Heya,

Enjoy the chapter and let me know please what you thought of it. I'm not very used to writing fighting scenes and I hope it was fun to read!

Love,

Robin

*

Arriving at the house Amelia used to live in, I took careful notice of my surroundings. My senses fully extended so I wouldn't be caught unaware. Already I noticed the scents and mental signatures of three different wolves.

I recognized them all from school and knew I could dismiss them as a threat. Boys, just little boys, that's what they were. Dragged into a conflict that wasn't theirs because their Alpha had lost it...

I understood their loyalty nonetheless and could even respect it in some way. That didn't mean they would escape punishment after this was all over, just that I'd be milder on them. Maybe I'd show some mercy but that all depended on the outcome of today.

They smelled uneasy, one even downright terrified and I knew they'd all bolt as soon as the real fight started. If not, I knew my men would take care of them without any trouble. These kids were no match for my seasoned warriors.

Harder to pick up were the scents and signatures of the more experienced fighters. But when I caught a whiff of the first, a man I'd known myself, I soon found more.

The wide lawn gave plenty of cover for troops to hide and Thornten was making good use of the area. Without a doubt he really thought he had the upper hand. It made me uneasy, it could only mean he had some sort of ace up his sleeve.

If he thought to install his own son as Regis here... It had to mean Edward was around somewhere too. A battle hardened fighter with a mean streak even bigger than his fathers... It was Edward who usually lead in the punishments his father doled out to his people.

More than 500 years ago, when I'd lived with my siblings in London under Razeal's rule, I'd once caught the bastard trying to force himself on Missy. That had been the start of the animosity between me and Thornten.

The vampire hadn't taken well to me roughing up his son. Never mind that Edward was at least 300 years older and a lot more vicious, and very much guilty of the crime I'd charged him with...

He hadn't died from the punishment I'd meted out, nor had he learned from it. It was why rape in any form or kind was something I punished heavily. I would not ever tolerate it if I could help it. One simply did not take advantage of the weaker in a sick power play.

Moving so I could take a look at the other side of the house I caught the distinct tangy smell of sulphur. Yes the Demon was here alright, and he'd brought his own little army.

I was going to enjoy killing that bastard; I wasn't even shocked by the violent thought. That Demon deserved ten times over what was coming for him, that was one thing I was absolutely sure about.

Jaden rubbed his huge head against my hand and automatically my fingers curled tightly in his fur. 'What is it?' I send him the thought as I kept on scanning the grounds, I hoped to catch a glimpse of either Thornten or the Demon.

'Everyone is in position, are you going to show yourself to negotiate?' the cat asked me. His long tail swishing in excitement, Jaden was itching to start the fight and bloody his claws.

With my mind I sought out Seratin to confer shortly. I knew it was useless to negotiate, they'd only settle for my death and Hayden's and if I died, everyone I cared for might die too.

I'd be giving the Demon the most powerful weapon in history, Hayden's destructive talent. And although I knew Sammuel and Jaden, Anaya and Lysander and the others would all fight to keep Amelia and my siblings safe... They'd be on the losing side, I could not let that happen.

Not to mention that my death would instantly mean Amelia's death too now that we'd bonded in blood. My heart clenched painfully at that thought and for a moment I wished I'd told her to wait just a few more days.

'I agree,' my spymaster said, 'but they might give you a hint as to where Amelia is.'

I nodded and although Seratin was somewhere on the other side of the building, I knew he could sense my agreement.

With a few quickly issued commands I checked to see if Hayden was secure. Another of my Taoiseach Dílseachta; a cousin of Lysander and a dragon also, and Elliot were taking him to my stronghold together with a detachment of heavy warriors. It's location unknown to even most of my normal Taoiseach.

They were on their way out of the house now, Elliot needed to open space to Teleport such a large group all at once. But I trusted the warriors there, all incredibly skilled in their own way to protect them.

Satisfied with that at least I nodded to the Witch behind me and the rest of the fighters gathered around me. 'When I give the signal, attack. Remember. Priority is to keep the human civilians safe, if they see you, wipe their memories,' I said.

Elliot's grandmother reached out her hand to me. The Crone was old and wrinkled, her figure stooped and her hand as gnarled as an ancient oak.

'Do not worry, we planned evacuation procedures, everyone knows what to do. You can go into combat unconcerned about the well fare of the humans.

Fogging and Scatter spells have been cast over the area. No human will enter and anyone here won't remember a thing.'

I forced myself to politely nod, smiling gratefully even though it felt more like a grimace. The muscles in my face just wouldn't cooperate and I didn't feel like trying really hard anyway.

Without saying anything else I stepped out of the protective spell that had hidden our presence and strode across the lawn to the big house. The wolves I'd smelled earlier came out of hiding and circled me, confused because they recognized me from school.

They'd known I was a vampire and they'd known I was mated to Amelia but stupidly they'd been unaware I was their Regis too. Now they shrunk back as I allowed the heavy weight of my power to roll over them.

If I wanted to, I could crush them in a heartbeat. They sensed this and knew to avoid me.

None of Thornten's men came out of hiding but the door to the house opened. Three vampires, a shifter and a Witch came out. All except the last more brawn then brain. They flanked Thornten as he stood on the steps, looking down on me past his nose with contempt.

I wasn't impressed, the symbol of him standing higher than me wasn't lost, however I was so much taller than the British Vampire that I could easily look him in the eye anyway.

Which didn't mean that he was frail or small by any means, a vampire of his power and age hadn't survived this long being weak. Thornten's blonde hair was tied back as always with a black ribbon, giving him that old fashioned look. I knew his beliefs still dated from that time too.

I knew that I couldn't let him know how much he had me driven into a corner so I smirked arrogantly. 'Jonas, fancy seeing you here!' I said mockingly, my voice carrying across the area easily.

I could tell that the already skittish wolves were even more nervous now, at least my bravado worked on them.

If Amelia had been harmed in anyway... My fists clenched, aching to hold the smooth leather grip of my swords. My muscles almost twitching to swing the steel weight, cleave flesh. The fury and anger burned and seethed, the air around me crackled with it.

'Nate, have you come to surrender?' Thornten asked me, the smirk around his lips told me he'd seen through my act. He knew he held my heart.

'Have you?' I shot back, forcing a calming breath through my teeth. I knew this wasn't going anywhere.

'Tss... Cocky as ever, I never did like that about you boy,' the European Regis said. 'I am going to enjoy breaking that pretty little spirit of hers. She screams so wonderfully!'

I heard Sammuel's scream of warning but didn't heed it as I darted across the lawn, my swords already in my hands although I had no conscious memory of drawing them.

I swung one black blade in a downward slash, cutting through the air with a whistling sound. Right where Thornten's throat had been a mere fraction of a second before.

Continuing my momentum I swung my second blade upward, cleaving open one of the vamp's belly, spilling entrails across the steps. My first blade sweeping out horizontally to decapitate the poor guy before he could even remotely start to regenerate.

Growling told me Jaden had charged and was now fighting with more of Thornten's shifters behind me. Ignoring that, I turned to attack the others that had been guarding my fellow Regis.

The Witch was gone and so was Thornten so it was obvious that had been some sort of teleporter that he'd ordered to get him out as soon as I charged. Not all that strange, I knew the vampire was a coward at heart, he'd stab me in the back as soon as I left it unguarded.

As I turned on the second vampire he dodged a few of my swings and we spun around each other even as the third tried to stab me when he had an opening. It was clear the two were used to fighting together as they flowed smoothly from combat stance to combat stance without hindering each other.

As I ducked and rolled away from a blow from a huge pole-axe I swung one sword up in the air, sending it in a spinning arc. My empty hand I turned to the axe wielding guy and with my powers he soon burst into flames. The red tongues licking across his skin like a lovers caress.

I caught my sword by its handle again as it fell back from the sky, just in time to spin around and carve a slash across the last vampire's chest. Using my second blade to finish him off with a decapitating swipe.

Too easy...

Way to easy! My blood was roaring for more violence, I needed to get to Ams and I needed to punish those that had hurt her. This was nowhere near enough to satisfy my hunger for vengeance.

Having disabled the enemies in front of me I made for the door and tried to blast it open with my powers. Using my mind only to push the heavy oak apart, when it didn't budge I used more power and that created a humming in the air around me. The air whipping my hair against my skin as it spun in wild currents.

'Stop! It's...' I heard Sammuel yell just as the door did burst apart, from the inside out though.

The Viking appeared beside me, his huge black blade drawn just as the vile stench of sulphure poured out of the door. Along with a mass of writhing black and red scaly bodies. Some even burning or breathing fire.

I laughed, a grin splitting my face apart.

More opponents!

*

Blood coated my skin, made my hands sticky and my throat ached from it. While my nostrils burned from the stench, this wasn't the sweet beautiful human blood but the vile blood of Demons and the sharper blood of Shifters.

There were vampires who loved this kind of blood, called it more potent, but not me. Sure I drank from the incredibly strong, powerful blood of Sammuel, a Jotun. But he was one of the few I could stand the taste of.

There was a lull in the fight, Thornten's men exhausted, the Demon's nearly all gone and most of the wolves had scattered. The remaining hostile forces had gathered in and around the house, forming a tight circle and witches had cast spells to keep us out.

It was frustrating and now that I momentarily had no opponents I threw back my head to roar in anger. I could care less if that told Thornten how much Amelia meant to me. Anger and rage were a writhing, burning, seething mass inside of me. I couldn't contain it.

I had to keep moving!

'Any progress? Are you getting through their shields?' I demanded as I swiveled around to face the Crone of the village here. She was a powerful witch and although I hadn't searched her out before in this life I knew we'd met on occasion. Her in earlier incarnations of herself though.

She smiled and her teeth were a little crooked and yellowed, 'Yes, we're nearly there. Send in the Drakos my Lord.'

I turned to yell an order at Lysander but the man was already running forward towards the house, completely forgoing cover. As soon as he had gained enough distance on his allies he shifted.

His body mass exploding outward as he changed from a heavily muscled, tall human to a huge even heavier muscled black dragon. His scales glittering like obsidian in the flickering light of a sunset. Three horns proudly on his forehead to announce to the world that he was not just any dragon, he was royalty.

He hit the side of the building with all of his body mass, throwing in over 50 ton of weight. It shook the area with a thundering sound and I felt a spike of worry. If the building collapsed Amelia would get caught in it!

Like a ripple on a pond, ripples rolled outward from where he'd hit the shield and building, they sparked blue and red and yellow and green. A crackling resounded and then I knew he'd already done it! The shield was gone.

With yells of victory my Gaiscíoch, my warriors, and my Taoiseach present surged forward to renew the attack. We had to beat back Thornten and his son Edward thoroughly our they'd try this all over again soon.

I would not rest until I knew Amelia was safe.

To one side the ground split apart and I knew the Demon Lord had opened a gateway. More of his minions started pouring into our world, screeching and screaming cries of war and hatred. Most of them small, imps. A lot of them as tall or taller than a human but only one was as big as Lysander in his Dragon form.

It was a burning mass of what appeared to be boulders held together by sinewy muscles, no skin whatsoever. The thing barreled into the Dragon without pause and together they tumbled into the building.

I screamed in warning, both out loud and mentally and Lysander scrambled to get up into the air, spreading his large wings shot with silver. However the damage had been done, part of the second floor had been torn clean off.

Knowing that Lysander would do his best to keep the house intact now that he'd been made aware of the danger, I turned. Facing the Demon Lord that I'd now spotted on the other side of the chasm.

Running I was there in a flash, dodging past the lesser Demon's and Imps easily and hamstringing the occasional creature when it crossed my path.

The chasm was about as wide as 6 cars together and sulfuric smoke was billowing out of it. Hell, as humans often called the Demon realm, wasn't actually located below the Earth's surface but their portals always manifested themselves this way.

The Demon, Amelia's father, saw me coming and started to spin away; smoke swirling around him as he started to dematerialize.

I don't think so! I smirked as I propelled myself across the tear in the earth, landing both my feet solidly in his back. We rolled across the ground together, the Demon hissing, I was growling. I didn't care that I sounded much like a rabid dog; I was going to tear his throat out!

We both got to our feet and I swung my blades, testing the Demon's reflexes. He sprung back to avoid the cold bite of my steel blade and raised both his claw-like hands. Fire streamed out of them and engulfed me whole.

Burning and seething and scorching, the Demon's eyes gleamed in victory.

I laughed, the air crackling as the Demon's power collided with mine, splitting as if cut with a knife and billowing around me without touching me. Passing me without even harming me or my clothing.

'Fool!' I scoffed, 'I was born in fire!' but I knew that sending him my own flames would be useless... He was as immune to fire as I was, although before Demon fire and Dragon fire had both been able to harm me.

It seemed my powers had evolved yet again.

Instead I attacked him with my swords, slowing my strikes just a tad. Enough to make him think I was tired, that I'd slowed after the two full hours of combat we'd had. If he believed it, he'd underestimate me and that would definitely be his ending.

The Demon had an unusual fighting technique, using his claws and dancing into close range as if not the least bit worried that he'd be injured.

With one hand he grabbed my right sword, yanking hard to wrestle it out of my grip, with the other he slashed for my throat. I dodged the slash just in time and felt adrenaline shoot through my body, close call!

I knew those nails were highly poisonous.

With a growl I blasted him backwards with pure power, slamming him into a nearby tree. The thing broke with a mighty crack but the Demon flowed to his feet with a grace that told me nothing had been broken. Too bad...

We circled each other again and this time, before he could get in closer I spun one blade in a high upwards arc again. Manifesting a serrated throwing blade a fraction of a second later and tossing it in a fast, blurring arc at the Demon.

The next moment I caught my sword again and launched myself at him before he could react. As I knew he would he dodged the flying throwing blade and that spun him sideways, one claw out of range to block both my blades now.

I let out a growl in victory as my blade hit home, the first one caught by his right hand claw and the other caught with his belly. It sunk into the soft tissue greedily and then caught against the hard spikes of the Demon's spine.

The Demon hissed and then shuddered, red blazing eyes glazing over slowly as he slid off my blade and fell to the ground. The blackest blood stained the earth dark and was corroding my sword, eating away at the metal.

I smiled down at his dying form, a momentary sense of satisfaction rushing through my system. Only to disappear when I realized I still hadn't found Amelia, that she could be hurt somewhere.

With a frown I focused on our completed bond and tried again to reach her mentally, hoping that with the death of her father I'd be able to reach her.

A blank wall forced me back and I threw back my head to growl loudly. Damn it! Where was she! Why couldn't I reach her?

Then before I could move off to the house and tear it apart piece by piece until I had her in my arms again, more Demons and Imps and wolves and witches appeared and attacked me.

I knew my Taoiseach Dílseachta and other Gaiscíoch were out there fighting more of them but where I was I was the only one. Fighting alone.

Grinning even though I felt nothing but a horrible need to get to Ams and a terrible vengeance to kill all those that had harmed her. I fell on the new opponents and started tearing them apart, with my blades, my raw power and even my fangs and bare hands.