Beyond The Fangs

Chapter 11

IZEL

"Izel? What's wrong?" Alek asked me through the earpiece. "I heard you shout, is everything okay?"

I couldn't answer, I couldn't even move. The Vanquisher had a blade against the Roi's neck, but as soon as he called me Izzy, I knew he wasn't a Vanquisher. He was the Masked Slayer. Unmasked.

Daggers!

Did that mean I found my sworn enemy attractive?! My face slowly fell as the realisation hit me and a fiendish smile crept onto the Slayer's lips at the sight of it.

"Like what you see?" he asked, and I could only sneer. Ugh, I couldn't believe I was admiring the Masked Slayer. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Did you miss me?"

"How did you get here?"

"Through the front door, obviously," the Slayer said with a grin as if he wasn't on the verge of killing the Roi. "I agreed with you earlier by the way, when you said the Roi doesn't deserve any honour." His eyes remained pinned on me as he said, "I think I know what he deserves."

The Slayer ran the blade along the Roi's neck, awakening him in the process. The Roi's eyes shot wide open when he realised he had a dagger against his skin and he opened his mouth to shout but it came out as a muffled shout as the Slayer covered his mouth and pressed the blade harder against his skin, penetrating the skin.

The sight of blood knocked me back into my senses.

Without further hesitation, I unsheathed my dagger and threw it, aiming for the Slayer's hand, the one holding the dagger. He managed to shift and my dagger barely slit his arm before sticking in the wall.

I ran toward him, unsheathing my sword. He removed his hand from the Roi's mouth, putting his blade in his sheath and unsheathing his sword within a matter of seconds. Our swords met the other with force, sending vibrations down my arm.

The Roi began screaming rather than moving away from the danger.

"Get out of here!" I shouted, my attention still on the Slayer, trying to get through his defences.

The Roi quickly crawled away from us, scrambling to his feet as he rushed to the door. Which was still locked. He didn't seize his shouting and began banging on the door now.

"Izel? What's going on?" I heard Alek ask through the earpiece, urgency in his voice.

"The Masked Slayer is in here!" I shouted just as he hit my sword out of my grip.

I planted my foot against his stomach before he could swing at me, kicking the air out of his lungs. I grabbed the nearest object near me—which was a vase—and broke it against his head.

"That was my favourite vase!" The Roi rebuked.

"Shut up! I'm trying to save your life here!"

The Slayer barely faltered from the hit, and I swiped at him with a shard of the glass but he kept dodging. Eventually, he caught my hand and twisted my wrist, forcing me to release the glass, but I tactfully caught it with my other hand and jabbed it into his arm.

The Slayer groaned and removed the shard of glass from his arm before releasing his sword, gripping my other hand and pushing me up against the wall.

"That hurt," he growled, his voice deep and threatening.

I heard bangs on the door and I thought it was still the Roi banging against it but then realised they were coming from the other side of the door. The Vanquishers were here, and they were trying to get through.