Page 14 of Vampire Visions

I formed a clear shield around my body as I plopped down in the grass. I straightened my right leg and examined the odd angle. It was broken a couple inches above my ankle, and it felt like a clean break.

I pushed the inside of my calf to the right while simultaneously pushing the outside of my ankle to the left. I winced through the sudden onslaught of pain, but it dimmed when it was realigned. My hands felt like hot irons against my skin as I ran them over my leg to push healing magic into it. Speed healing a break was no fun. It was no one's fault but my own, though. I was on the perfect path to land gently on my feet with the assistance of the wind. But, nooooo. I had to be a badass. I rolled my eyes at myself.

Lesson learned: cushion the landing.

After sitting on my ass for a few more minutes, I stood and tested my leg. It held my weight just fine. No pain. No pinch. No weakness. So, I turned my attention to Stone. The demon grimaced but prepared to fight. Before he could make a move, I asked the vines to reach up behind him.

“Watch yer back!” Palmer shouted.

Stone spun, but my vines followed. They stayed out of his sight. I used to play this game with Dad when he and Father taught me how to be stealthy. Every time Stone moved, my vines moved with him. He reached his hand behind him, and they pushed out so his touch missed them. When he huffed out in frustration, I told the grape vines to tangle around his horns.

I physically jerked the rope-like vine, pulling him closer, and his eyes filled with desire. I smirked, pushing him into the wall of coiling plants that kept the rest of my trophies secure. These guys were going easy on me, and it was aggravating. But it was also fun.

I looked at Grim then. Holding both of my hands up, palms facing out, I folded my fingers down one by one until I held only four in the air. He rolled his eyes at me and tapped the top of his wrist. He thought I was taking too long. Fine. I’d speed this along, but not too fast, because that’s when mistakes were made.

York and Levi stepped off the patio together. The druid formed two whip-like vines and handed them over to Levi. He looked really uncomfortable with them, but York patted his shoulder and kept stalking forward.

York pulled on my hold over the grapevines, and I fought for dominance for the second time today. These were my plants. I created them. He couldn’t have them. We pushed and pulled while standing completely still. The only tell York gave to his struggle against me was the twitching of his fingers. He wasn’t back to his full strength yet, and it was showing.

I smiled at York when I heard Levi moving in. He was quiet for a human, so light on his feet that it briefly shocked me. The whistling of wind was the only indication I got before an earthy whip wrapped around my wrist. The hit stung, but it didn’t break my focus. The pain intensified it.

I turned my head just enough to see Levi with my peripheral vision. I envisioned those earthy whips coiling around his body, securing his arms tightly by his sides. And they obeyed. The whip in his hand twined around his arms, squeezing them to his sides as he fought. Releasing my wrist, the second whip raced back to its holder and gripped his legs together. Levi lost his balance and fell to the ground.

York furrowed his brow, watching my facial expression. My smile faded to a smirk. I set the trap, and I knew he’d walk right into it. He picked one foot up, taking a step closer to me. When his next foot joined, I jerked my hand against my body and laughed as my trap sprung. Hidden in the grass was a small circle, and he stepped right in it. Child’s play, I know… but if it worked, it worked.

He hung upside down, swaying side to side with his arms crossed over his chest. He could get out of that easily. The fact that he didn’t showed me just how weakened he’d been. He didn’t want to exert the energy he’d been building. I had noticed his eyes didn’t look so sunken anymore. His body had started to fill back out. His arms were a little thicker than they were yesterday morning. Almost like he’d bulked up overnight, but I knew he’d been healing physically with the help of his element.

“How many seeds did it take you to pull all this off?” York asked me with genuine curiosity.

“Three.” I danced between the vines stringing my mates and friends up. “Eight down, two to go.”

“I don’t think I’m a fan of this position.” Palmer admitted.

“She’s got me by the horns,” Stone complained to him as he struggled to pull his horns free. He shifted and the vines moved to clasp his hands together. He groaned in annoyance before trying to burn his way through them. Just like with Jack, for every vine he damaged, two more appeared. When he realized he was tangling himself up worse, he finally stopped struggling and looked around at everyone else.

I focused on my last two opponents, watching closely as Grim pushed himself into the Void. He popped out a second later, standing behind me with his scythe at my neck. I didn’t even think, I just reacted.

I slung my left elbow back, connecting with absurd force against his ribs. As he bent to lessen the blow, I shoved the back of my head into his face. Then, I grabbed his right arm — the one holding the scythe — and flipped him over my shoulder. The weapon scraped its way down my chest, but I didn't let it divide my attention.

Before the reaper hit the ground, vines swallowed him up and pulled him into my living trophy wall. They left no part of him exposed except his face. I leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “Nine down,” I whispered.

Sarge was the only one left standing — or not wrapped in fruiting plants. He lumbered into the open space and faced me. His hands were casually tucked in the pockets of his olive green shorts. He looked around him as if judging the space and shrugged his shoulders to himself. “You sure you're ready for me?” He questioned with a confident tilt to his head.

“I’m positive,” I called back, nodding.

“Alright,” he said to himself with another shrug of his shoulders and one last glance around. He pulled his hands from his pockets and spread his arms wide. In three blinks of my eyes, a dragon stood before me.

He was massive. Sarge filled the left-over space in my yard completely. When he stretched his leathery, demon-like wings out, he knocked down a small tree and flipped my patio table over. The grand green and gold dragon swung his head from side to side, surveying the damage he’d caused, before turning his gigantic eyes to me.

He looked down his nose at me, and I smiled up at him in awe. “I’ve never fought a dragon before,” I yelled up at him. He huffed a heated breath at me and lifted one car-sized foot my way. When it hit the ground with his step, it shook the earth beneath us. One more step had him closing the distance between us. But Sarge didn’t come at me.

No.

He went for everyone else.

That caused me to panic. I knew he wouldn’t hurt them. Not on purpose, anyway. I mean, I didn’t think he would… I didn’t want them in his way, though. This was between me and the dragon now.

I released my hold on the guys and used the wind to shove them back. Sarge roared hellaciously at me. I felt the deep sound as much as I heard it. My hounds bayed from inside the house, sensing a threat but unable to get to me.