- Enter from the left flank. – the witch shouted, noticing how the vampire was drinking the blood of one of her comrades. – Don’t get distracted!

Waving her wand, she shouted a spell that threw Amanda aside with a force similar to the most powerful hurricane. Amanda wasn’t ready for this and her senses were still dulled by impotence and thirst.

With a resounding crash, she fell to the ground, dragging a trail of several tens of meters behind her. Her landing was hard and painful, but she immediately jumped to her feet, overcoming everything else. She wanted only one thing – to empty the witch’s body from blood to the very last drop.

- Your Highness. – a vampire appeared in front of her face, covering her with his body. – You need to leave, we’ll finish everything ourselves. You are welcome.

- Step aside. Amanda said harshly, grinding her teeth.

Her anger reached its peak and she was ready to tear apart anyone who dared to attack them, who dared to harm her people, even if the price would be her own life. The thirst for revenge clouded her eyes, clouded her mind, destroyed all her love of life and pacifism.

Amanda finally managed to pull herself together to concentrate on the magic wand pointed in her direction and the witch, who seemed to look confident and brave, but trembled at the sight of her half-dead colleague.

Emphasizing this insignificant moment in her mind, Amanda grinned and rushed in her direction, dodging the spells flying at her. She knocked the witch down and swung at her with a clawed hand, but in the next moment her hands were entwined and tied with tight wood-fibrous whips. They were squeezing her forearms, trying to break her bones, squeeze out her blood.

The tree roots spread out to the sides, pulling the vampire behind them and freeing the other from the onslaught. With all her might, Amanda tried to break free, but the more fiercely she resisted, the stronger the lashes wrapped around her body, forcing her to scream and suffocate. She still not gave up, didn’t accept it, she wasn’t ready to just let some witches catch her.

Clutching the heels of her shoes to the ground, she resisting the opposing movement. Her hands were still in a hard trap and it was impossible to hope for help now. Her entire group was surrounded and taken by surprise. As the person responsible for this trip, as the person who took all the risks, she had to do something to help them.

Her gaze slid smartly on both sides of her, but she could not find Milos, in the current bustle and hellish pain in her limbs, she could not properly gather her senses to feel his presence. Her heart trembled for a split second, she could not even imagine that he was dead, she dismissed these thoughts. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

A loud, desperate cry rang out somewhere behind her and immediately died down in an instant, blurring her ears with the sound of splashed blood and torn flesh.

Amanda turned around and noticed how the very whips that had entwined her arms so closely had torn one of her people apart, who had recently covered her with his back.

Blood poured into her wide-open eyes, tightly clenched jaws protruded sharp angles on her cheekbones, and razor-sharp teeth bared under her scarlet lips as she screamed at the top of her throat, pulling the tight tree roots that entwined her.

She pulled them so hard that the skin on her hands cracked, blood flowed from the torn flesh. A barely audible crunch signaled a bone fracture, but this did not stop her, she exerted all her remaining strength to get out of this trap and with the last jerk, the roots flew into splinters, freeing hostage.

Staggering, she could barely get to her knees, as her hands were no longer able to help her in this.

Noticing this, the witch who sent the spell at her tensed up, but still looked satisfied with her antics. Even if she couldn’t kill the vampire, she at least seriously injured and weakened her.

But Amanda was mesmerized by just one sense of her fear. At that moment, it was as if she didn’t even have broken arms, didn’t bleed, all this faded into the background, giving way to a crazy smile that looked so much like her brother’s smile, but it didn’t matter either. All she wanted was to tear off the head of this witch who tried to distract her from helping her people and she would certainly take revenge on her for this.

She laughed so ironically, with a crack in her voice, but with a clear feeling of piercing cold in every exhalation.

Somewhere in the distance, a howl and a growl could be heard, which distracted Amanda for a moment, but then her gaze darted towards the witch, who was drawing a protective circle of crystals around herself.

- It won’t help you, honey. The vampire shook her head. – No matter how you defend yourself, this place will be the place of your death. Remember that.

The witch swallowed nervously and Amanda realized from her dilated pupils that this girl was not the leader of this group of witches. She immediately turned her gaze to the unconscious body of another witch, whom she had previously used as a free meal.

- What do you need in the territories of our lands? - Amanda asked her question. – Are you lost? Do you need help?

With these words, she defiantly showed elongated fangs.

- You’ll wish you didn’t exist on this earth at all, you vile vampire brat. – the girl said, spitting on the ground in Amanda’s direction. - Our queen will destroy you all.

- Oh, really? - the vampire grinned. "And you’re going to give your body to the worms for the glory of your queen?" How commendable. But you know, I’m not that impressionable and I can wait until the effect of your crystals has spent itself, or you will starve to death.

- I doubt you’ll wait. - The witch returned her grin. - There are thousands of us here, tens of thousands, and there’s nothing you can do. If you kill me, others will come, but your outcome is a foregone conclusion.

Amanda did not take her eyes off the red-haired girl, who hid in a protective circle and continued to whisper something, but her legs moved in a completely different direction and, grinning, she approached the unconscious witch and stepped on her throat with her foot, feeling the characteristic crunch of broken laryngeal bones. It could be said that Amanda gave this girl a quick and easy death.

- Your leader was too weak. - she immediately realized from the look of the red–haired girl that this already dead witch was the leader of their group.

Too many glances were turned in her direction in search of support and protection, but unfortunately for her, she died too quickly and apparently was one of those people who threw all their strength into the first attack, which played a cruel joke on her.