Page 99 of Blood

On her neck, looking hideously discolored, is that damn rune.

“Violet Dracula must die!” she roars as she swings the sword at me again. This time, the blade comes precariously close to my stomach. It actually cuts through the material of my shirt and leaves a pink line on my skin.

Behind me, I hear the clash of metal against metal, the ringing of gunfire, the screams and cries of the hurt and fallen. I don’t dare even look over my shoulder, not sure my brain can handle seeing the resulting chaos.

Please, please let my mates be okay.

The monster swipes at me again, and I realize I have a more pressing matter to attend to. Like...making sure I’m not going to be skewered. Because this monster? She wants to see me deader than dead.

“Listen,” I begin cautiously, holding up both my hands. “You’ve been spelled by Zeus. That rune on your neck? It makes you irrationally angry. You don’t actually want to kill me. What’s your name?”

“Alixandra!” the monster bellows, spit flying from her serrated teeth and landing on my cheek.

“Alixandra? Yeah. You don’t want to kill me, do you? You want to be my friend. You want to—”

The creature lunges at me again, and I stealthily step out of the way of the incoming blade. Fuck.

It was decided that I wouldn’t come with any weapons, in case Zeus decided to check me for them and became enraged when he found one on me. One of my mates was supposed to throw me a god-blessed dagger as soon as the battle began. The fact that they haven’t yet...

No. I can’t think like that.

They’re okay.

They have to be.

I reach behind me and grab the first thing I can find—which happens to be a potted plant. With a cry of desperation, I throw it at the monster’s face, feeling marginally guilty when she cries out in pain, a huge, jagged scratch marring the skin of her cheek.

“You bitch!” she roars as she tosses her sword to the side and comes at me with her claws extended. Apparently, shit just got personal.

I duck out of the way before her claws can connect and debate my next move. I don’t want to kill her, but I need to incapacitate her if I have any hope of stopping Zeus before he can escape.

I move in a forward roll, so I’m now behind the charging bull of a monster. Then I lift both my hands and take a deep breath, conjuring Hellfire into my palms. Sweat gathers on my forehead from the exertion this particular skill takes, but I can’t afford to lose control, not with my mates so close by. Flames of red and blue lick at my hands as they rise and rise and rise...

Hellfire is different from normal fire, in the fact that it only burns if I want it to. Right now, it feels cool against my hands, almost ticklish. I will more power into the Hellfire, and it begins to grow hotter.

With a roar of rage, I throw a fireball at the sea creature’s face, watching as the flames immediately engulf her petite body. Her desperate screams reverberate through the city, and I inwardly wince.

“Oh, shit,” I murmur. And then, as an afterthought, I add, “Sorry! No personalies!”

She continues to scream as she falls over the side of the railing and lands in a pond below. She rolls from side to side, her skin charred and the scent of burnt fish contaminating the air, but her screams have died down.

I pray that simply means she has fallen unconscious instead of...you know.

Becoming a fish stick.

“Violet!” I pull my attention away from the fish monster and to Cal, who’s running toward me, his pink hair stained with blood and one of his wings slightly crooked. A bruise is beginning to form on his right cheekbone, giving him a rugged, ruthless look. His panicked eyes lock on mine as he takes me into his arms. “Fuck, we couldn’t get to you. There were too many of them.” He glances over his shoulder, where the battle takes place. I don’t even know who’s on our side and who’s on theirs. It seems to be nothing but a tangle of limbs and splattering blood. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” I rush to reassure him, grabbing both of his arms and giving them a squeeze. “But we need to stop Zeus. He ran inside.” I point at the huge doors behind us, and Cal’s eyes narrow.

“It’s going to take at least twenty of the strongest monsters to break down that door. It’s reinforced with lots and lots of magic.”

“We need to stop him, Cal. This thing won’t end until we do,” I stress as trembles work their way through my body. I can’t stop thinking about my mates in the battle behind us. Are they okay? Are they still alive? Surely, I would know if one of them died, right? I take comfort in the fact that my soul isn’t screaming in agony as it did when Mason passed away.

And dammit, I’m worried about Alixandra too.

I really, really shouldn’t have used my Hellfire on her.

I take a deep breath and shove all my worries and fears into a bunch of tiny boxes. Then I take each of those boxes and bury them in the deepest recesses of my brain, throwing on six feet of cement for good measure. I’ll need to use a sledgehammer if I ever hope of extracting those emotions again.

---