Page 68 of The Star's Sword

“Any of you touch her, and you’ll taste my blade,” Samael said. “And if you know my reputation, you know I’ll do it slowly. Painfully.”

The vampires closed in around Samael, moving from all corners of the room like a silent swarm.

“You threaten one of us, you threaten all of us,” a tall, menacing vampire in a tux said. About thirty of them were closing in.

Samael looked at them defiantly, ready to draw his sword. Two vampires stepped forward, grabbing both my arms to jerk me back, but instantly Zadis was there, and I gasped as I saw his long, pointed rapier was already out and pointed at both of them.

“Let go of her before I chop your arms off.”

Samael’s katana was out now too, the blade and hilt completely black. “Before we both chop off your arms.”

Despite being slightly drunk, the two looked well-prepared for battle.

As the two vampires holding me instantly let go, muttering about unfairness, even more vampires seemed to flood into the room, probably having heard about the commotion.

They pressed in around us as Sam and Zadis tried to position themselves around me, defending against the circling crowd, where countless fangs were now showing.

“This is blood disloyalty,” Mark said, shoving his way into the crowd with us, and finally causing the vampires to hesitate and step back. “I can smell it in the air, like burning blood. All of you, think hard about your next options. Think about your blood.”

Some of the vampires looked to each other, whispering suspiciously.

“I think we should take care of her for Vasara,” one of the vampires said, cracking his knuckles. “After all, we can take this dog and her protectors right here, and Vasara won’t even have the trauma of going through trials against her abuser.”

“Her what?” I asked, confused.

“We know what you did to Vasara. How you go telling everyone that you did what she did, stealing her stories for your own.”

“I didn’t,” I said, as Sam kicked another vampire back with a boot to his middle, as another attacked and Zadis repelled him with a slash.

Our attempt at diplomacy was clearly failing. Somewhere, Vasara had to be laughing.

“Stop telling people you killed a rogue,” a vamp yelled from the back of the crowd. So many vampires had flooded in now that a frenzy was building, something beyond fixing and rising with every new vamp in the room.

A mob was forming, I realized, and reason was about to go out the window.

“We need to go,” I said. “They won’t listen to reason.”

“How dare you,” a nearby vamp said, trying to swing at me and getting shoved back by Mark. “You’re the one without reason. Using your powerful friends won’t help you. If they knew what you were, Cleo, they wouldn’t even protect you from us.”

Sam had reached his limit, even drunk, and as the vampire came forward as if to strike me, Sam slashed forward with a diagonal strike, cutting the vampire in half, sending blood spraying into the air in an arc like a sprinkler had been turned on.

Other vamps stared in shock as the one in front of them exsanguinated and died, screaming loudly.

Sam’s eyes widened, as if he only just realized what he’d done. Then he smirked, swaying slightly and catching his balance, as he got his sword ready to fight again. “Next vamp to say something bad about Cleo gets my sword somewhere they never even imagined it could go.”

Several vampires stepped back, but others moved forward.

“Traitor!” a vampire yelled. “She’s killed one of us. Get them!”

The vampires moved toward us in earnest, and Mark punched them back, while Zadis slashed forward and cut one’s arm off, making blood spray everywhere as the vampire flailed.

I looked down to see blood all over the floor, as more vamps ran into my friends, who seemed to be enjoying the fight now.

I stood there, bewildered, hands at my sides, dress being spattered, as Zadis and Sam cut back my attackers, and Mark grabbed another vampire running at me by the neck.

Damn it, I’d wanted to help vampires. Now they were being killed and getting us all in trouble.

“Vasara was right!” a vampire yelled. “Cleo is an enemy to the vampires.”

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