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Jacob didn’t even h the back of his neck, taking off his head with one srate, Styx kicked it aside and whirled just in tiht at his heart

He jerked up his arm in time to take the blow The stake sank deep into the muscles of his forearm, but he didn’t sostrike, and noas his turn

The attacking vaers holding the stake The bones cracked beneath the pressure as Styx yanked the stake free and slowly turned it toward the vaer th, but the end was predictable

Still keeping the vaave a lol and shoved it into the narrow chest

There was a grunt of pain before the varound in a shower of dust

A place deep within Styx mourned the loss of his brothers Enerief, however, did not halt hi vampires

They intended to harm Darcy For that they would die

Two of the clansmen were still bent over their fallen leader, but three others were gathering their courage to attack

Styx widened his stance and bent his knees as he prepared for the charge They would be trained to separate and surround him He couldn’t allow that to happen

He would have to strike, and strike quickly

Tilting back his head, he gave a low roar and called on the power that flowed through his blood

Viper was cursing as the van at last caht to surround the house

He hadn’t wanted to leave Styx A vampire did not abandon a brother on the battlefield Especially not when that brother was the Anasso

But once Styx gave a command he had no choice but to obey And in truth, it had been far o in search of reinforcements For him to have reic, however, didn’t ease the cold dread that clutched at his heart, or lessen the fury that pounded through his blood

He wanted to kill so toward the back of the house Viper held his sword in one hand and a lethal silver dagger in the other He could smell death in the cold air More than one vampire had died And recently

Bloody hell

If Styx were

The dark, horrible thought had barely had tirim smile touched Viper’s lips

Styx

He was still alive And in a very, very bad mood

With a last burst of speed, Viper rounded the corner of the house and then came to a startled halt as he watched Styx launch hi vampires

Or at least tried to watch

Styx was little more than a blur of speed as he flowed forward There was a flash of steel and one of the varound before the poor fools ever realized their danger

The re to backpedal out of the reach of the whirling sword

It was a wasted effort

An icy mist formed around their bodies as Styx held them in place with his fierce power They were helpless to do anything but watch their own death stalk toward therihter and turned his attention to his surroundings

Three vae of the yard, one stretched on the ground and obviously wounded, and two others frantically atte a lift of his hand, Viper directed his clansmen toward the distant traitors He had commanded to take as many alive as possible Not out of any sort of syly bind each of the varound and leave the an example of Desmond and his clan He wanted their executions so visible that no other chief would ever again be stupid enough to dare raise a hand toward the Anasso

He waited until his round and safely in the silver shackles he had brought before returning his attention to Styx

There was only one va