Kissed by a Dark Prince (Volume 1) (36 page)

Loren swung to face Vail, bringing his sword up at the same time. Too slow. Vail slashed down Loren’s chest, cutting a long gash in his black armour, a savage twist to his expression.

It faded a moment later, turning as horrified as Bleu’s had been, and then Vail growled and stumbled backwards, dropping one of his blades. He pressed his hand to his forehead and screwed his face up as he dug the points of his claws into his scalp, drawing blood.

Kordula shouted something that Loren failed to catch and Vail’s demeanour changed, turning vicious once more. He attacked again, striking hard and fast, driving Loren backwards towards Bleu. Bleu shot past him and engaged Vail, and Loren was thankful for the brief respite.

Bleu ducked and dodged, thrusting and parrying with his spear, keeping Vail on the defensive. Loren turned to check on Thorne and his eyes shot wide as he saw thick black and red bolts flying directly at him. Loren called a portal but wasn’t quick enough. The powerful spell hit him square in the chest, some of the spear-like bolts striking the gash in his armour and sinking deep into his flesh, and he shot backwards.

No.

Loren’s whole body reverberated with the force of the impact as he struck the scaffolding, causing the metal to bend and twist under the strain.

Olivia screamed.

O
livia shrieked as pain tore through her and she came awake, her vision blurring and distorting, making the drop to the ground below her shrink and grow. It focused and she struggled and then wished she hadn’t when her left hand slipped free and she dropped.

Something cold tightened around her throat, cutting off her air supply, and she shot her hand up and reached for her other secured arm. Chains. Olivia stretched and grabbed the ones holding her other arm just as her wrist slipped free. The chain around her neck tightened further, making darkness encroach at the corners of her mind, and something sharp cut into her throat.

“Olivia!” Loren bellowed and her gaze darted to him. He stood below her, a wild panicked look on his face.

Bleu and Vail fought nearby, and beyond them were the witch-bitch and the huge man from the Archangel cafeteria. He fought like a demon, swinging an enormous sword with no visible effort.

She kicked her legs and tried to pull herself up to relieve the pressure on her neck, but the chain slipped through her hands and she skidded further down. A hot sting slashed around her throat and she gasped, her eyes shooting wide.

Olivia’s hands slipped again.

Loren roared below her and his fear flooded the link between them, forcing it back to full strength somehow.

She was going to die.

She lost her grip on the chains and dropped.

Warm hands grasped her forearms. “Got you.”

She had never been more glad to hear Sable’s voice. Never again would she moan about her friend’s requests for painkillers so she could go out and hunt when she should have been resting her injury or how she liked to tease Olivia whenever she was bored.

Olivia looked up to find her laying on the scaffolding boards above her, her hands locked tightly around Olivia’s bare forearms. Sable growled with effort and pulled, and the pressure on Olivia’s neck lessened.

Olivia held on to her friend’s arms as she slowly raised her.

“Do you have her?” Loren shouted from below.

“I have her,” Sable hollered, steely determination in her golden eyes. She added quietly, “Only bloody thing I’m good for is saving your arse. Go get the bastards, big guy.”

No. Olivia panicked and grabbed the edge of the wooden board as soon as it was within reach. She hauled herself up on trembling arms and Sable grasped the belt of her jeans and pulled her awkwardly onto the scaffolding.

Olivia quickly removed the makeshift noose from around her neck and ground her teeth to bear the pain as she pulled the thin wire away from the groove it had cut into her flesh.

“You okay?” Sable said and Olivia nodded, pushed to her feet and looked around. “Take it easy. The guys have this one. I pretty much failed to make an impact and bloody Bleu had to save me.”

Olivia could tell how much that had irked Sable but she didn’t care right now.

“I have to get down there, Sable.” Olivia didn’t want to see what was happening below them but she couldn’t stop her eyes from drifting to the battle.

“No way.”

“I need to get down there now.” Olivia spotted a ladder off to her left, towards the end of the scaffolding, and started for it.

Sable grabbed her arm and stopped her, and she went to snap at her friend but lost her voice when she saw the fight below them.

Loren and Bleu were battling hard against Vail, all of them bleeding from gashes in their black armour. The demon was changing, his horns curling around his pointed ears now and his eyes glowing like the fires of Hell as he attacked the redheaded witch and did his best to block her spells. Wounds from where Kordula’s attacks had hit covered his broad muscular chest and he seemed to be moving more slowly than before.

Kordula hit him hard with a left hook that was impossibly strong for such a frail looking female. It knocked the demon backwards, sending him stumbling and struggling to keep upright.

“Damn. Thorne’s going to get himself killed at this rate. Bloody idiot,” Sable muttered and unhooked the crossbow from her belt. She opened the quiver-pouch there and danced her fingers over the bolts in it. She pulled out one with a thick pointed tube secured to the end and grinned at Olivia. “Let’s see the bitch dodge this.”

Sable loaded the explosive bolt, aimed and fired. It whizzed towards Kordula and the demon Sable had called Thorne. The demon’s pointed ears perked up and he shot Sable a glare and then disappeared.

The action distracted Kordula and Sable’s bolt hit her shoulder and exploded on impact, sending her spinning through the air and crashing to the ground in a blaze of fire and smoke. Had it killed her?

The smoke cleared to reveal the sorceress lying on the gravel, blood covering the right side of her body and pooling beneath her, black in the bright floodlights. The slinky material of her dress was shredded and smouldering, and the top right side of the metalwork corset had blown open, the silver curling outwards in places.

A dark snarl came from behind Sable.

Sable tensed and her eyes edged towards her shoulder. Olivia’s gaze leaped to the demon towering over her friend.

Thorne’s eyes burned bright crimson, his huge body hunched over in the small area between the two levels of scaffolding, his broad shoulders almost spanning the width of the frame.

“You seek to harm me, little female.” His deep voice vibrated through Olivia and Sable slowly shook her head and pointed towards Kordula who lay in a smoking heap on the drive.

“I seek to kick that bitch’s arse,” Sable said calmly but Olivia could see past her false smile to the fear it hid.

Thorne scared her for some reason.

He took a step closer and ran his gaze over Sable’s body, his expression unconvinced at first and then gaining a decidedly hungry edge. Oh. My. No wonder Sable was on edge around Thorne. Olivia glanced back at her and caught the almost imperceptible touch of colour on her cheeks.

The demon’s red eyes slid to Olivia and she seized her chance.

“Take me down there,” she said and he looked below them at the raging battle. She didn’t want to look now because she feared she was going to be too late and was beginning to consider the outcome of grabbing the chain and sliding down it to reach the ground. She had to stop Loren.

Thorne nodded and held his large left hand out to her.

She grabbed Thorne’s arm and he grabbed Sable, tucking her against his bare chest despite her protests and blushing, and then darkness opened below them.

Olivia dropped into it, clinging to Thorne, regretting her decision to ask him for assistance. She had expected him to use portals in the same way Loren and Bleu did. There was something disconcerting about plunging into a black hole.

The darkness receded and Olivia instantly broke free of Thorne and Sable, running towards Loren and Bleu where they battled Vail.

Loren’s handsome face was a picture of determination, his black spiked helmet making him look formidable as he struck hard at Vail with his blade, murder in his eyes. A chill went through her when he managed to slash across Vail’s shoulder and turned his blade to deal another blow while his brother fought to recover from the first.

“No!” Olivia screamed and Loren froze mid-swing but Bleu didn’t.

He drove his spear through Vail’s side from behind and Vail cried out in agony, the force of the blow causing him to arch forwards.

“No,” Olivia shouted again and raced towards them. She had to stop them before they killed Vail. He was just a pawn, used against his will by Kordula in her insane quest for power.

Olivia slowed as Kordula rose to her feet behind them, her flesh knitting and mending before Olivia’s eyes, becoming perfect and smooth once more. The metalwork of her corset repaired itself and the threads of her dress wove together. Her hair floated around her shoulders and her black dress fluttered around her long legs.

The witch’s eyes blazed crimson and bright arcs of red energy crackled around her.

Olivia threw herself forwards as a bolt of crimson lightning struck at her and grunted as she hit the gravel hard, skidding across it.

Loren peeled away from his brother and was at her side a split-second later, pulling her onto her feet and shielding her with his body. A bolt of red energy hit him in the back and drove them both forwards. They smashed into the crumbling sandstone wall of the building beneath the scaffolding, Loren’s arms and her backside taking the brunt of the blow, and dropped together to the ground.

“Olivia?” Loren said and released her. His hands claimed her cheeks and he pushed back, his purple gaze warmed by concern and the fear she could feel in him.

“I’m fine,” she muttered and arched her back, cracking everything into place.

Loren’s gaze fell to her throat and the slash that cut around the front of it and darkened. He growled and went to turn away and she grabbed his wrists, stopping him from launching himself at his brother.

“No.” Olivia held firm when he tried to break free of her and he looked back at her, his black eyebrows knitted into a dark frown and his gaze narrowed and bright with the fury she could sense in him. “Listen to me.”

She glanced beyond his shoulder to the fight. Thorne had joined Bleu in his battle against the witch and Vail, and Sable was doing her best to help but her speed couldn’t contend with theirs and Bleu and Thorne had to save her more than once when she came under fire from Kordula’s red lightning.

Vail was still fighting, slashing at Bleu and Thorne with his twin black swords. He was paler now than he had been just minutes before, bleeding out from multiple wounds, but was feral and wild as he fought, a contrast to the man she had seen when they had been alone.

“Kordula is controlling Vail somehow.” She looked back at Loren and her heart sank when she saw in his eyes that he didn’t believe her. “Loren... your brother told me. Kordula is not his ki’ara. She tricked him. She is using him because she wants your kingdom. It’s a sick and twisted game to her and Vail is caught in the crossfire, a pawn that she is using for more than just fighting.”

Loren’s gaze darkened again and he looked back at his brother.

“You have to listen to me, Loren. Please. We can save him somehow.” She hadn’t realised how much she wanted that until the words left her lips. She had failed to save Daniel from Archangel but she had a chance to help Loren save Vail from Kordula, and she wouldn’t give up until she had gotten through to Loren and made him believe her.

Vail engaged Bleu, drawing him away from Kordula and Thorne. The red lightning struck Thorne in the thigh and he bellowed in pain and growled as he clutched it. Sable gave a war cry and attacked Kordula with her two long knives, using close quarters manoeuvres to hinder her ability to attack with magic. She landed several blows with the wicked blades, ripping through Kordula’s black dress and tearing through flesh beneath. The dark witch slammed the flat of her hand against Sable’s chest and she hit the gravel, spraying it everywhere.

Thorne bared huge fangs at Kordula and attacked, swinging his broadsword at the woman’s head as she raised her hands to fire a spell at Sable while she was down. Kordula shifted to aim the attack at him and huge leathery wings erupted from his back and he shot upwards, dodging the spell. It blasted into the ground and threw gravel high in the air, leaving a smouldering crater behind.

A male cried out and Olivia’s gaze darted back to Vail and Bleu.

Bleu pulled his spear from the side of Vail’s chest, spun it in the air and brought it down again, aimed directly at Vail’s head. Vail barely managed to block the attack with his twin black swords and the force of the spear clashing with his blades drove him to his knees. Bleu grinned, victory flashing in his eyes.

She had to stop him. Her gaze darted around and landed on a small blade with a ring at one end on the gravel just a few metres from her.

Olivia pushed away from Loren, launching forwards towards the small throwing blade. She scooped it up in her right hand and threw it with everything she had at Bleu, sending it shooting towards him at incredible speed.

She really hoped her aim was as bad as she thought it was. Loren would hate her if she hit Bleu.

The knife zipped harmlessly over Bleu’s left shoulder but it did exactly what she had planned. He paused and frowned at her, forgetting his attack. Vail used the distraction to escape from Bleu’s reach.

Loren snarled and grabbed Olivia, dragging her back against him on the ground. “What in the gods’ names do you think you are doing? Have you gone insane?”

“Saving your brother,” Olivia snapped and jerked out of his grip. “I’m not crazy... Vail is. Kordula has done things to him that have... he isn’t right, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to live, Loren. Kordula is making him do this. Can’t you see that? You said he acted weirdly sometimes and seemed to be different. This is why. He’s fighting her hold over him, but sometimes he isn’t strong enough. Sometimes he can’t stop himself from doing terrible things.”