Chronicles- A Devil's Daughters Crossover- Book Two(Published Feb 2017)

Heroes Part One

   They were not at the portal, though someone had surely killed all these fools. They had not been in the village, or the swamps and hills; and Malice was getting quite frustrated. It had been hours since her blade had tasted the cold, metallic sweetness of blood, not that she was complaining, but her feet hurt, and Markus would not let her blink her way around. There eyes had to stay sharp, they had to be able to see, hear, smell and feel, their surroundings; and one could not do that when blinking in, unannounced.
    'How do you know what you're blinking into? You don't, and I have given far too much blood, I am useless to you, until I feed!'
    Yeah, and arguing with the bastard was out of the question. Been there, done that, not a pretty picture. He had been good to go a few hours ago, but now... Markus was a Vampire, one with royal blood running through his veins, but even he, needed to feed. Problem was, that the idiot wouldn't feed from anyone, but Zahara.
    "You good to go?" Malice asked him, as he put the cap on his flask and tucked it away in his jacket pocket.
    Brown, shoulder length hair, and a set of blue eyes that could '...entrap you in their gaze and never let you go!'  Or at least, that was how Zahara described them. To Malice, he was a fine warrior, but far from what she would consider bringing to her bed. He was a mated male, totally off the market, and that made him totally off Malice's radar.
    "They can't be far, right?" He chuckled, and started off towards the mountains. "They'll probably find the base before they find the others!"
    "Bathsheba will find them!"
    "But you told her to stay!" Markus cocked a brow at her.
   "And she is damn near sixteen years old, do you think she listened?" Malice rolled her eyes.
  "You go on ahead then! I'll catch up!" Markus told her, "She'll need you!"
   "Like she needs a swift kick in the ass! She's a walking talking bag of attitude!" Malice grumbled. "What happened to that sweet cherub face and those fat, pudgy fingers?"
    "Pathen!" Markus growled.
    "Exactly! He took those innocent little fingers and made the curl back into a fist, striking at my heart with words of ice..."
    "No, Malice!" He shook his head, and pointed to a wall nearby. "It reads Pathen, in the old Vampire language!"
    "But there is a strike through it..." Malice was confused, as that usually meant he had been tagged for a bounty. "I thought they were working for him, not against him?"
     "It would seem that we were wrong, at least where these Vampires are concerned!" He laughed, reading what was left of what had been written. "Says he betrayed them! Sold them out to the enemy, and then left them here to rot... The rest is illegible!"
    "So he tricked them into doing his bidding, and now they've flipped sides cause their asses got cut loose!" Malice grumbled again. "Worthless cowards, I guess the money wasn't enough?"
   "Watch your tongue!" Markus shot out, "Not all of my kind, are worthless and dingy!"
    "I didn't say that!" She blurted out in her own defense. "Just, some of them!"
    "So we both have issues with our Kin, let's have a party!" He chuckled but a noise up ahead had them scrambling to the side.
    Up a little further, in a clearing off the beaten path, was a small wagon, toppled over and spilling its contents all over the place. "Looks to me like a trap!" Malice sighed.
    "Yup!" Markus added, "Should we 'fall' for it!" He chuckled quietly.
    "Seems only right, since they went out of their way and all!" She smiled at him. "So, do you want to play the injured fool, or should I?"
   "You do it! I'll hold the bow back here!" He grinned, pulling Madrina's bow from his back, and readying an arrow.
   "You know how to use that thing?"
  "Of course, the pointy end goes into the bad guy!" Markus laughed, "Or so I have been told!"
    Malice laughed, and then vanished from sight, appearing again just a little ways away. From there she moved through the darkness, staying in the shadows as she crept across the cold hard ground. Everywhere she looked, the corpses of warriors and civilians alike, littering the forest floor like a mass carpet of blood and steel. Oh, to fall in battle, was the best way to go!
    She approached the cart up ahead, with its spilled food and broken wheel, and then she saw the shimmering facade. If the Valkyrie didnt know better, and if she was hungry enough, this would be almost too good to resist; far too good, to be true. Malice stalked the wagon, making sure to leave not barrel unopened, no chest left closed. Everything seemed fine and dandy, and when she opened her mind, taking a deep breath as she unleashed her senses...she knew everything she needed to know and she laughed.
   "Markus?" She called out for him, and then again, when the Vampire did not reply. "For the love of... MARKUS?" She shouted this time, and the bushes behind her parted, and the giant male appeared at her side.
    "So, not a trap?" He grumbled, still holding the bow up and scanning the area.
    "Oh, it's a trap alright!" She laughed, "But I think..." She paused for a moment, examining the intricate latticework of a Valkyrie trap. "Why, that little minx." She chuckled.
   "What is it?" Markus queried
  "Not what, who?" Malice corrected him. "Bathsheba created this." She added quite proudly.
    "I thought she was supposed to stay..."
    "Almost sixteen!" Malice reminded him with another laugh.
    "I don't know what you're laughing for, I've heard some pretty bad horror stories about the teenage years."
    "Just back off, and I'll handle this." Malice grinned, and backed off about a hundred feet. She put up her own shield, and she picked up a rock. "Fire in the hole!" She shouted as she tossed the rock at the shield.
    The moment the rock hit the shield, the cart inside it detonated in a immense blue and white display of cosmic power. The intensity of the shock wave surprised even Malice, and sent her tumbling across the ground.
    "Holy shit, asshole! You could have warned me that was coming!" Markus growled, pulling himself off the ground as well.
    "I said, fire in the hole!" Malice rolled her eyes, and proceeded to check out the cart.
    "Your daughter made that?"
   "I'm just as surprised, and out right proud as you are! Little brat has some skills!"
    "And an attitude to boot!" Markus shook his head. "I watched her give Kember a what for, and then storm off, like she was all that and a bag of chocolate!"
    "She what?" Malice's face dropped her cool dude, and picked up with the glum chum. "Fuck!"
    "Kember didn't say anything?" Markus laughed, "Figures!"
   "What do you mean, figures?"
   "She's not going to start a fight over it, so neither should you!" Markus cocked a brow at her.
   "Oh, there won't be a fight!" Malice laughed, "Perhaps a few choice words..."