Free Web NovelChapter 103: Sibling Rivalry
"Save me the dramatics," Damon scoffed, his eyes darting around the room as he held me closer to his chest. This close to his skin, I could hear the sound of his beating heart. It sounded strong, and that gave me faith that we would make it out of this mess. Damon would make the worst enemy, but I could not have a stronger ally.
A stronger mate. My own heart seemed to beat in unison with his.
"If you were a worthy opponent, you’d never need to use such a cheap trick like this. Kidnapping my mate and bringing her to a silver mine? You might as well stamp ’inadequate’ on your forehead and call it a day," Damon continued disparagingly.
I immediately understood what he was aiming for― he wanted to taunt Petral into revealing himself.
Unfortunately, Petral seemed to be made of stronger stuff. He did not appear, but his disembodied voice continued to echo within the caves.
"The ends justify the means," Petral retorted smoothly, "You should know better than anyone, Damon Valentine. After all, you only got your mate after razing her pack to the ground. For dramatics, look no further than yourself." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Damon growled, and I dug my fingernails into the skin of his arms, willing him to calm down. How could he be so easily taunted?
Fine then, it was my turn to lend Damon a helping hand. I did not have many skills, but having a sharp tongue was definitely a forte of mine. Finally, I could unleash my mocking words against someone who actually deserved it, someone who wasn’t Damon for a change.
"Don’t be so hard on him, Petral’s definitely weaker than you," I said to Damon, making sure my voice was loud enough to be overheard by him and any other vampires who had the misfortune to eavesdrop on our conversation. "He wouldn’t be so desperate to get a taste of my blood otherwise. He desperately needs me to even have a smidgen of strength to fight you. In fact, he wasn’t even going to let his sister have me, despite her sharing my blood with him. What a selfish bastard―"
There was a roar of rage, but to everyone’s surprise, it was a woman’s voice that came from the body of a tiny bat.
Ariana had joined the party.
My gamble had paid off. This could either go very well or very terribly, but then again, that was also a tagline for my entire life so far. I was bleeding from my wrists and stuck in a silver cave that drained the strength of my fated mate while he protected me from harm.
Being in Damon’s arms was doing wonders for my feelings towards him. It was hard to feel angry against a man who was actively trying to keep you alive. Once Damon heard Ariana’s voice, he immediately whirled around, making sure that I was protected from another new threat.
Then, Ariana had flown to the right side of the cave, causing another bat to appear with a displeased scream. freewebnøvel.coɱ
"You dare to make off with her? After my generosity? Petral Sanchez, you have some nerve!"
Petral. She found him.
Whatever illusion or disguise he used, it clearly did not work on his sibling, for she immediately lunged for him in anger. Now, both Damon and I could see where he was hiding― he was perched at the right side of the cave, tucked high up the rafters in the form of a bat.
The siblings shifted rapidly between their bat and vampire forms as they dueled, causing the cave to shudder with every blow.
I was getting a first-hand demonstration of vampire combat knowledge, shoddy as it was.
But one thing was clear― it didn’t matter what form Petral was in, Ariana seemed to be out for blood. It was understandable. If I had hidden something Aubrey wanted, she would have done anything short of murder as retaliation.
Maybe these vampire siblings were just as bloodthirsty, or at least, not as united as they claimed to be. Damon and I exchanged a look; now we needed an opportunity to get rid of them both, but we couldn’t be hasty. If they decided to gang up against us, we were finished.
"Stop your nonsense, Ariana," Petral screeched in return. "It’s just a bit of blood! I didn’t complain when you sucked Duke Mostande’s blood sixty years ago, did I?"
"Don’t lie, you despoiled my coffin with that woman!" Ariana retorted, her nails turning into sharp claws. Her target? Her own brother’s face. Petral fought back just as fiercely.
More silver pieces got dislodged, falling onto us like hailstones in winter. I could see Damon hiss in pain as they fell on him. He didn’t need to shield me from them since I wouldn’t suffer anything worse than a painful bruise if the silver rocks fell on me.
But he did it anyway. The sight of his form looming protectively over my much smaller one caused me to feel oddly safe and secure. I tucked myself closer to him and whispered into his ear.
"Can you kill them from here?" I asked, barely moving my lips, fearing that I would be overheard.
Damon gritted his teeth. Somehow I understood him without words― he wanted to claim that he could, but it wasn’t a guarantee. And he could not make such a rash gamble with my life at stake.
"Blaise," I murmured. He had to be looking for us too, right? Damon had a direct link to his mind. And they were twins. Surely they had to have a deeper connection that couldn’t be hampered by silver.
Damon nodded minutely, his eyes focused on the dueling siblings. We simply had to buy enough time for Blaise to appear, and hope that the two siblings would injure each other enough for Damon and Blaise to finish the job.
Curse my blood. If only they had not drunk so much from me, Damon and I would not need to go through such a convoluted method to win!
As if they suddenly remembered why they were fighting, both siblings turned their eerie eyes toward me, hunger plain on their faces.
