Bonds of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 7) by Bella Klaus (reading e books .txt) 📕

The vampire turned his head and squinted. “That would be Prince Draconius, My Lady. Apparently, the wards keeping him out of Lamia have relaxed. I expect he’ll go straight to the palace.”

Beowulf turned to me and scowled. “What now?”

I pulled off my cloak, raised the motorbike’s back seat, and stuffed it inside. “It’s time to teach that menace a lesson.”

Chapter Ten

I backed away from Beowulf’s motorbike and toed off my shoes. My gaze fixed on the limousine accelerating down Caedes Road toward the wrought iron gates of the Lamia Palace. Whatever enchantment the Supernatural Council was using to keep Valentine behind bars had temporarily disabled Prince Draconius’s banishment. Now, the wretched vampire was on his way to take control of Kain.

“What are you doing?” Beowulf said.

“Meeting him before he gets to the door.” I pushed my magic out into my meridians and shifted.

The scent of burned wood filled my nostrils, and my heart sank a little at the loss of the outfit Valentine had purchased for me in Atlantis. Raising my wings, I leaped above the cherry trees, singeing their blossoms as I passed the vast canopy.

My gaze darted to the limousine’s brake lights, which glowed red as the vehicle stopped at the palace’s gates. I pulled my wings back, slicing through the air with rapid wing beats to reach the front steps before Prince Draconius got a chance to strut through the doors.

Several feet below, an engine revved, filling the air with its rumbling growl. I kept my gaze straight ahead, not daring to decrease my speed in case Prince Draconius managed to bully the guards into letting him inside.

Despite his young appearance, he was still an ancient vampire and still a high-ranking member of the Royal House of Sargon. I imagined that everyone around the palace knew him from the time he served as regent after King Antonius had been killed and before Valentine took the throne.

The brake lights turned off, the gates opened, and the limousine continued down the long drive that led toward the stone steps.

“Damn it,” I squawked and flapped harder.

According to legend, phoenixes could teleport, but I guessed the proper term was flicker. Now that I had my magic, surely I was capable of doing the same? I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on moving my body from one location to the other. My flames danced, feeling as though pieces of breeze meandered through the spaces between my molecules. The air shifted, and I floated down to a stone floor.

“Mera?” asked Valentine.

My eyes snapped open and met Valentine’s concerned gaze. He’d changed into a white shirt unbuttoned to the sternum that brought out his bronze skin, revealing tantalizing glimpses of his chest.

An outraged squawk tore from my beak. The magic had transported me to Valentine’s side, even when I hadn’t been focusing on him. Drawing the power back into my chakras, I shifted into a woman.

“Shit,” I hissed.

“What’s happened?”

I held out my left hand. “The engagement ring is messing with my ability to flicker. Could you hold on to it for a second?”

“Are you trying to teleport?” He took my hand and slipped off the ring.

I nodded. “Something’s happened to the wards around Lamia, and Prince Draconius just passed the palace gates. I think he’s going to take advantage of your temporary imprisonment and force Kain to take the throne.”

Valentine’s eyes bulged, their irises turning red. “What?”

“I’ll return as soon as I can.” I pushed my magic out, transformed, and focused on the location of my most painful memory—the palace steps.

My vision filled with flames, and the world turned inside out. When the fire cleared, I stood on those stone steps, facing the courtyard, where the red limousine waited with its engine running. All the better for snatching innocent young men from palaces and spiriting them away.

“In the name of the Royal House of Sargon, I command you to let me inside,” said a voice that set my teeth on edge.

I rose to the sky, spinning around to face the palace’s front door, and squawked.

Caiman stood in the doorway with a dozen guards, including security wizards holding six-foot-tall staffs. Maybe that was what Valentine had meant when he asked the council to contact his butler. It was probably code for doubling the amount of guards around the palace’s entrance.

In front of the men stood Prince Draconius in a red suit that was half tin-soldier, half Michael Jackson in the Thriller video. He turned around, his café-au-lait complexion paling to a dull gray. “You,” he hissed. “Stay away, foul creature.”

“As you can see, Our Lady Phoenix has arrived on His Majesty’s behest to command you to leave the palace.”

The ancient vampire’s face twisted into an ugly rictus of rage. “Come any closer, and I will end you, monster. Kresnik may have disappeared with his filthy spawn, but I knew you would both return.”

A couple of the guards broke formation, seeming like this was the first they’d heard of Kresnik’s return. I swooped down with an ear-piercing shriek.

Prince Draconius reached into the depths of his jacket and pulled out a trident. “Stand back. This ancient artifact was fashioned by Arges the Cyclops who made the weapons to defeat the Titans. One strike in your fiery belly, and it will extinguish your life.”

Annoyance prickled across my flames. How dare he research methods to kill me when he could have been looking for ways to end Kresnik? I slashed my wings through the air and rose into the sky.

“That’s it,” he sneered. “Run, you cowardly little shit.”

An idea slotted into place—something Kain had suggested—but I shoved it aside. If I was ever to become Valentine’s consort by marriage, I couldn’t have the vampires see me raining molten bird shit on his head.

Instead, I gathered my saliva into a ball, tilted my head down, and spat. Prince Draconius dodged, letting the liquid sizzle on the stone steps. White smoke exploded on impact, landing on the leg of his red-striped military pants.

“Disgusting,” he snarled.

I flew in