Page 67 of Midwinter Night's Prince

Seth's eyes widened.

One of the vampires had grabbed Greer by the neck. Two others pinned her hands.

"I feel magic brewing, and I snap your head, girl, you hear me?" the female holding her barked.

Greer nodded. "No magic. Don't lose your heads, now. You hurt me, you're never getting out of here alive."

"Shut up! Let us go," she demanded, hysteric.

"I'm going to have to do some magic to open the walls." Her voice was deceptively calm. "You let me go, and I can do that."

"Remove the spell, now!"

Seth walked to the front, each step slow. This wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. Greer hadn't taken the time to create any of her usual shields. She was so fucking fragile.

"You can leave," Chloe promised. "You understand? We won't chase. Just let go of Greer and—"

"Liars! Liar! You want to feed on us, destroy us like you destroyed the queen. You're a monster! You're—"Her wrist twisted.

Everyone heard the crack clearly in the stunned silence around the ruins.

The vampire stared in horror at the woman in her grasp, her neck hanging low. She let go, and Greer's body fell to the ground.

There wasn't a single move. A single sound.

Greer was dead.

At Seth's next heartbeat, a tall, blond man appeared in the entrance, right behind her murderer.

"Eirikr," Chloe breathed. "I didn't…I couldn't do anything."

The first vampire in the world gazed at his descendent with nothing but ice in the depths of his eyes.

His hand flashed and the woman who'd cracked Greer's neck screamed in agony. His fist was closing around her heart, but instead of ripping it out, he kept it there and squeezed.

The rest of Aveka's followers scattered. Greer's wall was gone.

Because she was dead.

No one made a move to chase them, not even Eirikr. Instead, he knelt next to Greer, pushing her red hair off her face.

"Helsing," he said.

No one replied.

"Helsing!"

"Diana's passed out," Alexius said.

Seth hadn't noticed, but the dark-haired woman was lying in Mikar's arms.

"Someone broke her neck."

That wasn't fatal to a vampire, but she'd take a few hours to recover.

Meanwhile, Greer was dead. For good.

"Where's the ice witch?"

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