Stained By Sin

NINE

Elara straddled Nero as he laid on the ground, her right hand firmly holding a silver dagger on his neck. She watched as shock crossed his face, which was quickly replaced by a certain calmness that made Elara want to back away from him. Not that he looked dangerous. If anything, he looked like a trapped mouse as his eyes moved quickly, taking in the situation before him. But even as he laid there, unmoving, Elara’s gut was telling her that she should run as far away as she could.

As if.

She would never run away from this guy. Never. Even if she tremble with fear, she would hold her ground until she gets her revenge. And she could easily do that right now, with her dagger mere millimeters away from his neck.

She wouldn’t do it though. Yet. She still needed him alive so she could make him spill the names of the vampires that lead the rebellion that happened twenty years ago. She needed to know, so she could kill them all, one by one.

“Feeling comfy down there?” Elara asked, putting a bit more pressure on the knife, satisfaction filling her senses as a drop of blood trickle down Nero’s neck.

“Not really. The ground is a bit hard for my liking,” he replied, his tone thick with sarcasm.

“My apologies. I should have prepared a better reception and filled the floor with hay. Would that be more to your liking?” Nero opened his mouth to respond but Elara cut it off by shoving his shoulder roughly down the floor. “As much as I would like to exhaust that brain of yours for witty comebacks, I don’t really have time for that… and neither does your sister, I will assume.”

At the mention of his sister, Nero’s eyes flared with anger.

“I know you detest me with every fiber of your being, and I can’t blame you for it. But I am the one you have business with. My sister has nothing to do with it. Don’t drag her into this,” he said seriously, his voice tinged with pleading.

Elara raised an eyebrow, amused.

“Really now? Your sister has nothing to do with this? Then why is she the princess? I am the princess of the vampires. She is even dumb enough to mate with a human, and she is still the current princess. If that doesn’t make her involved in this, then what will?”

Nero closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. He didn’t seem to care that with every deep breath he took, the silver dagger cuts more and more to his neck.

“What do you want?” Nero asked, his eyes still closed.

“I already told you. I want my throne back.”

“And I already told you that it is not possible.”

“Fine. Then tell me this instead… who are the vampires that planned the rebellion with you? Tell me their names, ” Elara said, dipping her head low and placing her lips near Nero’s ears. “Or I will kill you, and then the human mate of your precious sister,” she finished in a whisper.

“I can’t tell you that as well,” Nero replied.

“And why is that?”

“Because I know the reason why they did what they did, and it’s for the better. I will not betray them just because my life is in danger.”

Elara chuckled, then rolled her eyes.

“Ahh, the Ivory clan and their morals. So you will keep them behind you, hidden from my eyes, even at the cost of your own life? But need I remind you that it is not only your life at stake here? The human’s life is also in grave danger. Not to mention, once the human died, your sister will be left suffering her entire life. Will you still shield them?” Elara threatened, grinning and baring her fans at Nero.

“I will,” Nero said without missing a beat. “Because my life isn’t in danger, and I know the human is safe.”

The instant Nero finished his sentence, Elara felt the presence of more that ten vampires approaching them. Presence that were not there before. She could swear that the vampires felt like they appeared out of thin air.

The sudden appearance of the vampires made Elara instinctively look to where the presence came from. She managed to catch herself and she looked back to Nero, determined not to get distracted by anything. However, the short instance that Elara got distracted was enough opening for Nero. He clutched her right hand that was holding the dagger tightly, forcing the blade out of her hand. The sudden pain startled her, making her let go of the dagger.

Elara jumped away, keeping a safe distance between them. She chanced a quick glance to where Aki was, hoping that he wasn’t in the same scenario as she was, but to her dismay, Khalil also managed to free himself of Aki.

In the distance, Elara heard the clashing of swords, screams of pain and anger, and she knew that fight had already broken out between the two troops outside the perimeter.

“I didn’t know you had it in you,” Elara said, fingering out the throwing knives she hid on her. “So you broke your own law and brought fighters inside the perimeter with you.”

Nero shrugged, taking out some throwing knives of his own. “I am meeting the powerful Crow clan. I need to be ready.”

“Hypocrite,” Elara spat.

“Only for you.”

With a snarl, Elara jumped towards Nero, throwing a knife as she did. Nero blocked the knife with his own, but didn’t throw one. A quick glance was enough for Elara to know that he wasn’t familiar with using throwing knives as his weapon. He probably only brought it because it was the easiest weapon to conceal.

Needing to put more distance between her and Nero, Elara rushed outside the hut and into the vast clearing. The vampires that suddenly made their presence known was already there, swords in hand, drawn and ready to bathe with blood. Nero followed suit, keeping a defensive position even as he chased after her.

Inside the hut, she heard the sounds of metals clashing. Aki and Khalil had probably started their fight as well.

The fighters that surrounded the clearing were obviously on standby. They were there only to provide backup, and would not interfere unless necessary.

Elara smirked.

The bastard was underestimating her. It was obvious that she was at a disadvantage. With all of her men fighting their own fights, there would be no one to back up her. But just because she would be fighting alone, it didn’t mean that Nero could take her on his own. If he thought he could, he was making a great mistake. By the time his backup came for his aid, he’d be long dead.

With a cocky smile, Elara threw another throwing knife at Nero. While he was busy blocking it with his own knife, Elara jumped up as high as she could, throwing five knives simultaneously at the fighters that were waiting to provide backup. Before the targets could lift their swords to block her, Elara’s knives had long found their marks. At the vampires’ hearts.

The vampires that were hit by her knives screamed in agony as her silver-tipped knives burned their skin, their muscles, and their flesh. It effectively provided enough distraction for Elara. As Nero glanced at his men, Elara jumped again, this time, throwing her blade to Nero.

A fighter jumped in front of Nero, blocking her blade with his sword. He then ran straight to her, a crazy grin plastered on his face.

Shocked by the sudden disruption, Elara maintained a good distance between her and the fighter, who had also stopped on his track to watch her like a lion observing his prey. The vampire bore a look that she never thought she would see on an Ivory’s face.

It was a look of someone craving for blood. And not just the way vampires thirst for blood… no. This was something she often see her men wore. A mask of pure and utter bloodlust. It was the face of someone who wanted to draw blood and kill just for the heck of it. And right now, this crazed vampire’s target was her.

Not that he could kill her. He could salivate for her blood all he wants, but she would kill him first.

Elara took a single step backward, wanting to put even more distance between her and vampire while she think of her next move. The vampire, however, responded to taking one step towards her. As expected. A slow, thought-out fight wouldn’t work to this one. If anything, it would only put her at a disadvantage. For someone like this, a fast-paced fight was more appropriate.

With that strategy in mind, Elara threw three consecutive knives to the vampire which he easily blocked with his sword. While the vampire was busy blocking her knives, Elara ran as quick as she could towards the vampire, another silver dagger in hand. As soon as she was close enough to the vampire, she swiped the dagger at the vampires neck with full force, aiming to sever his head off his body. The vampire managed to block her dagger, their blades clashing as they pushed against one another.

Elara glared at the vampire, hissing as she pushed her blade harder against his own sword. He only responded with a crazed grin, his fangs showing.

“You’re quite skilled for a female,” the vampire said, sounding genuinely impressed.

Elara pushed on her blade again, glaring even harder than before. “Of course. I’m the real princess of all vampires, and I am the leader of the Crow clan. Don’t lump me with your clumsy Ivory females.”

The vampire jumped backwards, away from her, as he laughed. “Good point. Our females are indeed clumsy and too soft.” His lips puckered as if in disgust. “Too boring,” he added.

Elara was aghast. Who the hell was this guy. He didn’t act like an Ivory at all. If anything, he would fit perfectly with her clan. Did the Ivory clan somehow managed to poach a previous Crow member? But that’s impossible. Elara knew each and every Crow member and she didn’t recognize him at all.

“Thyone, what the hell are you doing?” Nero shouted, making both Elara and Thyone looked at him. He was kneeling beside the fallen vampires, and had removed all five knives Elara threw at them. Though the vampires were alive, the silver’s damage to their hearts would leave them useless for a few days so she didn’t to worry about them. The remaining four vampire guards that quickly moved to drag the wounded fighters to safety. In a flash, they were back to the clearing, swords once again drawn and ready for battle.

Just then, Elara heard footsteps heading towards the clearing. She grinned as she recognized them as her fighters. Now, the battle was on equal terms.

Nero probably realized that Elara’s reinforcements was arriving because his calm facade started to break. His brows furrowed as his eyes focused on where the footsteps were coming from.

“This is bad. Thyone, we need to wrap this up quickly. I don’t want any unnecessary bloodshed. Stop playing around,” Nero said as he looked away from the source of the sound.

“But this is a fight, my king. Why should we avoid bloodshed?” Thyone asked, not taking his eyes off Elara.

Elara felt her disgust rise up from her stomach. Even on a Crow clan standards, this guy was obviously twisted. Her fighters were barbaric and crave fights, that was for sure. But they know how to respect her authority. They would never dare talk back at her, let alone defy her. Ther were wild savages, but they still bend to her authority. But not Thyone. He seemed to particularly enjoy defying his king.

He was one vampire she would never want on her team.

Elara decided to bid her time while waiting for her men, so she jumped to another tree and sat on a branch. She threw some knives to make both Nero and Thyone move away from where she was.

As she continued to move from tree to tree around the clearing, making sure to keep her distance from them, her men finally arrived. Around five fighters came, already covered with blood, sweat and earth. The fight outside the perimeter must have been more intense than what they were having here.

As soon as the Ivory fighters came into their view, the Crow fighters attacked. What must have happened outside the clearing was now happening here as well. But to Elara’s surprise, her fighters went down fast. The Ivory fighters moved quietly as they clashed swords with the Crow fighters. Even with Elara watching from the trees, she could hardly follow their movements. It wasn’t that they were fast. Elara could move faster than that. They were lethal because of how they moved. They weren’t fast, but they were soundless. And for inherently quick creatures like vampires, they tend to rely more on their hearing and sensing where the enemies were. And if the enemy could hide their presence even in plain sight… Elara’s men stood no chance.

Elara watched helplessly as her men got slaughtered in front of her, their heads flying off their bodies. She froze, her body trembling at the sight. It was not like this was her first time seeing her men get killed. While she was expanding the new Crow clan and was gathering more members, she fought with a lot of rogue and Nomad vampires. She lost a lot of fighters there as well, but never like this. They didn’t die without a fight. At the very least, they could wound and weaken their opponent before they got killed. But this… this was plain m******e.

She was still frozen in shock when she felt a presence behind her. Instinctively, she jumped away, towards the tree across where she was before looking back. Thyone was now standing on the branch she had just left, his crazed grin still plastered on his face.

“Quit spacing out, kitten. You’ll get your head chopped off,” he said while watching her flee.

As soon as her foot touched the tree branch, however, a hand shot up from nowhere and slammed her down the ground. The impact from falling down the ground and the force of getting slammed made Elara’s head ring. She was momentarily confused, not sure what just happened.

When her head cleared, she realized that she was lying face down on the grass, with a heavy weight on top of her back, pinning her securely to the ground.

“Elara!” she heard Aki screamed, which was followed by a sound of blades clashing.

Someone grabbed her by the hair, pulling her head off the ground. The sudden motion made Elara gasp, and that’s when tasted the blood in her mouth. She had a good fall, and it was no surprise if she broke her jaw, or at the very least, lost a couple of teeth.

“I told you to keep your head in the game, kitten,” Thyone said as he smirked at her. He was the one grabbing her hair, but it was obvious he wasn’t the one pinning her down. He was squatting in front of her, casually forcing her to look at him.

Clenching her fists through the pain, Elara spit on Thyone’s face in defiance. Thyone roared in anger and slammed her head on the ground again.

“Thyone!” she heard Nero scream. “Quit it. We are leaving. Assume your position and stop being a sadistic bastard.”

Elara heard Thyone growl in anger before walking away from Nero.

“Tie her hands and feet,” Nero ordered the vampire that was pinning her down. Elara looked at Nero, who was now standing in front of her. He looked at her as if he was sorry, and it only made her hate him more.

She felt metal chains being wrapped on her wrists and ankles. At first, it was cold, but the sensation was immediately followed by scorching heat.

Elara gasped in pain but caught herself before she could scream. She bit her lower lip hard to keep herself from screaming.

Elara glared at Nero, who looked at her again with pity. She wanted to yell at him, but she couldn’t. If she opened her mouth, she would most likely end up screaming with pain. The metal was tinged with silver, just enough to burn her skin but not enough to melt away her flesh.

Who was the sadistic bastard, now?

Once she was properly tied, Nero motioned the vampire on top of her to get up. Slowly, she felt the weight on her back ease off. Elara breathed slowly, trying to control the pain. Now that the heavy weight was gone, Elara could feel that some of her ribs got broken and was probably puncturing some of her organs.

Perfect. Just perfect. Now she was wounded both inside and out.

Before Elara could even prepare herself, she was already in Nero’s arms. He was carrying her gently, which surprised her. After getting beat up to this extent, she was surprised that he was showing her gentleness right now.

“We’re leaving. Khalil, target acquired. Mission completed!” Nero yelled, then began to move. Elara could tell that he was running as fast as he could, his men hot in his heels.

So this was their mission? They weren’t really here to recover the human? All of that, just to capture her?

If Elara wasn’t hurting terribly at the moment, she would laugh at the irony of it. Here, she thought that by having the human mate of the Ivory princess hostage, she had the upper hand. But all it did was give them a way to get a hold of her.

Just brilliant.