Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 88669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“We’ve considered that,” Damien said. “But it’s difficult. Dragons are naturally averse to big warlike conflicts, and attacking the vampire Matriarch outright would definitely break the Iron Treaty. She also has defenses up that protect the Obsidian District from large-scale attacks. And those Shades we saw with her, they’re what tore apart Marmot’s Chateau. Not the Matriarch. She could have more of them, which would decimate us.
No, It’s better if we’re tactical—surgical—about this.”
I nodded. “Makes sense.” As did most of Damien’s answers. “So… how are we going to kill her?”
Maddox scoffed. “Question of the decade.”
“At least we know how to break into her lair,” Dawn said, her voice tinged with optimism. “If it wasn’t for Benjamin, we would have been fucked.”
That was true. Benjamin, Maddox’s old vampire boyfriend, had given us one of the most crucial pieces of information yet: the location of an underground tunnel that led directly into Helstriva’s home. He had learned it after messing around with one of the Matriarch’s closest concubines, the vampire becoming drunk off blood and spilling all of the Matriarch’s secrets after a particularly long sex session. The tunnel had been made as an emergency escape hatch if she were ever surrounded, and the tunnel itself was guarded by plenty of skull-rupturing wards. With the entrance pinpointed and a distraction planned for somewhere else in the Obsidian District, it would allow for our group of Marvels to work on disenchanting the wards and let the core fighters in to surprise the Matriarch.
I was set to go with that core group, consisting of Damien, Maddox, Dawn, Xavier, Warrick, and Claire, along with a few others. They had originally wanted me to stay locked in the castle, but I refused. If this was going to happen, then I was going to be there, and I’d help in whatever way I could. Training for the upcoming fight had also kept my mind and body busy, blocking out most of the anxiety during my waking hours.
It was at night that the demons would come roaring back.
My phone buzzed in my lap. I opened the text, smiling at the GIF of a dancing drag queen taking shots on the stage.
It was from Starlight. It had taken a couple of hours after the night to reach her, but after looking on social media, I had found her profile and was more than relieved to see she had posted a message saying she was safe. I immediately messaged her, and we reconnected when she introduced herself to me out of drag as Mason Jun, someone who happened to be just as bright in and out of makeup. Mason had told me that after he triggered the mist and realized he couldn’t find us that he decided to leave and grab some In-N-Out instead.
Approximately ten minutes later, no one in the chateau was left standing. No one but us.
I replied to Starlight’s call for a girls’ night, telling her I could use some time to dance and let loose but that it would have to wait. There were other, eh, more pressing matters.
Damien stood from his seat and stretched his arms over his head. A little tuft of armpit hair peaked through and instantly turned me feral.
“I’m going to go shower and get ready for the evening training.” His eyes went to me, the corner of his lip twitching up. I could already read his body language as if I’d spent multiple years studying it on Duolingo. I got up from my seat and excused myself, saying I could also get cleaned up before tonight’s practice.
I never turned down an opportunity to shower with Damien. He always looked so damn sexy with water dripping down his body, catching on the muscular abs and glinting on his red scales.
And honestly, just being intimate with Damien helped teleport me to another world. One that wasn’t haunted by shrieking howls and unfiltered terror.
Maddox shot us both a look that said he knew exactly what the two of us were up to, but no one said anything else, going back to what they had been doing earlier.
“How was your run?” I asked as we walked down the curving hall, polished wooden arches and clean white floors lit by the rainbow sunlight that came in through the stained glass windows.
“It was good. I got about four miles in.”
“Not bad. I think I got about a quarter of a mile in from pacing around the bedroom today.”
Damien chuckled, his hand finding mine. “Has it been difficult today?”
When is it not?
Instead of saying that, I stuck with, “No, it wasn’t that bad. I’m just being dramatic.”
We reached his bedroom, the true sanctuary inside of Blackthorn Castle. He closed the heavy door behind us, walking over to his closet and grabbing a clean pair of shorts and a blue T-shirt.