Page 23 of His Winter Wonderland

His aura moved left. Right. Stutter-step. Winter tossed the ball of fire to the left of his aura. The howls of pain coming from the vampire let her know her patience and focus had paid off. The vampires around them hissed and closed in. The words from one amongst them stopped them.

"If you interfere, boss will have your heads."

The hissing became quieter. So, the monster before her was the boss of the vampires. Figures. That why they listened to him. Embers rose up from the flames around her, letting her know she'd used too much energy. The spell was starting to wear off. Soon, she would need to find a place to hide and rest.

And she'd need to reserve a little energy to create a barrier spell to keep others from finding her why she slumbered. What started out as an okay night had turned back quickly. And to think, Rhen had mentioned in her dreams that today was Christmas where he was from. It was official, Christmas sucked. It sucked real hard.

The vampire before her had ceased howling. He'd also stripped out of his shirt. The burn mark on his chest was already starting to heal. Damn it. Winter had to accept the fact that she wouldn't be able to hurt him the way she wanted to. Fuck it. Her fire couldn't hurt her. And she needed a plan to take them all out.

And she didn't have much time. Creating more fire would take too much energy. Winter pulled from the flames surrounding her to conjure her next fire ball. This one needed to be bigger. Large enough to take them all out, but spare her, because well, she was the creator of it.

The ball sparked and whirled as it grew. But it was growing slowly. And the red eyed vampire was starting to approach her now the flames surrounding her was being pulled into the ball. That left her vulnerable. Come on, she whispered to the ball that was expanding, but not at the rate she needed it to.

Ignoring the hisses of his dumb ass squad, she continued putting her energy into the fire ball. Winter took a step back as the vampire neared her. Why wasn't he using vamp speed. Though he walked with a limp, that shouldn't stop him from using vamp speed.

"I'm going to drain you slowly," he growled as he neared her. "I'm not going to kill you. I'll keep you alive. You will be my meal for the rest of your immortal life. The Deciders cannot have you. You are mine."

The look in his eyes scared her. She'd much rather face her sisters and the council of wrath than face this monster. Dark lines were etched into his face. His lips were bloody from his long ass fangs piercing into them. His eyes were glowing red. This was him. This was the monster of her nightmares hiding behind the face of the protector.

Her sisters must've sent this creature to her nightmares. They were the only ones so devious and also capable of doing so. And they were the only ones capable of creating a monster that could weaken her this way. Not only her, but her entire trifecta. He reached her and stretched his arms toward her.

Winter whispered the final part of the spell and tossed the ball of fire into the sky. The vampire lunged for her. She closed her eyes, feeling her energy depleted. Please take them out, she whispered as fire erupted all around her. She was knocked to the ground. The monster landed on top of her.

Thankfully, the snow cushioned her fall. For her body at least. Her head hit the edge of a small boulder. In her weakened state, even that hurt. All around her, screams rent the air. She could hear the vampires running. She opened her eyes and stared up at Rhen, just as she felt his arm snaking under her.

He turned over with her. The flames that were blazing against his back, fizzled out in the snow. He was too smart for his own damn good. The grimace on his face let her know he was still in pain. Now was her chance to finish him off. A dagger to the heart would wound him enough for her to try and separate his head from his body.

Then she could build a fire to burn his remains. She was hoping that her fire would take out the stragglers. But she could still hear the idiots running around. Which meant, like him, they were wounded, but they weren't burned to the point of no return. Fucking weak ass fire ball. It was raining fire all around them and the vampire was using her as a shield.

"Let me go." Why was his grip on her arms so strong? He should be weak too.

“I like this side of you,” he growled, sounding just like the monster she feared in her dreams.

It was really him. She needed to accept that her sisters had found a way to terrorize her dreams and her reality. Those bitches would pay one day.

Begging her voice not to shake, she told him, “I’m not the same weak woman from my dreams.”

His gaze narrowed and he grimaced in pain then said, “And I’m not the same monster from my dreams. Here, I won’t hold back.”

“You call what you did to me in my nightmares holding back?”

He laughed. “You ran. How could I not chase? If I can’t mark her, I’ll mark you….” He went silent as one of his vampires called out to him.

“Rhen, finish her or grab her. We need to go.”

Winter paused. Rhen? His name was really Rhen?

“I told you it’s him,” Vicky whispered then coughed. “Our monster and our protector. Our beginning or our end.”

Winter shook her head as she stared down at him, but no words left her mouth. The back of her head throbbed. Her heart felt like it was racing so fast it would soon beat its way out of her chest. His name couldn’t truly be Rhen. That would be too much of a coincidence. That would mean, he truly was her monster and her protector.

“You’re really Rhen Fujisaki?” She whispered.

For a brief second, his red eyes dimmed and the black lines in his face began to fade. His fangs even started returning to their normal size.

“Rhen?” She whispered.

Rhen was the monster who hunted her and the hero who protected her. How? His gaze and his features were slowly returning to normal. Even his aura had gone from pitch black to a dull gray. He was slowly returning to the man she knew as her lover. But then everything changed within the blink of an eye.