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“You’ve already lost a lot of blood,” he said, backing away. “We don’t have to do this.”
Augustine had taught me more than I knew. I’d taken Nigel’s queen, and had the false king surrounded. There were only a few directions he could move, but all would end in death.
I took a wide swing with my sword, which he blocked easily, catching the edge of the sword in his palm. Squeezing it and letting blood drip down the steel.
“You are fast, but not fast enough. Not strong enough. Not for me.” He seemed half-relieved, as if he hadn’t been quite sure.
“I would say,” I whispered, leaning in closer, “that I’m exactly fast enough.” I nodded down towards my left hand, and the syringe I’d already jabbed into his thigh. I pulled it out. His expression filled with panic as I closed it in my fist.
“Or maybe you’re just getting slow. They say not to bite the hand that feeds you. Butweare the hand.”
Rivka appeared behind him, breathing from a small black box and then exhaling a cloud of vapor in his direction.
“The antidote,” Nigel said, staring between us, his one eye wide. “You poisoned me.”
“Only a little,” she giggled. “Sorry hun, it’s not you, it’s me.”
He flew at her, tearing into her throat with his clawed fingers before tossing her into a corner. One of the curates rushed to her side, holding the wound as blood pumped between his fingers. The elixir sparkled on her lips as he gave her a measured dose.
Nigel raced for the exit, but he was too slow. Camina stepped in front of him with a battle cry, stabbing through him with a massive jagged spear she’d taken from one of the royal guards. Enraged with elixir, her eyes burning with grief and anger, she lifted him up like a wriggling squirrel on the end of an arrow. He sputtered, leaking dark elixir like rain. Splashes of his blood fell across her face like war paint.
Then she let him drop like a sack of potatoes. I heard something break. Still, he clawed to his feet again, holding his chest, his fine shoes stained in a puddle of his own blood.
He scowled at me, a cornered animal. Fierce and hungry.
I paced after him slowly.
“Run to the door,” I said.
“What?” he spat.
“Those wounds are deep. You’re not healing. You’re human now, no longer a threat to anyone. So let’s play a game, for your life. See if you can get away before I catch you. Run to the door.” I glowered. “And maybe I’ll let you live.”
Nigel looked like he was going to attack me, or argue. But then he just turned around and ran. Camina glared at me.
“We can’t just let him escape,” she hissed.
“He’ll get what’s coming to him,” I promised.
I followed him down the stairs, tracing the thick trail of deep purple, vampire blood on the polished marble. Tracking him. Hunting him. He was still fast, but I didn’t need to hurry to catch up. He hesitated near the front door, peering into the smoky dawn. Trevor was gone, but the entrance was still ringed with unsprung steel traps and the remains of battle.
I avoided them and dragged Nigel outside by the neck, hauling him down the front stairs. The air was cool, with the fresh scent of blood and elixir. Bodies lay in piles, and flames licked a few of the nearby buildings, the dark smoke turning a hazy orange in the sunrise.
When it first touched his skin, he grinned at me, wild and feral. But then his eyes turned to horror as his skin started to burn.
“What have you done?” he asked, raising his arms.
“Oh this?” I asked, holding up the vial of antidote with my fingers. In the light he could see it was still mostly full. “Yeah, I lied about that. I gave you enough to slow you down, but not enough to change you. You’ve lost a lot of blood, but you’re still elite. You’d probably heal, in time, once the antidote runs out of your system. Too bad we won’t find out.”
I held him down, and he resisted. Thrashing at me with his fangs and claws. The venom rushed hot in my veins, burning like acid, but my grip was like iron. As he slashed, the wounds dripped blood before healing again. But it was only a breath, a heartbeat, until the sun came up and he burst into flames beneath me. Still I held him, as his flesh melted and sizzled, until his skin shriveled away, leaving bone. My fingers clutched tighter around his neck, my skin warming in the heat of dawn, until I was holding his spine. I squeezed so tightly his neck snapped and his head fell to the side, cracking open against the marble steps of a fountain. Wind gusted my hair to the side, a nervous energy like a scream, my skin trembling. I wanted to keep fighting, keep killing. But there was nothing left standing in my way.
22
Sunrise in the citadel of lights. An empty throne. A carpet of blood. It didn’t go how I’d planned. But it was over. I wasn’t sure what to do next, so I stood there in the morning light, waiting to come back to myself. But I didn’t know who that was anymore. I was torn between rushing back into the palace to check on my allies, or returning to the cave to find my sister and Damien. But I didn’t have to wait long. They found me.
I was scanning the damage of the citadel, the empty streets, filled with death and destruction, the warm sunlight glinting off chunks of broken glass and fallen swords.
Then I saw two silhouettes at a distance, tall and lean with pale skin, and a small girl clutching his hand. Dark birds scattered at their approach, spinning circles through the rising smoke. I couldn’t tell who was leading who, but it didn’t matter.
