Chapter One Hundred and Eleven

Chapter One Hundred and Eleven
Kael’s POV

I closed the gap in an instant, not caring how many of them were there. 

My hand tore through its chest cleanly, fingers breaking through bone, heart crushing in my palm before it could make a sound. Its body went limp, black blood spilling hot over my wrist as I kicked it away.

The second one darted back, too fast to track. I slashed, catching only air. Like mist, it faded slowly, there one second, gone the next.

I turned immediately, eyes locking on Sky. She’d stumbled back against the wagon, her cheek was streaked with dirt and blood that wasn’t hers.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, voice low but sharp, my gaze running over her arms, her throat, her pulse.

She shook her head, too stunned to speak at first. “No... I—I’m fine.”

The relief hit so fast it almost made me dizzy. I reached out, brushed my thumb across her jaw, making sure she was real, alive. Her pulse trembled beneath my touch.

Then another scream tore through the air.

The chaos behind us swelled, bodies colliding, steel ringing, the smell of blood growing thicker, choking the air.

I turned. The marketplace was unrecognizable.

Flames from overturned lanterns licked across the dirt, lighting the faces of soldiers and monsters locked in brutal rhythm. Every shape blurred, vampire and wolf, man and beast, fighting in a haze of motion. I could barely tell who was winning. Or if anyone was.

“Stay behind me,” I said, stepping in front of her.

But she didn’t stay still, Sky never did. When one of the freed screamed for help near the carts, she moved toward them instinctively, even when danger swarmed around them. 

I cursed under my breath and followed, cutting through anything that moved too fast to be human.

The vampires didn’t attack in small bursts this time, they came in waves. Dozens of them, their movements synchronized, precise. Every strike was calculated, meant to disorient us, to dismantle.

They were hunting.

My soldiers fought valiantly, their claws out, some half-shifted mid-battle. The sound of cracking bones and tearing flesh filled the sky. Still, the enemy didn’t relent.

“Hold the line!” I barked, voice raw. “Do not scatter!”

But even I knew we were outnumbered.

I slashed another down, blade cutting through its throat, and turned just in time to see one of y men dragged upward, impaled through the chest before vanishing into shadow.

“Why?” I breathed. I knew I couldn’t afford to hesitate. So I moved.

“Rendall!” I shouted over the clash. “Signal the retreat! Now!”

The general met my eyes across the field, blood streaked across his face, and nodded before turning to the horn.

The long, low call echoed over the chaos, a sound that had always meant live to fight another day.

I turned back to Sky, already moving. “We’re leaving,” I said, grabbing her hand, ignoring her protest.

She struggled. “Kael, your men—”

“I said we’re leaving!” my tone cut through the noise, final. “Now.”

I guided her through the wreckage, my body between hers and the carnage. Every few seconds, something lunged from the smoke, a blur of white, a flash of fangs, and every time, I was faster. My sword split the dark like lightning, each strike ending in blood and dust.

But from the corner of my eyes, I saw someone watching. I could feel it, even without looking, that cold stare cutting through the battlefield, studying, measuring.

When the last of the soldiers formed up behind me, I spotted Mira through the haze, her cloak torn, her eyes glowing faintly with power as she shielded a group of survivors.

I pushed Sky toward her. “Get her out of here,” my order was strong.

Mira hesitated. “And you?”

“I’ll hold them off.”

“You won’t survive this alone.”

I gave her a faint smile that didn’t reach my eyes, a little assurance. “I don’t plan to die.”

Sky grabbed my wrist before I could move. “Kael—”

I looked down at her, the world narrowing to just her eyes for one second, brown meeting gray, fear meeting determination. I squeezed her hand once, firm. “Go.”

Then I turned before she could answer.

Mira’s magic flared, a swirl of blue light, and in a blink, they were gone, Sky, Mira, and the survivors, vanishing into smoke and distance.

I exhaled once, steadying myself. The silence that followed was heavier than the screams.

I looked back toward the chaos, what was left of it.

The retreat had begun, but the vampires weren’t letting us go easily. The creatures were everywhere now, crawling across walls, leaping through fire, tearing through the remaining guards.

I moved to rejoin the fight, cutting down one that lunged from the left, kicking another aside. My blade met resistance, bone, muscle, sinew, but I didn’t stop. Every swing was precise, honed from years of control, but the enemy wasn’t breaking.

Then I grabbed one by the throat, a smaller one, face too young, eyes burning with feral red.

I lifted him off the ground, my claws digging into his wrist, and snarled, “Why now? Why here? What are you after?”