Shadow of Death: Book Two of the Chosen Chronicles by Karen Dales Read Free Book Online Page A

removed as if bitten or chewed off, leaving oozing stumps.
    “ What the hell did you do to Degare? ” demanded Hugo as he pushed through the throng; only to come up short at the sight of the one he had believed could be Master after him. Brown eyes widened at the sight of the man he once trusted with the operations and management of the Chosen of France .
    Ignoring the accusation, the Angel refused to look up from the writhing Vampire. He could feel the hatred for this creature tightening his jaw. His hands attempted to mimic the movement but only weakly clenched at his sides.
    “ This is what the Chosen are up against. ” The Angel ’ s whisper carried to the back of the theatre. “ This is what is killing the Chosen. ”
    “ What are you saying l ’ Ange ? ” sneered Hugo, disbelieving his own eyes.
    “ This is a Vampire, Hugo, ” replied Fernando, pushing to stand next to the Angel, followed by Bridget. The smug tones were not lost on all present. “ You were duped by a Vampire, just as we were. ”
    Hugo snorted. “ Answer this ridiculous accusation, Degare, and I will ensure you have a quick release. ”
    The Vampire flicked his gaze from the Master of France to the Angel and back and began to laugh. “ It is the Vampires who are supreme and we will make a wasteland with your corpses. ”
    “ But why? Why do this? ” asked Jorge, confusion lighting his fair features.
    The laugh came again, this time ending with coughing. “ You call yourselves Chosen, but you do not know for what or why. Vous êtes dépassés. Vous êtes des imbéciles. Les Vampires vont dominer et toute l'humanité sera à nos pieds. You cannot save them or yourselves. ”
    “ You are wrong. ” The finality of the Angel ’ s conviction snapped the Vampire ’ s gaze back to him. “ Vampires have confused the Chosen for centuries, fooling them into forgetting their humanity, but no longer. Now they will remember what you have done to them and they will regain what they lost. ”
    Turning to Notus, the Angel sent, Now. Do it now.
    The monk took a deep shuddering breath at what he was asked to do, but that, at least, had been part of their plan. It was difficult to see one of the kind that had captured and drained    Notus dry lying there helpless. No matter what had happened to Notus, he still felt the need to help, to heal, to save this creature, but underneath it was the anger and humiliation for what he had endured.
    Taking the silver flask from between his robes, he uncorked it.
    “ You do not believe that it was Vampires, not Chosen, that is behind the genocide, ” said the Angel, his voice so low that the others had to strain to hear. “ If his words do not convince, and the teeth not convince, then let this imprint on your mind, for Chosen do not burn under the Cross nor when blessed with Holy Water. ”
    Comprehension widened the Vampires eyes until they were ringed with white. “ No! No! Please, no! ” He writhed on the ground in an attempt to move away from the monk.
    Notus hesitated and glanced up as his son. He could not believe what he was asked to do, but the need to do so filled him with conflicting horror and relief.
    With his free hand Father Paul Notus invoked the Cross, “ In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, ” while he upturned the contents of the flask over the head and torso of the creature before him.
    The Vampire began his screams of pain at the first stroke of the Cross and well before the first droplets of Holy Water fell upon his body. As the liquid impacted, the creatures ’ panicked screams escalated with the tendrils of smoke ascending from his body. It was quick and it was gruesome as the Holy Water ate through the Vampire like hydrochloric acid on paper. Flesh    bubbled and ignited, burning and liquefying, searing the skin from his body only to eat deeper into the muscle and bones. The gurgling cry was cut off as the Holy Water made quick work of the skull, adding its own