Forever Entranced ~Book Two Of The Soul Bound Series

Chapter Twenty-Five ~ Playing Games

The halls of the vampire fortress were long, dark, and smelt like blood. It wouldn't be long before the kindred, their vampire minions at their side, would come hunting them down.

Illius followed her scent. She was injured, that much he could smell, and it only furthered his determined fury. They rounded a corner and at the end of the hall lurked a vampire. Its head snapped in their direction and it snarled, dashing toward them, teeth gnashing and claws flying. Illius slid forward, skidding across the marble floor on his knees, bending back and as the vampire flew over him, he dragged his dagger down the length of the bloodsucker's chest. The vampire shrieked, stumbling towards Cael who buried his own blade into its heart. It fell to the floor, violently shaking as it burst into a pile of ashes.  

"This way," Illius gestured for Cael to follow him and they darted down another long hallway and up a set of stairs. Illius held up his hand, "Wait." He inhaled her sweet scent and spun around to face a stone door, "Through here." He kicked the door open and they burst into a room. In the center of the room, laying unconscious on a stone slab, was Ava. Needles dug into her skin, filling jars of blood sitting on the floor around her, "Ava," Illius breathed.

A figure slipped from the shadows, swinging a chain with a spiked ball on the end. He had white hair and dark brown eyes, so brown they were almost red. He tilted his head to the side as he measured them up, "Come to save the Soul Bound, have you?" The gigantic, Morning Star fell on the floor, scraping against the marble. Several vampires surrounded Cael and Illius, appearing from the shadows. They hissed and growled as the kindred stood in front of Ava, "She's not going anywhere." He sneered.

"Cael, you help Ava, I'll take care of the corpses," Illius grinned with a wicked glint in his blue eyes, "You decided to vex the wrong demon." He leapt towards the kindred who swung the spiked ball, Illius ducked, slashing across the kindred's thigh.

He yelped, his eyes blazing with hatred and swung his Morning Star again. The chain wrapped around one of Illius' legs and he tripped, collapsing to the floor with a thud. The kindred stood over the demon and brought his leg back, kicking him in the gut. Illius gasped, the air knocked from his lungs. Cael had already fought through several vampires and was now carefully removing the needles from Ava's body. A vampire leapt towards him, tackling him to the floor.

The kindred knelt over Illius, a smug look on his face. He plowed a fist against the demon's jaw, "You shouldn't of declined Vahara's offer. Now you will die, just like the rest." The kindred lifted his spiked ball, hanging from its silver chain and brought it over his head, swinging it down towards Illius.

Illius rolled to the side just as the Morning Star dug into the marble in the exact place his head had been laying moments before. He jumped to his feet as the kindred yanked the spiked ball from the floor. The blunt weapon whipped back around and Illius jumped over it, rolling across the floor to soften his fall. He spun as the kindred raised the Morning Star above his head once more and dug his dagger through his ribcage, right into his heart.

His eyes went wide and he exploded into ashes, his weapon slamming against the ground, scattering the ashes. Cael shoved a hissing vampire off and soon the vampire too was nothing more than a pile of ashes. Illius moved to Ava's side. Her long hair hung off the edge of the stone, her eyes closed, her skin pale and her lips blue from the lack of blood.

"Ava," Cael whispered, his golden eyes filling with warmth as he gazed down at her, he reached out to touch her, his fingers centimeters from her face.

"Don't touch her," Illius snapped.

Cael flinched, unable to move his hand closer to her, his angered eyes flicked to Illius' cold ones, "You can't do this to me!" He yelled, his hands waving over her face, unable to caress her skin.