Page 68 of Tainted Blood

“Everly, keep running!” Isaiah screamed.

I turned to see Kallias coming for me and shoved into the suite, trying to slam the door and lock it, hoping it would be enough. He wasn’t fighting the others, still very much focused on killing me as if he had a vendetta against me.

The door blasted open, and I tried to keep moving until I was on the far side of the room, now more worried about where Alexius was still resting. I waited as I had with Solon, letting Kallias try to come for me until I had the space to get around him and back out with him on my heels.

With a roar, he lunged for me, and I jumped to the side, my leg nearly buckling as I landed. With that, I didn’t get the start I needed to get to the door.

Kallias was already coming for me even as I tried to make it, hoping against hope. A single claw cut my shoulder but nothing else as I burst into the hallway and dared to turn around.

And saw Alexius there, holding Kallias’ massive arm, keeping him from reaching me.

His snarl at the demon-vampire monstrosity made my chest rumble. I couldn’t see his face, but I had a feeling his expression was even more terrifying than the snarl.

Someone bumped into me, but I couldn’t tear my eyes off the stalemate.

“Everly, you need to get out of here,” Isaiah whispered in a hushed tone, revealing his own fear. “You need to go.”

“But—”

“That’s why Alexius is known as a berserker,” he explained.

Like his name was a call to action, Alexius slammed Kallias into the ground and roared at him.

“Let’s go,” Isaiah ordered, grabbing my elbow. I refused to move, and when he pulled, my leg nearly buckled again.

“No, I have to help him!” I snapped, trying to yank my arm back. Isaiah dragged me down the hall with ease. I could only grab the gun the human had, finding it kicked only ten feet down the hall from where it had initially been. When Alexius was thrown out of Isaiah’s suite, I fired at Kallias when he revealed himself. He roared at me, coming after us.

“Damn you, Everly!” Isaiah shoved me further down the hall before turning to face Kallias. Isaiah snarled, his nails turning black as they grew.

Before the big monster reached us, Alexius was up, tackling it to the ground. It became a brawl between them. Throwing each other into walls, drywall flying everywhere as they viciously battled in the confined space.

Every time one of them went for the head of the other, it never worked out. Kallias was too massive for Alexius to get a hold, and Alexius was too agile to give Kallias the time to get a hold of him.

Everyone else was now too scared to get involved. It had to be because Alexius, a rage-fueled warrior, had awoken from a healing sleep and was tossed into a fight for his life. Even Isaiah was keeping back, trying to hold me and get me out of the hall. I heard someone screaming that they needed help to rescue the other wounded. I saw Isis when Kallias went through a door and wall, Kamose in her arms. Kallias didn’t even notice her as she held the man she loved as her father and started running, heading in the opposite direction of the lounge. She went into the staff halls with him and hopefully, kept running.

Maxwell was in a similar situation with Aelia, cradling her against his chest as he tried to find an opening and keep them from being seen, but unlike Isis, he had no such space. If no one moved soon, they were going to be spotted, and they were easy targets for Kallias if Maxwell didn’t abandon his sire.

I did not know if Ivanna and Damek were out, but I knew she would either be protecting him or trapped with him since I hadn’t seen her move around for more than fifteen minutes at any given point in the night. Ramman was alone in some room, not protected by anyone, and I didn't know how to help him.

And no one was willing to get involved in the fight. As I looked at the other vampires, I realized they weren't being scared or inactive, not really. They were gearing up for a fight, but it hit me that they were preparing themselves to fight thevictor, be that Alexius or Kallias.

The gun felt heavy in my hand, the only weapon I had.

I knew what I had to do.

Running forward with a snarl, I did my best to ignore the pain in my leg. Even injured, I was fast enough to get away from Isaiah, heading towards the fight.

I trusted Alexius. I had heard whispers about him as a berserker, but I trusted him. Edwin had said Alexius would kill everyone in the nest, but he didn’t.

I didn’t hesitate even as Alexius turned to me for a second, letting me see his eyes.

Demonic eyes. Black surrounding the red, completely unnatural, just as they had been with Raphael, with Samas, and now with Kallias.

Once I was close enough, I jumped with a scream of vindictive rage, grabbing onto Kallias’ shoulder and attempting to scramble onto his back. Alexius clawed his face, knocking his head to the side, nearly throwing me off, but I held on using my black claws, sinking them into the thick muscle of his back, refusing to let go for anything. The pain of my nails must have gotten his attention. Kallias shook and tried to slam me into a wall to get me off, but he was also contending with the warrior he was facing.

I got my free hand into his hair.

I wasn’t strong enough to cut off his head with a sword or tear it off with my bare hands, but I knew why those worked. They disconnected the brain from the rest of the body… the spinal column. It was an easy lesson to learn.

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