Chapter 61 In-between
Brea’s POV
He threw his head back and laughed harder. “Oh, she’s got spirit. I like that.” His hungry gaze crawled over my chest, my stomach, and between my spread thighs.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. Your boytoy’s out cold. I’ll take good care of you.”
He crossed the distance in three strides. His hand fisted in my hair, yanking me up painfully despite my attempts to cover myself.
I cried out as he slapped me hard across the face.. Blood flooded my mouth from a split lip.
I swung weakly at him. He punched me in the stomach, driving the air from my lungs. Before I could recover, he slammed me back against the cracked stone wall, pinning me there with his much larger body.
“Stop” I gasped.
“Feisty.” His rough hand groped my breast painfully, squeezing hard, then slid down my body. His thick fingers shoved between my legs, rubbing roughly. “Still so wet from him. Good little cumslut. Makes this easier for me.”
He started undoing his belt with his free hand, metal clinking. His breath was hot and foul against my neck.
Terror and rage surged through me. My fingers scrabbled blindly across the debris-strewn floor. They closed around something cold and sharp...a long, jagged piece of broken rebar.
With a scream of pure fury, I drove it upward with everything I had left. The metal punched straight through his ribs and sank deep into his heart.
The vampire’s eyes bulged in shock. He let out a wet, choking gurgle. A final faint spark of golden energy flared through the rebar, burning into his heart. His body convulsed violently.
Then he began to crumble. His skin grayed and cracked.
In seconds, his entire body collapsed inward and disintegrated into a swirling pile of dark ash that scattered across the dusty floor, leaving only his clothes and the bloody rebar clattering beside them.
I stood there shaking, naked and covered in blood, still gripping the rebar.
Rayne’s eyes snapped open. Golden light exploded around him as he surged upright in a blur, fangs bared, ready to kill.
He froze when he saw the pile of ash, the empty clothes, and me standing there naked and bruised. His gaze flicked over me for half a second before he sharply turned his back, shoulders tense.
“Brea… what happened?” he rasped, voice hoarse. “Who did this to you?”
I clutched my arms over my chest, still trembling. “One of your vampires came in while you were unconscious. He saw me naked… saw us. He tried to rape me. I stabbed him through the heart with rebar. He turned to ash.”
Rayne stayed facing away for a moment, his back rigid. The guilt was clear in the way his shoulders hunched.
I stepped closer, voice softer. “It’s not like you haven’t seen my body before.”
He let out a rough breath, then turned and quickly pulled off his torn shirt, wrapping it around me from behind without looking directly at my front. His hands were gentle but hesitant as he helped cover me.
His fingers brushed my split lip and bruised cheek. They trembled. When he noticed the darkening fingerprints on my thighs and arms, guilt and quiet fury tightened his expression.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I should have woken up sooner. I should have protected you… Fuck. I’m so sorry.”
He quickly took the dead vampire’s knife and sidearm, then sent a soft thread of golden energy into me. The worst of the pain eased and my bruises lightened.
“No one else will ever touch you again,” he vowed quietly. “I swear it.”
Heavy footsteps and shouts echoed outside. A squad was closing in. Rayne helped me finish dressing with quick, careful hands.
“The war is still out there,” he said grimly. “We can’t hide forever.”
Before I could answer, he scooped me up and raced out in a burst of vampire speed, carrying me straight into the heart of the battlefield.
He set me down on a cracked ridge, then launched forward.
Golden energy detonated around him as he lifted dozens of fighters from both sides into the air freezing them mid-strike. With a roar that shook the ground, he shoved the two armies backward.
“If you want to fight so badly… then you will go through me first!” his voice boomed.
Hundreds stared at the glowing Prince and the floating soldiers.
Then the humans erupted in fury.
“It’s the fucking Prince!”
“Traitor! You vampires caused all of this!”
“How many humans have you bastards kept in cages and farms?!”
“Go back to your bloodsucking kind, you monster!”
“You’re the reason we’re all captives!” Weapons stayed trained on him from both sides.
I stepped forward beside Rayne, blood still streaking my face, faint golden light radiating from my skin.
“If you won’t listen to a vampire… then listen to me. A human. This isn’t the only way!”
The battlefield held its breath. Hundreds of weapons pointed at us. Floating soldiers hung overhead. Deep hatred burned from every direction.
And in that moment, Rayne and I stood together bloodied and drained between two armies that wanted us both dead.