Page 308 of Halfblood Deceived

But she wouldn’t get that.

So she bent her knees and smiled at the gargoyles.

They attacked her as one, all brute strength and no grace.

Aella had been expecting that. She parried their twin strikes with her claymores. Arching back to avoid the males’ arms, she used her full speed to slide between them, turn on her heels, and sink her blades into both opponents’ chests.

The whole movement lasted two heartbeats.

Before they could recover or even scream, Aella pulled her claymores from their chests and sliced their necks open. Their heavy bodies toppled to the ground. Crimson blood fell from their torn necks to the concrete, creating a massive puddle in seconds.

Aella turned back to her audience. She was breathing too fast, but she couldn’t control it. Her head throbbed with pain, and she felt lightheaded, but she stood straight through sheer stubbornness.

The remaining gargoyles roared at her and shifted. Some had wings, and some didn’t.

Micah and Father Israel stared at her. Micah was incensed and disgusted while the priest had something calculative and downright disturbing in his eyes.

“Who’s next?” Aella asked them both.

“Kill her! All of you!” Micah cried.

Fifteen angry gargoyles went after Aella.

She was dead. So dead.

But not yet.

Aella took a deep breath and called for her power. Aylana had called them energy blasts during their training. Using her energy blasts drained her stamina, and she was drained as she was, but also out of options. So she dropped a claymore and blasted at the closest gargoyle at the same time she parried a blow from another. The blast hit the male in the chest and sent him flying into the fountain.

Unfortunately, the gargoyles had magic, too.

Aella dodged flares of burning red energy that left scorch marks on the stone floor. She parried vicious sword slashes. She shot blasts of blue energy.

Dodge, parry, blast, slash.

Dodge, parry, blast, slash.

Someone struck her back. The armor didn’t break, but she stumbled forward, barely managing to block the slice of a sword… leaving her open and unprotected to a ball of red energy that hit her chest and sent her off her feet.

She fell hard on her back, all the air gone from her lungs. Someone kicked her sword from her hand.

Seven males rose their blades to chop her into pieces.

“Stop!” boomed a familiar voice. “Back away from her.”

The gargoyles obeyed.

Aella twisted on the ground, coughing up more blood. A groan escaped her mouth.

Father Israel’s limping figure came into view. He leaned on his cane as he stared down at Aella with something she couldn’t interpret, but sent a shiver through her.

“You are so much like her, Aella,” the priest said, tilting his head. “Same heathen hair. Same eyes.” His lip curled. “Both of you, vampire-loving whores and infected beasts.”

Aella frowned, confused.

Father Israel lifted a hand and chanted an incantation in Latin.

Red magic pinned Aella to the hot floor. It shackled her wrists at each side of her head, and pinned her legs so tightly it hurt.

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