Chapter 60: 60__The Vampire and Sorcerer war

The dagger cut through the air.

Viktor dropped to the ground in the blink of an eye, the sharp sound of flying metal whizzing by over his head.

Releasing a harsh breath, he raised his head and looked at Rogan. “Was that really necessary?”

The purple magic flaring from Rogan’s palms formed two more daggers, his eyes swirling with annoyance. He tilted his head with a malicious smirk. “It’s so good to see you kneel before me, Viktor.”

At those words, Viktor rose, his piercing sapphire blues glaring curses at Rogan. “I didn’t come here for that, Rogan.”

There were no more words spoken.

Viktor blinked and in that flash of a moment, a force hit him like a twenty tonne truck and that was the start of it.

*War.*

They went tumbling around on the ground, both their gorgeous garments turning filthy with grass and dust. An elbow caught Rogan sharply in the face, a knee slammed Viktor straight in the gut. It was brutal and bloody, considering the strength of their species, but neither one gave in.

They glared viciously into each other’s eyes, the blue of Viktor’s melting into a powerful green as he exposed his Vampire King strength. Rogan wasn’t bothered. Laughing bitterly while Viktor punched him repeatedly in the face, Rogan dug his fingers into his neck, drawing blood when his nails turned into claws and pierced the skin.

“I should fucking kill you!” Rogan growled. “You’re asking for it!”

Viktor took a punch in the face and spat out blood. “You think you’d be successful after all your failed attempts to kill me?”

Sitting on Viktor’s chest, Rogan gripped his brother’s neck while he formed a dagger in his other hand. He pointed the pin sharp tip at Viktor’s face and held him still in place, the black magic in his eyes swirling with such an intensity, it was nearly hypnotic. “Heard you had a split personality issue,” taunted Rogan. “Was that why you were always such a bastard half the time and a little bitch the other half?”

Viktor’s jaw clenched, his chin coated with his own blood. “Yeah? Heard you still can’t break your little spell. So much for loving your Sorcerer half more than your Vampire half.”

Rogan laughed bitterly and then glared. “*Bastard*.”

With a curse, Viktor shoved him off and they sat on the ground, breathing harshly and glaring thunderbolts and curses at each other.

Rogan rose off the ground, flicking back his hair as he stared scornfully down at Viktor who also quickly stood.

Pressing his lips together, Rogan looked at the man before him, barely over the initial shock of seeing Viktor standing in front of his house. After 15 years. With that *face* of his. The splitting image of their bastard father. Every inch of the royalty-worthy handsome face was their father.

He might have killed the old man long ago, but Rogan couldn’t possibly forget that face. Not when he saw it so often in his dreams.

He had hated that face *so* much.

“Is it you?” Rogan questioned dangerously, forming powerfully cursed daggers in his palms. “The human girl. Is it you that’s after her?”

“That’s what you nearly killed Vlad over?” Viktor demanded, his own eyes flaring with anger.

“Answer my question!” Exploding with rage, Rogan threw a dagger, the sharp tip going straight for Viktor’s chest.

When Viktor easily evaded it, Rogan cursed his Vampire’s speed, curbing the urge to throw another dagger.

Releasing a breath as he watched Rogan’s dagger disappeared, Viktor gave him a dark look. “Can we be fucking civilized for once?”

He hadn’t come here to fight. He’d had strict warnings to not come back home with bruises, so Kamilla was definitely going to grill him over that in the first place.

“Did you or did you not send that ghost into her?” Rogan demanded, pointing a dagger at Viktor. “If you don’t tell me, I’m going to get that thing out of her and drain it’s aura until it tells me you did it, and then, *Vicky*, then I’m going to burn your fucking castle down!”

Viktor ran both hands through his raven-black hair in irritation. “You would torture anybody until they told you what you want to hear! You know it’s not me, but you *want* it to be, don’t you? You *want* me to be the person giving enough fucks to provoke you!”

Rogan glared. “Are you not? Why the hell are you here then?”

“To warn you to keep your crap out of my life,” Viktor snarled. “I’ve got my hands full as it is, I don’t need your drama.”

“What the devil are you talking about?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know. If you really thought I was the one who was after that girl, you’d have those daggers in me by now, cosidering how defensive you're being about her. The only reason you’re still standing here is because you know exactly where she’s being taken to. You know there’s magic involved. There are Witches in charge.” Viktor’s mouth curved with something between rage and scorn. “And they’re trespassing on my territory to sniff out your little human.”

Rogan’s jaw worked as he ran his tongue over his canines. “They’re on your territory, you kill them. Since when do you need my permission to kill witches? Huh? Hasn’t your kind been doing just that for generations?”

The dark words hung in the air between them and they stared silently at each other.

Viktor watched the same old stubbornness swirl in Rogan’s eyes. He didn’t want to get pissed off about it. Sure enough, if his mother had been as loving as Rogan’s and was suddenly killed by his father who was a Sorcerer, Viktor could confirm he’d be pissed at all Sorcerer’s for the rest of his life.

But it was tough to understand when you suddenly inherited all the hatred meant for your father and nearly lost both your soul and your soulmate in the process.

Viktor hated it. He *wasn’t* his father. Not all Onyx Vampires were like their late King.

But he didn’t have to say it. Rogan had heard all those words before.

Tired of staring at him, Rogan released a harsh breath and strode past Viktor.

“Get off my property.”

Viktor caught his arm before he could leave and Rogan jerked it away, whipping the sparkling razor edge of a dagger up to Viktor’s throat. He held it there, the metal just pressing against flesh. Their eyes met over the weapon, both filled with things they refused to say to each other, even after fifteen years.

“Look here,” Rogan snarled. “The last thing you said to me was to *never*… show my face in the kingdom of Onyx again.” He laughed bitterly. “A Kingdom which I’m the rightful King to, but I don’t *give* a damn. And I never did return because I don’t like the Vampire stink in the air. So, do yourself a favour… and never show your face in front of me again.” Rogan’s jaw clenched and Viktor stared into those swirling black eyes, seeing with his own eyes an unbelievable swirl of emotion inside the magic. Rogan shook his head. “It’s a face I can’t *stand* to see.”

Shoving Viktor away, he turned around and faded into dark mist, carried away through the air.

Viktor stared at the swirl of dark air for a moment before he ran a hand through his black hair and looked out over the kingdom of Geminor, hating how cheerful it looked while he was feeling like shit inside.

He always felt like this after seeing Rogan. Even after fifteen years of not seeing each other.

Angry. Hateful. Defensive. Guilty.

That was all there was between the two of them. No brotherhood. Their father had ruined that long before his death.

And because of it, Viktor found himself unable to punish any Sorcerer or Enchantress caught in his kingdom. His father may have hated them and passed laws against them, but all Viktor thought when he saw them was, “This was it. This was all she’d done as a crime. She’d been an Enchantress and he’d killed her for it. And that’s why Rogan is what he is. Because of his mother’s murderer.”

Those words in his mind played cruelly on his guilt. But Viktor was sick of it now. Rogan had just told him to go ahead and kill them and that was what he would do.

Glancing back at Rogan’s daunting, cathedral-like home, Viktor turned and left.

If the Witches wanted war, that was what they would get.

***************************

Rogan dusted the dirt off his clothes as he followed Maia through a forest. It had been easy to find her. He’d just followed the smell of a terrified ghost and there she’d been crossing a river with her little luggage.

He kept enough of a distance to let the ghost think he wasn’t being pursued, but remained close enough to protect Maia.

Releasing an annoyed breath, he played with magic in his hand as he walked.

He’d just follow her to them and kill them all.

Viktor had said Rogan knew who was after Maia. Damn him, he was right. Rogan had a strong suspicion.

What happened next only further confirmed it.

He was calmly watching Maia walk when it began. Rogan saw the dark flashes at the edges of his vision. Some whizzed by in the trees above him, others darted past behind him. Their presence was obvious, he realized. They weren’t trying to hide.

Soon, it became impossible for Rogan to ignore their pathetic attempts to draw his attention and follow Maia.

They were descending on him. Watching Maia get further and further away from him, Rogan came to a stop. He stretched his fingers out towards the ground, releasing dark magic and, beautifully, his daggers formed.

When his fingers curled around the black daggers, Rogan unleashed power into them and slowly turned around to face his attackers.

His mouth curved at the small army before him.

Vampires.

They looked eager to fight, their Vampire energy buzzing and mixing with the dark aura of their magic in the air.

Rogan stared darkly at them. Not Onyx Vampires, no.

The first Vampire stepped forward, carrying a stronger power of sorcery than the others.

He smiled. “Hello. Prince Rogan.”

Rogan’s jaw clenched.

*Cassius Vampires.*