Page 57 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

“Why do you always have to be so negative?” The words were more growl than anything else and I had no doubt that we would have continued bickering if not for Novalie interrupting.

“Um. So, Hayes left.”

My head jerked to the side where the wolf had been standing and I swore. I'd clearly tempted him with a good time. “We have to find him.”

We all made for the door at the same time and halted when a chorus of screams rose up in the air and the very walls shook.

“Plan B?” Emerson asked hopefully and I could only shake my head, unsure what to do now.

“It sounds like there's a party going on,” Novalie said, holding open my door and smirking at us. “I say, let's go join in.”

“Before all the good vamps are taken,” Cal muttered as he passed me and I stared, incredulous.

“You're condoning this?”

“Better to come with you and try to keep you alive since there's clearly no reasoning with any of you lunatics.”

I shrugged. He wasn't wrong.

Most people in the corridor were moving in the opposite direction to the shouts and general commotion coming from up ahead. Though a few vampires looked curious enough to follow us as we jogged towards the same council hall we'd been in only a few weeks prior.

Hayes had snapped the long council table clean in half, large claw marks gouged into the wood and at least three chairs had been repurposed into stakes using their legs.

No longer in wolf form, Hayes stood in the centre of the chaos, his lithe body mostly wearing blood as he fired off chair leg after chair leg at approaching vampires. To my surprise, Adrian’s worries hadn’t been unfounded as several council members fought at Hayes’ side—Refus one of them.

If not for the anger in the bond, I would assume the smile on Hayes’ face meant he was having fun. Mostly, though, he seemed to be satisfied by making these cowards bleed.

“Adrian,” he called, ripping a stray heart out of a vampire that ran at him and biting into it so the blood ran down his chin before he let it fall to the ground. “I think it's time we settled our differences.”

A hand curled around the nape of my neck and I grimaced, feeling Adrian's bony fingers twist viciously in my hair as he strode forward with me like I was a human shield. “I'm not sure we have anything to talk about, Hayes.”

“You facilitated the murder of my parents, my sister, then you tried to assassinate me and you thought I wouldn’t come for you? You're right, maybe the time for words has passed.” Claws gleamed on one hand as he partially transformed and I watched in awe. The power that must have taken alone…

“Stay where you are,” Adrian demanded and Hayes paused, eyebrow raised. “Unless you want your little blood whore to die?”

The room seemed to hold its breath and then Hayes laughed. “Leonora can take care of herself.” He took another step forward and I didn't hesitate, using a move I'd only ever tried while sparring to throw my weight back and flip Adrian over my shoulder.

I moved out of the way, clearing space for Hayes as Adrian landed on his feet and caught the makeshift stake Hayes flung at him. The bond flared between us, more power than I’d felt from Hayes surging as if the strength of his entire line bolstered him.

Adrian laughed. “This is your last chance to walk away.”

Hayes snarled. “You killed my family. Locked them away and left them to starve,” he spat as he lunged forwards and then stumbled back when the chair leg in Adrian’s hands lodged itself in Hayes’ stomach. His strength was my strength, and I couldn’t stand by and do nothing when Hayes ripped the wood free from his body and blood poured out.

He flung out a hand as I approached and I froze, torn. “No. This is between us, Leonora.”

I barely heard the words, my eyes were on the wound in his stomach. It was healing, but slowly. Too slowly.

“Hayes—”

He ignored me, rushing towards Adrian at a speed impressive for a living vampire, but I could tell was still too slow. Adrian was going to kill him.

The undead vampire batted aside Hayes’s blows as if they were nothing more than mild irritants, snapping one arm and then the other with a sickening crunch that made me cry out as Hayes’ pain redoubled through me. He fell to his knees, swaying as he spat blood.

“I warned you,” Adrian said, his voice soft as silk and I fought through Hayes’ pain to lurch forward as Adrian placed a hand on either side of Hayes’ head and twisted.

The scream that split the air was raw, gut-wrenching, and I only realised it was me when my throat began to hurt, the sound roughening.

There was nothing but rage and pain, the bond twisting inside me like a live snake. My body rebounded off of the air as I attempted to run to him, to pull Hayes to safety and make Adrian bleed. “Drop the shield, Cal.” The mage shook his head and I snarled. “Drop it now.”

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