Bonds of the Vampire King (Blood Fire Saga Book 7) by Bella Klaus (romantic books to read TXT) 📗

now, we had reached the palace gates and were driving down the cherry blossom-lined boulevard of Caedes Road.

Running down the middle of the bus’s top level were rows and rows of seats where the mercenaries stood separately from the vampires, who appeared to be transfixed by the panoramic views of the wide roads, open spaces, and palatial mansions of Lamia. They were mostly demon hybrids who lived outside Hell, or pure-bred demons who preferred to work outside the confines of a society like Logris. Now that I knew that Hell was divided into factions, I wondered how many of them fell under the rulership of Hades.

I guided Valentine to the front row and sat. “What’s so terrible about these ophanim?”

He took the seat next to mine, draping his arm around my back and balancing the trident on the window ledge. “Most people your age believe that light magic is good and dark magic is bad.”

I shook my head. “Kresnik is a Light Lord, and he’s evil. What aren’t you telling me?”

He exhaled a long breath. “The demons you see in Logris and even those in places like Koffeik are nothing like the nightmarish beings in Hell.”

“Right…” I’d never seen a truly frightening demon, but my encounter with Masood, the gorilla shifter who had tried to drug Beatrice, was evidence that such monsters existed. I stared up at Valentine, prompting him to continue.

“A similar principle applies to angels,” Valentine said. “The only difference between demons and angels is the lightness or darkness of their magic.”

My brows drew together. “You mean there are angelic monsters?”

He nodded. “Ophanim are nothing like reapers or the archangels. Seeing them up close with the naked eye can cause insanity, even in supernaturals.”

“What are they doing outside the wards?” I asked.

The double-decker rose into the air, making my stomach lurch. I glanced at Valentine, who rubbed his chin and stared out of the window with clouded eyes. Either he was so deep in contemplation that he hadn’t even noticed the bus flying, or he suspected it would need to reach our destination by air.

Placing a hand on his thigh, I gave him a gentle pat. “Did the Supernatural Council ever discuss using ophanim?”

Valentine gave me a slow nod. “We spoke about strategies to protect Logris if all else failed. I expect the Angel King has decided to make sure the humans who attacked Logris will never threaten supernaturals again.”

My breath caught. “He’s taking away their sanity?”

Valentine bowed his head.

I shot to my feet. “What can we do to stop it?”

He grabbed my wrist. “The scent of ozone is already in the air, and their celestial light is penetrating the wards. By the time the bus reaches the wards, it will already be too late.”

Grief clamped around my chest and squeezed with all its might, making it impossible to breathe, no matter how much I leaned forward and struggled for air. I had noticed the ozone as we had walked through Valentine’s suite. Several minutes had passed since then—plenty of time to frighten the humans attacking Logris into madness.

“How could he do something so terrible?” I whispered.

Valentine pulled me down to the seat and rubbed gentle circles on my back. “From his point of view, it was a choice between saving the citizens of Logris from annihilation and meting out divine justice to a horde of attackers.”

“Kresnik manipulated them.” I met Valentine’s solemn eyes, pleading with him to understand. “He’s been claiming that he’s God and telling everyone that demons want to tear them apart—”

“Did Kresnik provide them with any evidence?” Valentine asked. “Did he bring forward humans who had been injured by demons, humans with eye-witness accounts of demon attacks, reports of towns or villages laid to waste?”

I drew back, shaking my head from side to side. Valentine couldn’t be agreeing with the Angel King’s actions. Couldn’t he see how disturbing it could be to realize that the monsters reserved for horror movies were actually real and dwelling in London? Kresnik had thousands of years of experience in manipulating humans, and now they were the ones who would suffer.

“What about that light mage who pretended to be me to earn a million-pound reward?” I asked.

Valentine inclined his head. “The one he forced to glamor herself into a demon?”

I nodded. “Because of Kresnik, the humans think Logris is crammed with creatures like that.”

Valentine placed a firm hand on my shoulder. “Think about what you’re saying, Morata. Is it right to destroy someone based on how they look?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. When Valentine put it like that, he made the humans sound unreasonable for wanting to protect themselves.

“They were terrified of what they saw, there’s no doubt about that,” Valentine said, his voice soft with understanding. “But look at how quickly he was able to mobilize enough humans to attack a hidden city.”

My shoulders sagged, and I bit down on my bottom lip. Some of what he was saying actually made sense.

“Kresnik didn’t stir them up with statistics or scenes of eviscerated humans or any other kind of evidence,” he continued. “Only a handful of people died during the phoenix sightings, but those were mostly traffic accidents. Those humans tore down the wards at his instigation because they were quick to act upon lies without challenging them.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I’m sure he’s blaming Logris for everything that’s gone wrong in the Human World.”

By the time I opened my eyes, we’d left Lamia and were passing over Queens Road, the street that separated Valentine’s kingdom from Striga and also led to the edge of the wards.

On a normal day, anyone looking out from Logris would see Richmond Park and its forests, open spaces, and wildlife. Now, there was a barrier of bright light that stung my retinas.

Valentine took my hand, turning my attention back to him. “Centuries ago, humans hunted supernaturals, and that is why we created cities like Logris. Cities governed by leaders who ensure that supernaturals don’t exercise their power against humans and