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She scowled at him. “No! We need to keep fighting. I need to keep fighting. You’ll never manage to win with two fighters down,” she said, furious with him, still holding and hiding her injured sword arm from him. “I just wish I was ambidextrous so I could fight as well with my left arm, but that’s not happening.”
“You can’t help us as much because you’re injured. Heal and return to us.” But he wanted to stay with her in case elder reinforcements showed up. He knew he was desperately needed in the fight though. Despite how tired he was, he was still another vampire wielding a sword against their enemy and they could ill-afford losing two of them in the battle.
“No.”
“If you don’t stay put, I’m staying with you to protect you should anyone leave the chambers.”
“You’re just saying that so you can take a break from the fighting.”
Loving her sense of humor even when they were in dire straits, he smiled at her. “Yeah.”
“Go. Help your friends then. You’re so stubborn.”
So was she! He grabbed his shirt and pulled it off.
“What…what are you doing?” She looked shocked, like he had other notions in mind, making him want to laugh.
“Trying to stop your bleeding.” He reached for her injured arm and once she let him see it, he swore under his breath. He tore up his shirt, wrapped it around her arm, and secured it. “I’ll be back.” But then they heard movement down the hall and turned to look. Nearly a dozen vampires were headed their way. Hell, he wasn’t going to be able to fend off that many more freshly rested vampires. None of them could.
“Help me up,” Jasmine said as if she could fight forever.
He gave her credit for making the effort. He helped her stand, both their hearts beating like crazy. They readied their swords for their last fight. He quickly turned his head and gave Jasmine a fleeting kiss on the cheek. This was it when here he finally thought he’d found just the woman for him.
Then Caitlin hurried out of the chambers and joined them, seeing the new vampires headed their way. “Oh, oh, those are the ones I put to sleep when we rescued William and a couple of more have joined them.” She raised her hands to put them to sleep again, but they were upon them too fast.
“You saved us by knocking us out and not allowing us the opportunity to fight you,” the one female vampire said. “You’re the Welsh rebels?”
“Princes,” Stasio said.
“We fight with you. If we hadn’t hidden what we have done in the past to help others, the elders would have eliminated us as rule breakers, rogues. So we’re ready for a change. We just didn’t think the rebel cause would gain any momentum,” she said.
“In here, then.” Stasio kissed Jasmine’s cheek, but she wanted more, and he obliged with a generous kiss on her mouth.
“I’ll stay with her,” Caitlin said.
Then Stasio and his fresh, newly added rebel force stormed the chambers.
Until then, Stasio hadn’t thought the rebels had a chance. A dozen of the elder’s vampires were still alive and several of the rebels were injured or dead and those who were fighting were overwhelmed, weary of fighting.
Stasio quickly assured his fellow rebels, “They’re with us,” waving his hand at the new influx of vampires. He wanted the others who were fighting the rebels to stand down, knowing now they had a lost cause, and he wanted his own rebels to realize they were going to win this battle. The rebels looked exhausted but relieved. He was just praying that the new ones who came to their aid didn’t turn on them. Vampires were known to do that.
The elder looked horrified that one of the other elder’s followers had joined the rebel side. His face turned beet red, though before this, he had kept his cool. Now he was infuriated. With the distraction, and before he could target one of the newcomers, Levka managed to get a final strike in and penetrated the elder’s heart with his sword. The elder immediately turned to dust, his clothes dropping to the floor. Two of his vampires that he had made fell to the floor in dust. The others who had been fighting beside the elder against the rebels suddenly looked unsure as to how to proceed.
“New rules,” Angus said, “for anyone willing to work with the new establishment.”
The elder’s cohorts began dropping their swords. Now that the elder was gone, there was no reason to fight for his cause any longer. All but one of the vampires relinquished his sword though, and one of the newcomers quickly dispensed with him. “He was the elder’s lieutenant. He would have never been part of the new regime.”
Stasio quickly returned to the hall to check on Jasmine. Caitlin had wrapped her arm in a cloth and was protecting her should she need it. They didn’t even know if Scotty and the others had turned this around with the remaining elders.
“Let’s see where we’re at. We’ll get with Scotty,” William said, and everyone began leaving the chamber.
When Levka saw Jasmine’s injury, he frowned and said to William, “We’ll join you later, if you need us.”
Stasio was glad he did because he didn’t want to abandon his friends, but he had to take care of Jasmine until she was better. Then they all began to leave the elder’s estate and Eleanor said, “I’ll take you to a place where you’ll be safe if we haven’t turned the tide, or even if we have.”
Since William was a council member, he led the others off to get in touch with Scotty. Angus stayed with Levka and the others to provide some additional support if they needed it.
Though Stasio was sure they all needed to rest.
