Page 50 of Vampire Runner

Ambrose is the one who answers, “An accelerant. Magical in nature. We need to get the fuck out of here.”

Kasar wrenches the door open and we’re greeted with a gruesome sight. Dead Lycans and jackals litter the ground, with a dozen bloodied vampires standing over them. It’s a scene straight from modern horror movies, with some of the vampires casually finishing off the dying guards. Malachi appears before us, a cut from his left eyebrow crosses the bridge of his nose and continues to his right jaw.

“What is it?” he asks, ignoring the wound. “Where’s Ashe?”

“Not here,” Ambrose answers and starts to cross the viscera-covered drive. “And the place is set to go up in flames. We haven’t determined the trigger, so we need to fall back.”

Malachi relays the message, the gathered vampires falling back into the dark meadow between the trees. Kasar and Malachi each get into an SUV, driving them off the pavement and into the manicured grass, following the others.

Ambrose takes me by the arm, gently but forcibly pulling me with him until we’re on the soft grass ourselves. We turn, looking back, as Eris saunters through the battered doorway, the heart containing Aeternaphiel’s soul still in hand.

“I imagine it’s in case this happens.” She takes a large step over the threshold, and the air seems to vacate the space around us. The next moment, the air returns as an electric rush. Blue-green fire ignites at the foundation of the house, speeding along the outside. From the flickering lights in the windows, the fire’s been unleashed along every wall.

Worse, a line of flames spread out from the double doors, containing Eris in a semi-circle. It’s not a protective circle, but I don’t recognize the magic. From Eris’s bark of laughter, I imagine Aeternaphiel once again made a stupid choice.

Rather than stepping across the flames, she raises the heart as if in toast. Then she brings it to her mouth, her jaw distending, opening wide. I watch with wide eyes as she swallows it whole.

Her head remains tilted back, eyes closed as if savoring the taste. Then she opens her eyes, gaze landing on me, and strides towards me. The flames part for her, never growing close.

Her eyes are bright with determination. “I know where they are.”

Chapter Sixteen

ERIS

The mate bond had withered away nearly to the point of no existence. I could have let it, over the centuries I spent fighting for my life as an angel cast out of the heavens and into the dark depths of the celestial realm. I refused, though. I would not let Aeternaphiel take my best chance to deliver him to justice, so I held tight to it. I held onto the mate bond even as my celestial soul, once full of righteous fury, turned dark and tattered from the corruption of darkness.

All that effort of keeping that bond there, maintaining the last delicate strings tying me to the angel who was supposed to love me, is worth it now. That spiderweb-thin connection pulsates with the powers of fate. Gods, divinities, nature—whatever it is that creates the bonds of mates. Consuming Aeternaphiel’s soul revitalizes the bond between our bodies. Because my mate’s soul is within me, I can track him in a way I couldn’t since he threw me into the pits of the underworld and slammed the grate shut.

I’d sworn to have my justice that day, as he didn’t even bother looking at me while closing the grates and leaving me to the denizens of our enemies. I had been a high-ranking general in the celestial army, fighting and killing demons and the rest of the creatures of rot and ruin. Life had not been easy in those first few months, but I survived. I became a demon after once being renowned for killing them.

Fuck justice. Now I only want revenge.

“Where?” Cassandra asks, the poor witch. Even though I’m no longer possessing her body, I can feel her concern for her mate. One of the worst parts of possessing her for so long was enduring the love of her mate as it spread through our connection. I would never allow myself to feel such love for another. It’s impossible, anyways.

I incline my head towards the east. “That way,” I say, turning and striding along the drive. The home Aeternaphiel had settled in as William Egress burns behind me. The only sadness I feel about that is that he isn’t hog-tied in the middle of it.

Cassandra races to catch up to me, her heart erratic as she strains to keep up with my stride. I could be there within the next heartbeat, so she should be grateful I’m leading her there.

Ambrose follows, along with his pet Kasar. So long as they don’t interfere, I don’t give a fuck what the vampires do.

“Leave Aeternaphiel to me,” I growl. “Don’t be stupid and try to go right to Ashe. He’ll use him for leverage and if you want your precious mate alive or mostly intact, I suggest you hold back that temper I know you have.”

I grin at her sputters but don’t bother looking at her. She doesn’t deny it. She can’t. I know her better than even her mate at this point.

A single-story, long barn with shiplap siding comes into view as we cross the manicured lawns and weave between leafless trees. Cicadas buzz in the night and the heat of the day lingers even as the moon moves higher into the sky. It’s fitting that I confront Aeternaphiel in the dark of night, since he’s the reason I’ve become a creature of chaos and darkness. The only lights are the two barn lights illuminating the area in front of the door, insects swarming the yellow light.

“He has basic wards up,” Cassandra says. The brush of her magic is familiar as it ripples out from her and seeks out weaknesses in Aeternaphiel’s protection. “Want me to take them down?”

“Not yet. Not until we’re about to go in. I want to take him by surprise.”

“No doubt he’s aware of the house going up in flames,” Ambrose observes as he and Kasar arrive on either side of us.

I incline my head. “Nice of you to join us,” I say first. The vampire king walks easily beside me, hands in his pockets as if he’s on a midnight stroll with his own queen. “Aeternaphiel will know his fire trap was triggered, but he is likely to assume whomever triggered it has perished in the flames. That fire was spelled to consume anyone that was not him.”

Kasar snorts. “Clever.”

Cassandra nods in understanding. “You ate his soul, so the fire let you pass.”

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