If Simone couldn’t save her, it would be best for Lucien if he didn’t survive this. However, she was still going to do everything she could to save him.
From the woods next to the rest area, a distant light started burning through the night. At first, she was so intent on hacking her way through the Savages she didn’t notice it. However, Saber’s words drew her attention to it.
“What is that?” Saber asked.
Willow dared to tear her gaze away from the Savages dancing out of range of her sword. Something stepped out of the woods and paused at the edge of the tree line. Because of the heavy cloak covering it and the hood pulled over its head, she couldn’t tell what it was, but uneasiness churned in her gut.
However, she didn’t have time to figure it out as one of the Savages lunged at Declan. Its hands grasped Declan’s forearm a second before she severed its arm, and it turned into ash. The power of the sword still awed her, and though the others distrusted it, she was glad it was hers.
From beneath the crush of Savages, Lucien managed to rise again. He staggered forward and spun as Logan broke free, and lowering his shoulder, he charged into the Savages clawing at Lucien. He knocked some of them aside, but more piled onto the two of them.
Killean narrowed in on the vamp who’d stabbed Callie, the one who looked chillingly like Lucien, and Willow suspected it was the brother she’d heard about. Asher broke free of the Savages and raced toward Simone as more of them spilled from the woods.
The hooded creature stepped away from the trees and glided toward where Lucien knelt on the ground. It moved with so much grace she wasn’t sure its feet touched the ground.
Willow’s mouth went dry, and some primal instinct screamed at her to kill it before it inflicted more damage than the Savages had already unleashed. Some of the creatures clinging to Lucien fell away to reveal his skin had taken on the black and red coloring of an incensed, purebred vampire.
Though his leg was severely damaged, Lucien staggered to his feet as the creature stopped ten feet away from him. She didn’t know what it planned to do as it suddenly turned toward them. She’d been so sure it was going for Lucien that she hadn’t realized it had also put itself in closer proximity to them.
When its attention shifted to her, the sword’s hilt heated beneath her palms and the red-orange stone glowed. A part of her had known what the creature was, but it wasn’t until the sword started to vibrate in her grasp that it truly sank in.
One of the demons who gave birth to the vampire line stood amongst them, and it wanted its sword back. However, she was not going to give it up.
Her grip tightened on the hilt as she lifted it higher. It would have to come through her to get it.
From beneath its hood, a pair of white-blue eyes glowed hotly before the creature lifted its hand into the air. The sword warmed further, and the vibration running through it increased. She realized this thing was trying to call the sword away from her, but she wouldn’t relinquish it.
The glow of its eyes increased, and she sensed its frustration, but even as the sword pulsed with new energy, she lunged forward to cleave her way through the flesh and bones of another Savage.
A strange, guttural sound filled the air. The noise came from the creature as its power vibrated the night.
“What is that thing doing?” Saber growled.
“It’s trying to take the sword back,” Willow said.
Declan glanced at the sword, and through their bond, she sensed his displeasure. If they knew the sword wouldn’t become a lethal weapon in the hands of the demons, she suspected he might have pulled it from her hands and thrown it at the beast.
Instead, he stayed by her side as they carved their way toward the demon. She worried the closer they got, the more pull it would have over the sword, but that didn’t happen. Instead, as she used it to cut down more of their enemies, it returned to normal in her hands. In fact, it felt even more like it belonged there.
Chapter Forty-Two
Lucien broke free of the Savages tearing at him and sprinted toward Simone as more of them raced toward her and Killean. Lucien didn’t acknowledge the discomfort of his twisted leg as he ran. Asher tackled one who was about to plunge a blade into Simone’s back. They tumbled across the ground as another Savage gripped Simone’s hair and ripped her backward.
Killean bellowed when she was yanked away from Callie. Using his legs, Killean rolled and wedged his feet between himself and Yannis. With a mighty shove, he heaved Yannis over his head before leaping to his feet and racing toward Simone.
Callie remained unmoving as he arrived at her side. Her hands lay out at her sides with her palms up, and her open eyes focused on the sky. No color remained in her naturally olive skin, and her striking, cognac-colored eyes were unblinking.
Blood stained her lips and trailed down her chin to soak her shirt. There was so much of it, too much. The scent of it filled his nose, and he recalled the ecstasy of it on his tongue while its strength flooded his veins. Now, it coated the ground.
He barely detected a heartbeat as he fell at her side, lifted a discarded knife from the earth, and sliced the blade across his wrist. Blood spilled free, and he rested his arm against her mouth as he willed her to live.
Because if she didn’t live, he would go on a rampage the likes of which this earth had never seen before. It would take an army to destroy him.
The sound of footsteps crunching on the dirt alerted him to someone coming at them a second before Yannis launched onto his back and plunged a blade into the spot between Lucien’s shoulder blades. The fiery burn of the blade tearing through flesh and sinew before erupting out the front of his chest was nothing compared to the fury boiling inside him.
With his free hand, he grabbed for his brother over his shoulder, but the coward was already leaping away. Lucien grasped the hilt of the blade Yannis stabbed Callie with and tore it free. He twisted toward his brother, but Yannis danced beyond the reach of the sword.
Lucien bared his teeth and snarled at the man who shared his DNA. Yannis grinned at him, and Lucien was dying to go after him, but he didn’t dare take his wrist away from Callie’s mouth.
“One of our creators is here, brother. Your time is almost over,” Yannis said.
Lucien’s gaze darted to the cloak-enshrouded creature that emerged from the woods. Lucien sensed its power as it raised its hand and closed it into a fist. And then, it released a sound not entirely of this earth.
It was a guttural, primeval sound that made the hair on Lucien’s arms rise. Nothing like that should exist on this planet, and if he had his way, it wouldn’t exist for much longer.
Asher regained his feet as Logan rose behind Yannis and delivered a bone-crushing blow to the side of his face. Yannis’s right cheekbone gave way as he staggered to the side.
Keeping his wrist against Callie’s mouth, Lucien lunged forward and grasped his brother’s ankle. Jerking up, he ripped Yannis off the ground. His brother hit the dirt with a thud, and an oomph of air exploded from his lungs.
Lucien twisted Yannis’s ankle to the left and rejoiced in the resounding crack that echoed through the night. His brother’s howl was music to his ears as he jerked him forward. He brought his fist down on Yannis’s knee until it bent back much as Lucien’s had earlier.
Yannis howled again, but this time he retained enough of his thought processes to roll to the side and pull himself free of Lucien’s grasp. Unwilling to move away from Callie, Lucien watched his brother stagger to his feet.