ran, dropped to her knees, and slid, bringing her blade across his knees. It sliced completely through, and he hit the ground on the stumps that were once his thighs. Then she jumped to her feet, turned, and brought her sword around in an arc, the blade meeting his neck and cutting clean through. His head rolled off his body and hit the floor with a thud.
Jen was breathing hard as she looked around the room and watched vampire after vampire simply fall to the ground like the lifeless bodies they were. She had no idea how many were destroyed because of Sincaro’s death, but it looked to be a lot.
She couldn’t enjoy her victory long because the light was fading, and the enemy seemed to be regaining their faculties. Peri was at her side in an instant. “Well done, hellion.” A second later, Alston ran into the main room, his eyes ablaze with rage.
Call it a moment of insanity or an adrenaline rush or just typical Jen being Jen, but whatever it was, something made her lean down and grab Sincaro’s head. She held it by the hair and lifted it into the air. She didn’t care that it was dripping blood all over her or that it was freaking disgusting to be holding a severed head. She was in Braveheart mode, or was it, Gladiator? She couldn’t remember, but it was one of those awesome-as-hell battle movies, and she was going to revel in her enemies’ defeat. She’d dealt the Order a huge blow. She roared as she shook Sincaro’s head. “You’re next, traitor. I will mount your head on my wall and use it as a target to teach my daughter how to throw knives! Mark my words, Alston, traitor of the fae. I so name you an enemy of the Great Luna, an enemy of the Romania pack, an enemy of every supernatural that stands on the side of goodness, and I will have your head.”
“You already said that.” Peri grabbed Jen’s arm. “I think he got the point.” Then she flashed them from the compound.
They reappeared in a huge hall filled with hundreds of people, maybe even a thousand. Jen knew this because she and Peri were standing at the front of the room on a raised platform that allowed them to see out over the crowd. Her arm was still in the air with Sincaro’s head hanging from her hand by his hair. The room went completely silent, and all eyes were on her.
“Hell, Mama!” She heard Thia’s voice and the little girl’s tiny hands clapping. Jen turned her head until she saw her daughter, who was sporting a huge grin. Of course, this was the moment her daughter would choose to actually say “Mama” and not “Dada.” Thia was in her mate’s arms, and he was walking toward Jen with a determined stride. Unlike his daughter, he didn’t have a smile on his face.
“You just need to teach her ‘give ’em,’ and she’ll have a complete sentence down,” Peri said out of the side of her mouth.
“You’re hilarious,” Jen deadpanned.
When Jen didn’t move, but continued to stand there in her Braveheart/Gladiator frozen position, Peri muttered, “Maybe you should drop the head.”
Jen finally seemed to get past the shock of the crowd, her foul-mouthed daughter, and pissed-off mate. She turned to look at Peri. “I severed this head fair and square, and I will not pretend to be embarrassed by it simply because my mate is irritated that I ran off on a killing spree, and my daughter likes to holler about h-e double-hockey-sticks.”
“I’m thinking he’s a little more than irritated, but what do I know?” Peri crossed her arms in front of her. “I’ve only been dealing with the wolves for hundreds of years.”
Jen ignored her and then looked at the crowd again. Decebel had nearly reached the steps leading up to the platform. “In my hand, I hold the head of the vampire king!” she called out, her voice so loud it echoed off the walls and ceiling. “Every vampire he directly sired is dead because he is dead. The Great Luna gave me a sword”—which she just realized was gone—“to take down our enemy, and she was there guiding me. We are not alone in this battle, and we will not stop until the head of every one of those in charge of the Order is laying at our feet.” The room stayed quiet for a few heartbeats before errupting into