Page 34 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

Then there was the small teenage girl wrapped up like a Victorian doll with her frilly dress and her perfect blonde coils of hair. She was humming an old nursery rhyme as her silver baton swung from its loop on the crook of her finger like a pendulum.

And of course, there was me. The half-blood princess dressed up as a top-shelf blood whore. Well,maybetop shelf, if it wasn’t for the vampire guts crusting my flesh and the red fabric of my dress.

So I didn’t blame the slack-jawed faces of six vampires who pivoted in our direction the moment the elevator doors slid open with a cheerful ‘ding’ announcing us.

“That’s the princess and one of the princes.” One of them exclaimed, “Miss Sharpe, what are you doing with these prisoners?”

“Setting them free,” the girl said through a bored yawn, patting her mouth with her hand. “I’d say step aside and let them pass, but unfortunately, I can’t leave behind any witnesses to my betrayal, so...”

Before any of them could react, I was out of the elevator. I unleashed a cavernous growl at the vampires, flashing my fangs, and took thorough joy in how they all stumbled backward. By the unguarded fear in their eyes, Corry’s little nickname for me had found its way here.

The one closest rushed me with his needle-sharp fangs bared, a silver baton like the one the prison guard had poised and ready to crack down over my skull. Dread fisted my heart as I realized the vampire had faster reflexes than I did. I braced for the blow, but a blur of blonde hair and lace bolted past.

“Kneel before your future queen,” Lavinia’s voice sounded. I could make out her form just enough to see her slam her own baton into the guard’s knee cap. He crumpled to his one good knee before me.

“And long may she live,” Eros cackled as he punched his bare fist into the throat of another guard, the crunch of bone following another wicked laugh as his victim fell at his feet.

“Our people will never accept some weak half-blood cunt as our queen.” Even as the vampire spoke, his voice trembled.

I grinned down at him while lifting an eyebrow. “Weak, huh? Well, I guess I’m just gonna have to set the record straight on that one.”

Grabbing his head, I tore it from his shoulders. The strength that surged through my arms was like an electric shock to the system. It was powerful and made my nerves tingle with the energy flowing through me. The head came off so easily one might think the male’s neck was made of tissue paper.

There was a satisfying murmur of panic from the four remaining guards.

Lavinia bit another guard in the thigh, a woman, by the high pitch screaming coming from their direction.

Eros was in his element. His eyes danced with maniacal glee, his pierced lips screwing up into a devilish grin as he ripped the arm off one of the vampires he’d already killed in a way that snapped the bone. Raising the severed limb to his mouth, he stripped the flesh away from the jagged bone. Then, as another vampire rushed him, he shoved his homemade stake into the chest of his assailant. The man instantly turned into a cloud of ash that peppered the lobby’s blood-stained marble flooring.

Only two guards remained. While Lavinia and Eros tagged-teamed the one at the far end of the room, I leaped onto the back of the remaining man, dodging the way his hands swiped for me. I gripped his head between my palms, but my hands went slack, and my concentration on my task was all but obliterated when my attention landed on moonstone eyes that stared at me through the glass of the front door.

Sterling.

On the next heartbeat, another figure stepped out of the shadows of the night to stand alongside his brother. Cerulean blue eyes glittered with a dimpled smile as they found me through the locked glass door.

Corry.

The sight of them inspired a wave of relief inside me that had to be something similar to stranded people in the desert happening across an oasis. But that warm, bubbly feeling evaporated the moment reality came slamming back as my body hurtled into the front desk.

The vampire whose back I straddled used my temporary distraction to slam me down onto the edge of the furniture. A sickening crack sounded. There was a pinch in my spine. The pain that tore through me was so excruciating, the edges of my vision went dark. A ragged scream ripped from my throat.

I hit the floor in a painful heap. My legs wouldn’t move. I could barely keep my head up to catch the scene of Eros grabbing the vampire by his nape with one hand and tearing out his esophagus with the other.

A flurry of other sounds sailed past as my vision faded. Gurgling. A scuff of feet. Lavinia said something I couldn’t make out, and a moment later, there was the swoosh of a door opening.

Voices. My men. They were all calling my name. Eros with urgency, Corry with panic. And as always, the two syllables of my name were soft and easy on the tongue of my silver prince.

“Ruby,” Sterling whispered, his hands barely feathering over my skin as he touched me. I wanted him to hold me, but even the movement from breathing was almost too much to stomach.

“Don’t jostle her,” Lavinia’s voice cut through the murk encasing my skull. “Her spine is broken.”

“Where’s Vin?” Corry asked, the shrill of fear in his tone making my ears ring and my nerves wither. “His blood heals much better than any of ours.”

“They’ve got him,” Eros grunted. “Sterling, your blood—”

“It won’t be enough,” the priest said in a paper-thin whisper, his voice fraught with something that made my belly twist.

“He’s right,” Lavinia said. “She’ll need a donation. From all three of you.”

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