Vampires! They were here! Five of them. They needed to die! That familiar, clear goal was back again. This was the reason why I lived. 

Vaguely I noticed the complete chaos that had rosen. People were running and screaming. A few ran towards the altar, catching the glowing girl that sunk to the ground. Her light seemed to have gone out.

That wasn’t important. The five armed vampires appearing one by one at the edge of town were. All were of different heights and built from thin to broad, and ranged from teenager to grandpa. Their golden Royal emblem shone on their black and red battle outfits. Their weapons hung close to their bodies, strapped against it with leather laces that were just as deadly on their own. 

“Shit, the Royal Squad. Jason was right, my dad actually did-” 

My hand squeezed her throat, Kate grabbed my wrist with both hands and struggled to get free. Breathless, she tried to speak, but I didn’t let her. My hand squeezed tighter, and I was ready to hear it crack.

“They’re mine!” I growled.

Her foot stepped with full force on my toes. I squeaked it out, letting the tension around her neck go. It gave her the opportunity to breathe in, beat me against my arms and turn away from my hold. 

I grunted in annoyance. Was she really going to ruin this moment for me?

“Let me help. Sky? Please don’t kill them.”

A growl escaped my lips. My answer got interrupted when a lifeless body was thrown onto the catering table. The crackling noise of the collapsing table made us both turn on our heels. 

I had to lean back when an arrow sizzled by me. Another followed a second later. The grandpa still stood at the edge of town. A third arrow came my way, missing the four incoming vampires. It missed myself only by a hair, and if I didn’t find it so thrilling to have five vampires to kill, I would’ve respected his amazing aim. 

“Shit!” Kate cursed. “Nolan and Red Rowland are here. Fuck!”

“Princess?” The trimmed Squad member with a scarred face had made his way through the chaotic mass. “What are you doing here?”

The princess looked my way, then back at her subject. 

“Same as you, I suppose. What are you waiting for, Ryan? Kill the Hunter!”

Ryan looked confused, but didn’t question his orders. With double swords, he turned towards me. In his act to attack me, he turned his back towards the princess. A mistake he hadn’t seen coming. The princess wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him into a death lock. 

“I’m so sorry, Ry,” she managed to say before the young man fought against her hold.

He struggled, tried to fight back with his weapons, but to no avail. She was standing too close to him, avoiding every jab of his swords like she knew his every move beforehand. 

It was a shame that my attention got ripped away from the scene before I could see the lights go out in his sharp red eyes. Instead I had to deal with an annoying teenager, his piercing red eyes glowing from under his black shoulder length hair. He raised his hand in the air, and a knife flew at me. Only luck on my side made him miss. Unfortunately, my luck was another’s misfortune, as it ended up in the person behind me. With a thud he fell to the ground. Without thinking I spun around, ran towards the body only a few steps away and pulled the knife from the body. Despite my swiftness, an arrow still pierced my left leg. 

There was no time to register the pain, because the teenager threw another knife my way, and a broad shouldered woman had come close enough to swing her longsword at my head. With a dramatic spin in the air, I missed both attacks. When I came down on the ground on both my hands and feet, a loud tear in the fabric of my dress echoed between the battle noises. A cry got stuck inside my throat, and if it hadn’t been for the adrenaline coursing through my body, my eyes might have watered from the pain that shot through my left leg. With my dress torn along the side, the blood ran along my bare leg down my calf and into my boots. A piece of fabric still clung to the arrow’s body.

The woman attacked again. And all I could do was move out of the way. She was too big and her weapon too heavy. Her sword came down on the arrow sticking out of my leg. This time I couldn’t hold back the scream that got ripped from my throat. Tears blurred my vision, and I had to wipe them away to see my opponents get closer.

I had to attack or it would mean the end of me. With a loose wrist, I threw the knife back at the teenager. Apparently the kid was good at throwing, but not so much at deflecting them. It hit him straight in the neck. His hands went up to his throat, and immediately they turned bright red. He gurgled, coughed up blood and dropped down on his knees. 

My body got ready to feel the amazing rush of killing a vampire. Before I could feel anything, I saw the longsword come towards me in my peripheral vision. I rolled to the side, biting my tongue so as to not scream out in pain when I rolled over the broken off arrow. I pulled it out, not caring about the consequences and the ugly scar it would leave. 

On pure adrenaline, I moved into the woman’s distance. Hit her square in the stomach, almost broke my wrist in the process, then kicked her on the side of her kneecap, which made her stumble forward. Her scream must have pulled the grandpa’s attention because arrow’s sizzled my way again. He really was good, because every single one was pointed at me, yet equally missed his teammate standing in front of me. 

The woman wiped her longsword around in the air, which gave me only one option. Roll out in the open. Three arrows flew my way. There was no way I could dodge them all. Even with adrenaline coursing through me, I had no chance. With a backwards tumble, the first landed in front of my feet. The second carved a way through my dress, leaving a red line along my shoulder. Painful, but not lethal.

The third came right at me, and it would have plunged straight through my eye, if it wasn’t for the princess jumping between me and the arrow. Her face squinted in pain and then she fell to the floor with a too loud thud. The arrow stuck out of her back.

My heart dropped to the ground. My breath hitched. For a second there was no bloodlust for vampires. There were no arrow’s flying my way, or longswords cutting through the air towards my head. There was just me and Kate. Kate, who caught an arrow for me. Kate who had attacked one of her own a minute ago. Kate, who lay on the ground, bleeding and wheezing heavily. Her face wasn’t pretty like it usually was. That asshole of a grandpa hurt her! 

Boiling anger that quickly mixed with the returning bloodlust made me jump up. With two small steps, I avoided the next arrow and the longsword. Instead, the arrow plunged into the woman’s good leg and her longsword hit the ground. With an easy high kick, I let her drop her weapon. It clattered to the rocky ground. With my silver bracelet held around my knuckles like brass knuckles, I punched her in the face. I didn’t know how many times I punched, but I only stopped when I felt that reviving energy shoot through my body, telling me the woman was no more. I hoped Brianna didn’t have the pleasure to run into her on her way to the Otherworld. Not even the annoying fangirl deserved that.

Brianna? Shit! I looked back at the altar, but there was nobody there anymore.

Another arrow sizzled through the air. I jumped towards the longsword, turned around and just in time wiped the arrow out of the air. Focus! That was too close.

“Red Rowland,” Kate groaned from her place on the ground, her fingers pointed at the town’s edge. 

My heart squeezed again in pain, but it didn’t stop that call from deep down inside of me. It was screaming. They had to die, or I might just as well kill myself. My life would be nothing with them still alive. Vampires. 

With the longsword swinging through the air, wiping away the arrows, I walked towards the kid. I replaced the sword with throwing knives, so I could finally take down that annoying grandpa. But before I could throw the first one, an energy filled me, making me gasp. When I looked up, I saw Kai standing over the grandpa’s body. The old man’s head severed and a large two sided ax pinned in his back. Kai gave a short nod before he pulled the ax free and disappeared into the town, going god-knows-where.

Two more to go, because that stupid vampire didn’t kill the scarred one. Kate! Not stupid vampire. My head and heart were screaming. A part of me wanted to make sure Kate wasn’t dying, but I couldn’t help my instincts. The need to kill them was stronger. 

I felt him before I saw him. A large, bulky man. Bright red hair and glowing red eyes. Murder glinted in his eyes. I had seen him watching from the side, enjoying the chaos and destruction of it all. 

“Red Rowland,” Kate rasped. “Red like all the blood he has spilled in his many years of service. Red because if he kills, it’s not nice and quiet. It’s ugly and bloody, it’s slow and painful. It’s sadistically cruel. Sky, please,” she pleaded, her voice cracking from the effort. “Get out of here!”

Rowland growled at the princess. “You are a disappointment, princess. I really thought you and I were similar souls.” He spoke in a low voice that sounded much too calm for a situation like this.

When his cold red eyes turned to me, my instinct jumped in excitement. A willing participant to kill, and a lovely fight as extra.

“Sky,” Kate pleaded from behind me. I ignored her.

“They say you’re the most dangerous person running around on this planet, everybody is petrified of you. What a joke. You’re nothing more than yet another scared little Hunter that I’m going to enjoy killing. And because you’re such a fuss maker, I’ll do it very, veryy, veryyy slooow.” And just like his calm voice, his body moved calmly towards me. 

Initially, Red Rowland was playing with me; like a cat with his mouse. When he attacked, I would react and then he would just laugh instead of finishing his attack. I was psychologically losing this stupid game of his. He was playing with me, and I was letting him. He was getting into my head, I was starting to doubt myself. I couldn’t let that bastard win.

“Sky! Don’t let him into your head, that’s how he weakens you! He only does that because of his lack of skills!” Kate coughed. 

My blue eyes locked with her brown ones for a split second but that was enough for me to understand. Her encouragement was exactly the thing that I needed at that moment. My instinct might be pulling my inner strings, but my heart still lived underneath those animalistic killer impulses, and right now it sored. Kate believed in me, she was encouraging me. It was strange, but I felt whole. For the first time since the ritual, both parts of me were ready to work in unison. My posture turned fierce again and my confidence beamed off me. Anyone would have second guessed himself before attacking me now, I was sure of it.

“The princess is right. You’re not as good as you appear to be. But I have to say, it’s a good act. It would’ve worked if Kate hadn’t pointed it out. You must be devastated that your princess helped with your downfall.” I spoke those words in a cold and emotionless tone, like Rowland had done before. 

My eyes must have screamed victory and confidence, because Rowland’s smile faltered, just like his confidence. The second I noticed that little flaw, I attacked. With the round handle of my throwing knives, I punched him under his chin with a perfectly coordinated uppercut. In the seconds of Rowland’s disorientation, I cut his armor loose and hit him with the silver bracelet in the ribs. 

The older vampire contracted and hissed in pain. I launched my next attack towards his face, this time he parried me. His previous calmness was nowhere to be seen. With his eyes burning with anger, he grabbed me by my neck, choking me. But instead of flapping my body around in fear, I stayed calm and grabbed hold of Rowland’s arms. I lifted myself up by my arms and in one fluid movement, my legs were wrapped around Rowland’s neck from the front. 

I had taken control over the situation by reversing the roles. The massive vampire was now the one being choked, while I was hanging horizontally, holding myself up by Rowland’s head and arm that was still on my neck. Only now, the Royal Squad member could barely breathe and he had nowhere near enough force to hold the full weight of a 120 pound girl dangling on his arm. 

Rowland hadn’t lost yet. He was on the losing end, yes, but the fight wasn’t over. The man kept resisting, he didn’t give up and even though his hand wasn’t crushing my windpipe, he was still holding me up by my neck. If he didn’t let go soon, I would pass out from either hypoxia or blood deprivation towards my brain. 

To prevent that, I squeezed Rowlands’s neck even harder between my legs. My slender body was now swinging in the air, creating acceleration that I would use to reinforce my next movement. 

With one last swung upwards, I forcefully pulled Rowland’s arm downwards, making him loose grip on my neck. 

Because of the change in posture, he lost his balance and fell forward. By using his weight, his speed and the already created power in my movement, I was able to easily flip a man twice my size forward. And just like that Rowland hit his back on the rocky ground with a hard smack. 

If that fall would’ve been on a soft surface, it would’ve probably hurt a lot. But the surface here wasn’t some nice grassland or some muddy forest ground. Here the floor was rocky and irregular. So, when Red Rowland hit the ground with that much force, I wasn’t surprised to hear his low voice blare in pain. 

I didn’t hesitate to knock the bloodthirsty vampire out. With a few hard punches in his face, his cry decreased until there was only silence left. Only then, I relaxed my legs and let the sadistic man go. Before I went to pick up the longsword and wiped away the small trickles of blood in my face, I kicked the unconscious Red Rowland once more in the face.

“That’s for disrespecting the princess, you self-absorbed maniac!” 

Adrenaline and emotions that I wasn’t used to coursed through my body. With buzzing legs I picked up the longsword, smiled at Kate, swung around and let the blade down on his neck. His head rolled to the side. Once again, my body relaxed and I could breathe better. The effect was different though, this time I wasn’t ashamed about my kill. I didn’t feel guilty for taking out a sadist like Red Rowland, I made sure he wasn’t here to torture and kill anymore.

With a broad smile on my face I turned to the princess. Even in her terrible state, she smiled back at me. It was restrained and tense around her eyes, but I didn’t want to think too much about it. I only wanted to make sure she was alright. I limped towards her. Now that my rush was calming down, and pain became a thing once more, my legs didn’t feel quite as strong anymore. Kate wheezed and coughed. Concern started to rise for her wellbeing. 

“That arrow needs to go, let me see.”

“Just pull it out,” she gasped out of breath. “I’ll heal. Even if it … punctured a lung.” 

So I did. Without thinking too much about it, I pulled the arrow from her ribcage. 

She screamed, and it left goosebumps and future nightmares behind. My heart broke and in that moment, I realized that there was no way back anymore. I had fallen for the princess. I had no idea how this could ever work, yet somehow I didn’t really care. Heather had spoken about an undeniable link. I was certain now. She was right. Kate and I, somehow, couldn't escape each other, even if we tried.

With my left arm, I pulled her up. I was going to get her to the town. Their healers must help her. They had to. 

“You really never listen, do you?” Kate coughed on the way there.

I looked sideways at her. Her face read disappointment, but also carried a grin. 

“I told you not to kill them.”

“Well, they were trying to kill me first.”

Kate shook her head.

“Do you know what kind of consequences this will have for me? Do you realize that I grew up with them? They taught me almost everything I know about fighting. You’re lucky my dad sent those assholes.” She shook her head, and I could see the internal struggle she was facing because of my actions. Suddenly I didn’t feel so great anymore about that last killing. Shame and guilt clawed around my throat and made it taste like bile.

I didn’t have time to apologize, because the moment we crossed the edge of town, I felt him. Once again, that bloodthirst hit me like a drug.

With everything going on, I had forgotten about the last member of the Royal Squad. Kate had taken him down, but hadn’t killed him. He must’ve been unconscious, because only now did my instinct blare its alarm again. 

Without a care in the world, I dropped Kate to the ground, turned around, and lifted my longsword. 

“Sky, NO!” Her desperation echoed through the empty street.

But it was too late, Ryan attacked with his double swords. I defended with the longsword I had been trailing behind me. Then everything happened quickly. Ryan and I danced around the street, dodging each other's attacks. I had to get used to fighting with such a heavy weapon, but I was a quick study under stress. Ryan had to get used to my speed and my amateurish back and forth swaying as well. Whether it was luck or not, my sword ended up hitting his right sword too close to his hand. He dropped it, stumbled backwards, lost his balance because of an unevenness in the ground. Not letting this chance go, I thrust the longsword forward. I heard Kate’s call, but it was already too late. The sword went straight through his chest. He choked on his blood and another shot of energy filled me. 

Instead of feeling full and repowered, my chest caved it. It was as if my heart broke into a million pieces. The emotions that burst through my mental walls were like a tsunami crashing everything in its way. Kate’s cry echoed through the street and through my mind. My breath hitched in my throat, a sob got stuck there as well and I realized my mistake right away.

The air sizzled and it felt heavy all of a sudden. Hot and unbreathable. I gasped, but nothing got in. I fell to my knees, then forward onto my hands and knees and I had to retch.

What have I done? 

“Nothing crucial my dear,” the familiar voice answered, only this time it wasn’t inside my head or in my nightmares. A cold, slender hand caressed my head. Unnatural. Comforting as well, a cold that cooled down my heatend skin. “You’re safe now, you did well. Let me take care of you now.” 

The same intense green eyes from my dreams looked down on me. There was a face attached to those eyes now. Wrinkles that spoke of a long life painted the woman's body. The witch smiled before she kissed my forehead. 

“You belong with me,” she whispered before my vision went dark. Slowly I felt myself slip in an unnatural sleep. 

It didn’t dim the pain of losing Kate though. I wasn’t sure anything ever would.