Filed To Story: Claimed by the Alpha I Hate Book Read Free
Back when Mom and I had gotten along, she’d taken me to one of those puppets shows kids seem to love. I remembered all of the other children enraptured with the little dolls, ignoring the wires that controlled their limbs and jaws, ignoring the puppet master behind the curtain, directing their every move.
“You’re not Lars.” I stated, taking a step to the left as I began circling him, keeping my movements slow and steady.
Tristan’s apprehension was practically tangible in the air between us, which I promptly ignored. The pull in my gut told me keeping my cool and feigning this indestructible confidence was the right move. Both my Vampire protector and Cassidy stuck by my side, watching the corpse I spoke to and my back incase any new intruders wanted to make an appearance.
I lifted my chin ever so slightly and spoke in a voice free of fear or doubt. It was one I only partially recognized. “Who’s pulling your strings, puppet?”
Lars’s lips split as they widened, dragged across his face in a grin that made the dark veins along his cheeks bulge sickeningly. His laughter was wet from the substance that coated his teeth, much thicker than blood even though it carried a similar scent. His laugh sounded both male and female, like two voices layered over one another. One belonged to a cocky biker, the other a woman.
“Where’s the fun in asking a question you already know the answer to?” He mused, his body uncomfortably still and his eyes unblinking. “Such incredible power, yet you lack the wits to put it to proper use.”
Anger swirled in my chest, threatening to melt the ice that held the six Vampire’s in place. Another gut feeling told me that if I lost my cool, I’d also lose control of whatever magic it was that gave me power over the shadows.
His words chased themselves in my mind, only it was the voice of the woman I heard. Round and round they went, staining my thoughts a bright shade of crimson and bringing the scent of fresh blood to my nose.
“You’re the blood-witch.”
Lars’s grin remained rooted in place, a b****y g**h across the lower half of his face. “Well would you look at that, you’re not entirely hopeless.”
“Why have you come here?” It was Tristan that sent the question hurling in her direction. “Why orchestrate this a****k?”
“Why? To speak with Daisy here, of course. I had to wait until that mate of hers left, but he’s a bit busy handling a mess I made. Not to worry, he’ll make it unscathed… for the most part.”
I shifted from foot to foot, feeling the icy magic I was somehow using sapping my strength. Slowly, the shadows were becoming restless, frustrated that I’d confined and enslaved them. Lars’s grin widened ever so slightly, as though the witch controlling him could feel my hold slipping.
“You went through all this trouble to speak with me?”‘ I scoffed, my expression giving nothing away.
“I went through all of this trouble to warn you.” She corrected. “Your failure is inevitable. It’s been written into our history for longer than even I can remember. For centuries young witches have read the prophecies foretelling the unification of Witches and Vampire’s, and it all begins with you. Your d***h will be the beginning of a new world order and will ultimately mark the end of the Werewolf species.”
It didn’t matter if what she was saying was true, or that it frightened me to my very core. What was important was this pack and the Vampire’s I swore I’d protect. Even the ones suspended in mid air, watching our conversation with conflicted eyes, were important. As I always had in the past, I let my stubbornness win out and spoke without a l**k of common sense.
“You expect me to believe that?” I raised an eyebrow, nodding up at the six Vampire’s I currently had trapped. “If I’m capable of this, I wonder what else I can do. You won’t win, I promise you that much, and we will not go peacefully. Try and k**l us all, I dare you. I’ll personally make sure that every single witch dies along with us, including you.”
“You would’ve made a decent Queen, and an even better High Priestess. Perhaps if there is anything left of your soul, you’ll choose to be reincarnated.” She mused, the grittiness of Lars’s voice meshing with the silkiness of hers. “I suppose it’s time I take my leave, those dimwitted warriors of yours have finally snuffed out the presence of these here Vampire’s. Speaking of which, they cannot be allowed to live, unfortunately. I do hope you put their blood to good use though, considering I can’t while in this body. Oh, before I leave …do give my daughter my highest regards.”
“NO!”‘ Tristan bellowed and lunged at Lars, both of us coming to the same realization at the same time.
Lars slashed a hand horizontally across his throat, and the throats of the six Vampire’s suspended in mid-air were slit, raining crimson blood on the four of us.
The rotted, decomposed corpse that had once been Lars fell to the ground, lifeless once more.
Instantly, my hold over the shadows snapped. They scattered into mist, vanishing within the darkest parts of the forest as they fled. All six of the Vampire’s fell to the ground, and I was nearly crushed by one as I rushed to their sides.
It was Tristan that pulled me out of the way.
I fell to my knee’s, barely registering the moisture within the soil seeping into my jeans. The heavy drumbeat of my heart rattled against my ribcage, ratcheting my adrenaline higher and higher with every pair of glossy, lifeless eyes I stared into.
They were helping her, and she k****d them, sacrificed like their lives were nothing-like their families were nothing.
A garbled, wet breath pulled me out of my stupor and towards the trembling form of one of the
Vampire’s. The lithe female that had darted out of the way during my first a****k, she was curled up in the grass, her hands clawing at her slashed throat.
“Tristan!” I called out, scrambling to her side. The blonde-haired Vampire knelt beside me, wrenching her hands away and forcing her down when she tried to tear my face off with her stiletto nails. I stared down at her, at eyes the same shade of brown as Sean’s. “Stop trying to k**l me. Only one of us is d***g, and it isn’t me. You’ll have another chance (after) we save your life.”
Her mouth opened, revealing blood-stained teeth and a sparkly tongue ring.
‘Luna Daisy, we’re nearby! We caught the scent of six Vampire’s and followed once we realized they were tailing you. We have the witches with us, they’re going to help!’ One of the many warriors on patrol tonight said through the mind-link, followed by countless others, all jumbling into one mess I couldn’t even begin to sort through.
‘Hurry.’ I told him, increasing my pressure on the Vampire girl’s throat whilst sending every bit of my urgency through the mind-link.
I counted the seconds it took until they burst through the forest in a sea of fur and teeth, repeating the same plan over and over in my head.
We would save her life, and after she was stable and thoroughly questioned, I planned on asking
Cordelia exactly why that security spell of hers hadn’t worked.
By the time backup arrived, and Rowena stabilized the
Vampire whose heart were still beating after having her throat slit, I was utterly exhausted.
The trick I did, somehow managing to control the otherworldly power that was known for being uncontrollable, left me with little to no energy and a raging case of cotton mouth.
Even worrying about Nolan, which I’d been doing since the blood witch said he had problems of his own to deal with, sapped what little strength I had left.
As I swayed where I stood, staring down at the five lifeless bodies, the shadows watched from their hidden alcoves within the forest. Tristan stood nearby, his eyes flitting to my face every few seconds as though he were worried I’d topple over at any moment.
I sure felt like I was, but I’d never admit that.
Instead I frowned at the blood that watered the earth and thought about the words that the blood witch uttered.
“Make use of their blood…” I said quietly, lifting my gaze to peer at the darkness that surrounded us.
Cassidy continued to gnaw on her lower lip, which she’d been doing for the last half hour. “What do you mean by that?”
Tristan grunted, which was indication enough that he knew exactly what I meant.
“As reward for your service, you may feed on the blood that was spilled, only that of the five Vampire’s who needlessly lost their lives this night.” I said to the shadows, my voice strong despite the lead that weighed down my bones and claimed my energy. At the last moment, staring down at the men who had harbored such hatred for someone they knew very little about, I added: “…all I ask is that you return their bodies to the earth.
I wasn’t sure if the tendrils of darkness could feel my lack of strength, or if they were simply that hungry, but they swarmed the ground like the fog that often cloaked the entire town in the early morning hours, when the air was thick with humidity.
Cassidy let out a sound that was halfway between a croak and a wail, taking several steps back though the shadows still slithered around her feet.
“What in the h**l…” She muttered.
Within seconds the ground was clean, free from the blood and the bodies of the d**d Vampire’s.
“Daisy, are you alright?” Tristan said quietly, his voice so low that I had to strain to hear him. “You look like you need some sleep…”
“I do, and I will, but only after I figure out how the h**l this happened.” I told him; thankful the others weren’t within hearing range. “Have the Vampire taken to a cell …one of the nicer ones. I don’t want her harmed, I can’t begin to stress that enough.”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?