and stop the interlopers when Meg’s face stopped him. She looked
over the railing at the bottom of the arena. She must have convinced
Dante and Rhys to allow her to move closer. Her face was worried.
She was worried for him. She shouldn’t be worried for him. She
should be scared of him.
Beck was shaking with rage as he stopped himself. Meg would
never come to him if she saw what an animal he could be. He couldn’t
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Sophie Oak
allow that to happen. He swallowed as the horn blared, and the battle
began anew.
The remaining vampires didn’t wait this time. All eight rushed
him immediately. Beck was knocked back by the unexpected charge.
Though his back hit the sand, a fierce joy took over. He did love a
good fight. Up until now, the battle had been rote. Now, he was
thrown a bit off balance.
A big vamp, with fangs and claws out, leapt on top of him. Beck
grimaced as he felt the sharp claws sink into his left shoulder. He felt
the blood start to flow and knew it would make the vamps a little
crazy. He’d feared chaos, and now he was going to get it. Shoving his
foot upwards, Beck launched the vamp up and over as he brought his
sword up just in time to skewer the next vampire who jumped on him.
Gravity pulled the vamp down, and Beck noticed his aim had been
perfect. As the vampire sunk onto the sword, the iron of the ancient
weapon tore through his heart, one of two sure ways to kill a vampire.
The race was tough as nails but vulnerable when it came to their
hearts. Even a minor injury to the heart usually killed a vampire. The
only other sure way was decapitation. Beck rolled away as fast as he
could, knowing what would come next. Vampires didn’t die quietly.
They sort of exploded.