by Alicia Rades
Fiona stepped forward to place a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know if there’s anything we can do for him anymore.”
An involuntary sob broke out in my chest. I knew it was true. It was just hard to hear it said out loud. I couldn’t stand the thought of just leaving him.
“I know how hard this is.” Fiona’s voice cracked. “I don’t want to say goodbye to him, either.”
I reached for the bars of his cell and lowered myself to my knees. I felt another hand rest on my back to join Fiona’s and tilted my head up to see Jenna at my side.
I looked back to Venn, my heart breaking all over again. His back moved quickly to the beat of his breath.
“It’s like watching him slowly die right in front of me,” I whispered.
A sudden, horrible thought occurred to me to put him out of his misery, but I knew I’d ever be able to go through with it. The only thing I could do was kill Valkas. And with him, Venn would perish as well.
I couldn’t bear to think about it like that, as if Valkas and Venn were connected as one. It made me sick.
“Venn.” My soft whisper cut through the silence in the dungeons.
At the sound of his voice, Venn’s breathing slowed, and my heart lifted. Was he still in there somewhere?
“Venn?” I said in a stronger voice this time.
He lifted his head, and it was like another shot straight through the heart. His eyes looked straight through me. Silver eyes. Not Venn’s deep brown eyes I loved so much. It was like he was already gone.
I took a breath to calm my racing heart, but no amount of deep breathing or relaxation exercises could calm me right now. The love of my life was withering away before me, and I felt as if my heart was crumbling right along with him. This couldn’t be the end for us.
But it was. In this life, it was. And if his soul was damned, then we’d never live another life together. I barely had any time with him. I’d give anything for just a few more moments.
“Rae.”
A sharp breath crossed my lips as Venn spoke my name.
“Venn, are you still there?” I asked desperately. “I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve this.”
He pushed himself to a sitting position, and I thought for a second that I saw a light cross his eyes. I reached out for him, but Jenna pulled me back the same time Venn shied away into the corner of his cell. He curled his knees to his chest and turned his face away from me, like he was ashamed.
“You can’t save everyone, Rae,” he whispered so lightly that I barely heard him.
“Venn…”
He looked at me again, but his eyelids twitched, like it was difficult to meet my gaze—like it pained him. “Fiona’s right. You can’t help me anymore. The venom…” He gritted his teeth and sucked a deep breath.
My eyes went wide. Venn bit his lower lip, and I noticed for the first time his canines seemed longer than normal. Tears rushed down my face faster.
Venn forced the words out through shaky breaths. “The venom has already done too much damage. I can already feel the bloodlust setting in. I’m a danger to all of you now.”
“You just hold on,” I told him, but I didn’t know what for. I didn’t have a solution to this. And that ached to the very core of my soul.
Venn scooted himself closer to me, eyeing my fingers around the bars. I bit down hard on the inside of my lip to keep from bawling like a child. He was just within reach, yet so far away.
“You have to go, Rae,” Venn said softly, looking me in the eyes. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
“But Venn, we don’t have long before—”
“Exactly,” he cut me off. “We don’t have long. You need to go get that dagger.”
“He’s right,” Ronark cut in. “Someone’s bound to come check on us at some point.”
Fiona wiped at her eyes, then reached for my hand, but I pulled away from her. Venn was so close to me now, and I wasn’t missing my chance to give him a proper goodbye.
Goodbye. This couldn’t be it, could it? I wasn’t willing to believe that… yet deep down in my heart, I couldn’t deny it.
“Venn.” I squeezed my eyes shut, letting the tears stream down my face. Without thinking about it too hard, I reached through the bars, grabbed on to him, and pulled him toward me. “I love you.”
My mouth connected with his. It felt like kissing him for the first time. Fireworks went off in my chest, and a sense of peace surged through me. Yet it felt so comfortable, like we’d done this a thousand times before.
A split second later, his teeth clamped around my lower lip. Pain shot through my mouth, and the taste of copper rushed over my tongue. I screamed. Suddenly, at least three pairs of hands were on me, dragging me backward.
I forgot all about the blood in my mouth as Venn threw his head backwards and groaned in agony. Muscles rippled across his chest, like there was a power trying to escape out of his skin.
“Go,” he forced between clenched teeth. “I. Can’t. Control…”
Ronark dragged me to my feet. “We need to finish this.”
Venn’s heavy breaths filled the dungeon. He leaned forward and rested on his palms. He lifted his head, and I could just barely see the last bits of the Venn I knew staring out at me through those silver eyes.
“Go, Rae,” he whispered. “And know that I will never stop loving you.”
“I love you, too,” I called back as Jenna and Fiona began leading me down the hall. Teagan and Ryland turned to Sondra's cell, and I added, “We’ll see you soon.”
We raced down the hall and turned toward the stairs. Just before we reached the end, Jenna grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. She threw her arms around me and squeezed me tight. Ronark, Andi, and Fiona all stopped to wait for us.
“I’m so sorry about Venn,” Jenna said.
I hugged her back, but it didn’t feel like I could squeeze hard enough to show her how much I appreciated the thought.
“Thank you,” I said before drawing away.
My eyes fell on Fiona’s sad expression, and I gestured for her to join us. Fiona stepped forward, and I wrapped an arm around her as she wiped the last remaining tears out of her eyes.
“I love you guys,” I said.
“We love you, too,” Fiona replied.
Finally, I drew away from them and stood up straighter. I’d cried just about as many tears as I possibly could, and my eyes had gone dry. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and took a breath. “Let’s go slay some vampires.”
21
Music from the ballroom spilled out from open doorways when we reached the top of the stairs. Quietly, we snuck out into the hallway. Ronark led us down a narrow hall and peeked around the corner. He threw his arm out across Andi’s chest and pressed her back to the wall. The rest of us followed suit. I held my breath and forced my heart rate to slow.
Ronark placed an index finger over his lips, then peeked out around the corner again. Silently, he gestured for us to follow.
Halfway down the hall, we heard a pair of footsteps approaching. Ronark shoved us into a dark room. Judging by the shapes I could just barely make out through the darkness, it looked like some sort of study. Ronark stood at the door and peered through the sliver into the hallway until the sound of footsteps disappeared.
“Come on,” Ronark hissed, leading us back out into the hall.
Fiona kept close to my side, her eyes darting this way and that. As we stopped the end of the hall, a collection of voices reached us.
“He’s bluffing,” a man accused.
“Am I?” another challenged.
“Just fold already.” I recognized Rogers’s voice.
“Poker?” I whispered in disbelief. Valkas was hosting the celebration of the year, and his security team was out here playing poker.
Ronark shrugged. “Makes things easy for us.”
He looked around the corner, and I poked my head out beside him. I saw that we were in the hallway that led to the big sitt
ing area with the large arches and the grand piano. Four guys sat around the couches with cards in their hands.
“What do we do?” Andi asked. “I can create a distraction if you need it.”
“I think we can take them,” I said. “It’s one human and three vampires against five shifters.”
“No, no,” Ronark replied. “I think Andi’s right. A distraction will give us a better advantage. They’re less powerful if we split them up.”
“So are we,” Jenna pointed out.
“Jenna’s right,” Andi whispered. “We’ll take them all at once. But we have only one shot to catch them off guard. I’m going to distract them, so get ready to strike.”
Ronark turned to me and grabbed on to my shoulders, staring me in the eyes. “You take Rogers, Rachel. He’s not as powerful as he seems. You can break through his spells. I know you can.”
“You’ve never seen me perform magic,” I pointed out.
“Doesn’t matter. Every witch has something worth fighting for. Just make sure your reason is stronger than his.”
I nodded.
“That a girl.” Ronark patted my back, then turned to Andi. He dragged her into a hug and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “Be careful, baby doll.”
“I will.”
“What’s the signal?” Fiona asked.
“You’ll know.” Andi winked.
Andi padded softly down the hall in her jaguar form, not making a single noise. She kept close to the wall and ducked under tables and around other decor to keep from being seen.
When she reached the first wide archway, she waited until she saw all the men had their eyes on their cards before hopping forward silently and ducking behind a couch.
Rogers glanced up from his cards and looked out into the hallway. He went rigid, as if he was on high alert. I could barely see him from this angle, but he seemed to relax a moment later and looked back down at his cards.
Andi lowered herself onto her belly and slid along the hardwood floor, her fur helping to muffle the noise. She cocked her head at us just before disappearing out of view.
Ronark led the way, sneaking out into the wide hallway as we all followed behind him. We kept close to the wall where the vampires couldn’t see us, then stopped just before we reached the first arch. We were only mere feet away from the couches.
“Full house,” a vampire with a bald head announced.
Just then, the sound of the piano filled the hall. It was a soft, beautiful melody. All four of the security guards’ eyes widened as they looked to the corner of the room where Andi was playing. Three of the men—all but Rogers—shot to their feet.
“Hey!” Baldy called. “What are you—?”
“Now!” Ronark hissed.
The four of us jumped out at them while they were momentarily distracted by Andi’s music. Ronark shifted and slammed into one of the vamps facing away from us. Fiona took the other, while Jenna jumped on the arm of the couch and kicked off, using her momentum to soar over the other two guys. She shifted mid-air and landed in raccoon form on Baldy’s shiny head.
Meanwhile, I went for Rogers. I aimed straight for his eyes, but it was like he knew I was coming. He swung his arm out, and it connected with my chest so hard that when I gasped, no air came. My body flew across the room and slammed into the small section of wall between the archways.
Holy hell! Rogers is strong. Way stronger than any human should be, I realized.
I pushed past the pain in my chest and jumped to my feet before Rogers could reach me. Andi had abandoned her act on the piano and had joined Jenna in wrestling her guy onto the couch. Fiona grabbed a plant and swung the heavy pot at one of the vamp’s head.
“A shifter, huh?” I shot at Rogers.
“Valkas would only pick the very best for his team.” He smirked before throwing a fist in my direction. I ducked, and his knuckles connected with the wall behind me, sending crumbled pieces flying everywhere.
I kicked my leg out at him, and it sank into his abdomen. He let out a satisfying grunt, but it barely fazed him. He grabbed for me and caught me by the wrist, then spun me around until I was pinned to his chest.
“What’s in it for you?” I asked. “Money? Fame?”
Rogers scoffed. “None of your business. How’d you get out of your cell?”
“None of your business,” I shot back at him. I threw my arms downward with all my strength, breaking free of his hold. I dove toward a vase on the end table to use as a weapon and held it above my head.
But before I could bring it down on him, he muttered the words, “Quod dico facies.”
My whole body stopped as if I’d been turned to stone, but my eyes still moved freely. I glanced over to my friends to see that Fiona had taken care of the first guy was helping Ronark with his. Any second now, they’d come to help me, too. Come hell or high water, we were getting our hands on that dagger.
Rogers stepped closer to me until his face was just inches from my own. “If you must know, I want to be on the winning side.”
“You sure you chose the right one?” I asked rhetorically.
Rogers reached down and clamped a hand around my jaw. When he touched me, something like a small electric shot traveled across my skin. It was like I could feel his magic in his touch, and I knew that everything Ronark had said about him was true. Rogers’s magic was strong, but it was without purpose. He was driven by fear and greed, and that was why he had to renew his cloaking spell every day. His magic was weak.
“Valkas is stronger than any witch alive,” Rogers asserted. “You’re the only thing standing in his way of eternal glory. And I’m stronger than you. Together, Valkas and I can rule the world.”
“And what about when you die?” I asked. “If you become a vampire to live forever, you’ll lose your magic. You don’t think Valkas will toss you aside the second you’re no use to him?”
Rogers hesitated to answer the question.
“Besides, if you’re so strong, how come your spell stopped working on me a good ten seconds ago?”
Rogers’s eyes went wide and darted up to the vase I held above his head. I’d been totally bluffing, but the second I said it, he lost his focus. His spell eased on me just enough that I found control over my fingers again. I opened my hand, and the heavy vase clunked into his forehead.
He was barely distracted for a second, but it was enough. I brought my knee up and pressed my foot firmly into his abdomen, then kicked with all my strength. He went flying backward and crashed into a table next to the couches. It crumbled beneath his weight. I was on him a second later, patting him down in search of the dagger.
His arms shot out and grabbed on to my wrists, so I threw my head forward into his nose. My head throbbed, but I was satisfied to see blood dripping down his face and onto the hardwood floor. Still, he didn’t let go of me.
I pulled a move I’d seen in a movie once. I threw my arms outward, giving me enough momentum to break his hold on me. I grabbed his wrists with all my strength and tugged so that they crossed over his chest. I pressed my knee right where his arms met and again felt around for the dagger.
Relief flooded through me when my hands ran over a sheath secured to his hip. I pulled hard on his suitcoat, tearing the buttons and a corner of fabric.
I’ll be damned. Ronark was right. Beneath the fabric of his coat, the silver handle of the dagger poked out of the sheath.
The moment I reached for it, Rogers let out a deep, angry roar from beneath me. He gathered all his strength and threw his arms out, tossing me off of him like a rag doll. My cheek slammed into the corner of the couch several feet away, but I ignored the pulse of pain and whirled around.
Rogers was already coming at me again, his fist flying at my face. I ducked, but I didn’t get out of the way in time before a pain shot out through my other cheek. I stumbled backwards into another end table. I grabbed the legs and held the whole thing high above my head, swinging it at Rogers.
He threw his arm
up to protect himself. The table snapped in half against his forearm, and the legs went flying in different directions. I was left with two legs in my hands and half a table top. So I swung it again.
This time, Rogers caught it mid-swing and twisted, ripping it out of my hands. I didn’t let myself get distracted. Jumping onto the arm of the couch, I kicked off to gain height, then twisted in the air to land on Rogers’s back. I curled my arm around his neck and squeezed tightly, but he was just as fast as I was. He grabbed on to my arm and threw his body forward, using the momentum to flip me over his head and slam me onto my back on the ground.
The air stalled in my lungs like the whole room had just been sucked of oxygen.
“You think you’re so tough,” Rogers drawled as he loomed above me. “You will never amount to anything as long as the Soulless are around.”
I finally caught my breath and managed to choke out, “We’ll see about that.”
In a split second, I kicked off the ground, spun and grabbed the dagger out of Rogers’s sheath, then sliced the hand racing for my throat. I jumped backward just out of his reach. My ankle met up with the wall behind me, and I held out the dagger in defense.
Anger ignited across his eyes, and his nostrils flared. He aimed his good fist at me, but I easily ducked and dodged it. What I didn’t expect was for him to go straight for the sconce behind me, ripping it off the wall. Before I could react, a hot, burning pain seared my shoulder as he shoved the burning candle into my exposed skin.
My scream echoed above the breaking glass and grunts coming from the other side of the room. Rogers took the opportunity to reach down and tear the dagger out of my grasp.
That was it before he made a run for it.
“Rachel!” I heard Jenna calling my name, but I didn’t listen. No way was I letting Rogers get away with that dagger.
I sprinted after him, down one hall and around a corner, until we reached a back door and broke out into the night. I ran after him as fast as I could, but he kept a steady pace ahead of me. He raced around the chateau and to a familiar trail, the one that led to the fight ring. My chest ached with shallow breaths the harder I pushed my body to keep up with him.