Page 38 of Fated Blood

There’s a steaming spray of blood all over the silver that is now Sebastian’s skin, and my father steps back in shock.

“How?” he asks, startled. “Nothing can break my bones…”

“Armor?” Sebastian grins, picking himself up off the wall and spreading his arms wide. “I thought, maybe, after having your daughter, body and soul, that I could find it in my heart to not kill you. I was wrong.” He shrugs and throws himself at my father. His own talons extend, but while Father’s were black, his are as silver as his skin.

“No!” I scream, not knowing who to root for, not knowing how to defend either of them.

Shadows come speeding behind me, blocking my line of sight momentarily as men appear in the cell with Father and Sebastian. I blink, confused. Where did they come from? Their dark hair and blue eyes match my father’s, and they work as one to hold Sebastian back. It was so close, I was so close to losing my father to the man I love, and suddenly these others are here? Like younger versions of my father? Older, male versions of…me?

I stumble forward, shocked. The men in Sebastian’s cell are enormous, muscles rippling and black hair catching the small amount of sunlight coming inside. They’re spattered in blood and gore, flecks of silver, each of them bearing fangs and ready to kill. These must be the brothers Seb told me about…in the flesh. Tears brim in my eyes, my soul torn between saving my lover and meeting my brothers for the first time.

A hand brushes my shoulder right before a blood-stained jacket settles on them.

“You’re safe now, sister,” a masculine voice says.

I turn my head to look into eyes so similar to mine it takes my breath away. He hugs me close to his chest, protectively, as a woman steps up beside him with a wicked grin on her face.

“I’ve got this!” she says, winking at me, and holds out her hands. Black talons erupt from her fingers, and Sebastian freezes in place. “Too bad I can control silver, right, Bane? You know, I was tortured because of you!” The woman laughs, the sound throwing me off. Is she insane?

I watch as my brothers remove their hands from Sebastian. He’s floating in midair, body stuck in the kicking and thrashing position he was in when this mad woman appeared. The only thing on my love that can move are his eyes, and slowly, the silver recedes in them until the green I’ve learned to love settles on me. A single tear slips down his cheek, and then my father is blocking the view.

“Sebastian Bane,” he begins, his voice sounding much too much like this battle is about to be over. “Bane of my existence, man who ruined my daughter’s innocence, I sentence you to death.”

“No!” I scream, thrashing against the hands that are now holding me back.

“Isn’t that funny, Ever, she’s fighting for her captor. Now where have I seen this before…”

“Dixie, this is not the time!” Ever, the one who’s holding me says. There's a lilt of laughter in his voice, and Dixie shrugs and looks back to the execution.

“Get off me!” I scream, noticing the oldest of my brothers as he walks by me with a look of death in his eyes.

“Kiera had it last, I think,” Ever says, answering an unasked question, and the other brother nods and fades to shadow before disappearing.

“For the crimes against the vampire kind,” Father continues, and Sebastian’s eyes narrow in defiance, “I will run you through, destroy you now and forever. I’ll rip your heart out, Bane, and let you watch as it ceases to beat!”

“You can’t!” I plead, looking for any excuse. “He's silver!”

“I can call silver…” Ever whispers in my ear. “Don’t worry, sister, he will die for what he’s done to you!”

The eldest brother is back, carrying a mean looking serrated sword in his hand. He steps forward, raising the blade in both hands over his head, and nods to Ever. I watch, horrified, as Ever extends his hand and the silver on Sebastian’s skin starts to melt off him.

“No!No no no!” I wail, thrashing in Ever’s grasp.

He only holds me tighter. The blade is poised, my father’s smiling with his arms crossed.

“Kill him,” he orders.

Everything goes black. I vaguely register the taste of vampire blood in my mouth as my body moves. I’m a shadow, dipping and dodging through the imposing Cadell men so set on killing my mate. I feel my shadows move between Sebastian and the blade, and I materialize right as the sword comes down. I reach out, grabbing the blade with both hands, and stopping it in place. Blood explodes from my hands as the serrated blade eats a few inches further, but it stops right before it can penetrate my eye.

“I will not let you kill him!” I hiss, looking into the surprised eyes of my family around me. The control over Sebastian falters and I feel his strong arms wrap around my waist.

“He’s mine!” I scream directly in my father’s face.

Chapter16

Sebastian

Fayla’s words echo in my ears, the horror of her monstrous family trying to kill me paling in comparison to her stopping a blade with her bare hands so she could claim me in front of all of them. My arms are wrapped around my woman, my chest puffing with pride. She’s every bit a powerful warrior, a fighter just waiting to become legend. I grin, rubbing my lips over her shoulder as I lock eyes with Adam.

---