Page 58 of Claimed By her Alien Prince

Hours and hours of martial arts training paid off, as I kicked out my right leg, connecting it with his hip. The surprise and power of my kick sent him flying, and the sword falling from his hand as he tumbled down the few steps he had already taken.

Without further thought, I dove for the sword, gripping it firmly. I was surprised by how light it actually was. It was so big, that I had assumed them to be much heavier when seeing them wielded by the men.

The guard's fall finally came to a stop, and in one fluid motion he was up, his eyes ablaze with hate for me.

Holding a sword wasn't entirely new for me, I had practiced with all kinds of weapons since I was able to walk, but I had never been in an actual fight. Competitions, yes, fights, of the life and death kind, no.

I pushed those thoughts from my mind. This was it, the moment of truth, and I would be damned if I didn't do everything in my power to help Seth. I would rather die helping him than survive without him.

With a scream, I rushed forward, moving the sword left and right to make my attack more unpredictable for the guard, who watched my approach not just with hate, but with wariness as well. My earlier kick had warned him that I was more than a breeding vessel.

Even so, I knew I still had surprise on my side as I moved in closer to him. Weaponless, he didn't have much of a choice but to take on a defensive stance and dive underneath my sword.

I calculated my options though and was prepared for just that move, so when he pivoted to rush me, by bending at his hips, I pulled the sword around, aiming the blade straight at his neck.

Fully prepared for impact, I was surprised as the blade cut through the guard's neck like butter and a shiver of revulsion moved through me, making me gag.

He didn't even scream as he fell to the ground like a felled tree. I heaved from the revulsion as much as the near-death experience. This could have gone the other way easily.

Nobody was more surprised than me when I yelled at the girls, "What are you ninnies waiting for?" I was counting on them having been trained like me and having grown a bond with the three brothers, or to be driven by Homer's earlier instructions.

When none of them moved other than to duck deeper into the narrow hallway behind the archway, I shook my head and looked around. Feeling braver than before I killed the guard, my eyes narrowed on two more attacking Azazel.

He was holding his own so far, but I didn't know how much longer he would be able to keep it up. I still wasn't sure about the new alliance between the brothers, but the three of them were fighting guards, keeping them from coming to Behlial's aid and attacking Seth. That was good enough for me at the moment.

Even though my heart hammered wildly inside my chest and fear threatened to paralyze me, I was determined to do something if I didn't want to end up in Behlial's or one of the other brothers' beds, or, worst of all, see Seth dead.

Seth!

His name was like a magical potion that infused me with courage as I raised my sword and lunged for the closest guard attacking Azazel. At the last minute, the guard saw me coming and parried my blow, otherwise I would have hit him full force in the back.

The moment our swords met, it felt as if I had hit a brick wall with my blade. The impact reverberated throughout my entire arm, but there was no time to dwell on it, as this guard wasn't going to underestimate me. He hailed incredible speed blows down on me and I had a hell of a time just keeping my blade up and defending myself. More than once it was nearly blown from my hand by the brutal force the guard wielded his with.

I trained with swords before, but I soon learned that training and being in an actual battle were two entirely different things. I barely managed to keep my sword up, parrying his blows and retreating backward until I felt cold stone behind me and realized I had hit a literal wall. Realizing I couldn't retreat any further, the guard's eyes took on a maniacal gleam when he slowly raised his sword as if he wanted to relish the moment. Grasping that this was my one chance, I used the wall as a tool to propel myself forward, pressing my right foot against it and diving forward, kicking out with my other leg the moment my right foot was back on solid ground. The kick connected with the guard's gut, and he went down with an oomph.

My sword arm moved up and quivered for just a second as I hesitated before bringing it down. I aimed for his neck, but my hesitation gave him time to roll away from me, so instead of taking his head off, my blade sliced into the side of his arm. He howled out in pain, grabbed his injured arm with his free hand, giving me time to raise my sword again, and this time I didn't hesitate as I took his head off.

Something prickled in the back of my head, making me turn just in time to see another guard coming at me. Instinct made me raise my sword in defense, just in time to connect with his. As my new opponent's sword hit mine the impact forced me to move backward, right over the dead guard. I managed not to fully topple over, but I was on my knees and my already weakened position was compromised even more.

My only saving grace was the dead body between the guard and me, making movement awkward for him as well, otherwise he would have served a crushing blow by now. Still, holding my sword up, I realized there wasn't much else I could do, but I parry his strikes until I would run out of energy. He had maneuvered me into a position where I couldn't do anything. I was caught between him and the dead body. If I tried to roll backward he would be on me within the blink of an eye.

Suddenly my attacker's eyes widened, and a scream of pain was cut abruptly short as the tip of a blade broke through his chest. And while he sank to his knees, I stared into Azubah's grinning face with astonishment.

"You didn't think I would let you have all the glory, did you?"

I shook my head and took her proffered hand to help me up. "Thank you."

"Remember that when you're Queen," she said snidely, but before I could ask what the hell she meant by that, another guard attacked us. Between the two of us it didn't take long before he was down and dead.

I took a moment to look around. Some of the guards appeared to be on our side and fighting each other, but I didn't know which ones were with us. Grigori and Marduk were both fighting two at once, while Azazel was attacked by three.

Seth and Behlial still fought furiously, clashing their swords against each other, but their fight had moved to the middle of the room, which made me wary of guards trying to help Behlial. And as soon as that thought entered my mind, I saw one sneaking around a pillar, his eyes directed straight at Seth.

"Help Marduk," I yelled at Azubah, already running toward the guard sneaking up on Seth.

Seth must have seen him as well because he positioned himself so he could fight both the guard and his father, forcing the guard to turn his back on me.

Good.

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