Rhiannon Frater - The Fallen King

“Still doing your dead mistresses’ dirty work?” Armando made a point of adjusting the cuffs of his leather jacket and pretending not to be threatened by her, though he continued to watch her through long his lashes.

Nelly’s green eyes flared red. “Your murdering bastard of a creator will die at my hands.”

Clasping his hands before him, Armando settled his amber gaze on her. “We both know that won’t happen.”

Taking a sharp step forward, Nelly glowered at Armando, her power beating against him like dark waves. “Then at least we’ll have the pleasure of killing his little albino whore.”

Rankling under her words, Armando’s tone was sharp and threatening. “Leave now. Abandon your assignment to kill Vanora. I’ll let you live if you go. Go find a new life with your boy toy.”

Nelly scoffed at his comment. “There is no life for us with Aeron ruling the vampires. You and I both know that. I will not yield to you or any of his other offspring.” Nelly’s nostrils flared as she spoke, her fangs visible behind her red lips. “Killing his favorite son will be just the beginning of my vengeance against Aeron.”

Drawing a silver blade from the sheath attached to his forearm and hidden in his sleeve, Armando let out a sorrowful sigh. “Sadly, you will die tonight, so your vengeance will have to be taken up by another.”

Nelly attacked immediately. Faster and stronger, she pummeled him with cruelly placed blows with her fists and heels. As was her style, Nelly was intent on breaking his body to smithereens before administering a killing strike. Nelly liked to hurt more than kill. Armando dodged the worst of her attack, lashing out at her chest and throat. His blade nicked her skin, drawing blood, but the cuts were artificial. He was miserably aware of Vanora’s car sailing deeper into the night with the other vampire close behind.

Cold fingers with the strength of steel gripped his throat and Armando barely had time to slip into a wisp of shadow before they tightened. The redhead was fast, strong, and brutal. Every bone-crushing impact of her strikes sent red lightning flashes of pain through him. He sensed Vanora disappearing deeper into the darkness. Anger filled him as he realized every second Nelly delayed him put Vanora more at risk.

A massive long-haul truck rumbled along the highway with several cars in its wake. Armando darted past them, a mere flicker of darkness, with Nelly close behind. To stay and fight may mean Vanora’s death. Instead he pursued Robert, the other vampire, and Vanora’s car. He sailed through the night, following the road. Nelly pursued, attempting to overtake him, but falling short. Armando was faster in the air. Weaving through the trees, he kept his concentration on the pulse of Vanora’s power that called out to him like a beacon in the night. Her aura still clung to his fingers where he had touched her and he hoped it would not dissipate before he found her.

Nelly crashed into him, sending them both sailing through a billboard looming over the road. Armando twisted about in the air, grappling with the other vampire. Fingers hooked like claws, she lashed out at him, attempting to wrench his heart from his chest. His silver dagger deflected her attacks, slashing deep into her hands and forearms. Her cold blood arced through the air. Though he feared using too much of his power too quickly and burning out, he knew he could not defeat Nelly if he held back. Shifting in and out of misty shadows, he spiraled around her. Reforming just long enough to bury his silver dagger into her, Armando inflicted as much damage as possible. Her long nails raked the air, attempting to catch him. Maybe it was fear, or love, or just sheer desperation, but Armando managed to evade her lethal swipes.

The last of Vanora’s presence faded from his senses just when Nelly managed a stunning blow to his lower torso. Wrenching flesh and muscle from his body, she howled with delight as his blood flowed. Her victory was short lived. Armando had sacrificed a wound in order to deliver a brutal blow. As her claws tore out his side, he punched his silver dagger through her temple and deep into her brain. Armando rode her body to the hard, cold ground below, crashing through the shrubs. Jerking the dagger free, he immediately shoved it back into her body, this time through her heart.

“You will not have her,” he growled.

Nelly stared at him in shock, bloody flecks upon her pale lips. She was already healing, so he had to act swiftly. The dagger would never cut through her neck fast enough. Instead, Armando tangled his fingers in her thick red hair, and burning through more blood power, ripped her head from her body. Tossing it away, he yanked the dagger from her dissolving body and raced after Vanora.

The darkness of night felt absolute around Vanora’s car as she drove toward Houston in the early morning hours. A steaming cup of coffee from an all-night gas station fogged up the windshield, and she flipped on the defroster.

Shirley Manson sang about being only happy when it rained, her voice pouring out of the car speakers. Vanora tended to listen to Garbage when anxious. Her pale fingers tapped lightly against the steering wheel. Though exhausted, she was determined to make the nearly three-hour trek back home before she lost her nerve and fled back to Austin.

Sipping more coffee, she was glad for the sweet rush of sugar and caffeine.

The headlights caught something large fluttering over the road ahead. It was too large to be an owl. Vanora slammed the Styrofoam cup back into the cup holder and leaned against the steering wheel, scanning the gloomy, overcast sky. Again, she saw a large shape swooping low over the trees.

Braking hard, she pulled the car onto the shoulder of the road, gravel and dirt spewing into the cool night air. Her hand gripping the cross around her neck, she stared into the small area saturated by the light from the car’s headlamps. At the very edge of the light there was something - or someone - standing in the gloom. She could barely discern the outline of the figure against the blackness of the night.

Was it Armando? Or was it HIM? The nightmare man who haunted her and was coming to destroy all she held dear.

“Armando?” she whispered.

The wild thumping of her heart battled with the beating of the drum in the song pouring through her car speakers.

Armando sensed the other vampire was closer to the kill. To overcome Nelly he had expended much of his blood power. He cursed his long absence from human blood. Though he had made certain to gorge himself earlier, his body was still recovering from the long years of abstinence. Animal blood had infused him with enough power to live, but not to be at full strength. Robert, Nelly’s companion, was younger, and most likely at full power.

Swooping low over the trees, Armando saw Vanora’s car parked on the side of the road. Before it stood Robert. He was toying with her, scaring her. Like Nelly, Robert liked to play with his food. Obviously, the vampire didn’t realize Nelly had failed in killing Armando.

“Armando?” Vanora’s voice called out from within the car.

The night wind carried it to him as he fumbled with his pocket.

“Armando?” she said louder.

He found her number and pushed the glowing digits.

She answered in a trembling voice. “Armando?”

“Drive,” he ordered. “Don’t stop again. Just drive.”

“Is that you in front of my car?”

Robert’s white face looked upward.

Armando knew he had been heard and spotted.

“No. Now drive!”

Thrusting the phone into his pocket and dragging the dagger from its sheath, Armando surged forward. Robert darted toward the car, but Armando met him, tackling him. Dirt, rocks, and dry grass bloomed into a thick cloud that enshrouded the two vampires and pelted the windshield. The tires spun as Vanora accelerated and jerked the car back onto the road. Robert shoved off the ground with his elbows and feet, propelling both men through the air and past the car. In mid-air Robert managed to break free, smacked his hand into Armando’s chest, and sent him careening onto the road. Sprawling on the cold asphalt, Armando rolled to his feet.