Keeran frowned, but didn’t say anything else.
Thankfully, the queens didn’t push the matter. And soon, they were all marching out of the house.
Keeran and Luana stayed inside as everyone left.
“Are you sure you want me to go?” Keeran asked, his voice tight.
“Yes,” I insisted. “Go and make sure this hot-blooded wolf—” I jerked my chin. “—doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Keeran snorted. “Because that’s easy.”
Luana gaped at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I chuckled. “All right, you two. Out. You need to go.” I picked up a book from the end table and pretended to be entertained by the words on the page so I wouldn’t cry.
Keeran and Luana left.
I glanced at the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Except for the books cluttering the place, they were all empty now.
All of a sudden, I felt alone.
And worried. Very worried.
This time when I returned my eyes to the book, I really focused on the words. I had to find some distraction so I wouldn’t go crazy. At least, this was a good book—a contemporary romance about a girl who inherited a ranch from her grandmother and her talent as a horse whisperer.
Hours passed. With difficulty, I got up, made a small snack, drank some of Bagatha’s tonic, then went to the couch, where I lay down and ended up napping.
A loud boom woke me up.
Heart racing, I sat up with a jerk—pain ricocheted through my back and lower abdomen. I stared at the broken glass shards of the porch door and the billowing curtain.
The knob turned.
My breath caught.
The broken door slid open.
Morda stepped in.
18
Drake
Since the fall of DuMoir Castle, the small town of Crimson Glen had been overtaken by vampires—at first by the rebel vampires who didn’t want any rules. However, the princes and nobles, tired of hiding in the forest, had moved in too. In no time, the vampires had killed half the town’s residents, and enslaved the other half—to feed on later.
The town was a mess, but it was exactly where I had to go.
It was two hours after sunset, and the town was starting to come alive. As I walked down Main Street toward the town’s square, I saw as the vampires left their new homes and started partying. They looked drunk as they loitered in the streets. A few of them had blood slaves in their arms. They laughed, they chatted, they snickered—all loudly. It felt like walking into the French Quarter of New Orleans during Mardi Gras: a never-ending party.
But instead of alcohol, the residents here were drunk on blood.
I hadn’t walked one block before the vampires noticed me. Besides a few known faces from the castle, most of them were rebel vampires who had lived with Lark and Remi in the village. But even if I didn’t know them all, they knew me. They all knew who I was.
The farther I went, the more vampires noticed my presence. They stopped and watched me. Some even followed me, but always keeping their distance.
I saw the town’s square. I hadn’t been here much, but I knew that once upon a time, the train that took humans to visit DuMoir Castle left from the station off the square.
One block from the square, I turned left. Halfway down the block, and with at least a hundred vampires tailing me, I halted in the middle of the street, facing a modest townhouse.
The front door opened and Dorian stepped out, his eyes wide. “What are you doing here?”
Aston, Gray, Cain, and Patrick appeared behind him.
“Hello, my brothers,” I said.
“We heard rumors you had died,” Cain said.
“That Morda had killed you,” Patrick added.
“I heard it had been the werewolf alpha,” Gray objected.
I smiled. “As you can see, I’m alive and well.” My smile faded. “Where’s Nolan and Phelps?”
“Gone,” Patrick said, his tone upset.
“Nolan was killed by a werewolf, and Phelps by a witch,” Cain said.
Hell.
“What are you doing here?” Dorian repeated his question.
“I want to know what you are doing here.” I glanced to my sides, to the vampires forming a wide arc around me. “I thought you were princes. Why are you hiding like this?”
Patrick scoffed. “Have you really been out of the loop, or are you pretending again?”
Again … so they knew I had feigned losing my memory months ago? That was okay. That was in the past.
“I know the castle was taken from us, disgraced by witches and werewolves. I know the princes of DuMoir Castle are hiding among rebel vampires who couldn’t care less about them.”
Dorian growled. “Do you think we had a choice? We have been roaming in the forest, trying not to succumb to our primitive instincts. We only joined the rebels after they had sacked this town.”
“We had no other choice,” Cain said.
Behind me, growls echoed.
“I’m attacking DuMoir Castle,” I told them. “Tonight. Join me.”
“How?” Aston frowned. “How can you win against the witches and werewolves?”
“I’ve got the allegiance of the Blackmarsh and Bluemoon covens, and I’m hoping to get yours too.”
A short vampire with massive arms stepped forward. “When they came into the town, they knew what they were getting into,” he said. “They live here, but it’s by our rules.”
“I thought you guys didn’t have rules,” I teased.
“We have only one,” he said with a snarl. “These vampires—” He jerked his chin toward the princes. “—have no title and are now imprisoned to this town.”
What the hell?
“I think you’re about to lose your one rule, because not only will they come with me, but you will too.”
Short and Stocky laughed. “My vampires won’t follow you.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Your vampires?” I quickly found Lewis and Holden in the back, as if afraid of defying the rebels. “I recognize a lot of my vampires in the bunch.” I beckoned them forward. “Come join us. I’ll protect you.”
As expected, Lewis and Holden were the firsts to push through the crowd and stand behind me. Another dozen joined us.
Short and Stocky glared at us. “That’s only a handful. I can still squash you.”
“Once I give my order, you won’t be able to,” I said. I knew I was pushing his buttons, but it was freaking fun.
“Order?” He spat. “What makes you think we’ll obey you?”
“If you don’t, I’ll make you.”
He growled, along with his vampires. “I would like to see you try.”
They attacked.
The vampires lunged at me, and the princes appeared by my side to help me.
As stronger princes and trained vampires, my side could fight like this forever. We would eventually win, but this time, we didn’t have days. We had to finish this ridiculous fight now.
I felt the magic of the amulet rushing through my veins as I wrapped my fingers around Short and Stocky’s throat and threw him to the ground. As a vampire, I had been fast and strong, but now with the power of the amulet, I was on an entirely new level. The vampires didn’t even have time to react before I overpowered them.
So that was why Lord Reynard had been so damn powerful. It was a blessing Alex hadn’t known how to access the amulet—he probably didn’t even know there was an amulet inside Lord Reynard’s pendant.
I put down vampire after vampire, until even the princes stepped back and stared at me, their eyes wide.
Finally, the attacks stopped and the vampires hung back, apprehensive.
“You cannot defeat me,” I said with a growl. “Now that you’ve seen what I can do, join me. I’m marching to DuMoir Castle to claim it back right now!”
“Even with your abilities, that’s suicide,” a vampire said.
“It won’t be,” I said. “We have two w
itch covens on our side, and we’ll have more allies as soon as we get to the castle.” We were wasting time here. “Say you’ll join me now.”
Ninety percent of the vampires joined me. Most seemed reluctant, but I knew that once they saw our team winning against Morda and her witches, they would understand this was our time. We wouldn’t lose.
Lewis stood tall beside me. “Lead us, my prince.”
A confident grin spread on my lips. “Let’s go to war!”
19
Drake
I was late and the witches, greedy as they were, didn’t wait for me. They had already invaded the castle and the battle had started.
“Hell,” I muttered as I watched the spark of lights flying from the castle’s windows.
“What now?” Cain asked.
“Now … just go in and win this battle,” I said. “But be careful with the werewolves. Don’t hurt them if you can.”
“Why?” Dorian asked.
“I have a plan. Just trust me.” I sent them off like a general watching his battalion marching to battle from the top of a hill.
The vampires seemed eager—to either kill or get the castle back, I wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, I would deal with that later. Right now, I had another task in the endless plan to accomplish.
Using the power of the Blood Amulet, I focused and listened. I found Luana and Keeran fighting outside the castle, waiting for me. I joined them.
In her wolf form, Luana sensed me coming and howled at me, and by the sound of it, she was mad.
“She wants to know what took you so long,” Keeran said.
I raised an eyebrow. “How do you know what she’s saying?”
He shrugged. “I just know.”
“I had a little bit of a fight,” I said, joining them against a group of Silverblood witches.
Keeran cast a powerful shield between us. “I’ll distract them with magic. You two approach them and rip them to pieces.”
Luana and I nodded.
Keeran dropped the shield and raised his hands toward the witches. A volley of red bolts flew at them—some were a direct hit, some went in a spiral or circles, distracting them.
And Luana and I ran at the witches from the sides. The moment we lunged at them, Keeran stopped his assault. Instead, he ran to us. He grabbed a witch’s shoulders and groaned. His hands turned orange, and under his palm, the witch’s skin became charred. Keeran slid a hand down, right in the center of her chest. The red light intensified and the orange of his hand grew black. She screamed as Keeran burned her heart from the inside out.
Meanwhile, Luana ripped some throats out, and I ripped out their hearts.
In a matter of seconds, the three of us had defeated over a dozen witches. We formed a good group—we were just missing Thea and Thomas—and we would prove how good we were.
Luana shifted into her human form. Keeran and I kept our eyes on her face.
“I can hear him,” she said. “He’s in the same room as before, guarding the Silverblood’s heart.”
“Let’s go,” I said.
She shifted back into a wolf, and we ran into the castle. We had to fight our way in, but it was mostly witches from the Silverblood, but I wasn’t afraid of hurting those.
Five wolves stood at the entrance to the main library room, fighting against a couple of Blackmarsh witches. Inside, Ulric marched side to side, still in his human form.
Hell.
Though I didn’t want to hurt many of the wolves, there was no choice here. Keeran and I helped the Blackmarsh witches against the wolves, while Luana sneaked inside.
“My dear wolf,” Ulric said, his voice dripping with fake sweetness. “Have you come back to our pack?”
She snarled at him.
With a wicked smile, Ulric transformed into his big black wolf.
Since I had promised Luana that Ulric was hers, I tried focusing on my fight, but it was hard. Ulric had been alpha for a long time, and he was huge compared to Luana. I couldn’t help but pay attention, because if I knew Luana was losing, I wouldn’t let Ulric kill her, no matter what. But if I interfered, our plan would go down the drain.
To become alpha of her pack, Luana had to kill Ulric alone.
So Keeran and I stayed by the entrance, keeping out the witches and wolves that came, while Ulric and Luana fought.
The alpha lunged for her, but being small, Luana was more agile. She easily sidestepped him. But Ulric wasn’t stupid. Being the alpha, he had probably been challenged a thousand times. He was an experienced fighter. When Luana dodged his attack, he adjusted his feet and turned toward her again. He rammed into her side, sending her sliding back. Luana’s paws scratched the floor as she brought herself to a stop.
She limped once, but then she was sprinting, getting out of the way when Ulric rushed for her again. Luana jumped up, springing from a shelf. She arched over Ulric and landed on his back. Fast, she bit down on his shoulder.
Using his brute force, Ulric pushed her against a pillar. Luana let go of him and let out a yelp.
Beside me, Keeran tensed each time she got hit. Apparently, he was also paying attention to her, despite his own fight.
Luana limped away from the pillar. She turned toward Ulric and waited. After showing off for a moment, Ulric came for her. She dodged to the side again, but limping she wasn’t fast enough. He closed his jaw around her side. A shrill yelp ripped out of her throat.
Keeran turned toward the fight. I quickly pushed back the wolf I had been fighting, and grabbed his arm. “Not yet,” I whispered.
As if to show us she was okay, Luana let out a growl and scratched at Ulric’s face, drawing blood. Ulric let her go. Instead of using a few seconds to recover, Luana reacted right away. She bit down on his paw—hard.
Ulric shook her off and limped away, putting some distance between them. From here, I could listen to their accelerated heartbeats and breathing. Though he looked tougher, Ulric was as distressed as Luana, which made me a little more confident she could do this.
Then Ulric charged her again. Luana got out of the way, but Ulric closed his mouth on her paw and threw her at the wall. He came with her and clamped down on her shoulder.
Luana howled.
I stepped forward, ready to kill Ulric myself before he ripped Luana’s throat. Keeran put his arm out, stopping me.
“Keep the wolves busy,” he said in a low voice.
Understanding what he meant, I turned toward the wolves trying to break through our barrier and fought them. To take on so many by myself, I had to use the power of the Blood Amulet. But it was worth it when I saw Keeran closing his eyes and focusing.
Ulric twisted to the side, as if a jolt of pain had coursed through his body, and he let go of Luana. That was enough to give her an opening. Before Ulric could do anything else, Luana went for his throat.
Blood gushed down her coat.
Three seconds later, Luana stepped back from Ulric’s body. Her paws trembled and she collapsed. Keeran put up a strong shield on the entrance before running to her. I quickly finished the Silverblood witch I had been fighting and joined them.
Trembling, Luana shifted back to her human form. I winced at the bloody wounds on her ribs and shoulder. Keeran took off his jacket and covered her naked body.
“You’ll be fine,” he said, laying his hand on her wounds. He closed his eyes and started healing her. A moment later, Luana’s trembling lessened and her breathing slowed. “I didn’t heal it that well because we don’t have time and it’ll take too much of my energy, but it should be enough to hold for now. I’ll heal you properly once we’re back home, okay?”
She pushed off the floor and Keeran helped her sit up. “Thank you.”
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She took in a long breath. “I’ll live.” Her eyes shifted to the dead wolf on the other side of the room. “For a moment there, I didn’t think I would be able to do it.”
Hell.
I swallowed, knowing this was anoth
er secret I would try taking to my grave. Keeran lowered his head, clearly uncomfortable with the lie.
I cleared my throat. “Are you ready?”
She nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”
Keeran helped Luana stand. Her skin was pale and her forehead sweaty, but she would be all right. Luana tugged the jacket tighter around her body as she leaned into Keeran for support.
As Keeran tended to Luana, I turned to the pedestal with the heart. I reached for it, but the moment my fingers touched it, the heart exploded in a cloud of smoke. A fake. Of course, Morda wouldn’t have left the heart out during a big battle. She probably had the heart on her. That was okay. I would kill her, then get the heart and hand it to Thea.
The three of us exited the room and the wolves at the entrance bowed their heads to her. As we walked down the hallway, we crossed several wolves, and they all stopped and bowed to her. Knowing the alpha was an ingrained trait of the werewolves.
And now, as Luana marched down the hallway, the wolves knew she had defeated Ulric and was now the new alpha of the Dark Vale pack.
We found the foyer, where many more wolves stopped and showed respect to their alpha. Finally, Luana stopped and turned to them.
“I command you to join the vampires and the Blackmarsh and the Bluemoon covens,” she said—loud but not clear. Her voice trembled as if it was too hard to speak. “Attack Morda and her witches!”
The wolves let out a synchronized howl and turned their backs on their current targets. They all ran toward the main dining room.
“That’s where Morda must be,” I said.
“Go,” Keeran said. “Take Morda’s heart out. I’ll stay behind and take care of Luana.”
Luana pushed him away. “I don’t need to be taken care of.” She swayed to the side.
Keeran wrapped his hand around her elbows and pulled her back to him. “Obviously.” He shot me a confident look. “Go.”
I nodded once, then ran to the dining room.
There, Morda’s right arm Soraya took the show with the inner circle. They stood in a ring in the middle of the room, fighting the werewolves and other witches. Dodging the fights, I approached them.
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