Page 100 of Blood

Focus.

I need to focus.

“Cal...”

“I’m thinking.” My cupid’s lips thin as he glances up, inspecting the windows lining the top of the castle. I can see a lightbulb erupt above his head as he turns toward me with a smile. “How do you feel about a little flying, my love?”

“Um...”

Cal doesn’t give me a choice as he wraps both of his tan arms around me and shoots into the air, his red wings flapping continually.

Just in time too, because three monsters are charging at us from every direction. One of their claws pierces my ankle before Cal hefts me out of harm’s way, continuing to fly us higher into the air. He winces with every downward flap of his bent, broken wing but doesn’t complain.

“Cal,” I murmur.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have your bows and arrows with you?”

“Of course. Why?”

I shift in his arms as I reach for the weapons strung across his back. It takes a lot of maneuvering to first grab the bow and then a few arrows. Cal’s grip moves from my waist to my ass, holding me in place, ensuring I don’t fall.

“Because a shit ton of winged monsters are heading for us,” I say through gritted teeth as I load up one of the arrows and aim it at the closest monster—a huge dragon with shimmering orange scales.

“Oh fuck!” Cal begins to fly even faster, but with his broken wing, it proves futile.

“Let’s hope those archery classes Daddy Dracula put me through actually paid off,” I mutter.

And then I let the arrows fly.

CHAPTER 34

FRANKIE

I haven’t been back to the tunnels beneath Prodigium Academy since that fateful night so many months ago, when the former headmaster used me to kidnap Violet and try to kill her.

I still feel tingles of terror racing up and down my spine at the memory of what could’ve happened that night.

Because of me.

The caves are exactly as I remember them—long, winding pathways lit with a soft glow from the ornate brass sconces that line the rocky walls.

“We should be with Violet,” Vin mutters from behind me, the anger and desperation in his voice an echo of my own.

“You know why we need to do this,” I reply stiffly as I quicken my pace. I don’t know exactly where Zeus is keeping Lucifer, Hera, and Dracula, but if I had to hazard a guess, I would say it’s the same area where the old headmaster had me bring Violet. It’s the meeting point of four tunnels and expands nearly twenty feet in all directions. I can’t think of anywhere else down here large enough to house three powerful monsters.

“The only reason we were assigned to go in the first place is because you tried to murder Violet,” Vin says with a scoff. The acid in his voice has me spinning around, my hands curling into tight fists.

The flickering torch light wavers and dances on his face, like a mass of golden snakes. As I watch, he agitatedly runs his fingers through a disarranged piece of black hair that has fallen into his face.

“I didn’t try to kill Violet,” I hiss. “I tried to save her. You’re the one who wanted her dead when she first arrived. You didn’t even know her, yet you were willing to kill her.”

Vin’s mouth molds into a frown as he takes a step forward, his fingers palming the hilt of his blade. “Say that to me one more time...”

“Say what? That you’re a specist piece of shit?” I turn away from him before he can respond, though his erratic breathing can be heard as he struggles to regain control of his tenuous emotions.

Humans are so...fallible. Weak. Vulnerable. They’re driven by their emotions more than any other creature on this planet. At one point, that fact may have disgusted me, but now...

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