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

of the wind. The least he could do after stealing my free will was to boast about his grand plans like any decent villain.

“What’s wrong?” I snapped. “Do you think you’re too high and mighty to answer now that you have an immortal body?”

Pain washed through my meridians like acid, making me scream.

“Keep your thoughts to yourself, Hemera, and I might let you live once you’ve completed your task,” he snarled into our bond.

“I thought you wanted to steal my magic.”

The hand gripping my neck tightened. “My magic. And if there was a way we could bring you ungrateful children into the world without your free will, believe me, we would have done it.”

I tried once more to pull my magic back in, but Kresnik’s fury bled through my meridians with a force greater than my willpower. Bitterness burned the back of my throat. “But you needed us intelligent and aware to train our power so we could develop that magic for you to steal.”

He chuckled. “Did Valentine tell you that? You’d never come to such a conclusion by yourself. I’ve looked into your mind, and a lustful little creature like you can’t think beyond where she’s getting her next cock.”

The flames of my cheeks grew hotter, and my throat burned with outrage. Kresnik was referring to the time he’d searched my mind and found memories of my first blowjob.

My feathers ruffled. “Those images were a trap set by Valentine to distract anyone who tried to invade my mind.”

“Of course, it was,” he said with a snicker. “And I didn’t witness you gobbling at him beneath a glass table.”

An annoyed breath hissed through my beak. Why was I letting this asshole distract me from what really mattered—stopping him from entering the Realm of the Gods to carry out the task he’d killed Aurora for failing?

Kresnik didn’t just want his immortal body. He’d been searching for the eagle who had consumed his liver.

“Do gods all keep their divinities in their internal organs?” I asked.

“Who told you that?” he snapped. “Hades, I suppose?”

A retort tumbled to the forefront of my brain, but I pushed it away. Squeezing my eyes shut I focused on pulling my magic back into my body, only for Kresnik’s power to shove it back down my limbs. My flames flared, and molten agony shot through my meridians.

“Stop,” I cried into our bond.

“I told you what would happen if you tried to interfere,” he snarled into my ear. “When we reach our destination, I will punish you to within an inch of your sanity.”

The air surrounding us stilled, and a bolt of something whizzed overhead, landing in Kresnik with a hiss. Some of the magic controlling my body loosened, and I turned to find Kresnik trying to pull a javelin of firestone from his chest. I banked to the left, trying to shift him off my back, but he clung onto me with his muscular thighs.

“Stop this insolence, or I will make you suffer an eternity of pain,” he roared.

A growl rumbled in my chest. The bloody bastard already threatened to rob me of my sanity. I had nothing to lose.

Kresnik and I barrel-rolled through the air with me trying to buck him off and Kresnik fighting to stay on my back.

“Miss Griffin,” Hades shouted from a distance. “Remain still.”

Righting myself, I stretched out my wings so that we glided back toward the Tower of London. Kresnik slammed his palm into the base of my neck, but more javelins raced through the air before he could force his magic into me.

They landed in Kresnik with several wet thuds, sending out sprays of blood that sizzled in my flames. I swept low, keeping my wings perfectly straight so the invisible attackers could get a better shot.

Multicolored light filled the edges of my vision. I glanced over my shoulder to find the aurora borealis racing toward us. My beak parted to let out a shocked squawk. Whoever was controlling the rift’s dimensional magic was determined for Kresnik to reach the Realm of the Gods.

“These attacks are futile.” Kresnik gurgled. “In this body, I’m impervious to harm.”

Magic slammed into us from above, filling my vision with vivid purples and greens that burned my eyes and a magic that felt like Kresnik’s. It was both cold and angular and vicious, feeling like it would pluck the feathers off my bones. Cold panic raced through my insides, and my heart somersaulted to the back of my throat.

If I ever survived this, I’d be in the Realm of the Gods, completely at Kresnik’s mercy, and with no-one to help me stop him from retrieving his divinity.

Kresnik wrapped his arms around my neck. “Fly, damn you. Flap those worthless wings, or you’ll die.”

The magic tearing at me was too powerful, too heavy, too determined. With one almighty heave, it pushed me off course.

I landed hard on my side, my head bouncing against a rocky surface. My body shattered, and before I could register any pain, my consciousness winked out like a snuffed candle.

Cool liquid dropped onto my forehead, filling the crevices of my eyes, and heat warmed my bare skin. My head throbbed the way it did that Christmas I mixed red wine with chocolate liqueurs and combined that with Baileys. I turned my head to the side, letting the wetness spill to the hard surface.

Either this meant I was dead, I’d fallen out of the rift, or Kresnik had carried out his threat to make me suffer an eternity of torture. I hoped it wasn’t the last.

I cracked open my eyes, and bright light burned my retinas, making me wince and squeeze them shut. So, I was in an interrogation room or lying in direct sunlight. Since I was naked and there were no straps restraining my body, I guessed I’d landed somewhere exposed to the elements.

“Come on,” I rasped through a dry throat.

The next time I opened my eyes, I squinted up into a shaft of rock that stretched to the sky.