Page 51 of Halfblood Deceived

The aim of the gargoyle was clear as day—he wanted to cut Zeydan’s wings.

Gargoyles had the habit of collecting the wings of royal vampires like trophies.

Zeydan parried and delivered blows, simultaneously dodging blasts of cursed magic and diverting a few more with his telekinesis. His heart pumped painfully hard with the horror of imagining Gabby, Mari, Luce, and Aella trapped and cornered.

Andreas made use of his unending well of pent-up rage and brutality, killing two gargoyles at once all on his own. Something nearly impossible for most vampires, but he was a force to be reckoned with. Zeydan could see him from the corner of his eye, brandishing his sword as if felling wheat, claiming the arm of another gargoyle that was about to strangle Evan.

“Fuck this shit!” Lex growled, shifting into his gray-white wolf with uncanny speed and jumping on a gargoyle, jaws closing around the bastard’s face.

Evan followed his brother’s lead, shifting into his mostly white wolf self and closing his jaws around the arm of the gargoyle that was trying to sneak behind Andreas.

Zeydan’s opponent grinned and tossed two grenades at them.

Zeydan captured them with his telekinesis and tossed them outside, where they detonated before even hitting the ground. The polluted smoke was mostly blown away by the wind. “I don’t fucking think so,” Zeydan drawled. “You’ll have to fight without your dirty little tricks.”

The psychopathic gargoyle flashed his stone teeth, striking Zeydan with renewed anger. “Micah is not happy that you took what belongs to him, Duke Zeydan,” he taunted. “He will get his whore back and rein her in once and for all. She will regret disrespecting him and betraying us.”

Zeydan gritted his teeth at the mention of the name of the bastard that had nearly killed and abused Aella. He blocked a blast of magic from his opponent with a shield, sending the flare of crackling red energy against another gargoyle that hissed and went down on his arse.

“She should have known better than to defy Micah,” the gargoyle brute continued.

Zeydan tut-tutted. “And why do you care so much, pretty boy? No, don’t tell me. I can take a guess—you are in love with Micah!”

The gargoyle growled and attacked Zeydan with so much viciousness that he managed to knock Zeydan’s mask off and deliver a cut on his arm. It burned like the devil, but Zeydan ignored it. Bloodlust and desperation bubbled in his veins.

Gabby, Luce, Mari, Aella, please hold on, he silently begged.

“That’s a yes,” Zeydan needled, forcing out a humorless laugh. “You repressed, psychotic fuckers would be much less annoying if you didn’t live in denial.”

The gargoyle tackled Zeydan in a flash, sending them both outside.

Zeydan kicked him off and stood in the same movement, beating his wings to lift himself a few feet off the ground.

The gargoyle stared at Zeydan, stunned, no doubt expecting him to burn under the sunlight. When it was clear that wouldn’t happen, the gargoyle took flight as well, and soon they were both flying higher and higher, slashing and parrying, launching blasts of power at each other.

“Your wings will be a nice addition to my collection,” the gargoyle said, tongue flashing as if the mere thought made him salivate.

Zeydan couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose. “You bastards get creepier with each generation.”

“And you get weaker!” the gargoyle jeered.

That was true of some, but definitely not all.

A shiver ran down Zeydan’s back.

He barely had time to dodge a blade that would have cleaved his left wing. Two more gargoyles joined the fray. Zeydan blocked the strikes of two, the psychotic one he’d been fighting, and a smaller one.

Something metallic snapped around Zeydan’s ankle, sending burning pain up his leg.

He looked down, eyes widening as he realized it was a shackle attached to a chain held by gargoyle No 3.

The gargoyle yanked at the chain, flying straight toward the ground and taking Zeydan with him.

Aella felt as if her chest was made of lead.

Micah was here, and he wasn’t alone.

He was going to kill them all.

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