Child of Blackwen (An Artemis Ravenwing Novel Book 1) (31 page)

She shoved the sai into the elf’s eye and twisted it for good measure. Once she felt the body go limp in her grasp, she dropped the corpse and licked the blade of her sai clean. “My, my. It’s true what they say about the elves…the longer you let them live, the better their blood tastes. Perhaps this shall finally change my mind about the old vintages.”

Arlina looked around and only saw elves and her soldiers fighting one another. There was no sign of Artemis.

Not yet.

The blast woke me up.

When I ran to the window, I was horrified to see the fire that now surrounded Ellewynth. I was even more frightened when I saw unarmed elves being attacked by speeding shadows. The bells above the Hall of the Elders rang—the songs reserved for danger. It could only mean one thing: Arlina was here.

Avilyne’s hell, I didn’t get out of the city in time.

“Artemis!” I saw Shadow standing in the doorway, sword in hand. “We need to go.”

“We’re too late,” I said, still shocked.

Shadow grabbed my arm and pulled me with him. “I can still get you out of the city.”

“What about you?” I asked, confused.

“Don’t worry about me.”

When we came outside, Shadow whistled a sweet tune. He did so while watching the open forest and didn’t notice a full-blood running toward us.

The full-blood stopped the moment he saw me; his eyes widened.

“You’re dead,” he gasped. “It can’t be.”

The full-blood’s head fell off after I was blinded by a flash of Shadow’s sword. I felt myself take a sharp breath when I saw the head roll across the earth.

“This is what you will be dealing with, Artemis,” Shadow explained as I watched the blood drip along the blade of his sword. “The dhampir would not have hesitated.”

I heard a horse’s neigh, and I saw Azrael trot closer to us. Shadow grabbed my waist, hoisted me atop her, and whispered a few words in Elvish in her ear.

I realized he wasn’t coming along. “Shadow?”

“She will take you to Talisa’s cottage,” he explained, now looking at me. “Azrael is too fast for any of the full-bloods to chase after. The rare ones who can catch up with her, she’ll trample. You will be safe.”

“Come with me,” I pleaded.

Shadow gave me a sad smile. “I can’t. I have to get to Netira before Arlina does.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “You worry too much. I’ll see you before the dawn, I promise.”

“But—”

Shadow pushed Azrael off, and I watched him rush back to Ellewynth.

Please be safe
, I thought while holding onto Azrael’s neck.

“Mistress!” a voice called along the screams.

Arlina saw that it was one of her scouts. She slashed through an elf’s throat with a sai and licked the blood. “What is it?”

“There is a woman who looks like your sister, Tamina!” the scout cried. “She tried to escape to the open forest, but our soldiers forced her back into the city. I regret to inform you that we could not contain her. Shall I send reinforcements to aid in her capture?”

“She will be heading towards the gates…” Arlina murmured. She then shook her head. “I will take care of it myself. Find Latos and tell him to report to me should he come across this Tamina look-a-like.”

We could not make a clean escape from Shadow’s home to the open forest. As soon as we drew close to it, a large group of heavily-armored full-blood soldiers cornered us. Even with Azrael’s unnatural speed, she would not have made it past them unscathed. We had no choice but to ride into the city and make for the gates.

I prayed the gates still stood. This inferno grew by the second.

I felt my jaw and back ache after smelling the blood of both the elves and vampires. I could not let the dhampir run free, not even in the danger I was in.

Azrael neighed as I saw the gates come into view. Not all of it was destroyed, thank the goddesses. I felt a sliver of hope the closer we rode toward them, but it switched into panic the moment I saw a figure stand by the opening in the gates we hoped to pass. It was a woman with short, red hair, and I felt a knot form in my chest once I saw the same cold, gray eyes that haunted my dreams. The irises shifted to red, and her fanged grin widened as she raised a strange looking pistol toward us. Azrael whinnied and tried to turn away quickly, but we fell to the ground, hard.

I coughed as I felt pain flare on the side of my body I landed on, and my vision was blurred once I opened my eyes. My senses sharpened as I smelled blood—my own. I could feel the slickness of it once I moved my hand to my head.

“At last, we meet,” a dark voice said as I heard footsteps move closer to me.

It was hard to focus on the moving figure, but I didn’t need to see clearly to know that it was
her
. The voice matched her coldness.

“Arlina.” I coughed as I tried to get up.

I cried out once I felt a sharp kick to my stomach. Arlina cackled above me, and I felt myself being rolled over so I could face her. She placed her foot on my chest to pin me down. The sharp heel of her boot pricked my skin through the tunic.

“Artemis.” She hissed. “Avilyne’s hell, you are the spitting image of my poor, poor sister. Perhaps I should free you from that curse now.”

“Better to look like her than you, murderer!” I spat.

I grabbed her ankle and rolled my body so she would fall. She did so, and I started to run away once I got my bearings. My head throbbed with each step. I was forced to a stop once I heard a loud blast, and I felt the air of some projectile close to my cheek. A burn prickled my skin soon after, and I turned around to see Arlina’s face twist into annoyance.

“Only a burn, eh?” Arlina sighed dramatically. “It seems the goddesses wish for me to toy with you before you die. So be it.”

I could not find a weapon nearby, and I knew then that I messed up by not taking one while riding through the city. I felt the monster within try to claw its way out of the cage I forced it into, but I still refused to
set it free. I would rather die as Artemis, consciousness retained, than Artemis, the
vampyra
who slaughtered both friend and foe.

Arlina dropped the pistol as she rushed after me. I settled for a half-charred branch for a weapon and ran towards her. She knocked the branch out of my hands and struck me hard across the face. The pain in my head tripled and my vision blurred more. Arlina gripped my throat and shoved me against a tree trunk.

“Pathetic,” she growled. “I wouldn’t enjoy choking the life from you, as weak as you are. Your disgrace of a mother put up more of a fight!”

My jaw ached and I felt my eye teeth elongate. I could not feel the wings on my back, and with what little strength I had left, I used to cage the monster within. I kicked at Arlina’s waist, but she swatted my leg away with her free hand.

“Ah, there she is.” Arlina grinned. “Perhaps there is a Ravenwing woman in there after all. We are a feisty bunch, after all. You’re still so helpless though…how disappointing.”

“Enough of this,” I coughed as I let go of her of arm and reached for her face.

Arlina moved her head aside as I expected she would, and I used the distraction to kick at her leg. A strange weapon fell from her boot when I did so, and I took the brief moment to shove her away so that I could grab the weapon. I realized it was one half of the weapons she used to fight Mother with, the ones with the thin blades with curved prongs and extensively jeweled hilts. Before I could grasp it, I felt Arlina’s claw-like nails grip my arm. I winced as they cut into my skin and drew blood.

“A tricky little bitch, you are!” Arlina cursed as she threw me against the tree. “I wonder what part of you should I tear apart first?”

I spat out the blood that filled my mouth. “Come near me again, and it’ll be
you
who loses something.”

“Is that so?” Arlina laughed. “In that case, let’s see how well you try to tear a limb from me while I rip out your heart. Unless you shift into your dhampir form, you’ll never stand a chance against me.”

“I can kill you without shifting,” I assured her. I forced myself to stand and tried hard to hold the fighting stance Shadow taught me. “Come and take my heart, murderer…if you can.”

Arlina growled as she rushed at me. Before she could lay a hand on me, a white blur rammed into her—Azrael. I watched the ruler of Blackwen City curse Shadow’s mare as she struggled to stand, and Azrael let out a harsh neigh. I knew what she was trying to tell me and I ran to mount her. Another blast echoed when the mare began to run, and we both fell to the ground again. Azrael cried as she tried to stand, and that was when I saw the flower of blood on her rear leg.

“Damn you, Shadow’s pet!” Arlina yelled. “You’re just like your master! That infernal elf meddled in affairs that did not concern him either!”

“Meddling is more
my
specialty than his,” a voice corrected.

Talisa came into view. I was never so relieved to see her. I was confused when I saw her wearing a nightgown and stopped myself from asking her questions.

She moved in front of Azrael and me, and I saw bloody cuts and cloth tears along her back. What happened to her?

“
You
,” Arlina spat.

“Time hasn’t been kind to you, hateful bitch,” Talisa said. “I didn’t think it was possible for full-bloods to develop wrinkles. Oh wait. Those are just your veins popping. I didn’t think that was possible for corpses either! You must really be under so much stress!”

“And I see you’re still as miserable as ever, crone,” Arlina retorted. “Still wandering Arrygn, cursed to be Kiare’s pawn until she sees fit to release you from the chains of life. It must be tiring, seeing all the ones you love waste away as the centuries continue to pass.”

“I will not watch this one waste away,” Talisa swore as she gestured toward me. “You cannot have her, Arlina.”

“Try and stop me, witch!” Arlina cried as she rushed after Talisa.

The two grappled with one another, and Talisa barely managed to shove off Arlina.

“How badly is Azrael hurt?” Talisa asked as she blocked Arlina from attacking me.

“She can’t run!” I answered.

Talisa swore loudly and fell after the Mistress of Blackwen punched her in the jaw.

“Once I’m through with you, crone, I’ll kill Artemis and that damned horse!” Arlina yelled.

Talisa cupped her jaw and faced me. “Touch the tree beside you, Artemis! Do it now!”

There was a veil this close to the city gates? How?

“I won’t leave without you, Talisa!” I argued.

“No one is leaving here!” Arlina screamed as she ran toward Azrael and me.

Moments before Arlina could reach us, Azrael bucked at me and I hit the tree beside us. I groaned when I felt a sharper pain in my head this time, and I waited a moment before forcing myself up from the ground. When I had, I realized I was in a new environment. I saw Talisa’s cottage close by.

A snort drew my attention, and I saw that Azrael was here too. It was then that I noticed strands of hair from her tail were in my hand; she was able to come because I held onto her.

Before I could apologize, I felt light-headed. My legs buckled beneath me.

“Avilyne’s hell…” I coughed before slipping unconscious.