Empire of the Damned (Empire of the Vampire, #2)

by Jay Kristoff

The road is black ahead,’ I told her. ‘And it’s hard to keep walking when you can’t see the ground beneath your feet. But that’s what courage is. The will to keep walking in the darkness. To believe the end is just beyond your outstretched hand, rather than a million miles away. And while some might falter, some might fail, some might curl up like babes rather than walk on through that lonely night, you are not that girl.’

“A shape blurred from the shadows across the bridge, striking from behind the wheellock line. The lioness moved among the riflemen quick as lies, ripping bellies and throats to tatters. She’d struck so fast, four were dead before the screaming began. The remainder tried to recover, but it’s hard to bring a longarm to bear at close range, harder still to reload when those golden eyes fall on you and that roar shakes your bones and she charges across the blood-soaked snow, quick as the shot you missed her with. “But she didn’t miss. “Phoebe never missed.