Warriors of Poseidon 01.5 - Wild Hearts in Atlantis

in front of the house. "Do you fear me, then, evil one?"
    he called, shouting out his challenge.
    Wild Hearts In Atlantis – Warriors of Poseidon 1.5
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    The chilling laughter materialized before its source. "Fear you, Atlantean? I think not.
    You are a minor annoyance, a boil on my ass, nothing more. I didn't even bother to bring any of my blood pride along to deal with such a minor irritant."
     
    Bastien impassively measured the vampire who floated down to the earth not a dozen feet from him. From the ghostly white pallor of his skin to the red fire flaring in his eyes, this one's every feature proclaimed his dangerous nature.
     
    "A cape? Really? Isn't that a little out of fashion?" He kept his voice level and amused, knowing that nothing knocked a master vampire off balance faster than facing one who was unafraid.
     
    True to form, the vamp hissed with rage. "You dare? Do you see what I did to the pathetic alpha's mate? She wanted to strike a bargain with me, can you countenance it?
    A puny female cat daring to match wits with one of more than a thousand years of power?"
     
    "She was a fool." Bastien slowly dropped one dagger to the ground, retaining the dagger in his left hand, and drew his sword with his right. "I am not."
     
    "Yet you do not ask the nature of the bargain," the vampire mused, slitted eyes watching every move Bastien made., "Are you that confident or merely that stupid?"
     
    "Perhaps you should decide, undead one," Bastien returned calmly, uninterested in being drawn into wordplay with the creature.
     
    The vampire laughed, and the sound of it skittered down Bastien's spine like the chittering of a horde of death beetles in ancient Egypt. Death whispered in its wake.
    "Oh, but I want you to hear this. I smell the half-breed whore's pussy on you, so you might find it of interest."
     
    Wild Hearts In Atlantis – Warriors of Poseidon 1.5
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    Snapping his head up, Bastien fought to contain his rage. Barely restrained himself from charging at Organos's filthy head, sword raised to slice the undead head from its neck.
    He clenched his jaw and said nothing, but called water to form ice shards and flung them at Organos, aiming to slice the vamp's head from its neck.
     
    The vamp laughed and lifted one hand to deflect the ice. It melted in midair. "This one begged me to suck the life out of your half-breed. Although I killed Fallon for her boldness, it might amuse me to turn the ranger to my use. I can think of many uses for a beautiful woman in thrall, especially one who has the strength of both of her natures to help her survive my darker urges."
     
    A haze of violent rage, so dark a red it was nearly purple, spilled over Bastien's vision, as fury blazed through him. "You will not have her," he roared. He leaped straight into the darkened night sky, calling upon the element of air to drive him toward his enemy.
     
    Organos sneered and waved a hand in front of himself before disappearing and reappearing directly behind Bastien. The agony of a dagger between the ribs brought Bastien crashing down to his knees on the hard ground, his sword falling from suddenly nerveless fingers.
     
    "Simple enough to defeat an Atlantean, then. I wonder at Terminus's weakness, if the rumors are in fact true?" Organos said, voice filled with scorn and contempt as he floated down to stand before Bastien, then reached down to snatch his sword from the ground. "Perhaps I will preserve your head to grace my wall."
     
    As the vampire raised Bastien's own sword to kill him, the warrior gathered himself for one last, desperate attack.
     
    The sound of her voice stopped them both. "Oh, Organos, you can do better than that.
    You can have me, willing, if you let the Atlantean go."
     
    Wild Hearts In Atlantis – Warriors of Poseidon 1.5
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    Bastien looked up at Kat, standing defenseless before the ancient vampire, and his heart shriveled in his chest.
     
    Kat feigned bravery, when really all she wanted to do was curl up and hide. Fallon, though no friend, especially after what she'd just overheard, had not deserved to die like this. The first man she'd ever loved knelt, bleeding, on the ground in the shadow of a master vamp's upraised sword.
     
    She admitted it to herself, though it made no sense. Somehow she'd already fallen in love with this fierce warrior. "There's no way I'm going to let him die," she muttered.
     
    Then, louder, she repeated her offer. "What fun is an