Vengeance (The Captive #6)(70)
Passing by the prison, he spotted two vampires in the stocks who hadn’t been there yesterday. Hopelessness filled their eyes when they lifted their heads to look at him. His fingers itched to smash the locks keeping them in place, but setting these vampires free wouldn’t get him what he wanted.
Turning down the side roads, he continued to mill through the crowd. As time passed, and he made his way through the town for the third time he began to become increasingly agitated when he still didn’t see Kane anywhere amongst the masses. The sun was nearing the horizon when he turned onto the road leading toward the orphanage again.
He was beginning to think he would have to return to the orphanage, and try to come up with a new plan, when he finally spotted Kane amongst the throng. The ugly vampire was walking toward the orphanage with two other vamps.
He stopped any pretense of trying to blend in as he shoved his way through the crowd toward Kane. He was still thirty feet away when Kane placed his foot onto the first step of the porch. He couldn’t allow Kane to go inside, couldn’t take the risk of him finding Tempest.
Shoving aside a woman in a white cloak, he ignored her startled cry when she sprawled onto the ground. Tugging the crossbow free of his side, he jerked it up and leveled it at Kane. Bloodlust pulsed through him; red filled his vision as his fangs tingled with anticipation. He’d waited months for this moment. The idea of it had driven him through the uncertain and arduous nights and days following his death. It would be so easy; he could have him now.
Don’t kill him, the thought blazed across his mind as he bellowed, “Kane!”
The vampire froze on the step; William fired the bolt in his crossbow when Kane turned toward him. Dropping the crossbow, William jerked two stakes from his cloak and raced across the distance separating them. He’d been fast as a human, now preternatural strength and rage fueled that speed.
He could feel the pulse of Tempest’s blood in his body, flooding him with a power he’d never experienced before. The bolt hit Kane’s shoulder, knocking the vampire back a step seconds before William leapt at him.
He soared through the air over the last three feet of space separating them and slammed his shoulder into Kane’s chest. A humph of surprise escaped Kane as the two of them smashed through the stair railing and toppled over the side of the porch. He couldn’t kill Kane right now, it was necessary he remained alive, but he would enjoy pummeling the crap out of him while he got the chance to.
His punches shattered a cheekbone with the first blow and Kane’s nose with the next. Kane threw his arms up to try to dislodge him, but William continued to deliver a series of staggering punches that would have left a human with only mush for a face. Leaning back, he grabbed hold of the end of the bolt and twisted it, driving it deeper into Kane’s shoulder.
Kane howled, but the howl was cut short when William drove one of his stakes straight into his solar plexus. Kane’s arms and legs jerked straight up in unison in reaction to the instrument piercing his flesh. Blood splattered over William in warm, wet droplets that he barely noticed trickling down his face. He savored its coppery scent as it filled his nostrils and fell upon his lips.
Kane’s skin turned beet red, beads of sweat trickled down his face as his hands clawed at the offending instrument. William bit back a laugh of maniacal glee as Kane’s body writhed and squirmed beneath his.
What he wouldn’t give to end it now, to finally have the revenge he’d worked for so persistently since his human death. All he had to do was drive the other stake straight into Kane’s blackened, cowardly heart. And then what? He’d be dragged to the stocks and locked away, or perhaps burned at the stake before he could ever tell anyone who he was, or have a chance to see the queen.
Tempest, he reminded himself.
Her name alone calmed some of the frenzy simmering within him, but his fangs still tingled, and he couldn’t shake the bloodlust thrumming through his veins as red suffused his vision. He couldn’t leave her alone; he couldn’t fail her. He was counting on his capture to work as a distraction for her. However, he wanted to dig in with his bare hands and rip Kane’s heart out so badly he could almost feel the weight of it within his palm.
He could kill Kane; his vengeance could finally be complete. Tempest’s wintry scent teased his nostrils as with a guttural shout, he drove his remaining stake downward. It had taken all of his unraveling restraint, but the stake was centimeters off being a fatal blow to the heart when it plunged into Kane’s chest.
Kane’s hands clawed at the stake, his feet kicked against the ground as he choked and gurgled. A vicious smile curved William’s mouth as the realization hit him that the stupid ass believed it to be a killing blow. Then Kane’s feet stopped kicking, and the freaked sounds escaping him abated a little as reality sank in.
“Remember me?” William taunted.
A snarl curved Kane’s mouth, just as three hundred pounds of muscle plowed into William. The other two vamps smashed him to the ground. Fists and feet rained down upon him as the two vampires pummeled him. He’d attacked Kane in order to be captured, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. He didn’t care if he killed one of these bastards, they had no idea who he was and wouldn’t be of any use to him.
Grabbing hold of one of their feet, he smashed his forehead down on the man’s knee. The force of the blow caused the joint to bend completely backward with a loud crack. The vampire screamed and grabbed at his leg before falling to the ground. Rolling to the side, William managed to avoid the feet of the other vampire before coming up against the side of the orphanage.