Page 2 of Queen of Darkness
“No need,” he said before breaking the locking pin that held the two pieces together and handing me one. “We’ll cut it out.”
I snagged the clipper handle in mid-air, looking at the eight-inch blade and then at the Plant-Fae. Then back at Aaron. “Thisis your grand plan?” I asked, spinning away from another attack even as the Plant-Fae came at us, its remaining six vine-tentacles preparing for an attack.
“You got a better one?” he challenged.
I didn’t, so we put the blades to work. Whirling and ducking, we avoided its strikes as best we could and hit back when the opportunity arose. Two more vines fell before the Plant-Fae screeched in alarm and began to retreat, its root-like feet carrying it up and onto the lawn, where they found better purchase, and it moved away faster.
“I think we encouraged it not to come back,” I observed.
“Time to make sure it doesn’t come back.” Hauling back his arm, Aaron held his half of the clippers like a javelin. Taking several steps forward, he flung it with all his considerable might.
The blade wobbled mightily in midair, but it stayed true, burying deep into the trunk of the retreating creature. It shrieked again, slapping at the embedded object with several vines until the clipper arm came free. Then it disappeared into the night, leaving the two of us to recover.
“Well, that was certainly a rush,” Aaron said, smiling broadly.
“It’s too much,” I said tautly, without any humor. “This can’t go on. As long as I still have a Blood Letter on my head, they’ll keep coming after me. The only one who can stop it is the Vampire Queen.”
“Jo …”
I stared at Aaron. “I’m going after her.”
Chapter Two
“Jo, we’ve been over this! Going after Elenia is madness. It’s crazy!”
“So is sitting around and letting bounty hunter after bounty hunter come to Seguin and wreak havoc! Eventually, someone strong enough is going to take notice and come for me. What then, Aaron?”
“This is madness,” the vampire growled, blue eyes flashing in the dusky light. “You can’t just go kill the Vampire Queen, Jo.”
“Why not?” I shouted back. “She might be immortal, but that’s not the same thing as being invincible. Shecanbe killed, and I intend to do just that. This nonsense needs to stop! People are being hurt because of it. I can’t keep letting them put themselves in harm’s way for me.”
Aaron sighed, running a hand through his blond hair. He’d cut it shorter recently, and the gesture was a remnant of when it had been several inches longer.
“You’re right about us not staying here,” he acknowledged. “We should go. Right now, they know where to find you. We should leave. I can hide you, Jo. I can protect you.”
Clenching my hands into fists, I turned away from him. Aaron had a major crush on me. Maybe more than a crush, I didn’t know. He wanted to claim me, whatever that meant as a vampire. I didn’t know, nor had I asked. I wasn’t sure Iwantedto know. After all, I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that I was a vampire myself.
All my life, I’d thought I was a shifter. As it turned out, my mother had passed on both wolf genes and blood-sucking monster genes. I was the lucky lottery winner of a life full of being a monster who needed blood to survive. Although I couldn’t deny that there was something between Aaron and me, romance wasn’t particularly high on my “give a shit” list lately.
I had bigger problems to worry about. Like the inner demon in me and the fact that the Vampire Queen had put out a virtual “wanted” poster on me, but without the “or alive” part. She simply wanted medead.
“What is it, Jo?”
“What is it?” I asked, not sure he grasped the incredulity of the question. “Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I’m an immortal vampire-shifter. And also, I’m a woman. Thanks to your queen, that’s a combination that results in only one outcome. My gruesome death. A death she’s willing to stake a good amount of money on.”
“Jo …”
“I can’t keep running, Aaron,” I told him point-blank, letting him look into my jade eyes and see my resolve, my determination. Letting him see that I meant business. “Not anymore.”
“Going after her is insane.”
I shook my head. “Two weeks ago, I let you talk me out of going after her. That was what was insane. This could all be over now.”
“Or you could be dead,” he pointed out. “Which, I might add, is a far more likely outcome right now.”
“Thanks for your support.” I glared at him.
“If there were any hope of success, I’d be the first one to go,” he said hotly, angered by my insinuation that he wouldn’t be there for me. “But we already snuck into her palace once. Well, you did to rescue me, but the point still stands. She thought she was unassailable behind the walls. That she couldn’t be reached. Now you’ve shown her otherwise. She’s going to have pulled back her elites. The palace will be infested with them. Can’t you see that?”
