With that, he struck the match and placed the flame to her rag. There would be no more hiding within the woods for them. Flames blazed to life all around them as Aria turned away from him, raised her bow and let the arrow fly. With her lethal aim, the arrow embedded into one of the shutters covering the back windows of the home. More arrows filled the sky, their flames lighting the night as the sparks trailing behind them danced through the air like fireflies in July.
Yells of alarm erupted from the vampires guarding the house and rang throughout the street. He lit Aria’s next arrow and watched as she released it with the same deadly accuracy. This one embedded into the shingles on the roof.
Shouts sounded from the walls of the palace as the resonating twang of bowstrings resounded from the woods and arrows whistled through the air. Screams echoed through the night, more arrows were loosed in a deadly torrent as some of Sabine’s vampires turned to face the attack coming from behind them while others tried to flee down the road.
Before they’d left the barn, he’d given the order that none of her followers were to survive this night. They had chosen their course when they’d decided to join her. He understood some had been forced into it, but there was no way for him to know which vampires those were, not for certain, and he wouldn’t take the chance of any future rebellions. He was tired of war and fighting and death. Tonight would be the end of it all.
Their troops spilled from the woods and into the street to block Sabine’s followers from retreating. The ones who tried to escape into the woods were pushed back by the humans and vampires waiting for them there.
Around the house Sabine resided in, many of the guards charged toward the woods, looking to take out whoever was trying to attack their queen. They fell back, screaming, when more arrows were unleashed upon them.
The flames from the arrows on the house caught on the shutters and spread across the roof. Braith remained unmoving, watching, waiting for Sabine to emerge. She would be his.
Five vampires managed to escape the arrows and barreled into the woods toward them. Braith rose, his lips skimming back to reveal his fangs. Bloodlust raced through his body, but unlike the uncontrollable urge to kill that had driven him in the woods after rising, he was far more in control of himself. He would slaughter these vampires, and any others who stood in his way of destroying Sabine, but this would not be a mindless, compulsive destruction.
One of them was nearly on top of Aria when he swung out with the back of his hand. The blow caved the vamp’s skull in. He lunged forward and grabbed another vampire by his shoulders. Swinging him out, he bashed him into a tree, snapping his back.
He spun to the next vamp coming at them, but Aria released an arrow that pierced his heart and knocked him back. Another vampire rose up behind her, looming over top of her. Braith bellowed when one of the vamp’s hands skimmed over her shoulder. Grabbing hold of the hand that had dared to touch her, Braith yanked it back and slammed it into the man’s face, breaking his nose upon impact. He twisted the vamp’s head on his shoulders and wrenched it free.
The body dropped from his hands as he lifted his gaze to meet Aria’s. Firelight danced in her eyes as the roof of the house became engulfed by the flames eating away its surface. The crackle of wood and smoke filled the air; a beam within the house gave way with a loud crack. Cries of panic echoed through the town as the last of their army flooded from the woods at the end of the street, effectively blocking it off.
The potent scent of blood and the acrid aroma of the fire filled the air. He took hold of Aria, drawing her back as more vampires came at them. He punched one in the cheek before throwing an upper cut at another. The vampire launched ten feet into the air and crashed into a tree. Aria fired three arrows, taking out the rest of the vampires rushing at them.
Daniel and William were illuminated by the fire as Daniel released an arrow into the vampire William was fighting. Max and Maeve fired arrows at anyone trying to flee through the woods while Tempest and Xavier beat back some of the others.
At the front of the house, a flurry of movement caught his attention. “She’s going,” he growled.
He tore the arrow from the chest of the one Daniel had shot before he wrapped his arm around Aria’s waist and lifted her against his side. Her fingers gripped his shoulders as she clung to him. He ran through the woods, battering back the branches slapping and tearing at her. The others followed them through the trees as the roof of the house collapsed beneath the flames engulfing it.