The Bride He Hates-Chapter 70: No Goodbyes Yet

The moment the guards moved to separate Azrael and Lyanna, Adrian’s voice shook the building.

"Thornfield! To the king!"

The twenty warriors from the vampire security team launched themselves immediately at the surrounding Order soldiers. The Council chamber erupted into chaos.

Silver weapons clashed against vampire strength. Holy magic burned vampire flesh. Azrael grabbed a fallen sword and started killing the guards while Lyanna used a dagger.

"Left!" Azrael called, and Lyanna spun, her dagger cutting an Order soldier mid-strike.

"Behind you!" She shouted seconds later, and Azrael ducked under a silver chain that would have taken his head.

She had only been a vampire for weeks, but her instincts were sharp, and her new abilities were kicking in under the pressure. They kept killing the guards while heading towards the main exit. For a moment, it looked like they might defeat their enemies and escape.

Then Cardinal Matthias’s voice cut through the chaos.

"Execute the human traitors now."

The three Order soldiers who had been holding Lord Edgar, Lady Sarah, and Mathew didn’t delay. They killed them instantly. It happened so quickly that for a moment the entire chamber froze. Three innocent people were murdered for the crime of believing peace was possible.

Lyanna felt both anger and grief at the pointless deaths. But there was no time to grieve or rage. The freed Order soldiers joined the fight with renewed aggression.

"We can’t hold here!" Adrian shouted, blood oozing out from his multiple wounds. "We need another exit!"

They moved towards the main exit, but more guards kept coming.

"We can’t fight them all!" Adrian repeated.

"We need another exit!" Helena shouted, fighting with magic.

Her robes were torn and stained, but her tactical mind was still working.

"The catacombs! Every building has underground passages!" She pointed towards a side corridor. "The burial tunnels underneath the city can take us outside if we can reach them!"

"Move!" Azrael ordered, and they began heading towards the corridor Helena had pointed out.

There were fifteen of them now. Lyanna felt a silver blade slash across her left arm. The pain was worse than any injury she had experienced as a human, making her scream.

She gasped, stumbling, and the soldier who had struck her moved to kill her. Azreal immediately moved with vampire speed and grabbed the soldier by his neck. He snapped his neck, then tore off the man’s head, throwing the body at the other soldiers, using the corpse as both a weapon and a message.

He pulled Lyanna forward, gripping her uninjured arm.

"Stay close to me."

They had to fight at every step as they reached the corridor leading to the catacombs. Helena took the lead, using emergency light magic to illuminate the path. Adrian stayed at the back to defend them.

The stairs going down were narrow and unsafe. But they had no choice. Behind them, more Order soldiers were flooding the corridor.

The catacombs were a maze of burial tunnels, filled with the bones of thousands stacked into walls. The vampire’s senses helped navigate the darkness. Their vision adjusted quickly, and their instincts led them through the maze towards the exit.

But the Order forces were close. Adrian fought at the back, pushing them back holding despite his growing injuries. He kept fighting, determined to protect his king and queen.

"Adrian!" Lyanna shouted when she saw him stumble. "You need to..."

"I’m fine!" He shouted. "Keep moving! I’ve got the back!"

They ran through the tunnels for what felt like hours though it was probably minutes. Finally, they saw sunlight filtering through cracks. It was an exit point leading outside the city.

When they came out, several vampires hissed in pain as the light hit their unprotected skin. But they pushed through, using cloaks and speed to minimize sun exposure. They were outside the city now, but still in Council territory.

Of the twenty warriors who had entered the Council chamber, only nine remained now. They ran for miles but they were all wounded, many seriously. Vampire healing required blood and they hadn’t even fed properly in days.

Adrian was struggling to stay conscious, his wounds were too severe to heal without blood intake. Helena’s magic was nearly gone. The surviving warriors were also in similar condition.

As night fell, they found the ruins of an old fortress that had been abandoned for decades. They entered and used rubble and debris to block the main entrances, set up defensive positions at windows and breaches. It wasn’t perfect, but at least they now had a place to rest, tend to wounds, and prepare for the inevitable war.

Azrael began organizing defenses immediately.

"Helena, protect the entrances, do everything you can with your remaining power. Warriors, rotate watch positions in three-hour shifts. Everyone else, tend to your wounds and rest while you can."

He turned and saw Lyanna wrapping cloth around her wound, which was still bleeding. The injury should have healed by now, but the advanced weapon they used was preventing hers and everyone else’s recovery.

"Let me see." Azrael said softly, kneeling beside her.

She had a deep cut across her forearm that would leave a scar even with vampire healing.

"It hurts." Lyanna whispered in pain.

"It will take days to heal completely." Azrael said as he examined her injury. "We don’t have days, but I can help." He bit his own wrist and pressed it to her wound. "Drink. My blood will help it heal faster."

Lyanna drank from his wrist. His blood was powerful, and she felt her wound closing quickly as his strength flowed into her.

After she finished, Azrael wrapped her wound carefully.

"You fought well today. I’m proud of you."

"Three people died because we tried diplomacy." Lyanna said bitterly.

"They died because the Council is genocidal and is murdering innocents." Azrael replied. "That’s not our fault. That’s on them."

Across the fortress ruins, Adrian finally collapsed, his body giving out after hours of fighting through injuries that would have killed most vampires. Helena rushed to him immediately.

"He needs blood." She said. "A lot. These wounds won’t heal without proper feeding, and he has lost too much already."

But they had no blood supplies. Azrael bit his wrist again and moved to Adrian’s side. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Drink. That’s an order."

Adrian, barely conscious, tried to protest.

"His Majesty... you need...strength..."

"I need my best warrior alive. Drink."

Adrian obeyed, taking enough of Azrael’s blood to start his healing, but not so much as to weaken his king. When he finished, his wounds began to close, though he was still far from completely healed.

"Thank you." Adrian whispered.

"Thank me by surviving." Azrael replied.

Azrael then went to the main room where Helena was settingup emergency communication magic; a complex spell that would allow them to contact Thornfield despite the distance. The spell took nearly an hour to complete, draining away Helena’s remaining magical reserves. But finally, the connection established, and Victor’s face appeared in the magical projection. His expression changed from relief to horror as he saw their condition.

"Your Majesty! What happened?"

"Betrayal. The Council never intended to negotiate. They killed our human delegates and tried to execute us. We fought our way out, but we’re still in enemy territory with multiple casualties." He provided him with the coordinates.

"Send reinforcements to these coordinates. We’re in the ruins of Blackstone Fortress, approximately fifty miles inside Council territory. We’re wounded and low on supplies."

"Reinforcements will take at least three days to reach you. We’ll send every warrior, but Your Majesty... three days is a long time."

"I know. Just get them here as fast as possible. We’ll hold until then."

The communication ended, and the harsh reality settled over them. They had to survive for three days against an enemy army, wounded and weakened.

As night deepened, Lyanna saw Azrael standing by a window, looking outside. She walked to him, and he instinctively put his arm around her, pulling her close.

"If it comes to choosing between getting you out or me, you need to choose yourself. Thornfield needs its king. The succession, the stability, everything depends on you. Promise me that if there’s a choice, you’ll save yourself." Lyanna said.

"I’ve spent centuries choosing power and survival over everything else. I’ve chosen to be a king instead of a person but I’m not doing that anymore. I won’t choose Thornfield over you." He turned to look at her.

"We either escape together or we die together. Those are the only two outcomes I’ll accept."

"Azrael..."

"I mean it." He cut her off. "You told me once that I was a soulless monster unworthy of love. For a long time, I proved you right. But you changed that. I’m not losing that now. I’m not losing you." He cupped her face.

"If we die tomorrow, we die together, knowing we tried to do the right thing. I’d rather die than survive as a king who sacrificed the person who stopped him from becoming a monster."

Tears brimmed in her eyes.

"You’re the most foolish vampire I’ve ever met."

"And you’re the strongest person I’ve ever known." Azrael replied. "So promise me we’ll survive this together. Because I’m not ready to say goodbye, and I don’t think you are either."