Chains of Frost: The Bellum Sisters 1 (35 page)

She contorted her torso just
enough that the blade sliced into her side, cutting through the muscles of her
waist. But mostly missing anything major—she hoped.

“The spell!” she heard Tyrian
scream, sounding so far away. Chloe blinked and tried to remember the words.

In a hoarse shout, she chanted
the words, “
Go back whence you came, I unsummon thee demon!”
Chloe gaped
as the demon stumbled back, its arm dropping the massive sword. Chloe fought
against the demons gripping her.

Arrows whizzed through the air
and two of the demons holding her fell on top of her. Grunting and fighting,
her wrists slick with sweat, Chloe wiggled out from under the bony, heavy
bodies.

Chloe never stopped saying the
words. Louder and faster she chanted, “
Go back whence you came, I unsummon
thee demon.”
The demon’s head shook, its hands flying to cover the holes of
its ears.

Chloe stalked to the demon, no
longer fearing the beast. She wished she hadn’t lost her potion, but she could
do it. This would work. She repeated the lines one more time.

But suddenly, the demon’s cries
turned into horrible laughter. It bared its teeth at her and swept out one
heavy arm, catching her in the stomach. The air left her body in a painful
burst and she went flying through the air. She landed hard in the snow, her
breath leaving her on a hard whoosh.

Her eyes opened in time to see
the demon closer to her than she liked. But then again, Jupiter would be too close.

She saw a dark flash of movement,
and then Tyrian was there. His eyes cold and fierce, unlike anything she’d ever
seen. He came at the demon, but it was ready and fought back with brute
strength. Tyrian swung his axe and it cut through the demon’s leg sending it
toppling over to the ground. Chloe’s teeth clanked together with the force of
its body hitting the ground.

She slowly stood. She had to help
him. He couldn’t kill it. She didn’t know how she knew that, but she did.

Tyrian closed in on the demon,
his blade already swinging for a decapitation, but the demon raised its hand at
the last second and blue power shot out from him. Chloe screamed, her heart
dying in her chest as Tyrian shouted, his eyes wide. He dropped to the ground
unmoving.

Chloe didn’t think. She acted.
She sprinted toward the demon, swept low, and grabbed Tyrian’s axe, never
feeling the heavy weight of it. She turned and spun, using the counterweight of
the axe to gain momentum, and then she let herself fly.

The axe landed, burying deep into
the demon’s stomach. Again, Chloe started chanting.

“
Go back whence you came, I
unsummon thee demon! Go back whence you came, I unsummon thee demon!”

The demon roared and Chloe had to
cover her ears and turn away. The demon dropped to the ground, green, thick
blood oozing like lava from where the axe was buried inside him.

It made one last grab for her and
Chloe jumped away. The demon’s red eyes blinked slowly, one, two, three more
times. Then stayed open, unblinking. Chloe slowly stood, her hands shaking
violently.

She had to finish this. She had
to be sure. With strength she never knew she had, she stalked to the demon,
grabbed the huge axe and tore it from the demon’s belly.

Chanting louder and faster, she
watched the demon twitch, its arms and legs and belly shuddering. She lifted
the axe high into the air and watched the demon’s gray, ugly face.

“Don’t ever fuck with a Bellum
sister.”

Then she let the axe fall. It
caught the demon’s thick neck severing it in two. The demon’s twitches stopped
completely. Green blood drenched the white snow.

Chloe dropped the axe and stepped
away. Her knees shaking and smacking together, her heart, she realized was
racing at unsafe levels. Tyrian!

She spun and saw him, still
unmoving in the snow. She skidded on her knees to him.

“Baby, are you okay? Wake up,
please be okay,” she cried, hot tears spilling down her cold cheeks.

She heard a low, harsh groan and
pressed her ear to his chest. She felt it lift with air and started crying
more.

“Don’t die on me now, Tyrian. Not
after all the progress I’ve made with you. I love you so much. Please, don’t
die!”

His eyes fluttered. She wiped
away her tears so she could see better. His eyes found hers, his hazy and dull.

“Blood, blood. Take mine! Take it
now, dammit!” His eyes perked up at her voice and she shoved her wrist against
his mouth. His mouth moved slowly like a babe’s. His lips pressed weakly
against her skin. He never gained purchase though, didn’t have the energy to
bite down.

Pulling down his chin with her
thumb, she saw his fangs were down. Hoping that was a good sign, she braced
herself then jammed her wrist into his mouth. She felt her skin break—not
easily or smoothly like when he did it, but she didn’t care. What mattered was
that it worked.

His tongue dabbed at her so
weakly that tears started falling again.
Please don’t die. Please don’t die.
Minutes passed.

Slowly, like a hurt animal
finally getting up to walk, his lips closed around her wrist and he sucked. She
half-laughed, half-cried, and bent down to press kisses along his temple and
forehead. He took and took, then eventually pulled her wrist away.

Chloe waited for him to say
something, waited to see his eyes open again with alertness. And his eyes did
open, clear and beautifully blue.

“Chloe.” His voice was harsh and
low. She loved it. She cried and hugged him close and his arms came tightly
around her.

She didn’t realize she was saying
his name repeatedly until she heard his voice telling her it was all right.
Everything was okay.

“I love you, Chloe.” She jerked
back, disbelief masking her face. He frowned at it and rubbed his thumb across
her lips. “I do. I hope you believe me, because today you made me realize how
stupid I’ve been. You were right.”

Chloe didn’t know if she wanted
to laugh or cry. So she did a little of both and ended up snorting in a very
unladylike way. His lips pulled into a big, gorgeous smile.

“Really? Is this what it takes
for you to realize it?”

He looked away, color coating his
cheeks. “Actually, I realized it days ago. Not seeing you for these past days
has been one of the hardest and stupidest things I’ve ever done. I kept
thinking about you, smelling you wherever I went, and I kept thinking about how
much I missed having you in my bed. I missed hearing you talk. I missed your
voice. I was so terrified when you told me you loved me, because I realized
that…I felt it too. And it scared the shit out of me.”

Chloe pressed kisses over his
face. “It’s okay. I understand. I love you, too. Now let’s go finish this
battle.”

Tyrian lifted his head to look
behind her and smiled. “Looks like it’s already taken care of.” They both
stood, their arms wrapped around each other’s waist and Chloe’s brow lifted
high as she saw dozens of Atal Warriors marching toward them.

“Is something wrong?” she
whispered. He didn’t look down at her but shook his head no.

The warriors stopped ten paces
away and dropped to one knee. In a second, their weapons swung out, held out
toward her. Chloe squeezed herself against Tyrian’s side. Her heart thundered
in her chest, her jaw fell open.

“They offer their allegiance to
you for defeating the demon. You have claimed this victory,” Tyrian said, pride
lacing his words.

Wetness escaped down her cheeks.
Chloe blinked, surprised at the tears coming down. She didn’t want to ruin this
precious moment. Unsure what to do or what to say, Chloe straighter, lifted her
chin, then nodded to the crowd. “Thank you, warriors. I’m honored.”

At once, the men raised their
weapons high in the air shouting, “Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”

Goose bumps broke out over
Chloe’s arms and she felt that silly need to cry again. Honored, she felt
honored. The men sheathed their weapons with a hiss of sound, then stood and
retreated to the castle. She nodded to them with a tremulous smile and hoped
they couldn’t hear how fast her heart was galloping.

It was then that Chloe gasped.
“Wow. What a mess.” Half the castle was in ruins with destroyed walls and
parapets. The front of the castle was littered with demon bodies and green
blood. She was thankful to find that she didn’t spot any Atal Warrior’s on the
ground.

Tyrian laughed. “War is never
clean.”

“Tyrian, I need to see my
sister.” Chloe’s urge was so strong that she started walking ahead of him, but
he grabbed her and lifted her into his arms.

“I’ll take you; you shouldn’t
walk. You have a wound at your side. I’ll have Nanu take care of it straight
away.”

Chloe pulled his head down and
kissed him good and hard. Then she let her vampire man carry her back to the
castle.

Chapter Thirty

Henry came to and had no idea
where the hell he was. A gorgeous face appeared above him and his heart
instantly twisted. He opened him mouth to speak, to ask what had happened. That
last thing he remembered was taking a sword through his chest. Normally, it
might not have hurt him so badly, but the demon’s blade was forged from a metal
that hurts other demons. A metal only crafted deep within the rift.

Half-breed filth
, the words came back to taunt
him.

“You were poisoned and the wound went
clear through you, but I was able to fix you up. You should be able to move
around freely within a few days.” Nanu’s accented voice fluttered over him like
a butterfly.

Henry nodded and closed his eyes.
It hurt too much to look at her.

“Henry…warrior, I know you are
angry with me but I wish to speak with you. I need to tell you why I did it.”
Henry shook his head. He tried to lift his body but he couldn’t move a damn
muscle. Fucking pathetic.

“No.”

“Please, just hear me out, I beg
you.” She sounded so sweet, so innocent…he could refuse her nothing. He slowly
nodded even knowing she’d only say something to hurt him worse.

“I left after that night because
my brother, Heru, came for me.” Henry’s gaze shot to hers. Nodding slowly, she
continued, “He pulled me from the room and made me promise never to see you
again or he’d kill you.”

Henry blinked. His mind spinning.
“You should have told me. Heru could never best me in a fight.”

She looked away and he saw the
sheen of tears there. “That’s the thing, Henry. I couldn’t bear to see the man
I love kill my brother, nor could I see my only family kill the man I love. I
listened to my brother and agreed, no matter how much it killed me inside.”

Henry’s heart was racing in his
chest. She leaned in close, her soft hands cool against his face.

“I love you so much, Henry.
Please know that I choose you. Now and always.” Henry felt her lips seek his
and he kissed her back, his heart leaping in his chest.

“Why now?” he asked when she
pulled back. This time tears flowed down her cheeks.

“He—Heru—died in the battle. He
fought very bravely, but was killed. I no longer,” she sobbed, and it tore his
heart open, “must abide his rules.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he said and
somehow in his weakened state managed to pull her down onto him. He kissed her
temple and held her as she cried against him. The sounds were horrible, heart
wrenching, and he hated the bastard.

“I’m so sorry.” Surprisingly, he
realized he meant it. He hated Heru, but he didn’t wish him dead. That isn’t
how he wanted to win Nanu.

Eventually the tears subsided and
she gave him a tumultuous smile. “It is okay, really. He died a warrior’s
death, which is all I could ever have hoped for. I want you to know though, I’d
already decided, before he died, that I was going to choose you. I know you
might not believe me, but it’s true.” More tears glittered in her eyes.

“I know, baby. I believe you.
Come here and let me hold you.” She nodded and climbed up on the hospital
gurney with him.

“I truly never wanted to hurt
you. Will you forgive me?”

Henry smiled. “Nanu, I couldn’t
be happier than I am right now. I forgive you. The past is done; now we have a
future together.”

She smiled back at him, their
arms wrapped tightly around each other.

Chapter Thirty-One

Chloe snuggled into Tyrian’s bare
chest with a sigh.

“I’m ready,” she said. His hands
paused in stroking her naked back.

“Are you sure?” She nodded and
nipped at his neck. She’d been looking forward to this night all week. One very
long week.

Tonight, she would become
Tyrian’s mate. For different beings, the process was different. For a vampire
to fully claim a woman as his, he’d have to drink her blood then share his with
hers.