Page 86 of After Darkness Falls

Clearing ferals wasn’t fun. It equated to having a rat infestation. But hunting down vampires in full control of their senses was another matter altogether. Levi knew they heard him coming, felt the air cool as he closed in on them. He watched true fear in their eyes before bringing them to their knees.

Killing a vampire wasn’t easy. He couldn’t just slit throats; that sort of wound could heal. He had to cut through the spine, rip out the heart. Fire or water could have done the job, but as he had none at hand, he had his work cut out.

At first, Levi ripped his way through skeletons, ignoring the blood on his hands, but as the number of enemies thinned, he changed tactics.

Finding a group of three, he made quick work of the first two, and then wrapped his bloody hand around the third’s throat before pulling him off his feet and holding him high.

“Who sent you?”

The first four vampires he questioned could not answer. They choked on any reply, not only because he was strangling them. Something prevented them from speaking.

“True to the blood!” is what most would say.

Just those four words.

They were bound by magic, that much was obvious. Dammit. He stopped attempting to spare anyone, instead focusing on clearing his territory and, more importantly, finding Chloe.

He couldn’t sense her location, not even through the faint bond that had always existed between them.

As if she was fading. Losing energy. And no wonder.

He couldn’t focus on that now. First, he had to kill the enemy to protect Oldcrest, his home, the hundreds of students here. Then, he’d find her.

She was alive. He had to believe that. He’d find her and then hunt Tom down to get more blood for her. Or demand it from Ariadne herself if that’s what it took.

He had to…

Levi stopped in his tracks midway through striking a curly-haired blond vampire near Eirikr’s cave.

Fire.

As sure as there was water in his soul, the woman in front of him was all raging blue fire.

There was nothing sweet about her. Nothing beautiful. She was too terrifying to be called that. Bewitching, fascinating, and irresistible would work, though.

Chloe moved like a shadow, kicking the blond’s head and pushing the heel of her muddy boot into his chest.

“Who sent you?”

The man looked frantic as he struggled to break free. She pushed more of her weight forward, leaning in.

“Who?”

Her voice was so very beautiful, melodious, like honeysuckle.

“We serve the queen,” he replied weakly. “She said there was an imposter. Someone who wanted to take everything she’s worked for these past hundred years. We were told it’d be a human girl with tricks.”

The vampire looked ashamed now.

“What queen?” Levi asked.

Many bore the title. A hundred queens ruled around the world.

“The queen of all vampires,” he replied.

Levi frowned. No such thing existed.

“She will have us give in to our true nature, hunt and celebrate darkness, once all who oppose her are gone. The queen will bring back the golden age, as it was foretold.”

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