Chapter 94

No one had time to react much more than to dive out of the way as figures leaped out of the trees. Their eyes glowed red like rogues though they seemed like vampires. They swiped at vampires and lunged at werewolves without discriminating between the two. A few werewolves in their wolf forms jumped out of the bushes from the other side. The humans in the area screamed in panic scattering as Nicole issued orders to get them away and defend Daphne.

“Circle up! Get them a clear path and protect the queen!” Nicole called, gritting her teeth. “Kill them if you can and make your way back to the carriages and back to the castle!”

“What's the meaning of this?” A general cried, drawing his sword as a small group of werewolves in their wolf forms rushed towards them. “Those traitorous–”

Nicole drew her sword and swung in a wide arch cutting through another werewolf that had leaped towards her. She turned to cut through the human figure rushing at her, cutting the body in half.

As the bodies fell in pieces, still twitching as blood pooled beneath them, her stomach plummeted. She recognized this and she shifted to look at the duchess with suspicion. She was ordering her guards to carry out Nicole’s order, seemingly harried, but Nicole had a hard time believing that she was. Even if she wasn't involved with this particular attack, this mode of attack had been her husband’s calling card.

Nicole found it disgusting to try and turn a werewolf into a vampire just to have a mindless puppet and the mark of a coward who didn’t want to take the time to cultivate a loyal fighting force.

She looked across the group and grit her teeth as several werewolves who looked just as affronted as the generals behind her seemed to be. This was someone's ploy to destroy the tentative peace they were working on. She wished she’d just killed John during the last war. It would have likely saved her this headache.

She looked at him, but John seemed just as terrified and shocked as everyone else. It would aid his cause for war and justify the establishment of his militia, but he wasn’t clever or ruthless enough to pull this off. That didn’t mean he wasn't in some way connected. Perhaps Osborn was simply stirring the pot using the opportunity to help John with his plans as a cover for his real aims. Osborn had always struck her as smart if not a bit unstable.

But what would he gain from another war? Was he hoping that Arthur would be killed in this war and he would take the throne? Nicole huffed. As if she could allow that to happen. Arthur was Daphne’s husband. In a twisted way, that made him the royal consort of the vampire nation and earned her loyalty.

She was honor-bound to defend the throne at all costs. If they made it out of this scheme all in one piece, she would never fall prey to the concept of mercy. She’d kill John and his entire faction, including the duchess at the first opportunity.

“Gamma and Theta units, forward!” Nicole ordered, “Epsilon, clear us a path to the carriage!”

Arthur turned to fend off the people coming after him. Their movements were stilted like vampires but not quite the same. If he hadn't seen Nicole's forces fighting the other two groups in the canyon, he might not have been able to see the difference. What was going on? Who were these people? He threw one of them to the ground and froze at the sight of a little badge clinging to her shredded clothing. The badge was of a border pack that had reported several werewolves going missing. These people were werewolves, but their eyes were red like rogues.

But they weren’t rogues. Rogues didn’t maintain their human form.

He growled at the woman, drawing on his power to try to compel her to yield, but the woman ignored him. She wasn’t a werewolf any longer.

Had she been turned into a vampire somehow?

He didn't have time to figure it out right now. With all these people attacking Daphne would be in danger as the only half-human in the area. He had to keep her safe and that meant killing them all.

As the woman reared up to grab him baring her teeth with a furious hiss, Arthur struck her in the face, knocking her back before drawing his dagger and driving it into her chest. It wouldn't be enough to keep her dead indefinitely, but it would give him time to make sure Daphne was safe and kill them enough to start a bonfire.

“Mamie!” Blade called over the chaos.

His heart swelled with relief at the sight of her jumping from the bushes and chasing down a vampire. More people followed behind her as she tackled a vampire and tore his throat out. She hissed down at him and turned sharply towards a werewolf nearby and leaped on him.

The man cried out, shifting to try and slip free of her grip. He almost managed it as Blade ran over to them, but she dragged her nails across his chest, opening a bright red wound.

“Mamie, stop!” Blade screamed running towards her.

He pulled her off the man. She shrieked, twisted, and fought him, breaking from his hold in a move that she knew she had never learned while in Sharp Armor. She turned and leaped at him. He blocked her, but she changed movements at the last minute, knocking him to the ground with more strength than he expected, sending them to the ground.

Where had she learned all of this? He’d taught her some self-defense, but nothing like this.

Her eyes were vacant staring down at him burning red like rogues. She reared back but seemed frozen in place. He felt their bond tensing and straining. Heard something like a tortured scream at the back of his mind, but he stared up at Mamie in shock and horror.

How has she come to be like this? What was wrong with her?

“Mamie?”

She jerked with a hiss, baring her teeth, and he gasped at her slightly elongated fangs.

A vampire? How could a werewolf become a vampire? He'd heard of it from Tom's tales of the horrors that could come to them if a war was allowed to start again, but he didn't know what to think.

“Mamie, please stop.” He pleaded, looking up at her. “You know who I am. You can fight it, I know–”

She growled again before twisting sharply and darting away from him. He sat up trying to catch her before she could get too far, but he wasn't fast enough. He scrambled to his feet running after her, ignoring the battle around them.

“Mamie! Mamie!”

Arthur turned around as he severed one of the turned werewolves’ head from his shoulders. How many more were there?

He saw Mamie in a tattered dress running across the battlefield attacking anyone in her path, but she was headed straight for Daphne who swooned as Nicole fended off a set of rabid werewolves in their wolf forms.

Nicole cut through them with practiced and easy strokes of her blade, severing hands. Werewolf blood flew through the air with each slash of her blade, but she was outnumbered, giving orders and defending Daphne.

Arthur yelled rushing across the field, “Daphne!”

Daphne fell to the ground. Her head pounding like a million hammers slamming into her skull. Her heart was racing, and she looked up. Blood flew through the air splattering across the ground. People screamed and ran and fought. Claws ripped through skin and fur. So many people were fighting and dying. People fell to the ground clutching their injuries and scrambling back as Nicole called over the din for the vampire forces to get back.

“Your Majesty, get back to the carriage!”

The world was swimming and melting into a hazy dream-like vision. She'd seen a battlefield like this before. The same panic and fear overcame her and grew, keeping her frozen in place. She heard someone call her name and turned her head as a woman rushed towards her with burning red eyes. Her face twisted in a snarl, yet her face was too familiar to ignore.

Her name fell from her lips though Daphne didn't know who the woman was.

“Mamie…”

Mamie leaped through the air, fangs bared and furious then she was knocked from the air to the ground as Nicole turned to face her. Arthur tackled her, slamming her to the ground. Mamie swiped at his face and barely missed as he grabbed her jaw.

Blade screamed, “No!”

Arthur growled, tearing her head from her shoulders with a vicious pull on her jaw and flinging it away. Blood splattered through the air as blade cried out in agony and the bond between him and Mamie shattered like glass against a wall.

A howl of morning ripped out of him echoing through the air.