The Play-Toy Of Three Lycan Kings-Chapter 412: Carnage II

SAGE

I tore through the pack like breath given purpose.

Mist wrapped around me, my body dissolving into vapor and intent as I slipped between trees and rooftops, through wards and shadows, moving too fast for eyes to follow.

The night rushed past in fragments—stone, iron, blood, fire—yet my mind burned hotter than any of it.

The Queen.

The realization clawed at me with every passing second.

Claire had not learned that magic by accident—she had been the telling the truth in that regard at least.

I had seen it in her mind—the precision, the structure, the discipline behind her spells. That kind of power was not born in secrecy or desperation. It was taught.

The Queen had trained her. When? I did not know. But the truth tasted bitter on my tongue.

How dare she?

How dare that woman touch another life, mold it into a blade, and aim it at me while wearing the mask of inevitability?

I had thought I was using her. Thought I was clever, strategic, exacting my revenge with cold intelligence.

Instead, I had been a pawn.

Again.

Anger flooded me, suffocating, vengeful thoughts piling over one another until they threatened to choke reason entirely from my chest.

Why teach Claire at first though? Why give her mother an audience? Had she begged?

Had there been some hidden debt, some bargain I had not yet uncovered? Or had the Queen simply seen potential and decided to corrupt it, as she did all things she touched?

I needed answers.

I needed her head.

The barren lands waited ahead, just beyond the outer ring of the pack—dry earth stripped of life, a scar between territories. The teleportation channel back to the witch community lay there, dormant but obedient to my call.

If I moved fast enough, I could reach the Queen before she sensed the shift, before she realized the truth had surfaced.

Time was razor-thin.

I cut sharply around the edge of a stone dwelling—

—and heard a scream.

A woman’s scream.

It ripped through the night, terrified, the sound of someone already halfway to death.

I cursed under my breath, the mist faltering as irritation warred with something far more inconvenient.

Conscience.

I shimmered back into solid form, boots striking the earth as I turned toward the sound. Every instinct screamed at me to keep going, to let the warriors handle it, to let fate take its course.

But this darkness... I had unleashed it myself, after all, in a fit of misguided justice and foolish arrogance, and I didn’t want another woman to die for it...

Not when I could do something.

Grinding my teeth, I veered off course and ran.

I found them exactly where I expected.

A small house at the edge of the settlement... Neighbors peered through cracked windows and doorframes, frozen by fear, waiting for help they prayed would arrive in time.

It wouldn’t have.

The vampire stood just outside the threshold, one hand wrapped around a woman’s throat, lifting her clean off the ground. Her legs kicked weakly, nails scraping uselessly against his wrist as her face purpled, eyes bulging with panic.

He wore the face of someone she loved.

I could tell by the way she stared at him, betrayal eclipsing terror. A husband, perhaps. A brother. Someone whose image he had plucked straight from her mind with practiced ease.

Revulsion curled through me.

How the gods allowed beings like this to walk the earth—vampires, ancients alike—I would never understand.

"Drop her," I said casually.

My voice carried without effort, slicing cleanly through the night.

The vampire turned slowly, surprise flickering across his borrowed features before his mouth stretched into a pleased smile. He did not recognize me as an enemy. Not yet.

"What are you doing here?" he asked lightly, tightening his grip as the woman gasped. "Aren’t you meant to be at the main pack? Making sure the royals are finished off? Getting the location of the Abstenum out of their heads?"

I met the woman’s gaze, held it steady, felt her fear spike at the sight of me—bloodstained, glowing faintly, wrong in ways she couldn’t name.

"I’m here to save her," I said.

For a moment, the vampire blinked.

Then he laughed.

A sharp, barking sound that carried a hint of disappointment. "You’re a good joker," he said, glancing down at the woman. "Not like our master claimed."

He lowered his head, lips parting, fangs sliding free.

I moved. Speed tore through my veins, the power of ancients answering my call as I crossed the distance between us in a blink.

My hand sank into his chest with precision, fingers plunging through flesh and bone until they closed around his heart. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Agony lanced up my arm.

The organ burned like acid, searing my skin, the pain white-hot and vicious enough to draw a snarl from my throat. I ground my teeth together, refusing to release him.

Half-ancient. I reminded myself of that, as usual, clung to it as the pain threatened to overwhelm me. This would heal. I would endure.

The vampire screamed meanwhile.

He dropped the woman instantly, her body hitting the ground in a limp heap as he clawed desperately at my arm, nails tearing into my sleeve, into my skin. Curses poured from his mouth, vile and broken, as the illusion over his face shattered.

Rot greeted me.

His true features emerged—sunken eyes, skin sloughing from bone, maggots writhing free from his mouth and spilling down his chin. The stench hit me a heartbeat later, thick and nauseating.

I closed my eyes in disgust. With a sharp twist, I tore his heart free.

He shrieked again, collapsing forward as I flung the blackened, stinking organ to the ground. Fire answered my call instantly, roaring down from the sky in a column of blinding heat, incinerating the heart.

The vampire dove for it anyway, desperation overriding sense, and was consumed with it—fire devouring flesh and bone until nothing remained but scorched earth and drifting ash.

Silence followed.

The woman lay on the ground, coughing weakly, staring at me with wide, uncomprehending eyes. She watched as my hand healed itself, flesh knitting together, skin cleansing itself of blood and rot until it looked untouched.

Her expression shifted from awe to fear. She scrambled backward, pressing herself against the wall of her house, shaking.

I shrugged, suddenly tired.

"Go inside," I told her gently. "Lock your doors. Don’t open them for anyone."

She didn’t wait for further encouragement.

I turned away before she could thank me, before she could ask questions I didn’t have the patience to answer. As I moved, a thought struck me, unwelcome.

Where were the Ancients?

This region should have been covered. If none were here, then the fighting near the royals’ quarters must have been worse than I thought.

It meant more vampires had trooped there in my absence... maybe answering the call I had promised after dealing with Adam and his brothers.

I glanced in that direction, a knot tightening in my chest.

Adam.

A breath left me slowly. "You better live," I murmured to the night.

Then I dissolved back into mist and surged toward the barren lands, anger reigniting, purpose sharpening once more.

The Queen would answer for this. Tonight.