Daphne bent over and clutched her stomach. The scent of blood hit Nicole’s nose as Daphne began to cry in great heaving sobs. Nicole cursed as she approached and cast a spell over Daphne to get a sense of what was happening. Lights flickered and rushed around her, circling Daphne’s hands on her stomach, and fear rushed through her.
There wasn’t a lot of time.
As she thought, the strain had been too much. The baby was barely holding on to life as was Daphne from the rate she was losing blood. The twined violent red of John’s forced blood bond was cutting and tearing through her, causing havoc as it struggled with her bond with Arthur. Her magic was stronger now than it had been then, but it was so focused on preserving the baby’s life that she wasn’t healing herself. If it kept going, Nicole knew there was a chance that Daphne wouldn’t survive. She would be forced to murder most of the vampire nation if that happened.
Not
Again, she opened her eyes to the ceiling of her bedroom in the castle, yet this time she knew things were different. The pain that had been pulling her under had vanished and faded, but in its place was a strange emptiness and guilt.Her throat was dry, her lips chapped, but she called out.“Nicole?”A pressure tightened around her hand and Nicole leaned into view before she could sit up to look at the woman. Her eyes were tired and harried. The scent of blood still hung in the air.“Nicole… my…” she coughed and Nicole turned, returning with a glass of water for her. She lifted her gently to sip from the glass.She forced herself to sit up fully, carefully, a hand pressed to her stomach. She knew something had happened. Something grave and horrifying. Something terrible had happened to her.Burning red eyes looked at her from the back of her mind and her stomach churned in terror.“You need
After the meeting, John had taken Osborn and Owen into his office to tell them all about how glorious Daphne had been declaring war on the werewolf kingdom, swearing to take Arthur’s head for a trophy. John hadn’t even asked where all the werewolves had come from and Owen realized that he didn’t care.They left John’s office and returned to the manor to start organizing the forces there. Osborn took him into his office. As soon as the door closed, Owen grew tense as Osborn let out a cackle of glee, maddened and a bit horrifying.“I didn’t think she had it in her!” Osborn laughed. “To think that was all it took.”Owen said nothing, but he’d learned several weeks ago that Osborn wasn’t speaking to him. The vampires under Osborn’s command and the few werewolves that had followed him since the war were scrambling around getting ready to go to war. When Owen had heard about Daphne announcing war
The time had passed so quickly since she’d declared her intentions and she had focused on learning every skill Nicole was giving her. Wielding daggers, swords, and her magic together with ease. Her magic was slower than the physical weapons, but she learned to use it to Nicole's satisfaction. Daphne looked at herself in the mirror. She looked familiar and vastly different than she had the last time she’d seen her reflection. There was a coldness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.The dream of the glowing wolf in the darkness had changed since the first time she’d had it. He grew more solid. His scent seemed more familiar. His presence was comforting and easing the guilt and agony of having lost her child, but she still didn’t know who the wolf was. She didn’t even know what the origin of the flickering red light was. It was fading with each passing night and the wolf was strange. He sat with her, curling around her protectively.
Arthur woke up alone in the clearing. The humans of the village seemed to be all asleep and the only people awake were vampires. He struggled to his feet. Blood had dried and crusted on his skin. It seemed that he’d transformed back to his human form. Daphne’s blood still hung in the air, but it was old as if it had been at least a day since she’d been taken. He expected agony from the amount of blood smeared on his skin, yet he didn’t have any open wounds. It was almost as if Daphne had treated him. His heart sank at the thought of Daphne before he approached a tree to climb it, hoping to get a sense of where the castle was, yet he could see nothing but darkness and more trees. With a huff, he leaped down from the tree and transformed before following the scent of Blade, Rex, and the others. They had headed back to the canyon. He found them in a small camp just inside the canyon’s mouth, off the path that would lead them back to the werewolf kingdom. Many were cradl
Vampires rushed towards them at Daphne’s cry, yet it wasn’t all of them. Arthur realized that Nicole’s unit was clustered around Daphne and Nicole at the rear. He didn’t recognize any of the vampires charging towards them. Nicole never struck him as a person to remain in the rear, so what was going on? “I told you that woman couldn’t be trusted!” Tom cried, growling, “Your Majesty, don’t you see?” It was just like twenty years ago. The thought of bloodshed and the near-endless days of battle made Tom shudder. The scent of death had taken years to fade and the toll it had taken on the werewolf population was untold. They wouldn’t survive another war. Even if their leader wasn’t preoccupied with a royal vampire. “Rex!” Tom called, “We have to hold them off. Sharp Armor doesn’t have the forces.” Rex growled, glared at Arthur, and turned towards the oncoming vampires, “We head them off here! Charge!” The werewolves rushed forward p
Her tone was as sharp as a blade. She seemed to glide towards him and swung at him, barely missing his shoulder.She was much faster than he remembered. He felt the force of her swing as it missed him and knew she’d gotten stronger too.“Daphne! Stop. I don’t know what they’ve done to you, but this isn’t like you–”“You don’t know anything, murderer!”His gut clenched and for a moment he heard the furious chants of the Brown Valley pack at the back of his mind.He pushed those thoughts away and dodged another attack.“You killed my son!” Daphne screeched.Her words struck him. His blood ran cold, “What?”Daphne growled at her, “Don’t play dumb, werewolf. You were happy to sleep with me but you couldn’t bear the thought of half-vampire son, could you?”The bubbling joy of hearing that she was pregnant died as the rest o
Tom looked up in horror.He couldn’t believe it, but there was no mistaking Osborn even with his missing eye. He was wearing the same armor he’d gone to battle against the vampires in though it bore the signs of battle. Behind him were other werewolves in the same armor, glaring across the clearing.How could he be alive?His heart lurched as Arthur got to his feet and shifted into his wolf form at Daphne’s side. He’d been overpowered by a half-vampire woman. Arthur didn’t stand a chance against Osborn! What were they going to do?Even with the Royal family’s ability to control wolves, Arthur didn’t have the years of combat experience or the deep-seated rage that Osborn did. His legs felt weak as he turned to look at the others who looked confused and had started to engage the turned werewolves.It was uncanny and deeply disturbing to see Osborn commanding them. What would Dean have thought of his brother now
Arthur ran towards Osborn, snarling at him. Osborn didn’t seem worried, watching and waiting for him before moving at the last possible moment. He shifted into his human form so Arthur’s attack, just barely missed him before shifting back into his wolf form to snap his jaws at Arthur’s leg.Arthur shifted mid-air and rolled across the ground. His heart was hammering. If he hadn’t, there was a good chance that Osborn would have taken his leg off or at least wounded him seriously.Osborn was nothing like Owen. He had to be more careful. Osborn chuckled and turned towards him.“Hello, nephew… shame your mother manage to get you out in time… I’m impressed you have a bit of battle awareness.” Osborn laughed, dark and furious. “Next time, I’ll just take your head.”Arthur got to his feet, eyeing Osborn. They watched each other before he heard the duchess’ footsteps.&ld