Page 13 of Beyond Fate

Elouan swirled his sword in front of his body, an expert display of skills. Casimir matched him step for deadly step.

He was tired of constantly running and fighting off loyalists who tracked him down.

He’d wanted only two things in the last past two thousand years. One was to rest his weary head and not have to worry about someone trying to kill him. And the second was a connection with someone, even if it was only friendship, but that hadn’t been possible since he never stayed in one place for too long.

That was why he cherished staying at the Frost home. He may not have known the men well and still felt a bit out of place, but at least he felt a warmth and sense of family he had been missing.

Casimir and Elouan continued to battle, blade striking blade, metal clanking as the swords slid against each other. Casimir fought fiercely to save… Save what? What exactly was he fighting for? To continue living a solitary existence for eternity?

That was all he’d been doing his entire life, just existing and surviving. Casimir wanted more than to simply exist. He wanted to truly live. But how could he when his nékah hated him and cursed the night they’d met?

“Keep blindly following, Elouan. The current king is no better. One day you’ll wake up and discover it’s the guardians he wants slaughtered.”

Elouan smiled maliciously. “Oh, there will be a slaughter.”

Casimir really didn’t like that grin. And he liked the overwhelming scent of vampires even less. It was suffocating, causing him to wonder just how many were nearby.

That had been Elouan’s plan all along. Knowing he could lose to Casimir in a fair fight, he’d made a backup plan.

“You always were a coward,” Casimir spat as they shoved away from each other. Then Casimir lunged again, only this time he changed direction at the last second and drove his sword into Elouan’s side, slicing through flesh and tissue. Blood erupted from the wound.

The scent of Elouan’s blood filled the air, accompanied by hissing and gnashing of teeth from all directions. “You want a slaughter, then you shall be the main course,” Casimir growled. “You are the betrayer, Elouan. You turned your back on your brothers for that worthless piece of shit.”

Casimir quickly tucked his wings in half a second before someone leapt onto his back. Fangs tore at his neck and sank into his wrist.

Damn it. Once a vampire tasted fae blood, they wouldn’t stop drinking until their victim was fully drained. Casimir roared and flung the attacker off, only to see at least thirty more descending on them like vultures.

“Never trust a—” Casimir cut himself off before finishing the sentence.

Damon might have abandoned him, but Casimir refused to disrespect his nékah by using the derogatory term “bloodsucker” ever again.

“Guess I shouldn’t have,” Elouan said nonchalantly. “Seems I have a bad habit of trusting the wrong people.”

“Like the kings you serve,” Casimir muttered.

He didn’t want to live without Damon, but this was not how Casimir wanted to go out. Looking to his left, he saw the vampire he’d spoken with earlier, only the guy wasn’t smiling. He was hiding behind a tree with a look of pure terror in his amber eyes.

They locked gazes for a moment, and the guy mouthed, “Sorry.”

It was a little too late for apologies. Casimir flipped him off then focused on fighting off the horde of vampires who wanted to make him their next meal. Trying to keep them off of him wasn’t easy.

Casimir might be an elite warrior, but when faced with this many vampires, even he was sweating this. “Just how many did you pay to be here?” Casimir asked between grunts and swings of his sword.

“Five,” Elouan admitted with a painful grunt, fighting back the vampires who were after the bloody injury Casimir had given him. “I’m starting to think they sent out flyers for this party.”

“With door prizes.” Casimir continued fighting, cutting through the vampires coming at him, but he felt as if he wasn’t making headway.

“Who were these five vampires you paid?” he asked Elouan.

“What does it matter?” he snarled. “You just turned me into a buffet for these bloodsuckers.”

Casimir was not going to make it out of this battle alive. “Because more vampires keep showing up. That’s why I asked, asshole.” If, by some miracle, he survived this, he wanted to personally thank those five.

Elouan’s head shot around, following Casimir’s stare to the vampires running down the grassy incline toward them.

His swords were slippery with blood, making it difficult to keep a grip on them as he fought. “What did you really do? This isn’t just five vampires. It’s a swarm.” He glared at Elouan while fending off the attackers.

It was obvious Elouan was lying to him. He had to have used some kind of dark spell or… Hell, Casimir didn’t know what to think. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use magic to get out of this since he’d been stripped of his magical abilities before escaping the realm.

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