Chapter 12 PPOV

Standing on the balcony of the second story, my hands on the rail, I looked down at the group of vampires that looked back up me. It's been awhile since I've taken charge over what could be termed as an army, but it was something you don't forget how to do. A few subtle threats, a sprinkle of encouragement, plus a little offered incentives, and they eat out of the palm of your hand. Not all of them were going to survive, but that's not something you make common knowledge, either.

There was no plan, no blueprint for success. That would be stupid since there are times when no amount of planning lends itself to a favorable outcome. This was one of those times. I like to call those times 'flying by the hair on your ass'. You can only plan so much before you have to be... flexible. When you're made of stone, though, bending over to kiss your ass good-bye isn't actually possible without a little help from someone else.

Time was drawing closer. If the windows were open, we would be able to hear the approach, but it was better if they didn't know we knew they were coming. I was going to miss this place, but if everything went according to plan, an exact replica would be waiting for me and my girl in the hills of Colorado when this shit was over.

I might even be able to talk her out of that divorce if I tried hard enough.

My eyes shifted to the ceiling as I contemplated just how I was going to do that. I could romance her, get her to like the idea. I could just refuse to call Darek to have it nullified. That one, though, was gotten around if the little shit got her hands on my phone. I could ignore it completely in favor of the whole wait and see approach, but that wasn't really my strong suit. I was a 'right now' kind of guy. I didn't like to wait. I wanted what I wanted, and I wanted it now.

You can also be sure that when you're distracted, that's when shit hits the fan. I'm daydreaming about all the ways I can make that human mine and it look like her idea, because honestly that was the only way it was gonna happen, when the mother fuckers smashed right through the front of my goddamn house.

At some point while lost in the recesses of my mind, everyone else got ready, so after the hellacious kaboom that ripped me back from La La Land, they dove in head first, meeting those bastards head on. A quick scan of numbers, I grinned and hurtled the railing, landing in the center of the hoard of bodies. A hand on the floor for balance, I kicked a leg high to knock some poor newbie's head clean from his shoulders.

There is little I enjoy more than the sound of a head bouncing across the ground. The thunk brought with it a level of comfort and nostalgia. It's not a very loud one, and it won't catch a lot of people's attention, but the body? The bam of a statue slamming against tile certainly will. I felt eyes land on me, the sound of breaking stone stopping for a precious moment. This... this is perfection.

Standing with a chuckle, I cracked my neck, cracked my knuckles, and smirked wide. "Ight y'all... let's dance."

There is nothing better than the look of horrified realization when someone knows they are about to die. They fight it, try to get away... but in the middle of nowhere, there was nowhere to go.

It was always the same... the youngest dying first. The strongest being sent to their deaths while the older, trainable waited with the second wave. You would think he would know better. I invented this fucking tactic, so it would never work against me. Brand new babies couldn't be trained, but they wouldn't give up either, making them the perfect front line.

A growl slipped from my lips as a tiny little thing, who couldn't have been more than the bare minimum age to be turned, jumped on my back and sank her teeth into the back of my shoulder. One hand over my head, the other around my side, I ripped the bitch in half, three of her teeth staying embedded in my skin. That was gonna hurt later.

Using her as little more than a makeshift bat, I swung her around, knocking another off their feet before planting my boot in his face, the skull shattering under the force.

Chaos and carnage, screams and snarls, shatterings and cracking... it was everywhere, all around me as I took the first wave out one by one. Me? I was laughing. This shit was better than a Saturday night at the titty bar.

Twenty minutes it took to clear out those who were in the house. Ten to deal with the weaker, older ones who waited outside who stood between me and mine and who sent them. Of my side, there were seventeen left to stare down the guards that stood opposite us. Their unwrinkled garb fluttered in the breeze, the loose top layer of sand creating a small cloud as it was blown about.

Most us men long since lost our shirts, plus the few ladies still with us were barely covered. My eyes locked on the burgundy eyes of the one that dared to declare himself my master. Well, I was about to make him my bitch.

His eyes and stance showed he knew he was out of his depths, the wish he had just stayed in Italy shining like a beacon. Acting brash on unverified information was never a good idea, but when it landed you on my doorstep, it was a death wish.

Still, to give credit, he tried. "I merely want the human, and we will leave you in peace."

A slow grin spread across my lips, a chuckle rumbling my chest as I curled my itchy fingers. "She ain't even here."

That seemed to have pissed him off. "I can smell her."

Lifting a shoulder, I made a noise in my throat. "Don't know what that matters. She ain't here. However, she mine, so you want her, you gonna hafta go through me first."