Eternal War Rising to the South: The Beynok Vampire Series (7 page)

“No, Vladimir. I’m here tonight to fight with you, to fight by Anya’s side.” There was a low growl coming from Sorin when he said this, a protective growl. “The other species have banded together. They’re launching a war they’re hoping will end the Beynok species.” He paused and shook his head. “Do the lords and elders truly think they’re invincible? They should have seen this coming hundreds of years ago. They should have made allies, but they put themselves too high on a pedestal for that, right?”

I piped up, “What’s out there, Sorin? How many are coming?” The battle between Vladimir and Sorin could wait. It was nothing compared to the battle coming for us tonight. I couldn’t help but think I wanted us all to come out of this alive, even Sorin.

Sorin’s eyes pleaded with mine, “Anya, don’t worry about what’s coming. Concentrate on staying alive and killing anything and everything you see tonight.”

The force of the power coming for us hit me and hit me hard. It enclosed me. It suffocated me. My fear leaked through every pore on my body. Evil surrounded us, wanting nothing more than to slaughter every living thing in the house. I had never felt a sense of defeat hit me. Never. But every ounce of my natural instinct escaped me and was replaced with the fear of death. There were too many of them coming for us. My head was no longer clear, my body no longer steady, my heart no longer holding an even rhythm. My rational mind was gone. My body was still standing in my room with Vladimir and Sorin, but I could no longer sense myself. I must have been in shock, shock caused by the thought of Vladimir and Sorin in the same room, and shock caused by the rage coming for us.

I needed to get myself together. How dare Vladimir and Sorin cause me to lose all instinct in such an unfamiliar situation? Nothing was as it seemed anymore. Vladimir had kept many secrets from me, all of which were bad. I saw now that Sorin was some kind of acquaintance of the Beynoks who had some kind of unofficial attachment to me. All of which was crazy.

We couldn’t let ourselves die like this, like pigs in a slaughterhouse. Slowly, I felt the rational side of me coming back, but the vast anger raging inside of my body was still in control. I knew only a few minutes had gone by since Sorin had shown up and strolled into my bedroom like he belonged there, but something had happened to me during those few minutes. My body had enveloped the raging battle going on within itself. Acceptance of the truth was coal for the fire. I knew I had been lied to throughout my rise, and, therefore, life as I knew it had been a fabrication. I no longer had to listen to Vladimir, or any other Beynok for that matter. I wasn’t sure what the whole story really was, but that didn’t matter anymore.

An awkward calmness took over. I became clear-headed, and my sense of defeat was replaced with confidence. I opened my senses up to the perimeter of the house. They were closing in, and fast, but we still had a couple of minutes. “Vladimir, you should warn the others we’re about to be attacked.” Who was I to give Vladimir orders? I didn’t care. I was used to giving the orders during a fight. Vladimir creased his eyes and glared. I could tell he didn’t want to leave me alone with Sorin.

“Sorin, if you so much as touch her, I’ll kill you if I live through this, no matter what the ruling is.” Vladimir dashed out of the room to warn the others.

“Ruling? What’s he talking about?” Sorin started to say something, but I butted in and said, “You know what, Sorin? I don’t even care.” I couldn’t help but shake my head in disappointment. “You and Vladimir can have your secrets.” This was not a time for conversation.

Sorin closed the space between us with one stride. His crystal-clear, amethyst eyes focused on me, giving me an unsettling feeling. I needed to be the one to kill him if I got through this, not Vladimir.

This time, I had my swords, and boy, was I ever ready to use them. I fixed on his glare as I slowly pulled them out from the sheaths strapped to my back. Sorin grunted through his nose with a smirk, lifting one side of his mouth and showing off one perfect dimple. “It’s nice to see my swords again,” he said. “I’ve missed them.” He had a look of satisfaction on his face. “If I can’t possess them, then I guess you having them is the only option I can live with.”

“What do you mean? The swords belonged to Vladimir before they belonged to me.”

“Right,” Sorin said and sighed. A devilish, small smile appeared on his face. That was all he needed to say. Another untold truth from Vladimir went into a folder in my head for later. I looked down at my two trusted companions. I would truly feel naked without them during a fight. The connection I have to the swords is strange. It’s as if they protect me as much as I use them to protect myself. I looked closer at the stones embedded in the pommels and guards. The multi-shaded purple stones running along the pommels were the same colors as those in Sorin’s eyes.

They were the most beautiful shades of purple to the blackest purple possible. The black blades matched his eyes when he was angry, when he became a true vampire. The thought almost caused me to drop the swords, and I would have dropped them if Sorin hadn’t caught my attention and squeezed my hands around the grips with his.

“Anya, I think you’re going to need them in a second. Besides, I have a new set, and I don’t want them back anyway. It looks like they fancied them up for you. These were not here when I had them.” He traced his fingers over the stones. Vladimir rushed back into the room and said, “The others are informed and ready.”

Vladimir’s envious glare was on Sorin and another verbal battle was about to happen between the two just as my balcony doors swung open again. A sandy blonde-haired, short male vampire strolled into the room as if he was invited for dinner and brought his sister with him. He was cocky, but the female was slow and hesitant in her movements. The cocky one waved his arms in the air and said, “For fuck sake, Sorin. Were you going to leave us out there all damn night? The battle is right on our heels.” Vladimir and I stood in our fighting positions ready to greet our two new guests. Sorin walked between us and said, “I know you cats are used to fighting on opposite sides, but for tonight, we all need to overlook our differences.” Sorin was directing his speech to Vladimir and me. Clearly, his two friends didn’t find it offensive to be in the presence of Beynoks.

The mouthy one said, “So this is the Princess? You know, you’re a little short for a Beynok hunter. Either way, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Corbinian, but you can call me Corbin, all my friends do.”
What makes him think I want to qualify as a friend?

“You’re one to talk. You’re pretty short yourself for a male.” Who did this vampire think he was coming in here and insulting me? My eyes fell to the female vampire next to Corbin. A rage of jealousy sprung in me as I watched Sorin walk in her direction.

“Anya, this is Serenity,” Sorin said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Serenity, this is Anya.” Sorin didn’t bother introducing Vladimir. A low jealous rumble came from my throat. I hoped no one picked up on it. I wanted Sorin to remove his hand from her shoulder before I cut it off with my swords.

Sorin walked toward me and explained, “Corbin and Serenity found me many years ago. We’ve been together ever since, and they are here tonight to fight on your side.” He acted as if Vladimir wasn’t even in the room.

“Fine. After tonight, or should I say this morning, you and your friends need to leave and never come back. Our truce will be off after this battle ends.” Surprisingly, I was able to keep a stern, steady voice.

“We’ll see about that,” Sorin said with a smile.

I heard a window break downstairs, and there was no more time for discussion. I opened myself up quickly to place the invaders, and their rage took me over. It was what I needed. A desire for vengeance filled my body at the thought of Ambrose and Misha and his team. The invaders were all going to die. There were thirty of them against eleven of us, including Sorin and his friends. The odds were bad but we’d had worse before, and I was so glad to have my confidence back.

“Vladimir, you should go fight with the others. Help increase their odds.” He looked puzzled and pissed off, but I didn’t care. “Go. We have to kill as many as we can before they all invade the house and overwhelm us.” Vladimir ran to fight with the others.

I heard shooting downstairs and, at the same time, my balcony doors swung open for the third time that night. This time, the doors didn’t stay on their hinges. Seven Vendennares stood at my balcony entrance. The ugliest creatures on earth, Vendennares. They bear grey-looking human bodies, but they have wings. During a fight, their wings stay enclosed in their backs since they’re vulnerable when exposed. Their faces are somewhat human, but their mouths are huge. When they choose to show their razor-sharp teeth, their mouths take up the whole lower portion of their faces. Their enormous bug eyes, gray-colored skin, and bald heads only add to their hideous look. They are hermaphrodites and have both male and female organs. They can eat regular food, but they crave living flesh, and at that moment, they looked determined to put us on the menu as the chef’s special. Since there were only seven of them and four of us, I figured the odds were a lot worse for my other teammates scattered around the house. There were still twenty-three of them fighting the three teams of two in other parts of the house.

Sorin and I stood back-to-back, taking on four, while Corbin and Serenity took on three. Vendennares possess a touch of magic, which makes it hard to get a damaging slice in. They were vanishing and reappearing in a circle around us.

Finally, I managed to interpret their vanishing act sequence. As one of the ugly bastards reappeared in front of me, swiping one of its claws in my direction, I plunged my left sword into its chest while I severed its head with my other sword. Sorin caught on and did the same to another one. By this time, Corbin had managed to take one out, as well.

I knew the odds would be fine if I left the room to help the others. Three vampires should have no problem taking out four Vendennares. Besides, if the vampires left the room, my team would have no idea they were actually fighting on our side. I needed to go help the others as well as inform them about our vampires.

“Sorin, I’m going to help the others. You stay here and help finish them off.”

“No, I’m here to fight by your side. Corbin and Serenity can handle the rest in here.” He held his ground and gave me a stern look. “I am going with you.”

Serenity took out her first Vendennare and helped increase the odds for her and Corbin.

“Fine, but I’m not sure if I can convince the others you are not the enemy before they engage on you.” Maybe it would be for the best. I wouldn’t have to kill Sorin myself. My team would do it for me.

We traveled through the hallway toward the front of the house to the main balcony. Boris and Nadia were in full battle with four werewolves. They had already killed two. Vladimir was nowhere in sight. I thought he must be downstairs with Yuri, El, Nickolai, and Irena.

Boris’s eyes quickly met Sorin’s, and without asking, I knew they needed no introduction. Nadia, on the other hand, glanced over with fear in her eyes. I placed my hand on his chest and nodded my head. Her facial expression looked confused but she resumed the fight in front of her, and Sorin and I joined in.

The house was filled with the smell of blood. I only hoped none of it was from my teammates. I had to get downstairs to the others. Their odds were much worse than ours. There had to be at least seventeen that came in downstairs. I had only counted thirteen intruders upstairs.

A rush of urgency hit me. I could sense I was needed elsewhere. I rolled between the legs of the werewolf in front of me, jumped up from behind, and took its head off using both swords.

Corbin and Serenity emerged from around the corner. I was thankful they had made it out of their battle alive. “Boris, Nadia go downstairs to help the others,” I said. “We’ll be right behind you.”

Sorin, Corbin, Serenity, and I took over the remaining three werewolves. I sliced through a leg of one of the dogs while Sorin sliced through its neck. We left Corbin and Serenity to finish the remaining two werewolves. This arrangement was working out better than I ever imagined it would.

Downstairs was another story. Blood stained the walls and saturated the carpet everywhere. From the stairs, I could see the whole open floor plan of the first level. I took a count of Beynoks left standing. There were seven, so everyone had survived so far. What I was seeing was just as unbelievable as our luck: Vendennares, werewolves, and vampires were fighting on the same side to kill my team. The idea hadn’t even registered with me upstairs, I guess, because I had fought the Vendennares and werewolves separately. I had never heard of multiple species joining together to take out another species.

As I hit the last few stairs, I heard, “There she is, the Beynok princess.” Grunts and screams came from every direction. I heard the voice again, but this time I was able to put a vampire face with it. “Kill her!” he said. “Kill her!”

Across the room, I watched him push through the individual battles going on all around. He was the tallest thing I had ever laid eyes on, wearing dirty war-stained rags for clothes. He was covered in blood, and his pitch black eyes told me he was hungry as hell for me. I guess I would be angry, too, if I’d shown up with the numbers he did and hadn’t achieved a kill yet. His numbers were growing smaller, and the odds rolled to our favor. I could sense his desperation and his failure in leading this shameful army.

The giant vampire was closing in on me as he walked through the middle of a battle between El and a Vendennare. He took El completely by surprise as he wrapped one of his hands around her throat and snapped it. His black eyes latched onto mine. “I am here for you, princess,” he said.

He launched his body through the air toward me. Sorin was on the stairway, only a few steps above me. He pushed me down, out of the way, and the giant vampire landed on top of him.

I saw the vampire lunge, stabbing Sorin in the chest, just missing his heart. A need to protect him surged through my body. I was headed to Sorin’s rescue when a pain in my back took me to my knees. A werewolf had clawed me, and deep. I rolled over on my back quickly as I went down. I knew that was the only way I could defend myself. He was quickly on top of me, snapping at my face. My legs were still intact, and I had to use them. The adrenaline traveling my veins helped me to enclose its neck with my legs and squeeze. I heard the crack of the bones and knew I had snapped its neck. I’d have to finish it off later. Right then, I needed to get to Sorin.