Chapter One Hundred and Ten

Chapter One Hundred and Ten

Kael’s POV

I sighed, feeling the weight of everything that had happened this past few days.

The scent of smoke still hung heavy in the air, faint but familiar, a reminder of the incident from the night before. Another raid, another den of filth brought to ruin.

The marketplace was unrecognizable now. What once stood as a facade of trade, of polished stalls, guarded crates, well-dressed liars, was now ash and wreckage.

Broken chains lay in the mud, glinting under the faint morning light. The freed huddled near the carts, wrapped in blankets, their faces hollow. If you could call them freed. Some still flinched at every sound. Some couldn’t even look up.

I stood at the center of it all, boots pressed into the dirt, the world slow around me. My soldiers were gathering what remained, papers, manifests, names. My general stood to my left barking orders, already having the captured traders on their knees.

Their wrists were cuffed, their faces smeared with sweat and soot.

“Get them to the wagons,” he said quietly, voice rough but steady. “The King will decide their fate.”

I turned to move, my gaze sweeping over the devastation, the cracked beams, the torn banners, the smell of blood that lingered longer than it should, and that was when I felt it.

It came first as a shift in the wind, sharp and rotten, carrying with it something cold. Then the scent hit, distinct, unmistakable.

Death, old and sweet.

I froze. My claws pricked beneath my skin, instinct rising before thought.

I could already smell them. Vampires.

Not one, not two. Dozens at least.

My heartbeat slowed. Every muscle went taut, as if my body was listening for what my mind already knew.

No. Not here. Not now.

I lifted my head slowly, eyes scanning the horizon beyond the burnt stalls, beyond the thin line of trees that framed the clearing. The world seemed to hold its breath. Then, I heard it.

The sound of footsteps. Running.

Not the clumsy rhythm of mortals or wolves, but a blur, swift, precise, unnatural. The sound rolled through the air, too fast to follow, like a storm building under the surface of the wind.

“What are they doing here?” I muttered, voice low. “Why now?”

The general turned, confused. “My lord?”

I didn’t answer. My hand simply went for my sword.

“Everyone—” my voice snapped through the silence like thunder. “Battle positions! Now!”

The soldiers delayed, turning to one another first before the dropping what they were doing and obeyed without further hesitation. They formed a line, shields raised, eyes scanning. The freed stumbled back, clutching each other, some crying out in confusion.

Then the sound hit, a rush, a blur, and before anyone could breathe, it was already too late.

A guard’s neck snapped in a single twist. The crack echoed through the square, cruel and final. His body fell without a sound, head turned in the wrong direction.

Then came the second.

A shadow ripped through the ranks, moving faster than sight, and another body dropped, throat torn out before a scream could even form.

“Hold the line!” I roared, drawing my blade.

But the line was already broken.

The world exploded into chaos almost immediately, steel clashing, screams cutting through the air, the scent of blood bursting like smoke. The vampires were everywhere now, flowing through the crowd like a flood of shadows, too many to keep track of, too fast for the eyes.

One of them tore through a wagon, splinters flying. Another dragged a man into the dark, his scream cut off halfway.

My soldiers fought back, claws and blades flashing, but it wasn’t enough. Not against creatures that didn’t move by mortal rules.

I saw it all in a breath, my men falling, the freed scattering, Mira pulling a few toward safety. His mind split between command and instinct, between war and protection.

Then my gaze snapped to the far side of the yard, and my blood froze.

Sky.

She was standing near the carts, eyes wide, frozen where the chaos hadn’t yet reached.

And in that same heartbeat, they reached her.

Two of them, moving like smoke with shape. Their claws gleamed black in the light, their faces blank and hungry.

I didn’t think. I just yelled.

“Sky!”

The word tore out of me as a roar.

I moved, faster than air, my body a blur of motion. The world slowed, heartbeat by heartbeat, as I ran, every step crushing dirt and blood beneath me.

But even with speed on my side, the sight made my breath die.

They were already on her.

One grabbed her arm, jerking her off balance, fangs bared. The other circled, reaching for her throat.

My vision bled red.

He hadn’t reached her yet.

The air burned around me as I leapt, closing the distance in an instant, claws ready, heart pounding with something beyond rage.

But for that one heartbeat, just one, I saw her face. The defiance in her eyes, the same fire that had carried her through every nightmare before this one.

And then the monsters turned their eyes to me.