Page 115 of Fated Exile

Same here,Roarke agrees.And does anyone feel like they're killing the same bloodsuckers over and over?

Kieran snorts.They blend together with time, but I swear this one has the face of the vamp Bastian whacked with his own arm. Nice move, by the way.

Thank you—I invented it.

I'm momentarily distracted by a dual attack, but my mind is whirring with new information. So we all agree that the vampires haven't been giving it their all. Neither has Delphine—she hasn't moved, has barely twitched her fingers.

As I take down another vamp, then another, I get close enough to make out her features in the darkness.

Pale skin stretches across the delicate bones of her face. She looks like she hasn't seen the sun in years, which is to be expected, considering she's been in a cave forcenturies. Dark, lanky hair hangs down to her middle back, glossy and bluish-silver in the moonlight overhead.

Her eyes are an odd, chilling grey-blue that shines with an otherworldly light, and a small smile stretches across her bright pink lips. The dress she's wearing is white, lacy, and tattered, like a wedding dress ripped apart on its way down the aisle.

I feel like she walked out of a Stephen King movie.

And yet, as I stalk closer to her, she doesn't move. She doesn't call fire and flood to her fingertips, or roll a curse off her lips.

Which means I should attack hernow,before she changes her mind and goes for my jugular.

That's exactly what I do, without thinking about it twice. Even though I know she's immortal. Even though Kerry warned me about her when we found her in the caves.

I've felt Delphine prowling at the edges of my nightmares, seen her figure from the corners of my eyes, and even heard her voice in my mind.

I can't resist the temptation to throw myself at her now that I finally have a chance.

Instead of landing on her midsection and tearing a chunk out of her neck, I'm thrown off by an invisible wall. Delphine only smirks and lazily raises a brow at me as I fall to the ground thirty feet away from her and go sliding back, grass torn from its roots by my skidding impact.

I shake it off, get back up, and gather my muscles beneath me again.

Delilah, don't,Roarke warns in my head, but the blood pumping through me won't let me stop now. The she-wolf is leading, and she's mad as a feral animal, all teeth and fangs and the desire for blood. I can't get Delphine's taunting voice out of my head.

"Everything you have will be mine, weak little witch."

I shake the intrusive thought off and leap on Delphine again—this time, aiming up and over the wall of magic between us, hoping to crest it and land on the other side. Instead I hit a second wall, and go tumbling again. This time I'm more prepared for it, and I land on my feet.

Bastian suggests,Maybe you should try hitting her with a severed arm.

As nice as that idea is,Finn says with a snort, as he twists around and tackles another vampire,I think probably Delilah should try a less brutal face-first method.

Lance adds,Or maybe she shouldn't try anything at all, since the woman is immortal and clearly just here to tease us for some reason. We should all fall back, regroup, and protect our fellow pack members instead of getting drawn into a long and useless fight.

Roarke pivots towards me and watches me narrow my eyes at Delphine. In an urgent voice, he insists,Lance is right. They're not attacking to kill. We need to fall back and figure out why.

Send the warriors to protect the elderly and the children,I tell him, prowling around Delphine to get a look at her, those pale eyes tracking me with a flippant smirk on her face.I want to try one more thing before I give in here.

You're stubborn, Dee.Kieran sounds amused.Just don't get drawn in too far.

I won't be, I insist inwardly, even as I feel myself getting frustrated and obsessed. Something is off about this whole fight, off about the way Delphine is just standing there, off in general. Roarke is right, we're probably missing something, but my connection to the land tells me there are no vampires near the Mating Circle, no threats endangering our other borders. And even if a vampire wanted to get past me, Bastian has lent me his sight, and I can't see or sense a single one of them.

They're all here, I know it. Every one of them but the higher ups like Ambrosia. Which suggests something to me, snags at the edges of my mind. Wanting to prove my instincts right, I shift back to my human form, and cup my hands in the air for a spell Kerry taught me that's meant for attacking a witch's magical defenses.

"Spark to flame, burning is the game, make this witch weak and lame."

Magical fire grows between my palms and arcs towards my fingers. I throw it quickly, hissing as the heat licks my skin, which heals seconds after the fire leaves me. It races across the space between me and Delphine, hitting a white wall and flattening against it.

The wall of magical defense flares at the attack, then dissipates into nothingness.

I gather my hands and repeat the spell quickly, throwing the fire at Delphine. It burns across the last of her magic, and she doesn't even react. As I get closer, my heart sinks, and I have my suspicions confirmed.

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