Page 91 of Queen of Darkness
“Fuck you. I hope you rot in hell!”
Elenia laughed, grinding her foot down into the shattered bone, making Aaron scream again.
“I will rot in nothing. I am thequeen.”
Snarling in anger at her arrogance, I grabbed the last blood slave in line and hauled him with me to the edge of the curtained area. Chains rattled as the others were dragged along.
“Hey, QueenBitch,” I shouted.
I wanted her to see this. To know that she was in deep shit.
Elenia’s head whipped around to stare at me, her eyes widening in surprise and then anger.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” I snarled and sunk my fangs deep into the last of her blood slaves, while over his neck, I stared down the queen, making my challenge clear.
Chapter Forty-Five
Elenia howled in fury as I dropped the last of the blood slaves, his chest still rising and falling. The sheer hatred I felt for the tall woman in front of me had allowed me to focus with crystal clarity. I’d used that clarity to overpower my Hunger and pull myself free before killing any of them.
There would be damage to my psyche from what I’d done, but that would pale in comparison to the wounds I’d just inflicted on the slaves themselves. My only consolation was that they still lived, and if their gift allowed me to defeat the queen, then they would be able to gofree. Something Elenia would never grant them.
“Those aremine!” the ruler of all of vampire kind shrieked, coming at me like a miniature tornado.
I flung myself at her, and we slammed together with a tremendouscrackthat echoed throughout the throne room, slamming to the floor in a flurry of blows. Her momentum gave Elenia the upper hand, and she got on top of me, a fist flashing toward my face. I yanked my head aside at the last moment, just as her fist pulverized the stone tile, shattering it.
Angrily, I pulled both hands into my chest and then slammed my palms out at her with all the crackling energy I could muster. Elenia flew off me, launched ten feet in the air from my blow. Using that time, I rolled to the side as she flailed uselessly on her way down.
My scything kick caught her just before she hit the floor. A mightyoofannounced the departure of air from her lungs as she slid across the ground and into the steps of her raised throne, hitting hard.
For a moment, she was stunned, and I took advantage of it. Reaching deep into my mind, I threw off the chains, releasing the shackles that had held my other half down for so long. I didn’t fight her this time, didn’t try to hold her back for fear of what she might do. This time I welcomed her in and embraced her.
My wolf surged through me, howling at the power that infused us as we shifted. Our bones cracked and reformed while mottled gray and black fur covered my entire body. Paws bigger than my hand sprouted claws while my snout jutted forward, filling with teeth eager to clamp around Elenia’s neck.
Seeing what was happening, the vampire queen hauled herself up and came at us in a blur. We didn’t have time to get fully to our feet, and she wisely stayed out of range of our bite before slugging us hard in the flank.
Yelping with pain, we slid across the floor, trying to gain purchase with our claws. This wasn’t our ideal fighting ground, no soft earth beneath our feet for traction, no trees to hide among while we stalked our prey, but it didn’t matter. This was a fight wehadto fight. And on top of that, one we knew we must win.
Snarling, we got to our feet and raced back at the queen. Thanks to the blood we’d drawn, we had size, power, and speed on our side. Our body tingled with unrealized power, and we intended for our prey to feel it. Of course, she didn’t wait for us. Recognizing that we were her equal, she dodged our attack and ran out the main doors.
As she disappeared, others entered, swords held at the ready. Corvis looked at us warily. He’d tangled with us before, and it hadn’t gone so well for him. Baring our teeth, we crouched low. Our every desire screamed to move past him, to launch ourselves down the hallway after the fleeing queen, but we couldn’t. We had someone to defend.
Glancing at Aaron, we hesitated, indecisive. He waved us off and pulled several plastic vials of blood from the inside of his suit pocket.
“I got this,” he said, ripping them open. “You go.”
We looked at him, then at the half-dozen figures blocking the exit, then back at him.
“If you want to take a few of them out on your way by, be my guest,” he said, red streaks of blood streaming down the sides of his mouth. “But you leave him for me. He’s mine. This time I’m not letting him get away.”
Nostrils flaring at the scent of blood, we struggled for a moment, drawn toward him.
No!A voice cracked through our skull just as a pulsing wave of cool confidence came through a link. Our head tilted to the side, and we saw Aaron wink at us.
He had a trick to play.
Snarling at him, we let him feel our emotions.You had better be here when we get back.
“I will,” he said, speaking aloud. “Now go!”
