Lilith, trembling and weeping with terror.

He saw me, standing over them, the bloody dagger in my hand.

His face transformed into a mask of pure, undiluted fury.

Lilith ran to him, burying her face in his chest, her sobs echoing in the sudden quiet.

“She’s insane! She attacked me!” she wept, her voice muffled against his coat.

“If my attendants hadn’t shielded me, I would be dead!”

Vincent’s arms encircled her, one hand soothingly stroking her hair.

Then his other hand moved.

He drew the ornate, rune-etched pistol from within his coat.

And leveled it at me.

The cold, enchanted metal pressed against the center of my forehead.

His eyes held no trace of the man I had known.

Only the savage, predatory glare of a Lord defending his chosen mate.

“Elena!” His roar was not human, vibrating with ancient power.

“You dare raise your hand against her!”

The gun remained steady, his voice dropping to a lethal, guttural growl that seemed to chill the very air.

“Get out of my territory. Now. And if I ever scent your blood again, I will reduce you to ash myself.”