This is an excerpt from The Mercenary Prince.  All I can say is that it involves Mab and a minor character.

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Amid the screams and falling bodies, Samara finds herself standing with three other swordsmen who are struggling against a muscular Dawn Fang. With an arrow embedded in his chest, the vampire is barely able to keep the mortals at bay. The creature has enough strength to wield his giant hammer, but his movements are sluggish and ungainly. It is only the inexperience of the tribespeople that allows their enemy to maintain the advantage. When one of them gets too close, the vampire jabs the man in the stomach and swiftly leans forward to tear out the swordsman’s throat with his teeth. Samara backs away as the other warriors charge, one of them running into a blow that shatters his head. Alone and scared, the final swordsman is easily killed and turned into a quick snack for the vampire.

“You look tasty,” the towering figure hisses when he advances on Samara. The girl’s quivering body bring a smile to his face as he playfully knocks her weapon back and forth with his bare hand. “No idea what your friends did to me, but it’s nothing some young blood won’t cure. That warrior was too old and bitter. Now stand still and it won’t hurt a bit.”

At the sight of the vampire’s fangs, Samara shrieks and swings her sword as hard as she can. The blade catches her enemy’s lower jaw, which is severed enough that it dangles from a few remaining tendons. Stunned by the injury, the Dawn Fang tears off the piece and examines it in disbelief. The girl charges with her sword held over her head, but she is sent flying when the hammer is blindly slammed into her side. Lungs punctured by broken ribs, Samara coughs up blood and does her best to roll away from the creature.

Unable to talk without his lower jaw, the vampire grunts and spits while lifting the injured human by the head. His massive hand presses into her stomach and he prepares to tear her in half to get at her blood. Not wanting to lose a drop, the greedy monster extends his dry tongue and carefully moves to suspend the girl upside down over his face. A sharp pain runs up his arm as Samara stabs the limb that is gripping her gut. The clawed hand rips across her belly and she falls onto the vampire. Sliding onto his back, she puts her sword against her enemy’s throat and grabs the end of the blade with her other hand. She pulls the weapon through the monster’s neck, his head and a few of her fingers falling into the trampled grass. Samara lets the towering corpse fall forward and take her to the ground where she remains gasping for air.

“I’m surprised you got one,” Mab says, the cloaked woman diving over the girl. Her clawed hand drives into the chest of an invisible vampire to grab the heart and she crushes it while slicing her enemy’s head off. “Most of the priests have been taken out, so I’m sorry to say you’re going to die. Have any messages that you want me to deliver?”

“Please make me a Dawn Fang,” Samara gasps as she fights to remain conscious. A trembling hand reaches out for the vague form of the Dark Mistress, but a strong grip presses it to her bleeding stomach. “I don’t want to die. I came out here to prove I could fight for others, so change me into one of your kind.”