Destructive Embrace

by Robyn M. Pierce

  “We could die in there,” I whispered, placing my palm against her cheek. She leaned into my touch and nodded. “I want you to promise me that, if something happens to Dmitri or me, you will try your damnedest to escape and take our child to safety.”

  When she looked like she was about to argue, I cut her off, as I was prone to doing since Reid’s death. “Elyssa, please,” I begged, holding her face in between both of my hands now. “I need to know that if I meet my demise, you will take our baby away and raise him without me.”

  Tears shining in her eyes, she nodded. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was feeling or what was going through her head. I wondered if my request was difficult for her to acquiesce, but couldn’t bear to dwell on it.

  After all, if she didn’t get away, there would be no child to take care of…

  “One last thing,” I paused. “If we live, I’m going to stop making things hard on you… I know that I go back and forth, and that must wreak havoc on your feelings. I will just be your brother-in-law after this… The uncle to your child.”

  Her jaw dropped as she began to speak, but I pressed my mouth to hers one final time.

  “Just one more kiss,” I whispered into her mouth, delving my fingers into the roots of her hair at the nape of her neck.

  “It’s been two minutes!” Dmitri shouted from down the hall.

  Elyssa pulled away from me as though she’d been burned, brushing her fingertips across her lips. Her expression was one of acceptance, and I trusted that she would not fight me on my decision to leave her be.

  It was what I knew would be best for her, if we all came out of this alive. She needed to be able to live her life without feeling guilty about having feelings for her dead Mate’s brother, and I hoped that my decision would free her from such guilt.

  “We’re coming,” I called back to Dmitri. Stepping away from Elyssa, I made my way back to the double doors of my dungeons, not hesitating in throwing them open.

  As I took the first few steps down the stairs, I wondered what I would find. Was it truly Annibel that was being possessed by Tywin now? Or was it someone else? And who was he beating using my weapons?

  Elyssa and Dmitri were following me at first, but the sudden drop of a body told me that Dmitri’s allergy to silver was more severe than I’d ever known. He hadn’t even made it a third of the way down my staircase before dropping.

  The knowledge of it made me sick.

  But I had no choice but to keep going. In my moment of hesitation, I glanced over my shoulder to see Elyssa kneeling next to Dmitri, who was sweating profusely and arching his back in pain.

  Elyssa looked up at me. “Go!” she hissed. “I’ll bring him down.”

  I nodded and turned around once more to resume my descent into my domain. I wanted to hurry, but at the same time, I dreaded knowing the truth.

  There was no sound of whipping meeting my ears, which I took to mean one of two things: either Tywin had already killed his victim, or he knew we were there and was waiting for us so he could have an audience.

  As I made it into the dungeon area, my heart dropped into my stomach, and I knew that he was just waiting for us.

  Or, rather…

  Tywin was waiting for me to show up.

  Roxann was strung up on a wall in the smaller cell, bleeding from various wounds.

  “Well, now.” The voice came from my office door, and I whirled around to look for its owner, though the voice itself told me who it was all on its own.

  Annibel stood in the doorway of my office, holding a whip with two hands. The look of sheer hatred on her face wasn’t suitable for her, and I sneered.

  “Hello, Tywin,” I growled.

  He smiled, the despicable grin on his face marring the natural beauty that belonged to Annibel. “You came sooner than I expected, son. Though I suppose you’ll now save your precious fiancée from a slow, torturous death,” Tywin said, Annibel’s chiming voice not matching the ugly words that came from her mouth.

  The hatred I felt for the old man at that moment could never be matched by any other individual, even if I were to cross the devil himself.

  Tywin’s desire for immortality had gone too far.

  He’d first overstepped the boundaries by possessing my baby brother. Then by taking that control and using it to scared and abuse Elyssa.

  For making us kill Reid.

  Finally, for not dying, taking over Annibel’s body, and for capturing and harming the third woman whose safety I actually cared about.

  “Prepare to die, old man,” I said calmly.

  Dmitri

  The pain was ridiculous. I’d been around silver plenty of times to know what it felt like, of course. But somehow, this was different than simply being exposed to a silver blade or two.

  I was surrounded by silver objects, and it felt as though my body was trying to kill me.

  “Dmitri!” Her voice was keeping me conscious. She repeatedly called out my name, keeping me from falling victim to the pain.

  “Dmitri, he’s down there alone with Tywin. We need to go,” she said. Her cold hands were on my shoulders, and she was gently shaking me in an attempt to make me open my eyes.

  Of course she was worried about him. Even though I was lying on the floor, practically dying from the amount of pain I was in, she still cared more about Zeke.

  “Give me a second,” I rasped out, coughing uncontrollably as I fought to sit up.

  A few moments later, I was finally upright, and I opened my eyes. She was there, her face directly in front of mine. Worry was etched into every feature, and I felt mildly guilty for being so bitter just a moment ago. She wasn’t just worried about my oldest brother.

  She wound her arm around my waist and helped to haul me to my feet. Suddenly I was extremely grateful that she’d stayed behind with me instead of following Zeke downstairs. Otherwise, I might not have been able to make it downstairs to witness my father’s ultimate demise.

  We eventually made it, though, and as soon as my feet were on the solid flat surface, a hand thrust a vial under my nose.

  “Here,” Zeke muttered. Even though he spoke at a low volume, I could hear the guilt in his voice, and slowly took the vial from him with my shaky hands.

  Elyssa’s free hand wound around mine to help steady it. “What will it do?” she asked. Her voice shook as much as my hands did, and once glance up at her face told me there was something I was missing.

  She looked horrified as she looked around the dungeons.

  “It will make your body numb to any pain you’re feeling,” Zeke whispered. “You will hurt like hell later – possibly even more than you would have normally – but for now, you will be able to tolerate being down here for this.”

  I was intensely grateful that Zeke was supporting my idiotic decision to stay instead of telling me to leave. Elyssa uncorked the vial and helped me to lift it to my mouth so I could drink it.

  It took a few moments for the concoction to kick in, but when the pain subsided, I wiped my brow with my sleeve and stood up straight once more.

  “Thank you, Elyssa,” I murmured gruffly, setting one hand on her shoulder.

  It was all she could do to just nod once, so I followed her gaze to whatever was bothering her so much.

  What I saw made even my heart stop, and immediately I looked over to Zeke.

  Roxann. How in the hell had the old man gotten ahold of her? Of course, Annibel’s body was vampire, just as Reid’s had been, so he had an advantage over the poor human woman, but at the same time, I couldn’t fathom that Tywin had somehow gotten around Zeke’s protective custody.

  The tortured expression on Zeke’s face was hard for even me to bear, and I quickly looked away before it ate at me.

  Just because we'd gone for so long with negative feelings between us didn't necessarily mean that I longed to see my brother suffer.

  Sure, at times, I didn't want to see him get whatever it was that he wanted, but a majority of the time,
that didn't equate to wishing for him to be put through the hell that he was going through right then.

  The utter defenselessness of his expression tore right through my hardened exterior, and I turned my eyes toward the body of Annibel.

  It was the first time that I'd come face-to-face with someone who I for-sure knew was possessed by our father. I had no idea what I was expecting, but the confused hatred that ran through me was definitely not it.

  "Ah, and my killer has finally arrived," Tywin said, smiling devilishly at me. "The first of them, at least," Tywin finished, cutting a glare at each of my comrades.

  "If you provoke me, I might just be inclined to do it again, old man," I replied, smirking at the pale blonde before me. It was a slightly awkward feeling, addressing such a petite beauty as 'old man', but I knew what was lurking just beneath the surface.

  Tywin scoffed, flipping Annibel's hair back over her shoulders. I couldn't help but notice blood smeared across her face, arms, and matted into her hair. I looked toward Roxann once more. While still alive, Tywin had done a number on her, and she was losing a lot of blood.

  "You don't have the power or the weapons to defeat me, my boy," Tywin said, shrugging at me. "So your so-called threats mean nothing to me. Absolutely nothing," he hissed, glaring at me.

  While I wasn’t positioned near any of Zeke's weapons, that was the only thing that Tywin was right about. Thanks to Zeke's little numbing potion, I was feeling great, and if it came down to it, I could certainly take Tywin down.

  If only I was close to something that I could chop his head off with.

  "How did you even possess Annibel?" Elyssa piped up, addressing something I hadn't even thought to ask. "You had to leave Reid with bits and pieces of your demented soul over the years in order to take over his mind and body. You only had access to Annibel for the short time that she has lived at the castle."

  Tywin glared at Elyssa, clearly eager to get to the 'fun parts' of the show. "She had a weak mind, and was passing by just as you pierced your Mate's heart with your precious silver Kodachi." He paused, sneering at Elyssa cockily. "How did that work out for you, my dear? Is your darling Reid at ease now? Is he safe from little old me?" Tywin winked at her, and I had to catch her quickly before she could lunge at him.

  "Ooh, such a feisty one," Tywin teased. "Maybe I should have tried to possess you instead."

  I snarled at him, protective of my friend no matter how difficult she made it to be on her side.

  A gleam shone in Annibel’s eyes, and I waited for the old man’s next jab. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for this little tramp as well. My, and I thought you were smarter than that, Dmitri…”

  Elyssa

  The moments following Tywin picking on Dmitri were tensely silent, aside from the occasional drip as poor Roxann’s blood fell to the floor.

  The three of us were at a loss for what to do.

  We couldn’t very well do anything without first knowing how Tywin truly came to possess Annibel. There was no way we could kill her, if there was a chance that he would just transfer himself to another host.

  “You’re such a parasite!” I spat at him. He just arched one of Annibel’s delicate eyebrows at me and smiled.

  “With all of you present,” the sinister voice chimed elegantly from the pale vampire’s mouth, “I shall tell you everything. But first…” Tywin broke off, reaching out to stab his hand into Roxann’s chest.

  Her brown eyes flooded with tears as she stared at Zeke. I turned my gaze to Zeke just in time to see the tears fall from his eyes. Then, a squelching sound met my ears as Tywin snatched Roxann’s heart out and tossed it to the floor.

  I tore my gaze away from Zeke’s face, tears clouding my own vision, to look back at the vile creature standing before us.

  He brushed his hands together as though swiping dirt off, and then proceeded to wipe the excess blood off that pale skin and onto the dark clothes adorning Annibel’s petite form.

  I trembled with anger and fear at the sheer cruelty displayed by the person in front of us. As my knees began to give way beneath me, Dmitri grabbed me by my waist and held me up.

  Annibel’s cold gaze swept over me and I tried to hold myself together under that stare. “I thought you were much stronger than this, Ely,” Tywin taunted, managing to deepen Annibel’s voice just enough to make her tone match how Reid used to call out to me.

  I hissed at him angrily, blinking the tears from my eyes as I struggled to get away from Dmitri so I could tear out the bastard’s throat.

  “Elyssa, no!” Dmitri whispered into my ear. “He just wants to goad you on. If you come at him, he will know how to defend himself, and you will lose. It’s what he wants!”

  Despite knowing that, I could hardly keep myself from tearing free from his hold in order to go for Tywin with my bare hands. Dmitri began to stroke my hair, and after a few moments, I calmed down enough to make him think I wasn’t going to go after Tywin.

  Dmitri released me.

  As I prepared to spring forward, Zeke’s hand on my elbow stopped me.

  I looked up at him sharply, my heart breaking at the look of pure torment on his face. “Zeke…” I whispered, half-turning my body away from the enemy in order to make sure my ally was alright.

  “Don’t give him what he wants, Elyssa,” he breathed, looking back over to his father. “He wants to make us pay. For me, he killed the woman I was engaged to… For you, he made you watch my suffering… He’ll come at me again in another way.”

  Not understanding, I glanced over at Annibel, whose expression gave nothing away but an air of confidence that was hard to deny.

  Zeke reached out to gently turn my face back toward him. “He will take your life next,” he whispered.

  Silently, I heard him tack on: You made a promise to me.

  As hard as it was, I nodded and stepped back, angling myself between Dmitri and Zeke so that I was more protected than before.

  “Oh, boo-hoo!” Tywin mocked. “You’ve figured out that I want you all to suffer. And here I thought I hid my master plan well.” He snapped his fingers sarcastically and rolled his eyes.

  “Who cares if you know what I want. The question is, can you stop me from getting it? Somehow, I think not!”

  In the next moment, he darted forward, shoving both Zeke and Dmitri aside in order to grab me harshly and drag me back to the other side of the room. A dagger was pressed to my throat, and I tried to move cooperatively so that I didn’t get hurt.

  Looking back at Dmitri and Zeke, the panic in their eyes was easy to see, and I wondered if I should be feeling the same way. Something inside me refused to feel it, though, and I grew curious as to why I was so calm.

  “Elyssa…”

  Zeke’s voice made me focus on him. He was obviously terrified.

  “Let’s see how my eldest son enjoys losing the woman he loves and the bastard child in her womb,” Tywin said, laughing a broken laugh at both of his sons. “Maybe seeing that agony on Zeke’s face will make Dmitri regret killing me.”

  “I will never regret that,” Dmitri snarled. “You murdered my mother in cold blood, in front of me. You bet your ass I was about to kill you the same way you killed her!”

  Tywin’s grip on me tightened, and I wondered if what Dmitri said was beginning to piss him off.

  “Your mother was trying to take you guys away from me,” Tywin sighed, frustrated. “Why am I explaining this? You three already know all of it. This is old news, so why are you making me say it over and over like some broken fucking record?”

  I halfway tuned out his complaining as I focused on Zeke once more, hoping to communicate again.

  If I come at him, can you get away fast enough? Or is it too risky? Zeke was trying to figure out how to reclaim me in one piece.

  I considered the options. I’d only been able to get through a few training sessions with Dmitri before we found out I was pregnant, so my skills weren’t the greatest. On the other hand, I was a better figh
ter than I was the last time we’d gone against Tywin.

  In addition, Annibel’s body was nowhere near as strong as Reid’s, or as in shape.

  Dmitri was still chattering on with Tywin, but his gaze had curiously gone between Zeke and me, so I could only hope that he understood. I stared at him hard, trying to communicate with him as I could with Zeke. I just needed them to trust me.

  Something about my gaze must have gone through to him, because he looked hopeful for just a beat before giving the slightest nod.

  “So, what exactly are you hoping to achieve with Annibel’s body?” I asked, interrupting Dmitri mid-sentence.

  Tywin stiffened, his hold on me becoming tighter for an instant before it suddenly turned sloppy. “She was supposed to be someone you would never suspect,” he admitted.

  I snorted. “You poor, misinformed soul. Annibel told us the day you attacked me –” Zeke snarled “—that she was leaving the castle for good. There was, of course, no way for you to know that, but when we kept running into you, we began to suspect.”

  “And who exactly do you refer to when you say we? You and Dmitri? He can barely stand to be around you since you decided to open your legs to Zeke and get knocked up with his seed,” Tywin mocked in my ear.

  “You can’t possibly have meant you and Zeke, on the other hand, as you spent most of your days avoiding my poor boy. You know he loves you, right? What a dirty shame, moving in on his dead brother’s Mate mere days after her Mate’s demise.”