Chapter 1 - Samael

I knew we weren’t alone as soon as I reached the broken-down door, and yet I let Aurora walk out into an ambush anyway. I could have taken her upstairs when I sensed their presence, and we would be flying away right now.

I watch with panic as she drops to her knees to comfort Eli. I don’t trust him, and this is all my fault for forgetting that even though Aurora is a hybrid, she has no training. Her emotions get in the way easily, and right now, she is making herself vulnerable.

I’m about to tear her away from Eli when Cassian lets out an arrogant laugh, and a growl escapes me. He looks at her like she belongs to him; not in a sexual way, but like she is his property, nothing but a collectible to add to his shelf, and it sickens me.

I move in front of him, blocking his view of Aurora, but he just stands there, with his hands behind his back and a wide grin on his face. I realize too late that I let myself get distracted by Cassian when I hear Aurora’s surprised intake of breath.

I spin around to see her claws slash at Eli. Blood spurts out and he falls to the ground holding his face and screaming in pain. I’m about to finish him off, when I hear my name; it’s as quiet as the light breeze, but I hear it; she calls for me and her voice tears my heart into pieces. I can hear how afraid she is, and I rush to her side.

“Aurora,” I shake her lightly. “Aurora!” Harder this time, but she’s not there. I can’t even feel Danika. I press my forehead to hers, praying to Nyx that she will wake up, but she remains motionless.

Rising to my feet, I advance slowly on Cassian, who looks around nervously “What did you do to her?” I growl angrily.

Cassian’s eyes keep darting to the far side of the manor as if he is waiting for someone else to show up. I take another step towards him, forcing his eyes back on me, “I will kill you Cassian, if you don’t tell me what the fuck he injected her with!”

He gulps nervously, his eyes roaming around frantically, and I assume he is waiting for Cassandra, but she doesn’t seem to want to help at the moment. The dark blades wielded by Cassian’s men catch my attention, and I realize they are the void weapons Cyreus and Adelaide talked about.

I make a snap decision to get at least one of those weapons back to Adelaide; I check on Aurora who is still laying on the ground behind me, then glare down at Eli who is sobbing from both pain and grief; I’ll leave him for last.

Using a measured amount of force, I punch Cassian across the face, knocking him to the ground, where he holds his cheek and moans. “Stay down or die.” I order him, knowing his cowardly little self would never even attempt to step in to save his men.

He just sneers up at me through watery eyes but stays where he is. His men look around at each other with fear plastered all over their faces as I step closer.

“Did he tell you those weapons in your hands could beat me?” I ask them, studying the long, dark blades. None of them answer; a few tighten their grips on their swords and hold their position, but most take a shaky step back, eyes looking pleadingly at their emperor who remains on the ground holding his face.

I tilt my head, staring at the guard closest to me; too young. He looks like a kid, but I can’t care about that right now. I need to take those weapons and get Aurora out of here.

“Let’s test them out shall we?” Without any further warning, I charge at the kid, breaking his neck quickly, and letting his body fall to the ground with a thud.

The rest of the two dozen men watch him fall with terror and despair in their eyes; he was probably a good kid, but now he’s dead at my feet and the others are charging at me with raised weapons. I snap four necks in quick succession before one of the men is finally able to connect his blade with my skin; he slices a long, deep gash across my upper arm. Blood immediately pours from the wound, and I expect it to heal as usual, but it doesn’t. It continues bleeding and… it fucking burns.

The men have all frozen in place, watching my reaction eagerly. I was going easy on them but fuck this. I let the blood lust that lurks beneath the surface break free; my eyes turn red, my wings burst from my shoulder blades, stretching out and shaking the feathers, splattering the men with my blood. I extend my claws, and flash my fangs menacingly, “Let’s see what those weapons can do?” I taunt, my voice deep and rough with the bloodlust.

I let them make the first move, but in less than thirty seconds they are all dead on the ground. I dodge their blades easily, using my speed to get around them and snap necks, rip out hearts, and tear into flesh with my fangs, draining them of their blood; surely, given the circumstances, Aurora wouldn’t mind.

When I turn around, Cassian is cautiously getting to his feet, looking at me like he’s never really seen me before, because he hasn’t. Not like this anyway. I think the years of having a business-like relationship with him have given him a false sense of what I really am.

I ignore him, however and run straight to Eli, yanking him up by the sleeve of his bloody shirt, I punch him in the face, “She saved your fucking baby, and you sold her out!” My fist collides with the side of his head for the second time and his eyes go unfocused. I raise my arm again, but a loud crack from up above distracts me; the manor is burning down around us, flames spreading from room to room.

I laugh like a maniac, looking back down at Eli, “where’s Elizabeth?” I ask him through gritted teeth; I know Aurora would want to make sure she is alright.

He barely seems lucid, but I can make out his slurred speech “a-at he-e-er sis-sisters”

I nod to let him know I understood. “At this point Eli,” I put my hands on either side of his head, “this is a mercy kill.”

He squeezes his eyes shut, nodding in defeat, tears streaming down his face. I sigh heavily, “go be with Sarah.” As soon as I say her name, his face relaxes completely, and I snap his neck.

I check on Aurora again, I can hear her heartbeat, but I can’t feel her or Danika at all. Standing up, I face Cassian, “I’m guessing she was injected with a mixture of wolfsbane and aconite, but how the fuck did you get your hands on enough aconite to take out a witch like Aurora?”

Cassian opens his mouth, but a light, feminine voice answers, “I gave it to him.”

I instinctually take a step closer to Aurora and turn to face the two women walking towards us. One makes her way to Cassian, smiling happily at him, while the other comes closer to me, staring down at Aurora.

“Where the hell have you been?” Cassian screeches at the witch by his side.

Her bright blue eyes narrow, “I had to see what my weapons could do against the Vampire King,” she snaps at him. Sending me an annoyed glare, she sighs, “it looks like they need some improvements.”

I stare down at my arm, at the only injury Cassian’s men were able to inflict on me; it still burns slightly, but it’s finally starting to heal.

“You said the weapons would make them stronger!” Cassian hisses at her.

The witch, who I am assuming is Cassandra, trails the tips of her fingers along his jawline, “do you know how much strength it takes for a human to break through a vampire's skin? The blades do make them stronger, it’s not my fault your men are cowards.”

She sighs again, staring at me like I’m some minor nuisance, “but, the blades should also keep him from healing… which is my fault. Whatever, it doesn’t matter now, I have my hybrid.”

“What about our deal!”

“Like the fuck you do!”

Cassian and I both react at the same time; he pulls away from Cassandra, outraged, while I move closer to Aurora, hovering over her protectively.

Cassandra giggles, coaxing Cassian back to her side with a twirl of her finger, “Cass, darling, my weapons won’t be able to kill him. You’ll die trying, and I just couldn’t live with myself if that happened.” She pouts at him, and he falls for her obvious lie.

I can see right through her; she doesn’t give a shit about him, but he seems completely infatuated by her, and I realize Aurora was right; they probably are fucking. But she is lying to him, and I don’t understand how he can’t see it.

She pulls him in for a kiss, and I glance at the other witch, who is still staring down at Aurora with mild curiosity. I do a double take as I notice the stark similarities between them; they have the same black curly hair, though this woman does not have the white streak like Aurora does, they have the same face shape, and the same nose, they even hold themselves in the same way; like they’re confident, and even a little cocky, but reluctant to show it.

“Gwendolyn?” I whisper, and she finally looks up from Aurora. I can’t help the gasp that escapes me; her eyes, which Aurora described as the ‘most beautiful blue she’d ever seen’, are intensely black, and not just like Adelaide’s where her irises are black; Gwendolyn’s eyes are completely taken over by the void, as if it’s seeped from her iris’s into the whites of her eyes, making her look more like a demon from the underworld.

“Don’t pay any attention to him, Gwennie, take the girl and let’s go!” Cassandra orders her.

I actually laugh, the sound getting lost in the roaring fire behind us. I crouch over Aurora, my wings shielding her from view, and bare my fangs at her mother. “You think you can just take my queen from me? You’re out of your damn mind if you think I won’t kill you if you try.”

“You’ll be too busy fighting for your life to stop us,” Cassandra cackles madly, and claps her hands three times, looking up at the sky. I follow her gaze, staring up at the dozens of vampires plummeting to the ground.

“I promised them you’d be weakened and easy to kill, but just between us,” she lowers her voice, “they’re just a means to distract you… collateral damage, if you will.”

I shake my head at her in disbelief, “you won’t take her.”

She laughs shrilly, “you can’t stop us. You may be powerful, but even a king can be outnumbered.”

At that moment, the vampires begin to land around us, advancing on me with smirks on their faces. I refuse to move away from Aurora, and through the wall of vampires coming toward me, I see Cassandra open a portal of swirling waves, and shove Cassian through it.

In my peripheral, I notice Gwendolyn inching closer to me, still looking at Aurora intently. My first instinct is to take her out; she might be Aurora’s mother, but right now she’s also her greatest threat.

I turn to face Gwendolyn, who smirks as the first vampire reaches me. He grabs my shoulder in an attempt to pull me back from her, and I stare down at the clawed hand.

Turning my head back, I glare at him, his blood-crazed eyes wide with eagerness. “Your king is disappointed,” I growl, looking around at the vampires; the ones who left Dema Mortem and became nomads, or blood obsessed monsters, and are now simply serving a different master.

“Vampires taking orders from a witch, and not even a Coven Mother,” I tut, shaking my head in disapproval. A few of them raise their eyebrows at my words. Of course, Cassandra probably told them she is a Coven Mother, though her lie is not enough to get them to back down. Whatever she promised them must’ve been worth it. Too bad they won’t live to see it.

The hand gripping my shoulder tightens, the claws digging into my skin. I grab it, taking the vampire by surprise, and lean forward, using the momentum to flip him over me and slam him onto the ground at my feet. His eagerness turns to fear in an instant, and I laugh, turning around to face the others, while keeping as close to Aurora as possible.

The manor starts to crumble behind us, the heat from the blazing fire makes the early evening air stuffy and hot; Gwendolyn is watching me through the vampires, waiting for me to be distracted enough so she can take Aurora… I can’t let that happen, but I also don’t see a way to handle all of them without letting it happen.

“Whatever that witch told you is a lie. You won’t be able to kill me, and you will die painfully if you try. However, surrender to me now, and I will allow you to live. Walk away and I will forget this ever happened. But if you stay,” I chuckle darkly, “if you are the reason my queen is taken from me, I promise you will beg for death.”

My words hang in the air like the smoke billowing towards us, intimidating and dangerous, but none of them move. I look down at Aurora one last time; no matter what happens, I have to get her out of here.

I extend my arms out in a friendly gesture, “well, by all means, take your best shot.”

Three vampires rush me, two of them grab a hold of my arms pulling them behind my back, while the other punches me across the face. I spit out a mouthful of blood and laugh, “that was pathetic.”

I aim a quick side kick to the shin of the vampire on my left, breaking the bone clean in half, he cries out in pain, and falls to the ground. I pull the one holding my right arm in close, sinking my fangs into his neck and tearing through his flesh. The vampire in front of me pulls his fist back for another punch, which I dodge easily, then wrap my arm around his torso and pull up until I hear the snap of his back breaking.

It took all of three seconds to take them out, but it was enough to allow Gwendolyn to get closer, flanked by three more vampires, baring their fangs at me. The rest of them form a tight circle around us, with Aurora’s unconscious body in the middle.