Call Of The Dark

The vampire in front of him let out a humorless laugh. "You must be insane to think that I will leave her, Lord Lazarus," he said through his yellow teeth. "She has a huge bounty of her head and—" he looked at her with a sickening smile. "Her blood is special. It's not like that of mortals."

Cold wind gushed around them and snow started falling in soft flurries. "T-too cold," she murmured as she tried to crawl to him but was pulled back by her hair.

"Your men are dead," Lazarus snarled. "Leave her and I will give you a better death. Harm her and I will make your death as painful as it gets for a vampire. I will personally dig your grave in the blood forest!"

But as he said it, four shifters came to stand by her side. One of them put a sword on her throat and it made him stop cold.

His muscles tensed. Everyone was keen on taking her away from him.

Gerr laughed. "It seems we have something very precious that belongs to you. If you try any of your stints, we will take her away and you won't ever see her again."

Two vampires traced behind him and they whaled blows to his head and his chest. He wanted to turn back and kill them, but if he did that, he wouldn't be able to see Emma and he was sure that they would take her away. So Lazarus bore it. Blood pooled in his feet. His blood. Even though through the blows that he was constantly receiving, he kept his gaze fixed on her. Dizziness started to take over.

From the corner of his vision, he saw Magnus had come back. He motioned him with his eyes to take Olya away. Magnus lifted Olya and traced away.

Gerr seemed to enjoy the beating he got. He gripped Emma's hair tightly and she cried more.

Lazarus had never felt this desperate. Her soft cries tore his heart. The fact that he couldn't go to her, terrified him. And that was when everything became clear. Realization sank through him like blood thrumming in his veins.

Emma was his bride. No one, but only Emma. His jaw clenched to the point that his fangs hurt. He didn't know whether it was very late to realize it, but now that he had, he was never going to leave her. He was going to walk with her through the Fade.

Gerr laughed at his helplessness. "You see, Lord Lazarus, we are many. You can't beat us." He yanked Emma higher and her neck twisted back. She cried. "This mortal is not worth you. I will drink from her and then give her to the highest bidder."

"If you harm her," Lazarus snarled. "I will make sure that I will not only kill you, I will kill all those you love and all those who are with you. Remember, this is the only woman I live for!" Lazarus could feel a very strong primal instinct to save his woman, his mate. He wasn't going to leave her.

Emma looked at him, her eyes going soft with emotions.

"So tell me how much have you been offered? I am going to double that amount!"

Gerr raised an eyebrow. "You don't get it, do you?" he said. "Though your offer is tempting, I can't part with this mortal. I will keep this beautiful mortal and every night after I have drunk from her core, I will share her with my men." A bellow of laughter came from all sides.

"You won't fucking do that!"

Gerr yanked her up to her feet and licked her all the way from her neck to her cheeks and temple.

"Noooo!" Panic exploded inside him.

Gerr looked at him with his eyes that gleamed with mad desire. "Look around you. You are outnumbered. I am going to kill you and then take her away. We will take your body and bury it in the blood forest.

A shudder ran down his body. "I will give you five trunks of gold coins," he said menacingly. "And if that is not enough, I am going to give you another five, but for that I need the name of the person who ordered you this hunt."

Gerr tipped his head back and let out a loud laugh. "You think that I am going to tell the name. Are you hallucinating?"

All at once, wind gushed and a large shadow covered them all. Gerr and the other rogues looked down at the snow. Then their heads snapped up when they heard powerful strokes of wings. A tail was seen slithering in the dark sky as the moon became completely blurred from vision.

"Who is there?" Gerr shouted as an ominous aura surrounded them.

Other rogues crouched a little, looking around for the mysterious thing that was above them.

All at once a loud screech sounded and a very large bird swooped down. "Dragon!" one of the rogues muttered, but he couldn't live to speak any further. Nephie picked him up and gnashed his torso in her mouth.

Other rogues were so stunned that they froze in their spots for having seen a dragon for the first time in their lives.

"Nephie…" Emma muttered.

Nephie made another screeching sound as she swooped down on Gerr who had left Emma and was running away. She clutched him in her claws and squashed him into a bundle of flesh. Other rogues began to scream and run away, but this time Nephie swooped down to grab Emma. Emma clung to her foot and Nephie flared her wings wide to take her away.

Seeing that Emma was safe, Lazarus traced behind every damn rogue that was there and killed him or ripped his limbs apart. With a roar to the sky, he swore that he was going to kill every rogue around his kingdom and give them a death so horrible that other rogues would think twice before coming. At the back of his mind, he wondered where Nephie had taken Emma and that thought made him tremble.