The Darkest Kiss

Clutching his stomach in one hand and gripping one of his own daggers in the other, Lucien stumbled forward to battle the beast.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

ANYA FOUGHT WILLIAM WITH all of the rage inside her. How dare he attack Lucien! How dare he hurt the man she loved! When she'd seen Lucien fall, when she'd seen the blood soaking his stomach, a part of her had seized and died.

I can't live without him. I won't live without him.

'You can't beat us both,' William panted.

'Watch me.' She ducked and swung, the tip of her sword slicing into his thigh.

He howled as his skin split and blood drenched his pants.

'Besides,' she said. She let him back her into a boulder then jumped to the top of it without turning. With barely a pause, she leapt down for momentum, twisting in the air to change their positions. When she hit the ground, she was momentarily jostled and he swung at her, but she managed to parry and back him into the boulder, trapping him.

Another of those horrible roars sounded.

She wanted to look, but couldn't. William was an expert fighter and would take advantage of any distraction. Again. Trust Lucien. He, too, is a warrior. Yes, he was a warrior to his very soul. Her warrior. He was Death; he could defeat Hydra, no matter how weak or hurt he was. Please let him defeat her.

'Anya,' William panted, trying to slap the sword from her hand.

She easily dodged, his motions slower than before. Good. He was tiring. Would probably do something stupid any moment. Like now—he swung low, and she was able to jump on the blade and kick his palm. His fingers opened and the weapon clanged to the ground.

She grinned slowly, her blade poised at his throat. 'You shouldn't have fucked with me.' From the corner of her eye, she saw Lucien approach the monster, his dagger raised. One of Hydra's heads snapped down to bite him, but he bounded out of the way, slicing as he fell.

One of Hydra's heads rolled to the ground.

The monster hissed and stretched and another head quickly grew from the gaping, bloody hole. Worse, the one on the ground had not died. It attempted to spin toward Lucien and bite his calf.

'Let's leave, you and me,' William whizzed, twisting to the side and lunging for Anya's leg. 'Before we become a meal.'

She turned—end it, end it—and withdrew another dagger from her boot. She tossed it, even as her sword swung.

William was in the process of reclaiming his sword when the sharp tip slammed into his shoulder, knocking him backward. She didn't slow, but continued to turn…turn…and stabbed him in the stomach just as he'd done to Lucien.

Shock blanketed his face. He looked down and gasped out a pained breath. 'You…won.'

'Always.' Growling, she shoved harder, pushing the sword out his back and into the boulder, pinning the warrior in place.

'Anya,' he moaned, features glazing with agony.

'Hope you realize how lucky you are. I'm not going to chop off your head or cut out your heart. Not today. You'll recover from this wound, and I'll come for you again and again until I think you've suffered enough. Then I'll kill you.' She turned from him then, already racing toward Hydra to help Lucien. She felt no relief that William was defeated—she'd truly liked him until now. But Lucien was in danger, and he was all that mattered.

Along the way, she withdrew the last dagger from her boot. She saw that Lucien was holding his middle, blood still seeping from the wound. He'd managed to destroy one rolling head and cut off another—which was now rolling to attack him. Already another had grown in its place and was slapping at him. And yet he was still standing. Still fighting. She'd never seen a more powerful sight. Weak? No, the man was unbelievably strong.

She would have fallen and stayed put had she been injured like that. If she hadn't already been in love with him, she would have given him her heart in that moment. With his dying breath he would protect and defend. Dying. No. Oh, no.

Heart racing, she approached his side and hacked at the rolling snake head. 'How do we kill it?'

'Go for the eye.' Lucien swung at Hydra as she swatted him with her tail. He tumbled to the ground, but lurched back to his feet. 'That's the only way I've found to destroy the heads.'

Anya jumped on top of the rolling head, the tiny snake hairs biting at her thighs. Each chomp stung like the fires of hell, but she didn't back down. She sank her blade into one of the eye sockets. Instantly, the head jerked and the tiny snakes stiffened before going limp.

Blood rushed down her legs as she stood. Hydra batted at Lucien, her long neck swiping his legs out from under him. His body hit the ground again, shoving air from his lungs, and he moaned.

'Lucien!' She flashed to his side and crouched down.

'I'm fine,' he said, pushing to his feet. He wobbled.

Distracted as Anya was, Hydra managed to dig her teeth into Anya's arm. She screamed, the pain almost blinding. Black stars winked over her vision and fire burned her blood. Poison? Snake venom?

Stay strong. But her legs were trembling, giving out, unable to hold her weight. And then Lucien was there, right beside her, stabbing the head in the eye. The creature screeched, an unholy sound that scratched at her eardrums, before falling to the ground, dead.

Just as before, another head quickly took its place.

Anya wavered, desperate to steady herself. Lethargy beat through her with tough fists.

'Stay awake, sweetheart,' Lucien breathed in her ear, warming her, strengthening her. 'I have an idea, but I can't do it without you. I need you to cut off her head and cauterize it when I've distracted her. Can you do that?'

'Lucien—Yes. Yes, I can do it.' For Lucien, anything. Anya straightened her back and squared her shoulders. Her vision slowly cleared with every measured breath she forced in and out of her lungs, and she saw that both of Lucien's eyes were blue. He kissed her, and then his body dematerialized, shimmered. Returned.

He frowned. 'I'm not strong enough to take my body. I have to go in spirit.'

His body collapsed, unconscious, but connected to him as she was Anya saw his spirit pull from it. He floated to the creature—who could no longer see him in spirit form and evidently decided his motionless body was already dead, freeing her to concentrate all of her menace on Anya. Anya forced herself to march forward.

That bitch is mine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

LUCIEN SETTLED HIS SPIRIT ON the creature's back. She paid him no attention, was focused solely on Anya—who was splattered with blood, cut and bruised, and looked like an Amazon warrior willing to do anything to win the battle.

He reached into Hydra's body with a ghostly hand and grabbed on to her spirit. She roared, making him cringe. Would have made his ears bleed if he'd been in corporeal form. In a panic, she lunged at Anya, but he jerked on her spirit again, holding her in place.

Since her body was alive, he knew what he was doing hurt her. She screeched again, but remained in place as if tethered. Anya leapt, higher and higher, and quickly cut off one of the creature's heads. As it tumbled to the ground, as Hydra screamed, flames erupted in the center of Anya's hand. She slammed that fire into the wound just