by J. L. Weil
With a growl, Aeron reared back. Shock and pain rushed over his face for instant, his hand clutching the wound on his chest. Aeron fell. Zavier had killed the vampire queen’s devoted son and heir.
Lilith’s scream was that of pure rage.
Chapter 24
The time has come. I am going to kill her.
A boost of adrenaline pumped through my body, joining the surge of magic. I would bring down the cave walls around me if that was what it took to stop her. Faint sparks of magic glittered over my skin, the power intensifying and growing with every heartbeat.
Lilith’s hand streaked out, her nails raking down my cheek. “You think you can defeat me?” she hissed, licking the blood from her fingers. “A hundred cuts. That’s what I’ll give you each time you defy me.” Her slim hand curled around my neck.
Her fingers tightened, cutting off my air supply. At the direct threat on my life, my powers struck out. Lilith cursed, releasing her grasp and taking a step in retreat. I struggled to keep my balance as I sucked in a breath of air.
Lilith’s furious eyes glanced down at her hand, fangs extending when she saw the blackened flesh, burned and shriveled. I had managed to do more damage than I’d expected.
Fury rocked her body, her eyes smoldering with hate. She struck, her fangs piercing my flesh. I heard my own scream. It was in the madness of pain and heat so hot the burn was unspeakable, through my skin and into my blood.
Her hand lifted high in the air, poised to strike, but she wasn’t the only one with strong emotions. Using all my grief and rage, I struck at her with open palms, calling forth the surge of magic flowing in my veins without considering the consequences.
She flew back in the air, twisting and shrieking as lightning rippled through the darkness.
“Skylar!” Zavier called. He was leaning against the rocky wall, his hand pressed to his neck, covered in his own blood. I could see he was weakening, and wouldn’t be able to hold his own against Lilith’s guards for long.
This needed to end. Now.
Lilith was skilled, but I’d expected nothing less. She didn’t become the vampire she was by being lazy.
Recovering with incredible speed, the vampire queen landed on her feet and came charging toward me, slamming me into a wall. “You little bitch, I could have given you power beyond your dreams. I am going to take my time killing you.” Her hand swung out, striking like a deadly cobra as she raked her nails down my other cheek.
I tasted blood in my mouth, and there was more seeping out of the dozen shallow slices on my skin. I knew that I had wounded her, but not enough to render the bitch dead. My own power was ebbing out. “You need me. We both know it. There isn’t another descendant of a Rift witch in the Bay.”
“Isn’t there?” she challenged with superior smugness. “Maybe not one as strong as you, but your brother is still a witch.”
I glared at Lilith, wishing I had the strength left to rip out her black heart. Or at the very least, break her perfect nose. All sane thoughts had left my brain the second she mentioned Colin. Curling up my hand, I punched the vile bitch directly in the face.
There was a satisfying crunch and a spurt of blood, but it was an action that would get little result. It didn’t matter. It had felt good to give into the urge to hit her. I wanted to do it again and again. “My brother renounced his powers. He is of no use to you.”
“Your little outburst makes me think otherwise.” Her retaliation was going to hurt. Sharp nails sliced down my chest, cutting through the thin material of my shirt and down my stomach. My cry of torment bounced around the cavern as my blood colored the fabric, staining it a dark crimson.
“If you continue to fight me, I will make your death a slow and agonizing process.” Her fingers dug into my hair, pulling my head back as she forced me to look at Zavier. “I can’t decide who should die first. You or my traitorous, impure son.”
Zavier fought against the vampires who held him, regardless that each movement caused him pain, caused his wound to seep more blood.
I shook my head, gritting my teeth against the pain. I could almost hear Zavier’s voice in my head, telling me to fight, to give up, or be swayed by her threats.
Blood was dripping down my body from my wounds, my power was wavering, and I’d be on my knees before long. I needed to strike quickly or I’d have wasted my only opportunity.
Lilith circled around me, her dress dragging over the bloody ground. “Your fire is cooling, little witch.”
I lifted my chin in defiance. “I’ll destroy you,” I gasped out the words. She’d bleed. I would saturate the ground with her blood. “I swear it.”
“You believe you can, which I find commendable. But that is not how it is foretold. You will fall, one by one. You, Zavier, your brother, his little pack of wardens, and with each death, my power grows. Nothing will stop me, certainly not you.”
“I will.” Bloody and battered, Zavier struck out with a wooden stake.
She moved so fast, that eerie speed my eyes couldn’t follow just blurs of colors. This was my battle, but Zavier wouldn’t leave me to fight alone, even against his own blood. He would fight alongside me until his dying breath.
What a guy.
I was only sorry it took until this moment for me to realize he truly only had my well-being in mind, regardless of the secrets and lies. He loved me.
Lilith’s hand shot out, clasping onto Zavier’s wrist before he could bury the stake in her heart. “Come to save your whore?” Her eyes glistened like frost sparkling in the sun. “Tell me, son…” Lilith licked a drop of blood off the side of her lip. It could have been hers, mine, Zavier’s, her dead son’s—there was so much blood flying about. “Does all this blood stir your desires? I know the vampire in you wants it. I put the hunger in you, and I know the pull, it still lives within me. It is the basis of our life.”
“You never knew me,” Zavier growled, struggling to overpower the vampire.
Lilith was older, stronger, and more skilled. She had decades to refine the art of being a heartless warrior bitch. Zavier knew it, too. Taking advantage of his weakened state, Lilith twisted the stake with a force that sent Zavier staggering back…and left her with a weapon to kill him.
“No!” I screamed, lunging forward.
Lilith hissed in satisfaction, baring her fangs. “You can’t fight evil with evil.”
She was right. This whole time, I’d been consumed with hate. Killing her for selfish reasons, to avenge my mother, but I could no longer think about only myself. I had to defeat Lilith for my future, for Frisco Bay, for Zavier, for Collin, and for Abbey. There was only one way I knew how to do that, and I couldn’t do it alone.
Magic.
No beginning.
No end.
A circle—my circle.
I needed them. That was the one thing Lilith lacked. Friends who could be counted on—friends who had one’s back through the good, the bad, and the ugly. The connection I had with my circle would allow me to draw the power I needed to defeat her.
Closing a trembling hand around the stone at my neck, I focused all my power into it, and to the witches who had stood beside me. “Power of the elements, power forged by trust, magic, and love, grant my desire, open our minds to the magic of the moon.” As I chanted, the air surrounding me shimmered.
The charm flared under my touch, its warmth and light spreading down my arm. I called for Jenna, Bailey, and Raine. This was the only weapon I had. I only hoped that even though our circle wasn’t complete, our power would be enough.
Like a river, the tingle of magic flowed down my arms to my fingertips—my power. It came naturally. The circle on the floor trembled under my feet, and the blood spilled on the cavern floor gathered along the rim, completing the circle around me. Time ticked on in my quest to reach out, but I couldn’t feel them, and I began to panic. Damn it. This hadn’t been part of our plan. Was it possible the cave walls were blocking my summoning spell?
My shou
lders began to sag, a sense of hopelessness leaking its way through my grim determination. My heart faltered. Any moment, Lilith was going to expect something magical to happen. She was going to be sorely disappointed. And Zavier and I would probably be too dead to care.
I steeled myself, wracking my brain for my next move. Risking my own life to kill Lilith was something I was okay with, but Zavier’s life was another matter. If I failed, life in the Bay we’d rebuilt brick by brick would come crumbling down around us.
And that was when I heard their voices in my head, a familiar chorus of chanting. My head fell back as the surge of power, bright as silver, pumped through my blood. Sucking in a sharp breath, I savored the potency, and the power Jenna, Bailey, and Raine willingly gave to me.
My skin glowed like moonlight, my eyes as dark as stars. Lifting my head and raising my arms, I faced Lilith, feeling indestructible. Come at me now.
Lilith smiled. “Finally. Yes, this is what I’ve waited for, the power I’ve been searching for.”
Good. It was going to be what killed her.
I tossed out my hand, beckoning the discarded wooden stake on the floor. It wobbled once before flying straight into my clutches. As it touched my fingers, it began to glow a brilliant gold, humming and thirsting for a target. Compressing my grasp against the grain of the stake, I steadied my hold, waiting for an opening.
I sliced out, scoring the flesh on her arm. Her rage rang out as blood welled at the wound, black and goopy as slime. She came at me with renewed strength, fury clouding her moments.
“It is I who will destroy you, for the heart of mankind and the purity of magic you can never understand. Rot in hell, queen of the damned,” I shouted, lifting my hands over my head. White flames licked from the stake to strike Lilith in the heart like a sword.
Disbelief rushed over her face, her eyes wide, fading, before she lit up like a Christmas tree. Where she dropped and combusted, the ground turned black, ash piling at my feet.
I followed shortly, unable to hold onto consciousness any longer, knowing I finally got the justice I’d dreamed about for so long.
Chapter 25
I opened my eyes, and then blinked at the sparkle of silver until Zavier’s face came into focus. “Auntie Em?” I croaked, hiding the grin that wanted to curl on my lips.
“Christ,” Zavier swore, dragging a hand through his ruffled hair. “Skylar, you better be joking.”
“Who’s Skylar?” I asked, but couldn’t keep up the charade. I started laughing.
His gaze roamed over my face, the shadow of hair on his chin told me I’d been out for hours. “Good one. For two seconds, you scared the shit out of me.”
“I’m sure it won’t be the last time that happens.” I took a moment to see where I was, if we were still in the vampire nest. I wasn’t sure how he had managed to get us out, but I was back at the compound, in my own room, tucked into bed. I sighed, content to stay here forever.
My gaze was drawn to the curtains hanging on the open terrace that carried in the hints of sea and forest. The ruby pendant that had been my mother’s sat nestled under the twinkle of the nightstand lamp, reminding me of Christmas, maple trees in autumn, and the fancy dinner parties held downstairs.
I was so glad to be home.
I had spent so many years running away, sneaking out, feeling caged, and now I never wanted to leave.
Zavier shifted on the edge of the bed, but even there, his bulky frame took up half the space, his leg brushing against my arm. “Before your mind jumps to all kinds of crazy assumptions, your brother and an army large enough to flatten Lilith’s tunnels arrived to safely escort you home.”
I blinked, focusing on his face. “She’s really dead?”
He nodded. “She is. You killed her. Your revenge has been conquered.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, waiting for the burning anger that was always present in my gut, but for the first time in many years, there was peace. And hope.
It was a strange feeling, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.
Zavier’s hands drifted over my arm. When it reached my wrist, he flipped my hand over before bringing my arm up to his lips. “I love you,” he murmured, his lips brushing over my skin and the mark of our bond. “And I will spend the rest of my life making sure you never doubt it again.”
“Good, because I’m not letting you out of my sight, comrade.”
“Does this mean you’re no longer mad at me?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but it doesn’t change that I love you.”
His eyes closed as if he were savoring the sound of the three little words I hadn’t said to a single man other than my brother and father. “Say it again.”
My grin widened, and I intertwined our fingers. “I love you, Zavier Cross, half-vampire and all.”
He leaned down and claimed my lips in a kiss of pure possession.
Mine, I swore his voice whispered in my head.
Lilith, the vampire queen, might be dead, but her opulent den remained intact. Well, mostly intact. I wasn’t sure how much wreckage Colin’s wardens had caused, but I was sure it wasn’t enough to wipe away every smear Lilith had left stained on this earth.
There was still work to do, a treaty to uphold, law to enforce, but I would leave all that to my brother. I had done what I set out to do, and now, I was going to live for me, for my child, and for the man who had managed to steal my heart.
Nine months later
A quiet fog blanketed the Bay. The morning sunlight peeked through, glinting off the dewy blades of dark green grass. Moisture scented the air from the ocean waves crashing against the bluffs. A gentle breeze blew over my legs, and I smiled, happiness I never imagine bursting inside me.
Zavier lifted the infant out of my arms. “She grows prettier every day,” he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to her head.
“I could spend hours just looking at her,” I said, nuzzling her soft head, inhaling her innocent baby scent, like soft rose petals and sunshine.
“It is impossible to believe she is ours. To think, I almost lost you both,” Zavier said, holding his daughter like a prized possession, loving shining in his eyes.
I rested my chin on his shoulder. “You saved us. When we met, there was only one thing on my mind…getting my revenge. And you did something no else could. You gave me more than peace and justice. You loved me even when I thought you had betrayed me, when I hated you.”
His grin was pure male. “I love you with a fierceness that scares me at times.”
Love flooded within me as I met his starry gaze. He was my bridge and anchor, this half-vampire warrior. I loved him, truly. My heart opened, and I let the emotions surround me in golden warmth. Love no longer scared me.
What I hadn’t known, what I failed to see the night I killed Lilith, was I had already been carrying his child. The vision could have been reality had I not killed Lilith.
I had once burned with hatred for vampires, yearned for nothing more than to wipe them from existence, but now having a half-vampire for a mate and a quarter one for a daughter, I wanted nothing more than to protect them.
Zavier had been right. The ancient tides had awakened. Change was in the air—the signal for a new era was on the horizon.
Hands linked, we walked in the softening sunlight, our sweet baby resting on her father’s shoulder. She was our future. And the truest magic was what was in our hearts.
The End
Thank you for reading.
xoxo
Jennifer
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Read More by J.L. Weil
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