Hidden In Shadows, A Fae and Vampire Romance: Shadow Court Chronicles, Book 1

Chapter 9.1: Dark Betrayal

Dressed in all black leather from her pants to her vest, she was ready for battle. Her push daggers had been dipped in the vilest poison she could create and were strapped to her forearms. For an extra measure of security, a saber had been given to her by Vincent and had been strapped to her back. She stood at the window with her arms wrapped around herself, despite security risks of standing so open for attack, just waiting as the sun slowly set over the horizon. The attack would come soon. She could even feel it. There were beings just outside the radius of the house, waiting in the woods.

"You shouldn't be standing in front of a window. Are you trying to make yourself a target?"

Vincent had woken up only an hour ago. The scent of blood had caused him to rush up the stairs and seek her out. His worried onyx eyes had searched her body for any injuries that may have been visual. She had told him that she was fine, but that had not stopped him from taking her into his arms and holding her close. She had explained everything that had gone on as she allowed his warmth to ease some of her worries. Fury had lit up his eyes and curses had tumbled from his lips.

After she had managed to calm him down, he had disappeared without a word, only to show up a couple minutes later dressed all in black. He had a curved cavalry saber for her, its mate held loosely in his left hand. She hadn't pegged him as dual saber fighter. She thought he'd prefer something closer to a broadsword.

"Yes, I am trying to make myself a target," she confirmed without turning to him. "The quicker this thing is over with, the faster I can find answers."

She hadn't heard Vincent approach, but his warmth was at her back, and his hand was on her shoulder. "The witch wouldn't have betrayed us," he declared with a gentle squeeze.

She reached up and covered his hand with her own. She knew he was trying to reassure her, but she couldn't get rid of the unease that she was missing something vital. "I want to say that I agree, but they discovered our location somehow and were able to get through the barriers. If that doesn't scream traitor in our absurdly small group of allies, I don't know what does. I don't believe you would betray me nor would Kieran. Sam is a loose cannon who is after the bottom dollar. Perhaps Sebille or Maguis was able to offer her something better."

"We'll figure this out, I promise."

They stood like that, in silence as they finished watching the sun finish its descent. As soon as the sun disappeared behind the mountains, the woods begin to stir with life. It was show time. Vincent squeezed her shoulder one last time before he left to take up his defensive position.

She took a step back from the window and began to craft her illusions. She was in charge of the frontal attack of confusing the enemy, Kieran was in charge of stopping them at the door, and Vincent was in charge of killing those who slipped by him. She was locked away in the library, and if anyone made it past the front two, she was on her own. It was her first real battle compared the one-on-one combat she had plenty of experience with.

She crafted illusion on top of illusion, layering one scene after another. It was time-consuming and required a lot of concentration to make them believable. There would be some within the Unseelie mix who would be able to work their way through the illusions. Unfortunately, her illusions were not deadly but they could trap people for hours. If she were attacked, her illusions would be dropped because she wasn't skilled enough to multitask yet.

She didn't know when the first attack came, but suddenly, there was the sound of screams and steel rending flesh in the background. She pushed them aside as she tried to reinforce the illusions. There were too many getting into the house. She knew this by the sound of a battle right outside the door. When the door flew open with a crash, she dropped everything and pulled the saber from the sheath.

She spun around and met the slashing claws of a flyer. Gods, she hated flyers. The flying harpies were ugly, even by Unseelie standards, and took sadism to a whole new level. She needed to ground the thing as quickly as possible. The flyer had a distinct advantage in this battle as it was quicker in the air and could easily avoid her slashes. She slid her saber to the side and rolled forward as she attempted to get behind the thing. All she needed was one good slash against the thin leathery wings, and the thing would be forced to the ground. At that moment, a small Bogle came crashing through the window.

"You've got to be kidding me!" She came at swinging at the flyer to send it on the defensive and rushed at the hideous goblin creature.

She had to dodge the flyer as it made another dive at her. She pulled a push dagger with her left hand and jabbed at as she defended with her saber. She managed to scratch it on its foot with the dagger. She would take it. Beggars couldn't be choosers. The poison that coated her push daggers would take time to slow down the flyer, but it gave her plenty of opportunity to take care of the Bogles flooding through the window.

It became a dance of hack, slash, dodge, and attack within the room. Small bodies were beginning to pile up where they dropped, and she was breathing heavy as she turned to meet the flyer that was screeching angrily at her. It had realized what she had done. Its flight was no longer as high as it had previously been, and was only mere inches from the floor.

She screamed back at the thing and took off running at it. Her feet slipped in the blood that was coating the floor, and she was forced to spin out of the way of the slashing talons. She took the moment to swing her sword as she swung and managed to slice the thin membrane of the wing. The flyer crashed to the floor, thumping against it as it tried to regain the momentum of flight. She dashed over and hacked at the harpy's head until it came rolling off at her feet.

She leaned heavily on her sword as she listened to the sounds of the battle slowing down outside. She was covered in scratches, cuts, and bruises that were now starting to hurt now that the adrenaline was starting to fade. She was out of shape. Her new goal was to fix that. She was going to have to make time to practice with one of them. The sound of heavy boots thumping outside the door had her head coming up. Her cousin stood in the doorway, her favorite whip coiled in her hand, dripping fresh blood. It was a nasty piece of work of 6 feet of leather. Within the braided leather was spikes of iron and steel that ripped at the flesh it struck.  

~~~

The next part will be released on Friday April 2, 2016. If you want to read the whole book NOW Absolutely FREE. Just visit here http://hotromancestory.com/scc1-free-book-wp/ To grab your free copy of this book today.