Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Balan separated himself from the owl, clutching his chest, where acid poured from him, along with maggots. Mataias seemingly stepped out of the very air, driving his fist into Balan’s chest as the undead staggered forward. Mataias whirled around as he extracted the heart, using a front snap kick to drive the vampire away as he pulled the heart free of the body. Balan howled in horror as Mataias tossed the heart skyward and a bolt of lightning shot through it and then jumped to Balan’s crumpling form before Mataias bathed his arms in the white-hot heat to rid himself of any acid.
Odon and Elek were called to the rocks to the left of the grove, Nicu reported. Their master doesn’t like the way the battle is going.
As the grove lit up from the fiery heat of jagged bolts sizzling across the sky, Benedek moved with the blurring speed he was legendary for as he stepped into the attack from the vampire in front of him. He drove his left fist deep through the wall of the vampire’s chest, his fingers finding the withered heart. Even as he withdrew it, he impaled the second vampire with his right fist, using the momentum from the advancing abomination to go through the chest wall to the heart. He swung the vampire around, so the third attacker slashed with wicked talons down the face and neck of his companion.
Benedek extracted both hearts and sent them skyward, where Lojos directed the whip of lightning to incinerate them. Only seconds had gone by, but when Benedek was in a battle, time slowed. He saw everything clearly. Smelled everything. Battle was the one time he felt. A rush when he entered actual combat. There was no thought of life or death. No thought of pain or wounds. Only defeating the enemy.
He shoved the bodies of the two dead vampires to the ground, right over the bubbling acid. Larger cracks appeared, and tree roots shot out of the ground like spears dipped in poisonous sludge, seeking to wrap around Benedek’s legs. Benedek shifted before he could be touched, allowing Mataias to slam lightning into the ground, bolt after bolt, incinerating the bodies of the two dead vampires and forcing the vampire beneath, hidden in the tree roots, to arise.
Benedek materialized behind the third vampire, who had emerged from a tree, driving his fist through bone and sinew, reaching unerringly for the heart. The vampire coming out of the ground tried to work his way around the undead Benedek was killing.
The one emerging is called Dacso, Benedek announced to the others.
The vampire Benedek was extracting the heart from shrieked and screamed, looking for aid from the sky. He couldn’t shift or use his claws to get at his attacker. He tried to bend forward so he could reach behind him to rake at Benedek’s thighs. Benedek spun him around, which gave his back to Dacso, who had emerged fully from the ground.
The last I heard of him was two centuries ago. He was close to being a master vampire then. I have no idea why he is running with Frisi, but watch yourselves, he cautioned.
Giving Dacso an opportunity to attack him enticed the vampire to rush at Benedek. He ran right into Tomas’ fist, allowing his own momentum to impale him on the hunter’s arm. He screamed, spitting curses and maggots, tearing at Tomas with razor-sharp claws as he tried to hack off Tomas’ arm.
Behind him, Lojos materialized. The lesser vampire Benedek fought faced them and tried to warn Dacso there was a second hunter. Right at that moment, as he opened his mouth to shriek a warning, Benedek fully extracted the heart through his back. The vampire forgot about helping his companion. It was all about survival. Benedek tossed the heart high into the air.
Two bats broke from the rest of those in the distance and raced toward them even as lightning veined across the sky. Mataias was very accurate, hitting the heart with his first lash, following it up by incinerating the body.
Benedek left Dacso to Lojos and Tomas. Shifting again, he took to the sky, ignoring the bats coming to try to aid Dacso. They weren’t his concern. He had to take out the master vampire, Odon and Elek with Nicu.
As the bats neared the forest, a great horned owl swooped down and bit the head off one in midflight. The owl spat it out, and as the lesser vampire struggled to shift back to his own form, Mataias waited in the air, unseen, as was usual with the triplets. The owl plunged after the second bat while the first vampire ripped himself free of his miniature disguise.
Mataias exploded out of the air, tearing through the vampire’s chest wall as the undead plummeted toward the grove. He was fast, ripping the heart free, tossing it far from the vampire, who, without his head, had no way to know which direction his heart had been thrown. A jagged bolt of lightning destroyed the heart and jumped to the body before it could hit the ground. A second white-hot fork sizzled to the grove, finding the head the owl had spit out.