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My eyes darted from the vampires to Alaric again. Why did that one say?—
“How lovely,” Alaric responded.
“Found who?” I demanded. “Gwyneira?”
The vampires didn’t answer me.
“I trust she’s coming this way, yes?” Alaric continued.
“Indeed, Mistress,” the maid replied.
My heart pounded, driven by confusion as much as rage. “Why are you?—”
“Perfect,” Alaric said as if I wasn’t speaking at all.
Panic drummed in my chest, but I wouldn’t bend to it. I let rage take its place. “You will cease this game at once!”
Ignoring me, he took a step toward my vampires.
I grabbed his elbow. “I said, you will stop?—”
My hand was not visible. My arm wasn’t either. I cut off with a strangled cry, looking down in alarm.
And finding nothing but empty air.
“What is this?” I demanded of Alaric. “What have you done to me?”
He ignored me completely. “Does she still only have her giants and angel with her?” he asked the vampires.
“And a wolf,” one of the stablehands said. “A strange creature of smoke with eyes that glow.”
“How interesting.”
I started toward him, clinging to my outrage with all my might. “You will answer me!”
“What would you have us do?” the maid asked.
She wasn’t looking at me.
“Stop this!” I snapped at the girl. “How dare you address him rather than your maker! You will pay with your life for this. Again.”
The maid never took her eyes from Alaric. “We could kill them for you.”
“True.” Alaric looked at the orcs. Four of them rose to their feet. “But I have something else in mind.”
The orcs’ bodies suddenly jerked like they’d been hit by lightning. Dark smoke erupted from them to rush across the space between the monsters and us.
My vampires didn’t even have time to scream.
The smoke struck, flooding into them and making them convulse. Swiftly, the darkness vanished into their bodies, and when the last of it was gone, their shaking stilled. Gracefully, they straightened. Their eyes shone with vibrant, unnatural colors—pink like the flush of a fever, yellow like puss, putrescent green like mold. Proud, disdainful sneers now lived on their faces.
Behind them, the orcs staggered and looked around with terrified, confused expressions, like dreamers suddenly jolted from a nightmare.
The nobleman hiss-clicked something at Alaric, who chuckled again. “Oh, most definitely.”
Without hesitation, the four vampires spun and tore out the orcs’ throats.
Horror filled the monsters’ eyes, but it was too late. Grasping at their throats as if to stop the escape of their life’s blood, the monsters collapsed.
