Page 6 of Halfblood Deceived

“Not as much as others have,” Ben countered, his voice betraying exhaustion. Gargoyles healed at about half the speed vampires did, which was ridiculously fast by any standard, but that wound had been vicious.

Eli’s wicked laugh made Aella flinch. “It never gets old. The disgusting leeches curse and swear they’ll never tell us anything and then they’re screaming their confessions. I wish we could do this more often.”

Aella’s blood ran cold.

It wasn’t the first time she heard Eli boasting about how much he enjoyed torturing vampires. Nor was it a surprise that gargoyles participated in torture.

Aella had known since she was a child—after sneaking into yet another cold corner and hearing the most horrifying, unimaginably blood-curdling screams along with a priest’s demands for answers. She’d been found by a nun and given a good beating for snooping. Then the priest scolded her some more for asking if torture wasn’t a sin. “We are God’s warriors and you have no right to question us,” he’d said. “This is war and war is brutal.”

And it was, Aella knew this. Vampires did horrifying things to gargoyles when they got their hands on them.

Vampires were corrupted and evil, and they would kill all of mankind if the gargoyles didn’t keep them in line.

Just like they’d killed Aella’s mother.

Vampires were demonic beasts.

That was all true.

But there was something disturbing about how much Eli loved to torture them.

Aella tore little pieces of her lower lip with her teeth and focused on the conversation.

“There is a whole clan as we suspected,” Micah said. “With two royals.”

“Maybe we should ask for reinforcements,” Isaiah suggested with the usual calm in his baritone voice.

Eli snorted. “There are seven of us. We can take them down.”

There were four gargoyle males in the mansion. The other three still lived in the church because they were unmarried.

“Pride is something we cannot afford,” came Father Israel’s voice.

“It’s not like we’re talking about the spawns of the vampire king,” Eli retorted.

“Eli is right,” Ben agreed. “I’d be more worried if it were a Davashkov we were up against. But this one is just a common duke.”

Aella shuddered. She’d heard that name a few times before and had seen a picture of the Davashkov twins once. Crown Prince Kerian and Crown Princess Kamilla were the most feared vampires after the vampire King. Mass murderers of gargoyles, owners of an entire city full of monsters called Darkwood. The church and the Order had tried to breach Darkwood for a century, and they’d failed. Such was the power of the vampire royals.

“And we should start by cutting off the head of the serpent,” Micah interjected. “According to the leech we dissected, the most powerful of the royals frequents a club downtown. I say we intercept him there and then draw him somewhere we can kill him or capture him before going for his clan.”

“And how would we do that?” Isaiah asked.

“Males of all species are known to follow a piece of ass outside a nightclub, Isaiah,” Eli answered.

Aella wrinkled her nose. Eli was the brashest of them all, followed closely by Ben. They abstained from using such language in front of their wives, but alone, they were positively vulgar.

“And where will we find a woman we can trust to lure him where we want to?” Micah asked.

“Using an innocent woman as bait is low,” Isaiah protested.

“That’s what hookers are for,” Eli said in a leering tone that made Aella feel nauseated.

“A hooker can’t be trusted,” Micah pointed out.

“True, and we need someone trustworthy, someone smart,” Father Israel agreed.

“Only one of the sisters could be trusted,” Eli said. “And unless you’re hiding the hot ones, Father, I doubt any of them can make a vampire follow them even to the bathroom.”

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