Page 69 of House of Vampires and Flame

Shriekers always protected their faces, and with their height, they usually didn’t need to worry about being stabbed in their third eye. This Shrieker was caught by surprise, and I’d moved more swiftly than it’d anticipated.

Remember rule number three in a battle: talk less.

I held Deathsong and slashed all the way down until my blade split open the Shrieker’s face. The Veil suddenly reacted and cut the rest of the Shrieker’s body in half. Black blood shot out of the foul abomination, soaking the soil as the Shrieker fell to the ground in two large heaps.

It all happened in seconds. Then Cade was in my face, furious.

“What the bloody hell, Little Bob?” the mage prince yelled.

“The creature caused the corrosion of the Veil!” I cried out, pointing at the hole in the bottom of the Veil. A trail of sooty smoke came through the gap and drifted into the air. “It dug a hole beneath. Look, the corruption from the mortal world is leaking through. The creature must be stopped. We must redo the ward and patch up the hole, sir!”

Bea and the other mages approached, panting from running. They cursed, then everyone shouted their opinions as they saw smoke trickling to this side from the crack.

Bea’s eyes widened like two big peas, shocked at seeing how violently I slew the Shrieker. My witch friend, though she had been bullied in this magical school, hadn’t seen real violence.

The mages shouted their outraged questions, demanding answers. I ignored them. I even ignored the prince’s weighty stare on me. I was on edge, as I sensed more Shriekers on the other side of the unsteady Veil.

“I’d like to go check if there are more abominations on the other side, Your Highness,” I volunteered in my husky voice.

“You don’t charge blindly again unless I give an order,” Prince Cade snapped. “Am I clear?”

I snapped to attention with a salute. “Yes, high sir.”

But he didn’t need to know that I never was good at following rules and orders.

Cade placed a hand on the Veil, and a tongue of fire streamed out of his palm into the ward. The mages behind him watched in awe. Their prince was a natural. He didn’t need any premade spells to make his elemental magic known.

Bea also stared at the prince, drooling along with the other witches and mages at the back of the row. They dragged their gazes from his fire to his taut ass.

The ward on the Veil flickered with a sick, pale light, allowing me to see through the other side.

Two Shriekers, a male and a female, crouched by the Veil, their vast claws digging a tunnel beneath. They were new models with the appearance of giant lizards walking on two legs.

As I stared at them, they raised their heads, sensing me through the Veil, which was made possible by the open window Cade had created.

“Princess!” the male shrieked. “Bring her back to Master!”

It was a small comfort that they spoke Ruin’s original tongue this time.

Cade released his hand from the ward, fury twisting his handsome face. He also saw the problem.

It took great effort for me to stand my ground and wait for the mage prince to give his order instead of darting through the Veil to finish off the Shriekers. If I appeared too eager again, I’d bring suspicion upon myself, and Cade would interrogate me. But I was determined to be the first out of the Veil as soon as the mage prince said the word. I would end Ruin’s agents before they uttered another unholy sound.

“Two abominations are on the other side, digging to get into our realm,” Cade snarled, turning to his mage subjects, his eyes on fire. “Kill one and capture the other. We must find out who sent them!”

A wand sixteen inches long with a peacock-blue tip materialized in his hand. The mage prince directed it toward the Veil. “Go get them, mages!”

He stepped through the Veil in the lead, the mages shouting and charging after him. I’d darted out before the prince. For a second, it felt like being blown away by the wind and freefalling before I found my footing.

The false impression of a ruin of shattered columns and piles of skulls had been stripped, revealing an expanse of blackened grass. No magic existed here. The air smelled of blight.

A quarter mile away, where the forest used to be, it’d been burned to blackened stumps. The Shriekers had torched the forest to find me. My eyes landed on the two Shriekers as they rose to their feet and stood over eight feet tall. Yellow scales covered their grotesque heads and lethal bodies.

They opened their beastly mouths, ancient words pouring out. “Come home, Princess.”

I charged. Cade caught me, expecting my move this time, and yanked me back.

“What did I say, boy?” he growled. “Stay put!”

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