Fifty-Seven
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Dianna
I placed my hands on the edge of the sink and stared at her in the mirror.
“Long time no see.”
She bared her teeth in a smile and folded her arms. “I heard you don’t have your powers anymore. That must suck.”
“You know, I thought I saw you out there.” I stood a bit straighter. “A flicker of strawberry blonde hair. I thought I was just insane, but then I smelled that overpriced perfume. Even without my powers, you reek.”
She snarled and lunged. My head hit the sink hard enough that I saw stars. She tightened her grip on my hair, yanking my head up, her canines
bared as she hissed in my face.
“You killed him. You killed them all.”
She tossed me, my back hitting the nearest wall and knocking the breath out of me. I slid to the floor, feeling warm liquid pour from my scalp and down my face.
Seraphine stood before me, claws out and ready to rip me to shreds.
Golden blonde curls fell over her shoulders and down her back—Drake’s fated lover.
“You have to be more specific. I’ve killed a lot of people.”
She snarled and charged. I guess I could have moved, ducked between her legs as she advanced, but then what? Fight the several vampires that stood around the bathroom? I’d never make it. I had no powers. Then there was the darker part of me that didn’t want to fight. I could just let it all end here.
Seraphine grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off my feet.
“How could you?”
Her fist connected with my jaw hard enough that my teeth punctured the inside of my cheek.
“It was pretty easy, really,” I said as blood filled my mouth. I smiled through the pain. “Would you like me to draw you a picture?”
The next punch split my lip, and the third made the world spin.
I wrapped my hand around her wrist, spitting the blood that pooled in my mouth onto the floor. “Is that it? All you have for your dead ex-lover is a few measly punches? Gods, Seraphine, how basic are you? Disembowel me, at least.”
She tossed me into the large mirror, and it shattered. I fell to the floor, glass raining down around me. I groaned and rolled over. Seraphine reached down and yanked me to my feet by my blood-soaked hair.
“Hair pulling Seraphine? Are you trying to flirt with me?”
Another toss, and I groaned as I slid to a stop near the feet of one of her guards. He stared down at me but made no move to stop me as I struggled to get to my feet. Seraphine’s foot connected with my gut, lifting me off the floor with the force of the kick.
I rolled over, my laugh more a gurgled wheeze. “Fuck. You’re a joke.”
“What?” she demanded, standing over me.
“What is this? Defending him after he’s already dead? A little late, don’t you think?” The words hit her just like they hit me, all things I had said to myself over and over. “They knew the price, just like everyone else. They knew what would happen if they touched her.”
Her face crumpled, and she shrieked. She was on me once more, dragging me up by my shirt. I glared at her even as I fought against her
grip.
“He loved you.”
“Love?” I let out a bitter, broken laugh. “No, he didn’t. You wouldn’t sell out someone’s last living family member if you loved them. You wouldn’t lie to them, hurt them, and betray them as he did. That’s not love.”
I brought my knee up hard into her groin. She yelped, and her hold on me eased enough that I could rear back and headbutt her. That was another mistake on my part. We both stumbled back, and I wiped the blood from my face.
“Why do you even care?” I stumbled back, my vision blurring. Yellow eyes glowed around the room as her clan watched and waited. They
wouldn’t move unless their queen said so, and she wouldn’t. She always loved to finish the kill.
“Because I loved him.” Grief flickered in her eyes, her mortality showing for a brief second. Drake had loved her enough to change her. A forever bond she broke, not me. “You speak of sacrifices but know nothing of them. I married into that coven to save Drake and Ethan. It didn’t mean I didn’t care or love him still.”
“Listen,” I wiped at the blood dripping down my face, “I really don’t care.”
Her eyes swam with unshed tears as she circled me. “Drake was the reason my heart beat, why I stayed. Now he is gone forever because of you.”
“That sounds really romantic, and again, I don’t care.”
“You wouldn’t because the vicious and vile Dianna loves nothing. You used your sister as a shield to hide all the terrible things you enjoyed over the centuries. As soon as she died, the real you came out.” Seraphine sneered, fangs glistening. “You may have lost your sister, but how many have you taken from others? How many families have you separated, lovers you have killed? You may hate Kaden, but you are just like him.”
The words were brutal but the absolute truth.
“I agree.”
Seraphine’s head snapped back in shock. She must have thought that I would wilt. Obviously, she didn’t know me at all because it only strengthened my resolve.
“Although I think I’m worse because I enjoyed it when I killed Ethan and his wife and burned that mansion to cinders. I felt nothing but satisfaction when I ripped Drake to pieces and destroyed everything they loved and cared for. ”
A snarl erupted from her throat. I prepared for the feel of her fangs ripping into my throat, wondering how bad it would hurt. What would it feel like to die? Would I see Gabby again before they dragged me to Iassulyn? But the attack never came.
Seraphine stopped mid-step, less than a fraction away from me. Her eyes glazed over, and her mouth went slack. My gaze dropped to the silver blade sticking out of her chest. She whimpered as realization clicked, and fire raced through her body, leaving nothing behind but ash.
Blazing silver eyes stared at me through the cloud that had once been Seraphine. I never cowered from Samkiel, but right now, every story of the world-ending warrior king came rushing back. He stepped forward, and I winced in pain as I took one back. I opened my mouth to say something but closed it again when Samkiel raised his hands. His palms radiated with the silver glow of his power as he tenderly cupped my aching head. I felt my skin knit, a small hiss leaving me at the burn of healing. He scanned me from head to toe, checking for any life-threatening injuries. Once assured I would live, he leaned down and lifted me into his arms without saying a word.
I gasped and gripped his shoulders, trying to pull myself off his arm. He froze, his burning gaze meeting mine. “My back. It has glass in it.”
Samkiel adjusted me in his arms, and I noticed the gray ash painting the entire room. Every vampire that had come with Seraphine now coated the walls.
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