Kissed by a Dark Prince(100)

It was times like this, when Vail looked much as he had done before meeting Kordula, that Loren felt he stood a chance of getting through to his younger brother.

“I need her back, Vail. Please. What I did was wrong, but it does not make what you do now right.” Loren flexed his fingers around his blade, preparing himself.

“Speaking with him isn’t going to solve anything,” Sable spat, aimed her compact crossbow and loosed the bolt.

It flew directly at Vail’s head.

Loren’s heart hitched.

Vail calmly raised a hand and deflected it at the last second, using his telekinesis to divert its course. The bolt zipped into the bushes and trees lining the edge of the park.

“Give me my friend back you bastard!” Sable drew two vicious-looking long knives from the harness around her shoulders and ran at Vail.

Fool.

Vail gave her a bored look, flicked his wrist and sent her flying through the air. She shrieked and flailed, dropping her blades. Bleu growled and sprinted, moving in a blur of speed. He pressed down hard on his final step and pushed off, leaping high into the air and catching Sable. He landed safely and Sable stopped shrieking, and instantly pushed out of his arms.

“I’ll kill him for that,” she barked and Loren signalled Bleu, silently instructing him to hold her back before she got herself killed. Olivia would never forgive him if that happened, and she would never forgive herself either.

Loren looked over his shoulder at Thorne. Would the Third King’s plan really work? There was only one way of finding out.

Thorne nodded, his wild dark chestnut hair shifting with the action and falling down to caress his brow. His irises glowed red around the edges, he pulled his sword free of the earth, and wielded it with both hands. He roared, the sound shaking the earth and drawing Vail’s focus to him.

Vail scowled at the demon, snarled and held his hands out. The air before them shimmered and his two shorter blades appeared in his grasp.

Thorne charged him, each heavy footfall rocking the ground beneath Loren’s feet, his sword held at his side, pointed behind him, ready for him to swing when he was close enough.

Vail hissed, his ears flattening against the side of his head.

Thorne lashed out in the demon tongue. “You will pay for what you did, little wretch.”

Those words confirmed the rumours. Vail and Kordula had been the ones to kill the previous Third King and his queen. Thorne’s father and mother.

Thorne swung hard and Vail blocked with both of his swords. The demon king’s broadsword crashed into them and Vail grunted as the force of the blow drove him backwards, his footing slipping on the damp grass, leaving long muddy tracts in it.

Vail shoved forwards and Loren didn’t give him a chance to recover or attack Thorne. He launched himself towards his brother, throwing his free hand forwards at the same time, using a telekinetic blow to send him tumbling across the grass. Vail lost his weapons and eventually came to a halt over twenty metres away, covered in grass and mud. He shakily pushed himself up and growled as he came to his feet.

Vail called his blades and they whipped into his hands. He stared across the dimly lit park to Loren, breathing hard, his eyes laced with pain that Loren could feel in him as the connection they shared via blood grew stronger again.

Loren held his head high, completely unaffected by the expenditure of psychic power it had taken to toss Vail that far.

Vail wrapped one arm around his middle and spat blood out onto the grass. He looked back at Loren and Loren swore that he smiled before he came blazing towards him. Vail flipped his two swords in his hands so they pointed downwards from his grip and growled as he attacked.

Loren matched him blow for blow, easily predicting his brother’s attacks. Vail was holding back. Why?

Was his brother toying with him?

Did he want to give him hope of saving Olivia only to take it away, increasing his suffering?

Loren shoved his questions away and focused on the fight, not giving Vail a chance to best him. He could keep up with him now that he was back at full strength, his bond with Olivia completed. Vail flipped his blades again and attacked with both, forcing Loren to defend.

Bleu came out of nowhere and thrust forwards with his spear, catching Vail in his side and cutting through his armour but only nicking his flesh, barely drawing blood. His aim had been off. Not good, but not a disaster.

Only a weapon made of the same material as the armour could cut through it, negating its effect. Vail could heal his armour but that meant sending it back into the bands around his wrists, leaving himself vulnerable.

Or more vulnerable than he already was anyway.

Vail turned on Bleu and hissed.

Loren seized his chance and swung at Vail. Vail desperately lashed out with a blast of power, forcing Loren to teleport to avoid it. He landed a short distance behind Vail and continued his attack, aiming for his brother’s back.