The Vampire

LORELAI

“Silas,” I said on a tight breath. He smirked and walked further into the room. I didn’t move, standing in front of the twins, my shadows still protecting them.

Silas moved slowly, circling me. With every step, he made me more nervous. One wrong movement and he would spring. And I would take him out with my magic.

It may be weaker than it had been a minute ago, but it was still there, and it wanted Silas just as much as I did. It tingled at my fingertips, burning inside me as it churned, getting ready.

“You knew I was coming,” he said with a smirk.

I nodded. “Yes.”

Zale and Enzi whined behind me, their shadows tense and leaking. I kept their shadows with mine, holding them back. We had to wait for our moment, for him to show his move.

I was almost certain he would attack, but I had to wait for that moment to make sure I caught his movements. Otherwise, he’d be gone before I could get him, and so would the twins.

“I heard congratulations are in order,” he said, nodding to my stomach.

I narrowed my eyes on him. I had only just found that out. How did he know?

“How did you hear?”

“I didn’t. I can smell it on you. Pregnant wolves have a distinctly sweeter smell on their blood. They taste divine too. I quite look forward to tasting that again,” he said, grinning, his teeth pointed, his eyes hungry.

“You won’t get that chance,” I bit back.

He laughed, so sure I was wrong. “And how will you stop me? With your magic that you just exhausted?”

So that was what he had been waiting for. He knew I wouldn’t be able to watch the pack lose. That I would interfere. It was clever, but he didn’t know how strong I was or how far I was willing to go to protect the ones I love.

Maybe he had never been in love and didn’t know just how much it changed who you were as a person. Well, I did, and I knew it wasn’t the weakness he thought it was. It was strength.

My magic released from my fingers, turning with my shadows around me, ready for him.

But he kept moving slowly, circling me as I moved around the crib, refusing to turn my back on him or get out of the way. He was not getting a clear shot at the twins. Not while I was alive to stop it.

“Another winter born? The realm is lucky to have you, it would seem. Bringing through all the shadow power it needs to stay in control,” he said with a smirk.

I didn’t respond, watching every slow move he made. I knew his patience was infinite, that he had been alive for too long not to have it. So I racked my brain for something that would affect him, make him lose control.

It wasn’t hard to figure out. If he wanted more power, then he was scared of being weak. I’d make him think he was.

“Maybe you’re getting too old for this job, Silas. Maybe the realm is trying to pick off the weaker ones,” I taunted.

He was a mask of perfection, but I saw it. The slight narrowing of his eyes. It had struck a chord.

“That would explain why you are about to meet your death then,” he hissed back, his words slow.

I grinned and shook my head. “Then why are you here? To deliver death? That is not my fate, Silas,” I said with all the confidence I didn’t feel. But I was faking it for as long as possible.

Stalling wasn’t ideal, and if he attacked, I was ready. But I also knew my Alphas would be trying to get to me. The link was open; they knew Silas was with me. Whether they could get out of the war in the city was another question I didn’t know the answer to.

But I couldn’t focus on the link to find out because a single distraction could cost me when it came to Silas.

“You know why I am here, Lorelai. Your twins are winter born, and if my sources are correct, then they have witch magic in them now too. I want them.”

“You can’t have them,” I stated firmly. There was no bargaining, no room for misunderstanding. He knew that too.

He shrugged. “I wasn’t asking,” he said, then flew at me.

I saw every part of him, my focus taking in every detail as he charged. To the naked eye, he was a blur, but I had been practicing. I concentrated with everything I had and saw the second he was close.

I threw my magic up and shoved him over me and the twins in the crib.

He sailed over us, crashing into the far wall as I positioned myself between him and the twins again.

My shadows hissed and snarled at him as my magic swirled in angry flicks.

He charged again, his spiky teeth bared. He moved quickly—left, right, left, right—trying to disorientate me. It was hard to keep my focus when he was doing that, but I caught him just in time.

I wrapped my magic around his wrist and yanked him away from the crib. But my magic wasn’t as strong, and he was an old-ass vampire. He turned and grabbed my body, flinging it away.

I crashed into the wall but had no time to take inventory on the ache that radiated through me. I threw my magic up in a wall around the crib, gritting my teeth at the effort it took.

Silas rebounded off it and snarled at me. He ran at me as I used the wall to stand.

I shoved him into the wall, my shadows pressing in on his body, holding him there. He broke through my strength long enough to turn and bare his fangs at me.

I pressed my shadows into him harder as my magic closed around the twins.

The effort was exhausting. My bones ached, sweat prickled along my skin, and my breaths were rough and harsh on every pull.

But I was not letting Silas get to the twins. No matter what.

Silas grinned and stopped fighting my shadows. I kept him against the wall.

“I have all the time in the world, Lorelai. Do you? I see the strain, I hear your blood rushing to keep up with your magic,” he said in that dangerous voice of his that was scarier than his teeth. “I will outlast you,” he promised.

My limbs shook, and I knew he was right. I couldn’t hold him with my shadows and protect the twins with my magic. I didn’t have the power in my body to do it without sacrificing the child growing in my stomach.

So I had to let Silas go. This fight had to be short and sweet, or he would win.

I dropped my magic and the shadows, then charged him.

He grinned a wide malicious grin, then caught me and slammed me into the ground. But I wasn’t that naive. As much as he knew what I was going to do, I knew what he was going to do.

I shoved him back with my magic, launching him up into the ceiling. He thudded against it, then dropped to the ground. He landed, hissing at me before dashing for the twins.

I beat him there, ripping the vial of potion out of my boot and throwing it at him.

It burned him instantly.

He hissed and screeched as it bubbled his skin, and he backed away from the twins. They were wide-eyed in the crib, but they were silent. Their shadows were formed in a bubble over the crib, and Zale held Enzi’s hand in his.

Forever together. I took a moment to make sure they were untouched, then looked back at Silas, who was writhing against the wall as the toxin burned his flesh.

It was satisfying to see the creature who had caused so much pain crumble before me. It made me want to turn and rip him apart, but I didn’t. Because that toxin was a surface pain, and once he realized that, he would be on me again.

I had to conserve as much magic as I could until then.

~“Hang on, Spitfire, we’re on our way,”~ Brax grunted in the link as I finally took a second to check on it.

~“There’s more fucking vampires than snow in the winter. This is fucking bullshit!”~ Kai snarled as he fought back against the new wave of vampires that came at him.

~“Focus, beautiful, and keep him busy. Be careful,”~ Derik said, his words cutting and focused.

~“I’ve got this,”~ I breathed, letting them hear the reassurance too. Then I looked back up to Silas. He was leaning against the wall, breathing hard as his skin slowly melted back into each other, but it was scarred as fuck.

“Love the new look,” I taunted, and he hissed. He came at me again, and I shoved him back, using my magic to press him against the wall. I grabbed the blade that Mom had given me and stabbed him in the stomach.

Silas grunted and roared, then threw me to the side. The blade clattered from my hand as I landed on the ground. I tried to scramble away, but he stepped on my back, pressing hard as I coughed against the concrete. Dust puffed out as my breath disturbed it. He put so much pressure on my back, and I fought back, trying to get him off.

But he was angry and strong. He pressed harder, and I cried out as my bones protested. My shadows shoved against him, and he stumbled enough for me to turn, but the second I went to get up, he pressed his foot down on me again.

“You are nothing! I am the power this realm needs! I am—”

“A fucking asshole?” I provided the answer through gritted teeth a second before my fingertips curled around the knife that had fallen to the ground. I sunk it into his calf.

He screeched, falling off me. Puffing hard, I threw him against the wall with my magic, then ran at him. But my magic was fading and couldn’t hold him like before. He broke through it.

Silas grabbed my wrist, then used it to spin me, slamming me into the wall. My head cracked against it, and I winced. Pain radiated through my skull, and it took a minute to be able to see clearer. When I did, I was a second too late.

He yanked my head to the side and sunk his teeth into my neck. I screamed as pain took over me. Not an ache or a sting, it was a bone-incinerating pain that had me sagging against the wall. Silas pinned me there, sucking the life out of me.

My eyes caught on the crib, and I knew I had to get Silas off if I was going to save the twins. But he was so strong. He was from the oldest vampire family. And I was weakening with every drop of my blood he stole.

My body was in so much pain, my vision was fraying at the edges when he finally yanked his teeth back. My blood dripped down his chin, and he grinned at me, his red eyes glowing.

“Oh, you are delicious,” he said with a grin. I grinned right back. I was delicious. My Alphas told me that all the time.

But I was also a mother, and I would do anything to protect my children. Even drink a disgusting tea made of werewolf toxin powder. I had dissolved Mom’s powder in my tea and choked down every damn drop. Because Silas was a strong mind, a strong body. But he was still a vampire.

And they had a universal weakness: blood.

So I had poisoned mine. It hit Silas a moment later as he coughed and spluttered. He stumbled back, holding his throat as the glowing in his eyes flickered then dulled.

“How does it taste now, Silas?” I asked, walking forward as he scrambled to his feet, still holding his hand to his chest as black veins spread over his pale skin.

“What did you do?”

“Put some poison in my bloodstream for you. It’s a delicacy. Like it?” I asked, closing in.

He spat blood on the floor, then heaved for breaths, bending over and holding his knees. I inched closer, bending down to him.

He peered over at me, and I had been expecting him to look fearful, regretful, or even angry. He didn’t. Terror crept through me as his grin spread wide.

Then he kicked me back with every ounce of strength he had. I slammed into the wall so hard it left a dent. I slid down it, blood trickling down my neck, leaking from the gash in my head.

Silas was on me in a second, he gripped my throat and slid me back up the wall as I kicked out. His grip tightened as I tried to peel his hands off me. They wouldn’t budge.

I churned my magic and shadows together, shoving at him, rushing over him, trying to force him back. He gritted his teeth and stood his ground.

“You are not strong enough, Lorelai. You were never strong enough.”

I clawed at his wrists, still attacking him. As futile as it was, I wasn’t letting him take me down without a fight.

“I’m stronger than you think,” I growled, then reached in my pocket and grabbed the leftover powder.

“I’ve been drinking werewolf blood for years to get used to the taste, to get acclimated to the poison. It’s going to take more than that to kill me,” he laughed.

I blew the powder in his face.

“Yeah? Well, how does it feel in your eyes then?” I said as he ripped away from me, covering his face. I could hear it searing through his senses. Good. I hope it fucking burned.

He snarled as he tried to open his eyes. They were bleeding at the rim, dripping from his eyelashes.

I ran over to the twins. There was no way I could win against Silas on my own. I was too weak now, and I had used all my ace cards.

So there was only one thing left to do: use the twins’ magic too. I reached through their shadows and held their hands. I was going to ask them for their help when I was thrown back, skidding along the floor. The rug burned where I slid up my leg and side.

I looked up as Silas went for the twins. He was almost there when Brax stormed in, his shadows barreling in with him and throwing Silas away. He hit the ceiling, then dropped to the floor with a thud. Brax rushed to the twins, then to me.

He helped me up, and I moved with him to stand in front of the crib.

Silas sneered at us and stood slowly. He looked as ragged as I felt. Blood dripped from his eyes, his stab wound wasn’t healing properly, his chin had my dried blood on it. He was hurting, and I was glad. But so was I.

My head throbbed, weakness tried to make me pass out. Using magic used every part of my soul, and as much as I used, my body felt. I was running at a lower capacity with the baby inside of me, and I had never expected that.

Brax was covered in scratches and dried blood, his naked torso heaving with breaths and damp from fighting. But he was here. That was all that mattered.

“Fucking winter borns,” Silas grumbled as he sauntered forward. He dusted himself off and glowered.

“Fucking vampires,” Brax snapped back.

Silas chuckled. “You are befouled. An unworthy alpha. Run along, runt.”

I slapped him with my magic. Silas’s head whipped to the side. “It tingles,” he stretched his neck out, then charged. I was ready for him, but Brax got there first. He threw his fists at Silas, who blocked them. Brax kept going before finally knocking his feet down from under him.

Brax wrapped Silas in shadows and let his claws out. He went for Silas, his claws about to sink into him when Silas broke free. He threw his arms out, and Brax was flung into the far wall. He fell through the wall into our suite.

I sucked in a breath, waiting for Brax to get up, but he didn’t get up.

“That’s going to hurt.” Silas grinned, then came for me.

I was so fucking sick of him. His smug smirk, the pain he inflicted. The ego. It was infuriating. Why couldn’t he just fucking die?

Because he was the oldest vampire, and we were not strong enough. That was thrown in my face when he shoved me easily out of the way and went for the twins in a movement I wasn’t fast enough to stop.