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The door swung open again and Meryl strolled through, a grin slicing wide across her face. “I knew it was only a matter of time before Aiden rolled into town to join his little clan. The wayward sire has returned.”
“Aiden is never far from his family,” Marcus snapped.
The elder vampire might be forced to travel great distances to give Julianna a break from his presence, but the brothers always stayed in contact with him, giving him updates on everything. Aiden and Julianna might not have ever married, but Marcus had always seen Aiden as part of their family.
Aiden glanced over his shoulder and flashed him a grateful smile before directing his attention to Meryl. “We want nothing to do with your faction’s plans,” Aiden growled.
“Doesn’t matter.”
A cold prickling crept up Marcus’s neck. Tightening his grip on the knife, he swung around, raising the knife. Cain lurched out of the reach of the blade, his eyes wide in surprise. He’d been attempting to sneak up on them from the exit at the rear of the kitchen. The massive vampire hadn’t made a sound, and yet Marcus had sensed some movement, some growing threat.
He swung the knife again, forcing Cain back another step. Meryl screamed as she launched her attack on Aiden, but Marcus couldn’t risk looking over at his sire to see if he needed help. Cain might be large, but he was also fast. He’d undoubtedly take advantage of any distraction.
Cain’s fist flew through the air, and Marcus barely managed to get out of the way in time. The breeze ruffled his hair and brushed his jaw. The aisles were too damn narrow for him to place more room between them. He and Aiden were trapped between Cain and Meryl. Marcus needed to take out Cain in some way before he could help Aiden.
Marcus kept slashing at Cain, trying to drive him back, while cookware crashed to the floor, sending up an awful noise. Meryl screamed again, but the cry seemed more out of frustration than pain.
“Do it, Marcus!” Aiden suddenly shouted.
He didn’t know what was happening to Aiden, but he didn’t hesitate. With a small grin, he tapped into the one power he’d been granted when he’d been reborn as a vampire. There was a sense of relief in using it. Like he’d been tensing a muscle for too long and was finally able to relax.
In a breath, all light in the room flowed into Marcus’s body, plunging the room into total darkness. Vampire eyes operated more like cat eyes. The pupils could expand, sucking in all available light so that they could see on the darkest of nights. But there had to be at least some light in the room. Marcus’s power turned the room into a black hole. He drained it of all light, making Cain, Meryl, and even Aiden completely blind.
But Marcus could still see using the light he’d gathered inside of himself.
Both Meryl and Cain cried out in panic. Marcus chanced a quick glance over his shoulder to see that Aiden had gotten a hold of Meryl and was pulling her into him already. Looking at Cain, he found the large vampire’s hands out in front of him, fingers trembling, as he searched for Marcus. Dipping under his hands, Marcus soundlessly slid in close and plunged the knife into Cain’s heart. Cain shouted in pain, his hands clamping down on Marcus’s shoulders, but his hold was weaker than it normally should have been.
“Aiden?” Marcus called out.
“Finish it, Marcus. They mean to kill us and our family.”
Meryl screamed out, but the sound was suddenly cut short. Marcus ripped the knife from Cain’s chest and plunged it into Cain’s throat until he hit bone. Cain’s mouth opened on a gurgle and he released Marcus to reach for the knife. Blood poured from his chest and neck, weakening the giant further. Marcus pulled the vampire down, hacking at his throat and pulling at his head, while bracing one foot on his chest. Cain fought as much as he could, but he was growing weaker by the second. At the end, there was only a small gasp of air as Marcus pulled his head from his body.
“Marcus?” Aiden demanded, worry thickening his voice.
Dropping the knife with a clatter to the blood-slick tile floor, Marcus pulled back his power and released the light he’d captured. He looked over to see Aiden blinking and squinting as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden brightness. Meryl’s dead body lay on the floor of the kitchen while Aiden clutched her head by the hair in his hand. Decapitation wasn’t the only way to kill a vampire, but it was certainly the quickest and most effective.
Marcus looked down at himself and sighed. His suit was soaked with blood. He could feel it running down his face and dripping from his fingers. He’d been expecting a quiet meeting with Aiden to discuss recent issues. Not a fucking bloodbath.
