Master of Chains - Jess Lebow [89]
Montauk took a step back, but he slammed into something that stopped him from moving. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the worshipful vampire spawn closing down on the dais. They hissed at him, blocking his path to the archway.
A cold sweat beaded on his forehead. "What's… What's this all about?"
Without moving her feet, Shyressa, her arms still out wide, slipped across the dais toward Montauk. "Will you not indulge your mistress?"
Montauk felt ill. His knees went weak under him and Shyressa's shadow loomed over his head. "But… but who will replace Lord Purdun?"
Shyressa wrapped her arms around Montauk. The glamour that covered her faded, revealing her long sharp fangs and the pressed, withered skin of her advanced age. She opened her mouth wide and bit down on the shivering human's neck.
Montauk sobbed. "But… I don't understand."
Shyressa took a long slurp of Montauk's fresh, live blood. Then she released him. Taking a step back, a shimmering glow encased her entire body. The air around her frame began to waver and shake, and the vampire Rune Mistress transformed into the perfect replica of a human male.
Montauk, holding the wound in his throat, looked up in horror at an exact copy of his own face.
Shyressa cleared her throat. "I won't be having any further need for you, Montauk," she said, her voice the same pitch and tenor as Montauk's own. "I shall be assuming the duties of the barony myself."
The vampire placed her foot on the real, kneeling Montauk and kicked him backward off the dais into the waiting hands of her vampires.
"Please, mistress, no," shouted Montauk as the spawn tore at his flesh. "I've served you well."
"Yes, Montauk," agreed the glamoured vampire. "Until the very end."
CHAPTER 21
"I ask you this one last time, Magistrate," said Lord Purdun, his hands beginning to glow with a blue-white light, "return to Llorbauth with my request for the king's aid in defeating the vampires."
Magistrate Olivio pulled a glass flask from a small pouch on his hip. It had a yellowish liquid in it. "Your request has been denied." He hurled the flask at the floor near the baron's feet.
In a flash, one of the half-giants reached out and snatched it from the air with its meaty palm. The vial never hit the floor, but it shattered against the guardian's skin, sending up a vaporous gas.
Another of the half-giants grabbed Purdun around the waist and pulled him back two large steps. The remaining two followed, stepping in front of the baron, forming a wall of flesh between the Magistrates and Lord Purdun.
The yellow gas wafted into the air, surrounding the guardian who had intercepted it. The half-giant let out a choking cough, then slumped to the floor.
In the next instant, all nine hells broke loose inside Zerith Hold.
The King's Magistrates rushed forward as a line.
Liam felt his stomach knot, then the rest of the world dropped away. He could hear his blood pump though his ears as he charged the closest Magistrate. He shouted like he had never shouted before as he brought his blade down. The enchanted metal cleaved through the soldier's gauntlet and his flesh and bone beneath, taking off the Magistrate's hand at the wrist. The severed appendage fell to the ground still gripping the hilt of his long sword.
The man wailed as blood pumped from his ruined arm, and he clamped down on the wound with his other hand, trying to stop the flow. Liam slapped the helmet off the man's head and brought the hilt of his sword down on his skull with a heavy thud. The Magistrate slumped to the floor beside the half-giant. His blood pooled beside them.
"Take the human first," shouted Olivio, and the other five Magistrates changed direction, surrounding Liam in a ring.
They closed in, cutting down Liam's ability to move or dodge their attacks. Then they struck. Their blades flashed in at him, all moving in unison.
Liam caught the first one, parrying it harmlessly to one side. His armor deflected another. But he didn't have enough room or speed to get to the