IZEL

"Perseus," I heard Jaeger breathe out, and I didn't like the way his voice sounded.

"Glad to see you're alive and well, cousin," the vampire, Perseus, purred. "Though I'd have preferred if you were dead." His gaze flickered to me, "aren't you going to introduce her?" Jaeger didn't answer so the vampire continued, "I suppose there's no need for introductions since I already know who she is, but I should at least introduce myself. Greetings, I'm Perseus," he bowed mockingly, "the Zas."

"The—the Zas?" I stammered.

"In the flesh," he confirmed. 

He looked less intimidating than I imagined, but I knew more than anyone else not to judge a book by its cover. He had peach skin, long blond hair and light brown eyes, almost bronze. Like Jaeger, he was tall, with quite the figure. The Zas wore all black, and just by his gait, I could tell how arrogant he was.

"And, unfortunately, the cousin of the Impurity beside you," he added.

"Cousin?" I dared a glance at Jaeger and noted how tense his jaw was. 

Perseus laughed, a deep, menacing sound, "did he not tell you?" He cocked his head to the side, "how much do you not know about him?"

The Zas was probably trying to distract me, to get me to lose my focus so he could take me down easier, well that wouldn't work. I sheathed my dagger and replaced it with my sword.

"I know enough."

"Did you know that it was because of him that his parents died?" The Zas continued, and he noted the slight crease of my brows then grinned. "You didn't know that either? Well, if it wasn't for the Impurity, both his parents would probably still be alive." 

"It wasn't his fault," I defended, realising he was implying that they died only because he was an Impurity.

"Oh, but it was," the Zas retorted. "The few people Jaeger's ever cared about have ended up dead, and now, you're going to join the list, darling."

"Don't you dare call me that."

"Or what? You'll kill me?"

"Precisely."

"Hmm, you're confident for a human," he drawled.

"And you talk too much for a creature from hell," I spat.

The Zas' lips curled, "I like you, I think I'm going to keep you."

The Zas took one step forward, and I took a deep breath, exhaling as I prepared for his attack. 

"But I'm not in the mood to fight," he said, and suddenly a swarm of vampires appeared around us.

"You can fight them," the Zas continued, "Then I'll leave once I get what I need."

Jaeger and I fixed our holds on our swords, watching the vampires surrounding us.

"There's about 18—"

"19," I corrected Jaeger.

"Oh, sorry for not being specific enough."

"Go ahead," the Zas said and the vampires didn't hesitate before they stormed toward us.

One after the other, they kept coming and coming and coming from all directions. I killed one and before I knew it, another one was on me. We didn't even get a second to breathe and I felt my arms losing strength the more I pierced vampires with my sword, pulled it out then pierced another. I got hit more than a couple of times, as did Jaeger, but neither of us were taken down by it, not until another swarm of vampires appeared from nowhere, but this time, they weren't regular vamps, they were Supremes and Quearus'. The Zas got us to use all our energy on the vamps so we wouldn't be able to handle all of these.

A gush of cold air followed each of their movements, and each blow affected me more than before. My sword went through one vampire but before I could pull it out another vampire planted its foot in my gut, forcing me to the ground. Jaeger immediately pierced his sword through that vampire's heart, with a lot more intensity than needed. He then tossed his sword toward me and I caught it and stabbed the vampire that was coming toward me. 

Jaeger grabbed my sword from the body of the vampire I had stabbed and we continued fighting. I only managed to take down one other vampire before I was on the ground again.

"Alright, fun times over," the Zas suddenly said, and with that, the vampires that were before me made their way towards Jaeger.

"What the—" my words were cut off when a hand suddenly grab the back of my collar and forced me to my feet.

That hand, I realised, was the Zas'. He was pulling me away from Jaeger, who was now surrounded by more vampires than I could count.

Panic surged through me. What was the Zas planning?

I quickly unsheathed a dagger and slashed it around me as fast as I could. The Zas turned his face just in time and my dagger only slit his cheek, a wound that disappeared within seconds. The Zas grabbed the dagger from my hand and tossed it away, and just as he did I unsheathed another dagger and shoved it into his arm making him release my collar. I swiftly turned, aiming the point at the heart of the Zas, but the Zas caught my arm inches before the dagger met its target. I released the dagger, intending to catch it with my other hand but the Zas caught it mid-air before I did.

"I've seen you do that trick before," he said. "Very smart, I must admit."

And with that he twisted my arm, pinning it behind my back and holding the point of the dagger against my neck.

"Impurity," the Zas called in a sing-song, "guess who I have captive."

The dozens of vampires suddenly stopped attacking Jaeger and he went still when he saw me.

The Zas pressed the dagger against my skin.

"I swear I'll kill you if you—"

"Hurt her?" The Zas asked, cutting him off. "Really? I feel like killing her just to see your reaction."

"Perseus," Jaeger warned.

"Yes, cousin?" the Zas asked innocently as he played with the dagger against my neck.

I flinched when the dagger drew blood and Jaeger's eyes flickered, something in them turning dark.

"Don't even think about it," the Zas advised, noting the change as well.

"Just do whatever you need to do to get rid of him, Jaeger!" I shouted.

"Oh, darling," the Zas said as he caressed my cheek with the blade of the dagger, "you're his weakness, he won't do anything because he knows I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Are you doing this because you're afraid of facing him?" I asked, "you make us fight a ton of vampires and now you do this? Coward."

The Zas scoffed, "you're talking a bit much for someone with a knife to their neck." 

"And you're a bit too much of a coward for someone who's supposedly the strongest vampire," I spat.

The Zas chuckled humourlessly before he punctured my forearm with the dagger. I screamed, a searing pain engulfing me. 

"Perseus!" Jaeger roared, speeding toward us only to be grabbed by a vampire and pulled back, but even then he didn't stop. He fought the vampire off of him and decapitated him and made to come to us but was stopped by more vampires, most of which he managed to take down.

"Stop," the Zas ordered, bringing the dagger to my neck. That's the only thing that got Jaeger to stop. "I won't kill her just yet, that is if you drop your sword willingly and beg."

Jaeger hesitated. He wasn't actually considering doing that, was he?

"Don't do it," my voice came out unsteady because of the pain.

"I have to," Jaeger said after a long pause.

"Don't do it, Jaeger! You have to kill him, that's all that matters."

"You matter!"

"Not as much as all the lives we could save if you kill him."

"You have to remember Izzy," Jaeger said, "you're the only life I care about."

"You're just like your father, falling for a human," the Zas gagged. "Like father like son" The Zas turned his attention to me, "did you know Izzy, that Jaeger's father killed your parents."

My heart dropped to my stomach. What had he just said?

"I'm kidding," the Zas said, laughing at my facial expression. "That would have been quite interesting though, wouldn't it have been?" He mused but then went serious again, looking at Jaeger, "the sword, Impurity."

"Jaeger don't!" I screamed, but he didn't listen.

He slowly loosened his grip on his sword, ready to release it.

"Don't do it. Jaeger don't!"

"But you'll die!" He shouted, his voice cracking.

"But you'll die!" I shouted back

"Oh, this is so heartfelt. It's disgusting," the Zas retched. 

The Zas looked at Jaeger, serious again as he told him to release the sword, and he did. Jaeger let go of the sword. The Zas told him to kick the sword away, and he did, once again ignoring my protests. Then the Zas told him to beg, and he did. My eyes burned at the sight, but the rain covered up my flood of tears.

"Great," the Zas cheered. "That wasn't so hard now was it? Now that that's over and done with, what else do I want? Oh! That's right. I want your blood, on your sword."

Just then a vampire appeared from the trees. How many more vampires were hidden?

It was a Quearus, the Quearus. The Quearus who had tried to kill us more than once.

"I'll do the honours," the Quearus said as it picked up the sword and shoved it straight through Jaeger's body. A small shriek escaped him, but his mouth remained open as if his cry was unable to find its way out.

I stood rigid with terror, too afraid to move, forgetting how to breathe for a moment as I watched as Jaeger looked down at the sword lodged in his body and then lifted his gaze to meet my eyes.

"Jaeger!" I screamed as he fell to his knees. His eyes were still locked on mine. Blood kept pouring out his body, being washed away by the rain, as if none of it was real.

I knocked my head back against the Zas, snatching my arm from his grip and kicking him back before running toward Jaeger. I didn't have my sword, and all my daggers were in the bodies of other vampires, so I was unarmed, my strength unreliable compared to the strength of the vampires before me. The vampires could have leapt at me, but they all remained still, probably following some command from the Zas.

I knelt before Jaeger, cupping his face in my hands as I willed for him to stay awake, to keep looking at me despite the way his eyes were slowly losing life. Jaeger suddenly fell forward, his head resting against my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he croaked, and it felt as if my heart was being squeezed in my chest, lacking room to beat properly. Time stopped as the gravity of the situation weighed down on me.

Jaeger... was dying.

He was dying.