Page 84 of Death God

“Stay away, Bride!” Marlowe growled, positioning himself between the horseman and me and thrusting his twin blades toward our enemy to divert his attention from me.

I darted to the side and hurled the leftovers of my hot coffee at the horseman’s face. Instantly, he swatted the cup away, never expecting to be attacked by a cup of coffee. A stream of hot liquid spilled into his left eye, just as I’d designed.

Marlowe didn’t waste the opportunity and swung his twin blades toward the horseman’s neck, the intention very clear. The horseman dodged with a hiss, fast enough to keep his head on his shoulders but not enough to withdraw unscathed.

Marlowe’s blade opened a gash across Spartoi’s torso. I cheered when blood streamed out of the horseman’s armor below his shoulder blade.

My mate’s twin swords weren’t ordinary ones, as they were forged by hellfire, which sizzled at the taste of the blood of the dark angel, a former citizen of Heaven.

The horseman snarled and lunged at my mate aggressively with his spear striking left and right. Marlowe kicked him in the knee.

They resumed their deadly duel again. It might take a while.

War’s army was collapsing in front of us. While our forces focused on battling Lucian’s vampire soldiers, Marlowe’s reinforcements from Europe arrived. They sprang across the colorful field of tulips and crashed into the enemy vampires with their claws and blades.

Marlowe must have preserved his blood for his new army to drink, because they were day walkers now.

Lucian, the loser, had chosen the wrong side, and now he was paying the price.

Three vamps shot into the sky. I squinted and made out Snow White and another winged vamp dragging an enemy vampire into the air. The blond vampire was more beautiful and regal than all the other vampires, except Marlowe. I guessed that he was the vampire lord, Lucian.

I winced as they dropped him, and a wet sound followed as he splatted on the ground.

There was no rest for the wicked.

I hated to say this, but every death energized me; I drank in their last slice of energy as the light faded from their eyes.

I snapped my gaze back to my mate as he hammered his swords against the horseman’s spear, the spearhead a couple of inches from his face. Marlowe held the horseman’s spear in place, not allowing it to move one more inch toward him.

My heart pounded hard. It was a close call.

War clenched his teeth as he kept pushing the spear toward Marlowe, intending to maul my vampire’s gorgeous face. Even if Marlowe was scarred, I’d still want him. Always. There was no doubt about it. So I hoped the horseman got it and stopped trying to maim my love.

Obviously, War wasn’t pleased at the Vampire God’s strength. Last time they’d battled, Marlowe had been in his weakest state and had just come back from the brink of half-madness. And he hadn’t been caught off guard when War suddenly surfaced from the alpha wolf’s body and summoned a spear out of thin air.

My mate had regained his former glory as the Vampire God and was even more powerful now, just as I was after we reclaimed each other. As I watched him battle, my breath caught at his display of strength and beauty and viciousness.

Marlowe propelled his massive wings forward. They turned steel hard, and their edges thrust into War’s shoulders. War bellowed in rage as he pulled away, disengaging himself.

“What a douche!” I called out to him. “Take it like a man!”

But he wasn’t a man.

Marlowe chased our foe like a storm. He brought his sword up, trying to impale the horseman from his groin to his head, which was an excellent move, but the horseman leapt to the side. My mate stabbed his opponent’s leg, his blade vibrating with satisfaction. The horseman bellowed, twirling his spear and nicking the cheek of my beautiful mate, my beloved’s blood smearing his vile spearhead.

The fucker was going to pay for that!

Marlowe had sustained other battle wounds, but nothing could slow him down.

Spartoi spat a dark spell, and in front of our eyes, he transformed into a centaur over twelve feet tall with crimson wings.

The centaur towered over Marlowe and stabbed his spear toward Marlowe’s head.

My heart clenched in icy fear, and I hurled my black wind at the monster to throw him back, but my wind could do nothing to freeze him. I’d tried my death flame on him, and he’d been able to counter it as well, because that motherfucker had siphoned part of my death element when he’d first captured me.

My dragon fire wouldn’t overcome him either.

With my heart beating in my throat and blood pounding in my ears, I watched their battle like a hawk, seeking an opening to aid my mate.

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