Page 166 of Vampire's Choice
Maddock seemed unnaturally still, his grip firm on his staff. When he met Jacob’s gaze, he offered a slight nod, and Jacob felt a tiny fizz of energy. Since the vampires were scanning the area, nostrils flared, all senses on alert, he suspected the sorcerer was projecting a scrambled net of energy that could cloak the children and Merc, wherever they were.
Jacob hadn’t seen Merc release them and kill their jailers. Neither had his lady. She wasn’t even sure Pallas and his followers had. However, the important thing was Kane and Farida were out of target range, at least for now. His lady’s rage was no less than Mason’s or his own, though they all maintained their positions. Waiting for the cue to turn this into the bloodbath it was going to have to be.
He didn’t know how they’d win against twelve High Fae. But where there was a will, there was a way. Gideon would call that fluffy bunny optimism. Jacob’s brother had his own version of a pre-fight pep talk.
Kill all the fuckers before they can kill you.
Jacob, Gideon and Daegan had shifted to a wider formation as the crossbolt holders did the same. From their visibly nervous expressions, the vampires might bolt and leave it to the Fae. They had no chance against Daegan, Lyssa and Mason. Grollner’s annoyed expression said he knew it, too. But he knew how much Pallas wanted from this scenario, too, as Pallas confirmed.
“If you are removed, there’s no longer a bridge to the vampire world, a family connection to the Unseelie Queen,” Pallas told Lyssa. “While we do not share much in common with this primitive creature,” he nodded toward Grollner, “we desire to restore our respective worlds to what they were, before your influence changed it in unacceptable ways.”
Lyssa sighed. “The key change, the paradigm shift, has already happened. You believe eliminating me will put it back in the box? Our connection is no longer the only one between the Fae and vampire worlds. Or the Fae and human worlds.”
“The Queen’s backing will ensure we succeed.”
“You will not have it if she knows of this.”
“You assume she does not?” He gestured at his belt, his garb. “I am of the water Fae. She and I share a similar lineage. Use your eyes, half-breed.”
Jacob stepped forward. Lyssa put a hand on his forearm and cocked her head at Pallas. “Name calling. You aren’t as sure of yourself as you seem. And you didn’t say she does know of it. You sidestepped. Even if I fall here, you will lose. She will take your heads herself.”
His lips tightened. “Not if you die here. She will be told the Trads succeeded in murdering you and your children.”
“Trads who conveniently no longer exist for questioning.” Lyssa sent a significant look toward Grollner, who paled. “Are you honorable enough to allow me to deal with him and his men first, Pallas? You won’t have to get your hands dirty with their blood. Then the fight will be between you and us. Agreed?”
A sneer crossed Grollner’s face. “You have no power to negotiate anything, Lady Lyssa. You will?—”
Pallas inclined his head. “Agreed.”
Mason erupted into motion. He came straight at them, taking an arrow in the shoulder as he landed on the one who’d fired it.
“Thank you for the weapon,” he said, pulling it out and shoving it into the vampire’s chest. He added a vicious twist to the blow to ensure maximum damage to the organ.
In the time it took Mason to put his opponent down, Daegan’s katana had whispered free of its sheath and removed two heads. As the Council’s enforcer spun, Gideon slid under Daegan’s arm and used his wrist crossbolt to kill the one aiming for his Master’s back.
Daegan completed the circle, his free hand landing on Gideon’s shoulder, twisting him to the right. The next vampire closing in on them had his eyes on Daegan and his lethal blade. Gideon surged up from the crouch Daegan had guided him into and shoved the stake under their enemy’s ribs, using the vampire’s momentum to rupture the vulnerable organ.
Maddock had conjured a fireball, tossing it up like a baseball player waiting for his turn at bat. It came quickly, two vampires closing in on his position. He deflected their arrows, a thrown knife, plus several bullets from a fired gun. When he launched the sphere of flame, it separated and reformed, two serpents that wrapped around their necks. The elemental garrote severed their heads, the skulls rolling away, engulfed in fire.
Jacob would have given them hell for not letting anyone reach him so he could take his own pound of flesh, but he and his lady had one target on their radar.
Grollner.
The Trad charged to meet her, but she was far swifter. He’d only gone two strides before she was on him. He grappled with her, likely hoping luck would provide him an advantage that simply wasn’t there. She was far older, stronger and faster. He’d merely acted on fatalistic courage fueled by the knowledge his cause was lost.
Sliding away like an eel, she slammed him face down on the ground. Jacob closed in, and severed Grollner’s cervical vertebra with his knife.
To incapacitate, not kill. His lady had things to say, but they wouldn’t take long. Grollner wouldn’t have time to heal.
When she was in the mood to embrace the form her Fae blood had given her, it was a winged gargoyle. The echo of it was unmistakable now in the way she perched on Grollner’s back, her arms crossed over her knees. When she leaned down, she looked like she was bending down to feed on her prey’s juicy eye meat.
Jacob backed off, watching for flank attacks, but each time he thought one of Grollner’s vampires would make it to him, one of the other four men intercepted. The few left chose the smart decision. They bolted, but they didn’t get far. Several of Pallas’s entourage incinerated them with light they could have channeled directly from the sun, no matter that it was currently on the other side of the planet. Poof. That easy.
Yeah, when the fight was engaged with them, it was going to be bad.
An uneasy quiet settled on the clearing. Lyssa’s deceptively calm voice penetrated it. “For decades, Trads and the Council have maintained an uneasy truce. One strained by those of your kind who target our female vampires. But you are not a unified people. If a rabid dog strikes at my child, I kill that unfortunate creature and end his suffering. I don’t kill all of his brethren. There is no concerted effort among dogs to do harm to human children.”
When she was truly angry, all emotion would drop from her voice. And that wasn’t the only evidence of it. A polar wind built in the clearing, vortexes that sent shivers up spines, sank into bones. Even Pallas’s followers didn’t seem immune to it, their gazes shifting around them as if the effect was unexpected, though Pallas remained poker-faced.