Silence - By Kailin Gow Page 0,51

as she had ever had from Kevin. For the seconds it took, Briony felt like there wasn’t anything in the world except the two of them, safe inside the bubble of Briony’s newfound magic. She was so happy just to be back in Kevin’s arms once more that Briony wished the whole world around them would just go away, leaving this moment to the two of them.

But it wouldn’t. Even as Briony and Kevin broke from that first kiss, Briony caught sight of Archer and Fletcher fighting back to back against more vampires, while Vigor swung his sword in diagonal cuts that served as attacks and parries at the same time. They fought with a strange lack of noise now, as though they knew that the fight was too serious to waste energy shouting on, while the vampires attacked with the eerie, almost spider-like quiet of their kind. As much as Briony wanted to shut out the world in those moments, she knew that she had to help, and that Kevin remained their most dangerous weapon against the creatures.

She stood, clutching her stake, and attacked, Kevin at her side. Between them, they cut a renewed swathe through the vampires, hardly having to stop. Briony actual y found it easy, darting between the creatures and avoiding their blows while Kevin snapped at them and forced them to dodge back. Had the transformation done something to improve her reflexes, as wel as giving her the means to save Kevin?

Briony didn’t know, but she did know that, even with whatever had happened to her, there were stil too many vampires to fight. Kevin was a powerful threat, but he seemed sluggish, so soon after being healed, and the vampires knew now that they needed to avoid him. How long would it be before another of their number snuck in close to strike at him?

Even Vigor didn’t seem to be doing as wel as he had. Marcus had joined the fight in earnest, and now the Prince and the master vampire fought blade to blade with truly frightening speed and skil . Vigor was good, there was no doubting that, but Marcus had centuries of experience and ferocity on his side. Not to mention a whole host of other vampires, whom Archer and Fletcher were having to keep at bay while Vigor fought.

How long could they hope to last like that, when for every vampire they kil ed, another two arrived to take its place? Briony didn’t know, but as she staked another, barely avoiding a lunge of its fangs, she suspected that it couldn’t be long.

Then though, Briony spotted something.

The door to the room was open, and through it slipped two familiar shapes: Aunt Sophie and King Waltham.

They moved around to the rear of the vampires, obviously seeking the optimum spot from which to strike. Briony’s heart rose to see Aunt Sophie there, because there was almost no one she would rather have at her side in a fight.

She was slightly more worried to see the King, given how unwel he was. Surely a battlefield wasn’t the right place for someone who had barely been able to get out of bed just a few hours ago?

Even so, Briony couldn’t help feeling a wave of joy at his presence too. He had come for her. As sick as he was, she was his daughter, and he was not going to leave her in the hands of vampires. Who could ask for more than that?

Briony nodded to herself. Her now dead

parents back in Wicked stil mattered a great deal to her, but she was Hugtandalfer now, and there was no denying that King Waltham was her father. More than that, Briony wouldn’t want to deny it. She had a father prepared to take on vampires for her, and she was proud of him.

Chapter 21

Aunt Sophie and King Waltham let out a battle cry as they attacked the vampires from behind, charging into them and taking advantage of the shock to kil with silvered swords. Aunt Sophie cut down a line of vampires in front of her in a single swooping run along it, before looking down at them as they fel and burned.

“These aren’t Palisor vampires,” she said as she moved closer to Briony. “The gate has opened?”

Briony kil ed a vampire of her own and nodded. She could imagine how Aunt Sophie would feel about that. More than any of them, she seemed to have the Hugtandalfer instincts to protect the gate, so if