Chapter 119 Traced
❀ Maeve ❀
It happened within a flash.
I automatically turned to Nikolai so he could take me to safety from the quickly tightening crowd turned insurgents.
But he got distracted.
A spear whistle through the night air, headed straight for me.
The towns vampires zipped toward me, combating my circle of guards.
I snatched back the arm I’d outstretched to Nikolai just in time before a sword cleaved it in two.
He’s dared?
With a gasp, I whirled on the attacker.
While Nikolai and my guards were distracted pushing the crowd back, the vampire advanced on me.
To kill… me.
My claws shot out, a hiss bursting from my lips.
Before the man could wield his sword again, Nikolai was in front of me. He elbowed the offender so hard bone cracked, blood spurting out to join the rest from the melee.
I lunged for Nikolai, if I could just touch his flesh, then he could trace me from here.
I gave up as another spear whizzed past my head to the ground with a loud thud. The shock took me an instinctive step backward.
Then I paused. I watched Nikolai take off heads, clearing a path around me.
I didn’t need him… I was a vampire now.
All I had to do was concentrate, and I’d be safely in my room.
But this was a dangerous place to close my eyes.
I clenched my fists, cursing to the high heavens.
The next time someone aimed for me, I retaliated. My claws carved a path across the woman’s throat.
Nikolai was tracing with a frenzy, but everytime he nearly grabbed me, the tide of the crowd would push us farther apart.
My guards slaughtered mercilessly. Nikolai cut them down like wheat stalks.
Is was horrific.
My people, dying for trying to lynch me. My crime? Being a hybrid.
I’d known there’d be pushback from the masses, but a town wide attempt on my life? Unthinkable.
Yet it was happening, and if I didn’t do something to end this, my guards would level the population and leave me nothing to rule over.
Something warm tracked my my cheeks before I realized it was tears.
A flash of Nikolai’s coat, “Maeve!” His voice echoed as he was swallowed again.
At this point, I was surrounded by three guards using their body as sheilds.
The crowd pressed against us on all sides, jabbing swords, daggers, claws.
My guess bravely defended, but the tightness of their defense left nowhere for Nikolai to trace to to take me.
Nikolai and I were the only ones of Crimsom blood with the ability to trace—
I sucked in a breath to yell, “Seize this at once! I am your chosen queen!”
“No dog of Blackbridge will preceded over us!”
“Death to the abomination!”
“Kill her!”
The tears fell in earnest. All forsaken, never chosen. Except by a stone which paid me back with bone bending pain for the crime of existing the same time as my birth mothers preserved blood.
My mind flew to Jessica. What if they’re attacked the carriage and her inside?
The though renewed my fight.
The guard beside me deflected a spear jab aimed at my head.
Taking the window, I quickly closed my eyes.
Concentrate. Concentrate.
Just like I discovered on the mountains.
I imagined the soft warmth of my queenly hearth. The solid feel of the rugs. I forced my consciousness to attach to the familiar environment of my room—
Something struck my ribs.
“Ah!”
I looked down. The hilt of a dagger protruded.
When I looked in the direction it came, I locked eyes with a little girl.
I stood frozen, shellshocked.
As I was jostled in the cocoon of my guards, my eyes never left the girl.
Then she smiled, a fangy expression that didn’t suit such an innocent face.
What had they told this child to make her brave enough?
Using her slight frame and short height, she’d maneuvered through the tightly pressed bodies to stab me.
My body trembled. I grabbed the hilt and drew it out, slowly, savoring the sting.
The girl had disappeared, but the crowd still surged on.
My instincts flared with the undeniable heat of vengeance.
But I wouldn’t stoop low to engage them here. Whether they liked it or not, I was their queen, and I could punish them in worse ways than with a sword.
I had to get out of here, and fast.
Before I closed my eyes, I spied Nikolai not far off. Sword swinging, claws glinting.
No figure caught in his crosshairs was a match for him.
His movements where precise, methodical. Like cutting down weeds.
When I glimpsed his eyes, my skin puckered with goosebumps.
They glowed. Like a maniac, he was smiling. He looked like he enjoyed this. Like he didn’t want it to end.
My mate would single-handedly shave down half of the population for me.
I gritted my teeth and aimed for his direction.
My body went weightless. It felt like I neight existed and did.
A great force ushered me out of my postion and into the next.
I landed with a slam against the hard bark of a tree.
My hand rose shakily to cradle my nose. Broken.
“Ow…” I muttered.
Then I looked around me.
The dim sounds of the crowd, swords, and crazed cries to end my life sounded from a distance—
My eyes widened.
I’d traced.