Page 13 of Amethyst and Iron
He leapt up, evading it entirely, flipping in mid-air, then landing several feet away from it.
Lazriel took the opportunity to strike.
But then Victor snagged his wrist with speed that completely eclipsed Lazriel’s, then twisted harshly. I heard the brutal snaps and the grunt from Lazriel as Victor broke bones. He slashed his talons across Lazriel’s torso, making him cry out as he drew deep wounds.
“I’ve wanted to meet you for a while now,” he spoke to Lazriel, kicking him to his knees.
“Why? What the fuck do you want? Your name means shit to me.”
“It wouldn’t. But now I want it to.” An eerie smile infected his features. “Long live,Puritas.”
“Puritas… what… Velra!” he roared, forcing himself back to his feet, as Victor looked on with condescension. “What did you do to her?”
“Me? Nothing. Well, I did facilitate access. So I suppose that is something. But for the actual damage itself you can thank her intoxicatingly ruthless brother for such fine work.”
“What work? What exactly did he do to her?”
“She’s dead.”
Lazriel burst forward.
Victor saw it coming almost before Lazriel had even made the move, and he thrust a single hand out that slammed into Lazriel’s chest and sent him careening back a good hundred feet in the distance.
He landed with an awful thud, his limbs askew, choking up blood.
“That’s right, hybrid bitch, look at me with all that terror. I do love demonstrating to perceived apex predators that they’re really the prey. That fear will grow. It will drive you to the point of paranoia and near insanity. And then we’ll—”
I sent a blast of my power his way.
But even caught up in his villain monologue, he dodged it, the only effect being cutting off his fucking sentence.
He turned toward me. “You’re conserving your power. That was nothing compared to what the great Sylas Morgrave is rumored to be capable of. Planning an illegal and mammoth violation of the balance, are you? Hmm… try if you like, but will the consequences truly be worth it? Not just the destabilization you’ll cause to the balance of nature and magic alike, but what it will do to you personally. Becoming your father, for instance? Didn’t you already get too close to that once?” He smirked. “Ah, yes, I recall Corvin raving excitedly about Glasswake Massacre. It appears that no matter your intentions, you were always meant to become Morien Morgrave. How tragic.”
I thrust my hands out, intending to capture him with Undead Domination and make him my fucking puppet—but then Lazriel released a wolf roar and ran at him, bloodied, shredded, and covered in mud.
“Lazriel, no!” I called out.
But he didn’t stop.
Victor grinned and went to deal out damage again.
But then he paused mid-movement.
Several blurs cut across my vision and then ten vampires were forming a wall between him and Lazriel. All of them wore hooded black cloaks and metal face masks, their eyes glowing red, talons extended, as they hissed at Victor.
Another four slammed into him from either side in pairs, wrenching him off his feet.
They then snapped into position, strengthening the wall to fourteen vampires facing off with him in clear defense of Lazriel. The protection his mom had put on him. Well, as we now knew, protection that had likely actually come fromRemnant.
We all tensed as Victor glared out at them, rapidly assessing the situation.
“You are fortunate that today is not slated for his demise.” His gaze flicked to Lazriel. “There will be time to play first, time to savor.”
He took off then in a blur of speed that was barely perceptible.
Moments passed where the vampire unit stared out after him, clearly scenting and tracking him to ensure he’d really left, and wasn’t planning a return sneak attack.
And then the one covered in gold jewelry looked Lazriel over and nodded. “You are healing rapidly. You are well.”
