Slay My Soul
Chapter 34 Darius

Things have switched up on us so quickly. Now there are Demons on our land, innocent civilians in the way and some of our rescues have broken off from their group and are racing toward us. The supes from the previous convoy have stayed to fight. I am guessing these new ones have chosen the same. Then I see the way they move. Fucking hell.

I see the moment my ever-observant Eve spots them too and the penny drops. She races towards them and I do the same. Max races after her.

“Vampires!” I yell to the teams. “Guard your asses!” They have tricked us. The Demons distracted us, making us sloppy and rushing our rescues to safety. We haven’t been able to assess them off-site as we normally do. We should have seen it coming. We have underestimated the enemy and I will not allow them to fool us again. I call the pack warriors to me, ordering them to come and reinforce our ranks. I demand they bring the other races with them too. We will stomp this threat out fast and efficiently.

I still don’t understand why they didn’t just send the full legion to wipe us out. They give us more time to complete our circle the longer they drag this out and play with us. We are still missing something.

Eve launches herself at the vampires, curved swords slashing as she twists and outmaneuvers them. I throw myself into the fray, taking the head off the nearest fanged enemy, and adjust myself to follow Eve’s rhythm, to move with her. I love fighting like this. I had never experienced anything like it until the first time I fought alongside her. My body instinctively knows her moves, her direction, and her target, complimenting them with my own motions. A single fluid death machine. One heart, one mind. She ducks and my sword stabs instinctively over her head, stabbing a vampire in the heart. Her swift kick slides him free of my sword.

Max hacks his way toward us. The man should have been an Alpha, with his size and clever, calm mind. It is a waste to have him as a Beta. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the Alpha dominance and the Alpha voice to be able to command. His voice holds a lot of power but not quite enough. The vampire’s speed means they are landing plenty of blows on us and drawing our blood. Eve’s eyes narrow as a sword slashes my arm, making my blood flow. Her dragon wings explode out of her back shoving some of our enemies back. Her claws elongate, fangs erupting from her mouth and she hands her swords off to two of her vines that have erupted like an angry green spaghetti monster from her. She moves in a blur of violence and I back away with Max to attack the ones she has shoved further away from her. There is no way I can keep up with her now. That’s why she will be the ruler of us all. The perfect predator to keep the races in line.

Max and I share a smile at each other as Eve smashes the vampires around her. We are proud she is ours and that we are hers. Even with their carefully laid trap, we are still going to kick their asses. Even as vampires land their hits, we refuse to give up ground nor allow them to get closer to Eve. The vampires split away and Max gives chase to the two that have branched off to the left towards the forest and I shoot after three on the right.

More of our men shove their way into the vampires to help Eve, a few following to assist me. I tackle the vampire closest to me and bring him down, shoving my claws through his back and snapping his ribs. I yank his heart out and then squish the still-beating organ. The men with me team up and take out another in a similar fashion. My eyes narrow on the third vampire, heading for the tree line. I snarl and sprint after him, throwing a knife at his back with deadly precision. I race to him as he drops and pull my knife free, shoving my hand in and smashing his heart. There is no chance of coming back for any of these fuckers.

I hear Eve roar behind me and snap my head over to look at her. She is surrounded by dead vampires and our warriors, but her face is looking left.

Belestine stands by an open portal, vampires are restraining Max as he thrashes and starts to scream. Belestine’s hand glows over Max’s chest and my breath catches. For a moment I am looking at Reece as Belestine tore his soul from him. I shake my head free of the flashback. That’s exactly what he is doing to Max! I echo Eve’s roar and race toward them. Eve is closer to him than I am. I beg in my mind for her to reach him in time while screaming through our bond for her not to go closer to the looming danger. My instincts scream at me that this is it. This is the end game of their plan. Danger Will Robinson! Danger! If Eve gets there before me, I know it is going to be very bad. I put on a burst of speed, desperate to get to her, calling to her to stop. Begging her.

But Eve ignores me, focused on the man attacking her mate. She slams into Belestine full force, her need to protect Max overriding my warning of danger. I remember her promise to us that she would never let another one of us be taken. Now she is proving she is a woman of her word. For once, I wish she was a little slower. A little less protective. Definitely less in danger.

I beg the Fates to let this play out in our favor. But as always they ignore my pleas, and she crashes into Belestine so hard that the momentum carries them back through the open portal. I have an instant to see the wide grin of triumph on the warlock’s face as I launch myself forward but they disappear as the portal winks out of existence. I slam into the vampires holding Max, skittling them like bowling pins. My vision is red with anger as I disembowel them and tear them to pieces. My mind crumbles as it realizes what has just happened.

“Where is she!” Garret roars, dragging me from my haze of blood lust and shaking me like a rag doll. My chest heaves as I stared at him guiltily. “Where!”

I wasn’t quick enough. I had failed Reece, unable to save them both and now I have failed Eve. The field is deadly silent as our circle stands around me. The Demons are gone, leaving when their master had disappeared. The vampires are dead, killed by our men.

“I am so sorry!” I gasp at our circle. “I wasn’t in time. I wasn’t quick enough, again! He has her, the warlock!” Garrett shoves me aside, punching down a tree as he roars and bellows. Carino pushes me away from a now unconscious Max and runs glowing hands over my Beta. He swears angrily.

“What is it?” Lysario demands.

“Belestine has ripped half his soul. We need to get it back. He will only survive a month at most with only half. It’s almost the equivalent of a true bond break,” Carino says, as he takes Max’s pulse and watches his shallow breaths. “The body is not equipped to be without a complete soul.”

“We rally our troops and go to the vampire kingdom. No more holding back,” Acassus growls. I nod and swallow hard, fear filling my veins like ice. Will they kill her? Will they resume their plan to break her? The idea of Eve in the hands of those monsters stabs at me like ice picks. Her mind won’t survive another round of their torture.

“She might get her shot at the Demon. Did she bond Max? They were giving each other lusty looks before we headed off on the raid,” Mikyda asks hopefully. Luka shuffles and looks down.

“Not quite,” he says, voice full of self-loathing. “I interrupted them when I called them to plan the attack. I told them to continue, but Eve wouldn’t let us go without her. I am more sorry than you will ever know.” Garret stomps away from the tree he has reduced to toothpicks and punches Luka, knocking him on his ass. The Fae brothers wrestle the dragon to the ground while he roars his anger to the heavens.

“What the fuck is going on!” Sirus demands as he blurs into existence beside us. I see him taking in Max’s unconscious form and the men holding Garret down before he surveys the rest of us. He looks into my guilty eyes and grabs me by my throat. “What have you done? Where the fuck is my daughter? Where is Eve!”