Accidentally Married To A Demon - Mila Young Page 0,51

putting her in danger while we wanted her dead.

"I'm not," I answered, taking a step forward. Just seeing her was enough to send a surge of fresh energy into my depleted reserves. Not quite what it would have been if I was a regular practitioner, but certainly not something to be scoffed at either.

"If you say so." The vampire cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "It is brave of you to stand your ground. Most run when they discover that our hounds have their scent. Not that it does much difference, but fear is such an... odd feeling, is it not?"

"The grapes are ready to be harvested," I said. "We just need a few weeks to get them ready for you. It doesn't have to come to violence. You'll get what you want."

"We'll have what we want regardless," the vampire snapped. "Your blood is the true treasure, of course, whether it is in the casks or sucked from the vein. A demon witch's blood is the sweetest."

"Okay, hold the fucking phone," I growled. "Why did you call me that? Demon witch?"

The vampire studied me for a few seconds. "She is unaware. Interesting. Inconsequential; she is dead already."

It sounded like she was having a conversation with the other three vampires, and sure enough, our attention needed to be turned on the shadows that were approaching the vineyard.

The vampire was already gone anyway, disappearing as sunlight started illuminating the landscape.

As the light touched on the shadows approaching us, it was like a fog was being cut into, revealing what was traveling inside. A pack of creatures, although I would have hesitated at calling them hounds. The elongated snouts and barred fangs did make me think of some sort of canine, but all twelve of them, each standing at seven feet tall or more, were standing on their hind legs, looking a lot more like werewolves in fiction, with long fingers looking almost human, but with massive, razor-sharp claws jutting out.

"Oh... fuck me," I whispered, narrowing my eyes, watching the creatures starting to approach us as one. The light did appear to weaken them, or at least forced them to move out in the open, without their shadows for cover. Still, there were twelve of them against the four of us.

"Been a long time since I've seen them," Bram whispered, kicking his boots off and dancing from side to side, showing a lot more alacrity than I would have thought someone of his age would have. There were no horns, making me wonder just how he intended to fight back.

Still, having him and Dracul in the fight did make me feel a little better.

"Don't let them flank you," Rog warned, taking a step back, watching the pack spreading out in front of us, making it difficult to think that there was anything that we would be able to do to contain them.

"Have you fought hellhounds before?" I asked Bram.

"No. But I've seen them fight. Not pretty. Lots of blood, guts, screaming. Best to do as Rog says."

I nodded, looking over to the demon, seeing his pupils glowing a bright red, sharply contrasting the blackness of his eyes. His lips peeled back, showing fangs in a sickening grin as he took a step forward, watching the hellhounds circle away from him.

It went well with what little I knew about canines hunting. Attacking from the front would get them killed. The whole pack would feed so long as they patiently dragged the fight out, making it last and sapping their prey's strength.

"Fuck that," I breathed, letting the power in my body run into my fingers, feeling it crackle and jump. An uncomfortable feeling, holding that much power that close to the surface, knowing that it could lash out without control, even catching my own friends in any blast that I unleashed.

Control had always been my problem, and I gritted my teeth, trying to keep a lid on it, waiting for Rog to make his move.

The demon waited, watching as the hounds circled us, trying to push us into a defensive position, but Rog refused to budge, holding his spot, and we stayed with him.

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he was rushing forward.

"Way to keep us in the loop!" I shouted, taking a step forward and breathing out, not realizing that I had been holding my breath as an arc of energy jumped from my fingertips, cracking loudly enough to leave my ears ringing, striking at the hound in front of Rog a moment before