Page 48 of The Vampire King's Gift

“But what about the muting--”

“It does not affect us. Try.” Daemon gently pushed him forward rather like a father would do to a baby bird to urge it to fly.

Julian’s eyes narrowed at the platform. He remembered the sensation of moving without physically moving his legs when Fiona and Daemon had teleported him. He imagined stepping forward onto the platform. He also imagined him making a fool of himself, which really didn’t matter, but he didn’t want Daemon to be shown up by his failure.

“You can do it, Julian. I feel it,” Christian said. “Just… step forward.”

He gave his best friend a grateful smile. He decided that he would run forward, and if he didn’t teleport, no one would know. But if hedidthen it would be the best. He pushed off of his back foot and leaped…

He slammed into Caemorn’s chest. The Preceptor luckily braced himself somehow and they didn’t topple over. As it was, Caemorn let out an oomph and looked down at Julian who was several inches shorter than them. He raised an eyebrow.

“Practicing teleporting by the Spire? That was bold,” Caemorn murmured.

“Hey! I’m here to save you. And Daemon told me to do it,” Julian retorted.

“Would you jump off a cliff if he told you to?”

“Yes, wouldn’t you?” Julian challenged.

And something flashed within Caemorn’s silver eyes. He didn’t say anything. Instead, he simply and gracefully lowered himself to his knees and pressed his forehead against the wooden platform. “The king comes!”

“Uhm, I’ll kneel, too,” Sophia said. “But I’d like my hands released first. I am not as flexible as Caemorn.”

Julian saw that her dress and hair were mussed. There were smudges on her cheeks from where someone had backhanded her. Rage bubbled up inside of him.

“Sophia! Who did this to you?” Julian cried as he reached towards the almost delicate cuffs that enclosed her child-like wrists. He saw that her skin was bruised and bloody from wherever the metal had touched her.

“You will not release the prisoners!” It was one of the Vampire Confessors who had been on the stage with them. She lunged towards Julian.

But she didn’t get very far. Julian had a chance to turn and bring up an arm to block her blow. But there was no blow. Julian’s eyes went wide as he stared into hers. Her whole body had turned intoparts. Little pieces, mere dots of her, suddenly started streaming down the avenue that the creatures had created towards Daemon. Julian watched as she was simply ripped apart and she watched him back. He tracked these remnants of her as they streamed towards Daemon and the Vampire Kingabsorbedthem. His red eyes glowed hotter as he simply drained her to nothing.

It was horrifying. But it was beautiful, too. And Julian’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. It was nothing a human being could ever do. For one moment, Julian imagined every single Vampire, but those loyal to Daemon being turned into that shimmery dust and Daemon drawing in that life.

There was silence and stillness in the crowd before the panic began. Then the shrill cries began. The people pushed and shoved each other to get away causing many to fall and be trampled beneath others’ feet.

Julian heard Daemon murmur, “Stop.”

And everyone ceased to move. They were frozen in mid-step. Their mouths gaping as cries were stuck in their throats. They couldn’t even blink.

“Eyros?” Daemon simply said. “Handle this for me.”

“Come to order!” Balthazar’s voice rose up in the air, but Julian felt it more in his mind. Though Balthazar might be muted, it wasn’t by much. “You will come to goddamned order!”

“Eyros?” the fiery haired woman murmured.

“Yeah, the report of the Immortals being dead and gone has been vastly overstated,” Julian told her.

He didn’t wait for her response, nor did he worry about her attacking him. She would be dusted just like the other woman had been if she even so much as looked at him funny. Was this what Daemon had been afraid of him seeing? Maybe.

He reached down to touch the chains that bound Sophia. He let out a hiss as the metal burned his skin. He shook his hand and breathed on it.

“Hold on, Sophia. I’m going to get these off,” he promised her. He turned to the woman with the fiery hair. “Key.”

“What?”

“Where’s the goddamned key?” he asked her and shoved his hand in her face. “Who has it?”

She regarded him with an almost hostile indifference.

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