We halted abruptly. Jillian released her hold, and my legs buckled. I crumpled to the ground on my hands and knees, catching myself on all fours before my face bit stone.
“Cassidy,” Dominic murmured. “If you were anyone else, I’d be surprised to find you had escaped my rooms. Knowing you, however, I’m surprised it took you so long.”
I shook my head. The stone floor swooped to switch with the ceiling, and I took a deep breath to settle my stomach. “No time to argue,” I gasped. “Kaden escaped from wherever you imprisoned him. He’s in the honeycomb rooms, where you take your day rest.”
Dominic materialized in a crouch next to me without sound, movement, or warning. His face was inches from my face. “We have infinite time,” he growled, and his words turned into the rattling hiss that raised my hackles.
He pinched my chin between his thumb and forefinger and tipped my face to meet his gaze. Dominic was still a man, unlike Kaden or the semi-transformed Jillian, but the tension in his body, the glow of his eyes, and the harshness in his expression, made me wonder how firm a grip he was keeping on his form.
His face was suddenly buried in my neck, and he inhaled deeply. “Strange that I gave you such a high dose of morphine and I can’t even smell it on you anymore. How are you metabolizing it this quickly?”
I shrugged slightly. I’d have considered telling him about my last recovery with morphine and subsequent Percocet addiction, but Jillian was watching us very carefully. “How should I know why it—”
“Ian Walker may have given her a stimulant to counteract the side effects,” Jillian offered.
“Do I look stimulated?” I snapped, still swaying on all fours.
Dominic stiffened. “You brought Ian Walker into my coven?”
“I didn’t bring anyone anywhere. I—”
“He was about to stake Rafe when I arrived.”
“If you saw Walker, than you must have seen Kaden,” I hissed at Jillian. I whirled my gaze back to Dominic’s face and swayed. The floor dipped and spiraled sickeningly. Dominic didn’t reach out to steady me; he let me struggle as I scraped together the tatters of my strength and balance.
“Where is Ian Walker now?” Dominic asked carefully.
I swallowed and was embarrassed to hear my voice catch when I finally spoke. “The last I saw him, Kaden had him cornered in Rafe’s room. I knew I couldn’t fight Kaden on my own and win, so I came looking for you. Jillian found me and I—”
“I’m only asking you once, Jillian,” Dominic said softly. “Where is Walker now?”
I closed my mouth slowly, unsure which one of us was suddenly on the chopping block.
“I took care of the matter,” Jillian said dismissively.
Dominic stood to face her. “Elucidate.”
Jillian paused, finally sensing her danger. “I didn’t have a choice. He was moments from killing Rafe.”
I shook my head. “He was moments from getting killed. Kaden is—”
“Kaden is where he belongs,” Jillian said coldly, as if forced to lower herself to explain her thoughts and motives to a cockroach. “It must have been me you saw in true form.”
“I know what I saw!” I looked between Jillian and Dominic, trying to find the words that would convince them. “We sacrificed so much to subdue him, Dominic. I bled for you. I suffered for you. Don’t you care if he’s escaped?”
“He hasn’t escaped. He’s due for punishment tonight,” Jillian said.
“Enough,” Dominic growled.
Jillian and I fell into silence.
“If Ian Walker is dead in our coven, Bex will turn against us. She won’t care how much we’ve been through or whether or not Kaden was scheduled for punishment. She will unquestionably come to punish us, and we can’t afford to lose her alliance.”
“We could rise against her,” Jillian suggested.
“Is Ian Walker dead?” Dominic asked quietly, his voice eerily calm even as his ears pointed slightly and his nose started to flatten. His control was slipping at the thought of what Bex would do to his coven. I shuddered to imagine her power if she frightened even Dominic.
I held my breath for Jillian’s response.
“I don’t know for certain,” Jillian said.
Dominic’s nose completely flattened, and his ears elongated into high points. He took a deep breath and his features retracted again. I inched back, trying to gain a slight buffer should he completely lose his grip.
“You don’t know for certain?” Dominic repeated slowly.
“I prevented him from killing Rafe, but when I found this one had escaped”—Jillian pointed to me—“I brought her to you, as you instructed.”
“Don’t throw me under the bus,” I growled. “I asked for Dominic the moment you found me.”
“To save yourself,” Jillian hissed.
“To save us all,” I hissed back.
“Silence, both of you,” Dominic warned again. “If you’re not certain, I’ll check for myself.”
“Good luck finding his body,” Kaden rattled from the doorway.
I only glimpsed the horror of Kaden’s completely transformed, blood-slicked gargoyle features for a split second before his form streaked into the room, charging me. I screamed. Dominic disappeared, and within a blink of an eye, he reappeared in front of me, shielding my body. Kaden plowed into him, and the force of his speed smashed Dominic into the stone wall behind us.
Kaden reared over Dominic. His gleaming gargoyle claw slashed down to impale him, but Kaden was bowled over by another blur. Kaden landed a few feet away with Jillian on top of him. She reared back to strike but was much too slow, slower than both Kaden and Dominic. I could actually see the movement of her arm as it slashed through the air. Kaden tossed her aside before her blow could land, and her head snapped back into the stone. When she crumpled to the ground, her hair a rioting halo around her, she didn’t get back up.
Before Kaden could recover, Dominic rushed him. He flattened Kaden on the floor, one transformed claw tight around his neck. Kaden attempted to dislodge Dominic’s grip, but the more he struggled, the deeper Dominic pressed him into the stone. The ground cracked in growing spider faults around them as Kaden’s struggles turned to panic, and Dominic applied more pressure.
“Who helped you escape?” Dominic growled. His voice was gravelly, like the lining of his throat had been shredded by razors.
Kaden laughed. “This coven is already mine. These vampires are already mine. You can’t keep me imprisoned here when they all want me free.”
“Allegiance is fickle,” Dominic said, crushing Kaden deeper into the stone. “Obviously. Being Master is more than having a faction of support.”
“It’s not a faction when you’ve gained the entire coven,” Kaden said, laughing. “When you die, your reign will fall to me.”
Dominic laughed. “When who dies?” he asked, and he plunged his claw deep into Kaden’s chest, just below his sternum. He jerked his hand up to reach Kaden’s heart.
Kaden’s body spasmed. He turned his head to look at Jillian, and the desperation in his human eyes made my breath catch.
I didn’t even see a hint of her movement. Jillian had been an unconscious heap in the corner, having lost her round with Kaden, and in the very next instant, her body disappeared. A sharp, deep pain impaled through my back. I was lifted in midair, and something twisted inside me as I dangled. I coughed a spray of blood.
“Dominic,” I managed to gurgle through the blood gathered in my throat, but I didn’t need to say anything.
Dominic was already frozen, his hand still buried elbow-deep in Kaden’s chest. He lifted his head and met my eyes, but it wasn’t until his gaze flicked behind me that his expression shifted to shocked horror.
Chapter 13
“Jillian?” Dominic asked slowly, breathlessly.
Jillian’s talons pierced my back between my shoulder blades, and with her incredible strength, she held me off the ground as I tried to scream and kick away f
rom her. The movement only made me sway as I dangled. I coughed harder.
“Release Kaden,” Jillian ordered. “Now.”
“As your Master, I command you to set Cassidy aside, unharmed. We can still discuss this, but if you kill her, I will kill you.”
“We’ve had enough discussion. You’re unbendable,” Jillian said behind me, her voice measured. “Step away from Kaden and leave him unharmed, or I’ll tear out Cassidy’s spine.”
“You’ll regret this decision, Jillian,” Dominic said, his voice equally measured. I suspected that both were attempting to calm the other. “Kaden thinks he’s adopting the Master’s power on the Leveling, but he would be much more powerful by now if that was the case. Don’t trust his delusion, Jillian. He’ll never be more powerful than I. I’m still your Master.”
A low, deep rattling growl vibrated through Jillian’s body. Her claw imbedded inside me vibrated, too. I shrieked, coughing more blood and writhing from the sharp, needle-like pain of her claws tearing through my insides.
“I have no Master,” she hissed. “You killed him, and I became my own Master.”
“This is still about Desirius? I’m sorry for your pain, but if I hadn’t killed him, his coven would have exposed us to the humans. I’m sorry a vampire from your own coven didn’t inherit his reign, but you’re my vampire now, and I—”
“The truth is here, right in front of your face, and you still don’t see it. You still don’t see me,” Jillian said, laughing, but the bitterness in her voice was thick and biting. “I inherited Desirius’s reign. Kaden isn’t adopting your Master’s power on the Leveling. I am. If you had died under the sun like you were supposed to die Sunday night, I would have already been Master and the world would know of our rightful existence.”
Dominic stared at Jillian, visibly shocked. I didn’t think vampires had the range of emotions to be shocked. So many times Dominic seemed more animal than human, more rabid than empathetic, but a rabid animal doesn’t have expectations, and when those expectations aren’t met, they don’t feel betrayed. Dominic, however, looked distraught.
He shook his head. “You knew I didn’t return to the coven Sunday night? And you didn’t come to my aid?”
“Knew? I planned it that way.”
“But I thought—”
“We know what you thought,” Kaden said. A slow grin twisted his lips. “How could I overpower you on my own? I’m just barely your equal.”
“I saw you,” Dominic insisted, looking down at Kaden. “Just before the ambush, I saw the glow of your purple eyes.”
Jillian tutted. “Of course he was there, but he wasn’t alone. He was with me.”
A cold, tight expression washed over Dominic’s half-transformed features. He looked still and calculating, but he must have sliced something inside of Kaden, because he screamed.
Jillian twisted her hand inside of me, and I shrieked.
Dominic jerked his gaze back to us. Kaden had already recovered from whatever wound Dominic had inflicted, but I was going into shock. My teeth were chattering and my body was going numb.
Dominic narrowed his eyes to slits. “Jillian—”
“Don’t worry,” Kaden interrupted. His voice escaped in a painful rasp. “If Jillian kills her, I’ll bring her back.”
Dominic stared at him, dumbfounded. “You can’t complete a transformation. Even if Jillian has adopted the Master’s power, she can’t perform a transformation until I’m dead.”
“So you’ve been telling us for decades,” Kaden spat.
“I haven’t told you anything. That is simple fact.” Dominic looked up, horrified. “Jillian, tell him the truth. Tell him that only a Master can transform a night blood.”
“We don’t know for sure that—”
“You’ve witnessed the horror caused by coven-turned night bloods! I pulled you from that hell! Tell him that—”
“Decide,” Jillian interrupted harshly. “Step away from Kaden, and I will step away from Cassidy. Or remain where you are and kill her. Choose.”
Jillian waited a moment, but Dominic hesitated, thinking on his next move. She twisted her claw a little deeper.
I gasped and twitched.
Dominic stared deep into Jillian’s eyes and said, “You will release Cassidy and step away from her, now.”
I held my breath, waiting to drop to the ground. Jillian’s arm shook from the force of resisting the command, but the moment passed, her arm steadied, and I remained impaled on her claws.
Dominic’s eyes widened.
She tore something from my body, and it landed on the ground with a wet, suctioned sound. I gasped and coughed and screamed and coughed up more blood.
Jesus, I thought, don’t let that be my spine or an organ or anything important. As if she could have torn something out of my body that wasn’t important. I laughed slightly, and coughed harder at my own twisted humor.
Dominic’s chest vibrated with a loud, rattling growl. The sound grew cacophonous and vibrated throughout the entire room.
“Calm yourself, Dominic,” Jillian warned. “This is simple. If you want Cassidy to live, step away from Kaden,” she said coldly. “Now.”
“I could tear you limb from limb before you could think to scream,” Dominic growled. The room hummed with the vibrations coming from his throat.
“You could try,” Jillian said blandly, “but not before I snap Cassidy’s spine from her back.”
“I trusted you,” Dominic hissed. “Together, we’ve pulled this coven back from the brink of several civil wars, but now you’re leading them against me?”
“It didn’t have to come to this,” Jillian stated, not pleading or defensive. She knew she’d crossed a line, had in fact pole-vaulted clear over it, and was unashamed. “I’ve warned you many times throughout the last few years that someone would rise if you didn’t change along with the tide. The coven is tired of hiding our existence. We want our freedom!”
“Someone, yes, but not you.” Dominic laughed, sickened. “Many times, the tide of the coven is not in the best interest of the coven. Many times, you must fight for them by straining against them. You must steer the tide in a different direction to—”
“You’re wrong. The coven is sick of hunting in secret. I am sick of hunting in secret. We are predators, and our true place is to rule this city, not cower in hiding beneath it.”
Dominic made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. “We are predators of the night. We hide because we’re nocturnal and vulnerable during the day. Humans may be our food after sunset, but they are our greatest risk during the day. How will you protect an entire coven when the sun rises without anonymity?”
“I’ve heard this speech from you many times, but it is nothing but words. I believe in you, and although I’ve forgiven you for killing Desirius, I can’t forgive you for keeping us imprisoned here. Desirius’s actions were twisted; he tortured and killed his closest and truest vampires. He tortured and nearly killed me before you saved us, but I supported his cause to free us. He was the wrong man for the right cause. I believe that you could be the right man to lead that cause, but if you refuse, then I will lead it myself.”
Dominic shook his head slowly, as if the weight of her words was crushing him. “You’re wrong. This will destroy our coven like it destroyed yours.”
“You refuse to see an entire coven of vampires, myself included, who would stand by you no matter the cause, if only you would stand by us in this. And that’s why we’re here now, because you refuse to listen or change or bend for the benefit of this coven,” Jillian said emphatically. “Step away from Kaden.”
“Jillian Allister,” Dominic intoned, and I could hear the power in his voice as he linked his mind to hers. “Place Cassidy on the ground and step away from her.”
Jillian’s body shook with the effort to resist his command. “Step away from Kaden, Dominic Lysander. Now.”
Her own power was equally strong. I could feel their mental battle heat t
he air between them. Neither Dominic nor Jillian stepped away.
Jillian laughed harshly. “I’m your equal, Lysander. Step away from Kaden before we both lose what is most precious.” She lifted me higher, and I felt the long, slow slide of her tongue. Her chest rattled. “I understand why you want her. She’s delicious. But whether she dies now or later, it doesn’t matter. The coven will sense your struggle and come to feast anyway.”
The movement of her laughter was sharp inside my back. I tried to bite back a reaction, but her talons were so sharp and the pain was so overwhelming that my whimpers and moans and gasps were involuntary. I writhed, suspended in midair, and couldn’t think of how to survive this. After everything I had survived—my parents’ deaths, supporting my brother, losing Adam, the gunshot wound, and recovering from Percocet addiction—this was how I would die, caught in the crossfire of a vampire rebellion. This wasn’t even my fight. My anger, that churning, unfathomable depth of seething rage that always boiled beneath the surface, erupted. I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t do anything to physically channel the rage, but Jillian had just ingested my blood. My rage flowed over me with the same vibrating, enflamed mental power that flowed from Dominic and Jillian.
Dominic was silent. He stared at Jillian for a long moment before shifting his gaze to me. I don’t know what he saw in my eyes, if my expression had anything to do with his decision or if the potential he saw in me as his night blood overrode common sense, but he slipped his arm from Kaden’s chest, stood slowly, and stepped away as Jillian had commanded.
I managed to open my mouth and uttered a low rasp. “No, don’t listen—”
Jillian ripped her arm from my back and dropped me to the ground. I crumpled on my side and watched as she appeared behind Dominic, seemingly from thin air. Her claw, which she had just ripped out from inside of me, skewered through Dominic. She pounded her bloodied hand through his back and all four of her bat-like gargoyle talons punctured Dominic’s chest. I looked down at my own undamaged chest, and I realized just how much she’d restrained herself while threatening me.
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