Part 30 (1/2)

Genevieve went for Rudiger, and collided with him, arms going around him, pus.h.i.+ng aside the deadly horn.

Together, they hit the curtain of water.

She clung tight as they plunged down, deep into the lake at the bottom of Khorne's Cleft. Under the surface, it was quiet, all sound m.u.f.fled.

She could stay under longer than the graf.

She could drown him. But he was struggling, fighting her.

Underwater, he was strong, pus.h.i.+ng her away. She felt the point of the horn sc.r.a.pe across her thigh, the silver stinging like a lashworm eating in the wound.

They broke the surface, and the noise was unbearable. Rudiger was shouting, and the water was hammering down around her.

Her blood was all around her.

Rudiger ducked under, and she saw his boots kick the air as he went down. She trod water, paddling with her arms.

Rudiger rose from the waters, horn held in both hands like a heavy sword, angling down at her.

She knifed her legs, and twisted out of the way, and the horn stabbed the unresisting water.

Making a fist, she punched Rudiger in the side, feeling but not hearing his ribs give way. He turned like a wounded fish, and stabbed out, forcing her back. A wave hit her, and she had to keep her balance. The horn came for her again, and she swam back.

She found rock behind her, and the waterfall pressed her down.

Slowly, thinking her pinned down, Rudiger came for her, horn ready for her heart.

'Die, vampire b.i.t.c.h,' he snarled.

The horn jumped, and she let herself be sucked down.

Rudiger stabbed the stone, and she shot out her hand, latching onto his throat, feeling his stiff wet beard in her grip.

The horn broke and she hurled her whole bodyweight at the graf.

She slammed against him and he lost his fragment of horn, his hands grabbing for her hair.

She had lost her cap, and her hair was loose.

Genevieve ignored the pain in her scalp, as Rudiger wrenched. He was under her, and as she swam for the mouth of the culvert, she kept pus.h.i.+ng the graf under the surface. He gulped down icy water, and choked out bubbles of air.

There was hard rock under her feet now, and she sc.r.a.ped the graf across it.

At the edge of Khorne's Cleft, the water flowed into a stream, and there was firm ground she could strike for.

Her eyeteeth were points of pain in her mouth, and she felt the red rage again.

She could hear the graf's heartbeat, feel the blood pounding in his throat. Her nails had dug in, and the beaten man was bleeding.

The waterfall had worn a bowl-like indentation in the rock, and at the edge of the culvert there was a ridge that almost breached the surface.

Genevieve slammed Rudiger against the ridge, cracking his spine.

She stood up, the water pouring out of her clothes, and looked down at her quarry.

He was still kicking, but he couldn't hurt her anymore.

The graf's warbow and quiver were washed away, floating down the stream. His knife was at the bottom of the lake. His grandfather's ivory trophy was broken and gone. The fight was out of him.

Behind her, Doremus emerged from the waterfall.

The need was in her throat, her heart, her stomach, and her loins.

She fell upon the graf like a beast, nuzzling his neckwounds with her mouth, and tearing through the skin, chewing into the veins with her sharp teeth.

The blood, iced cold by the water flowing around, gushed into her mouth, and she swallowed greedily.

This was not loving, this was preying.