by Sara Snow
“You’ve done well.” Her voice was like thunder, and she reached out to touch my cheek, wiping away my tears. “When I first created werewolves, the determination and strength you carry, your passion to help others . . . that was what I foresaw for them.”
I placed my fist over my heart and bowed. “I know the sacrifice I have to make. My body is yours, Goddess. Please, save my father, save Will . . . save everyone.”
She nodded. Abruptly, I returned to my body, but I was no longer in charge. It was like I was dreaming, a silent onlooker as everything unraveled around me.
I watched as the Goddess healed my father with a single touch.
He sat up, touching his healed stomach, and I sighed with relief. “Elinor?”
“You should be proud of your daughter. She has a strong heart.”
My voice was no longer mine; it belonged to the Goddess. My father’s eyes widened in shock, and he bowed with reverence as the Goddess stood up.
“Amythia!” the Goddess yelled, and Amythia, who had Will by the throat, threw him like a sack of potatoes.
"Oh, look. The mother has arrived to save her children. I was wondering when you'd show up!"
“Tonight, your reign ends, Amythia, and the extinction of your kind begins!”
19
Will
The woman before me was unrecognizable. I knew I was no longer looking at just Elinor.
Black veins began to appear all over her body, and her black hair slowly turned white. It was like looking at an hourglass. With each minute that passed, she was closer to dying.
I was itching to join the fight, to stand by her side, but knew I’d only get in the way. All my attempts to bite Amythia had failed so far, though I was still watching and waiting for an opening. But now, this was no longer a fight anyone else could interfere with. The power coming from both women was almost tangible, and I felt that if I reached out, I’d be able to touch it.
There was a clash of fire and ice between them when Amythia and Elinor charged at each other. My mother had left one wing bent at an odd angle, and the spike at its tip sliced Elinor’s forearm open. She then swiped her claws at Elinor’s face, but she stepped back skillfully. Grayson appeared by my side, also transfixed by the fight.
He nodded at me quickly, and I did the same before our attention was drawn back to the women.
Elinor raised her hand and slapped Amythia across the face, and my mother’s head whipped to the side.
Amythia held her cheek while Elinor tilted her head, silent, taunting—her face emotionless. The heat coming from her body started melting the ice, and my mother screeched with rage.
Bleeders flooded into the garden, and Grayson shifted back into his wolf. I joined the fight, slaughtering the ravenous creatures left and right. Then Faelen suddenly appeared, her sword already soaked in the black blood of other vampires, and sliced a Bleeder’s head clean off.
Her clothes were ripped, and chunks of her white hair were plastered with blood, but she froze when she saw Elinor, and a smile formed on her lips. “The Goddess is here. I can feel her.”
Letting herself get drawn into the fight between Elinor and my mother was a mistake. A Bleeder attacked her from behind, wrapping its hand around her throat before ripping it open.
Grayson, who had been fighting two Bleeders, roared with anguish, and I acted, killing the Bleeder. But it was too late.
Faelen fell to the ground, her hands on her throat, and I caught her.
Elinor cried out and the earth beneath us began to shake. Spikes began appearing from beneath the soil, as bolts of lightning rained down from the sky. I cradled Faelen to me, and Grayson rushed over to us, the spikes and bolts missing him but killing all the vampires.
“Faelen!” Grayson howled while shifting back into his human form.
Faelen smiled as she held her hand out to Elinor, her eyes closing. “It was an honor fighting beside you all.”
She took one last breath, and Elinor screamed. I winced at the deafening sound as she threw herself at Amythia. Her claws tore Amythia’s chest open, and when my mother tried to attack her with her remaining wing, Elinor ripped it from her back. “You’re not a queen! You’re a plague to this earth! Your kind births nothing but death and destruction! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”
“Tell them! Tell your children that you’re only involved in this war because my ancestor, the one that birthed the first vampire, was your sister!” Amythia laughed as she backed away from Elinor. “Don’t pretend like you’re any different than all the other Gods; you all care about nothing but yourselves.”
"She was my sister, and I've allowed your kind to survive long enough." The ice surrounding us melted as quickly as it formed. “Your existence is an insult to her!”
“Then punish the Demon King,” my mother spat. “But no, you Gods don’t fight among yourselves, right?”
“The Demon King is no God, and his time will come! Say what you wish”—Elinor's shoulder started to dislocate—“but your kind is an abomination.”
Amythia hissed as white fur began to appear on Elinor’s arms. “I could say the same about yours!”
As Elinor attacked Amythia, I eyed Elinor’s hair, now half white. Her body wouldn’t hold up for much longer.
“Take her,” I told Grayson, and he picked up Faelen’s body.
I ripped my shirt off and rolled my shoulders as my body began changing into my vampire form. My skin paled, decorated with veins, and I licked my hand clean of Faelen’s blood. The blood of an Enchanted fueled the monster inside me as I admired Elinor’s final form, the towering white wolf that was as tall as my mother and twice her size.
The massive wolf’s tail swayed behind her and slapped the ground before she attacked Amythia again. My mother’s movements were slowing down—or maybe Elinor was moving faster. I didn’t know. Elinor’s claws began ripping chunks of my mother’s flesh off, and as fast as some of her wounds healed, Elinor delivered more. Or the Goddess did.
I’d been trapped inside myself when Amythia had recreated our sire bond. Chained to her, I’d been forced to watch my hands cause Elinor pain. It had been difficult to break free of the bond in the past, and it had been just as excruciating to do once again, but Elinor mentioning our child had given me the strength I’d needed.
It had been a reminder to me that I was nothing like my mother, that without her, I could have the life I’ve always wanted.
I ran, my wounds all healed from ingesting Faelen’s blood, and with my boost of adrenaline, I advanced on Elinor and my mother. Amythia’s red eyes met mine, and she held her hand out, ice forming on the tips of her fingers the moment I got close.
I ran forward still and allowed her arm to dig into my gut just below my right pectoral muscles.
I pushed myself forward, gritting my teeth and bearing the pain as my mother’s hand pierced my body, and Elinor bit down on her left shoulder, taking advantage of the distraction.
I sank my fangs into Amythia’s arm and pumped every drop of my venom into her body.
Elinor’s large hand came down on my shoulder, and she threw me back, ripping Amythia’s arm away from me.
“William!” I heard my mother’s scream thunder around us as I blacked out for a second, then came to, my eyes blurry.
Even so, I watched as Elinor ripped out Amythia’s throat, and large ice daggers left Amythia’s body to impale Elinor’s lower stomach just above her left hip and through her right shoulder. Still, Elinor kept attacking her, even as my venom started to take effect.
Pulsating black veins appeared under my mother’s skin, and black blood began to pour from her ears.
“I curse you, William!”
Amythia tried to run, but Elinor caught her from behind, latching on to her right shoulder. She shook my mother, ripping the other side of her neck out before her hand went through her chest.
I sighed as my mother’s gray skin faded back to white, and she returned to her human-like form. Her body was
hanging from Elinor’s arm, and Elinor growled low and removed her arm, allowing Amythia to fall to the ground.
If I had been in my human state, chills would have gone down my spine as Elinor’s roar shook the very ground. My mother was curled up on the ground, her skin swollen in some areas, as the veins beneath her skin pulsed like the heartbeat she lacked.
Elinor staggered towards me, reverting to her human form.
She bent down over me and waved her hand over my chest, healing me. Then she stood up, swaying. Leaning over, she coughed up blood, and I stilled.
“She’s dying,” I said to Elinor, to the Goddess using her body.
“I know,” the Goddess answered. “But this isn’t over.”
“I-I gave you everything,” Amythia cried out to me, as I watched Elinor walk over to my mother. Only a small part of her black hair remained. “I loved no other like you,” my mother pleaded.
“You didn’t love me.” I got up, my nostrils flaring as I picked up a familiar scent. “You wanted my power and my devotion. You loved that I answered to you and no one else. That’s not love.”
I knew he was coming, but what he did when he arrived stunned Elinor, Grayson—who was still holding Faelen’s body—and me. Cain appeared beside our mother, and she smiled up at him.
“My son . . .” She held her hand out, and as her lips parted to speak again, he slit her throat open, taking her head almost clean off.
As Amythia grew stiff, Cain stood up. “I warned you your love for him would kill you.”
Elinor
I was on fire.
My outer body was fine, other than my rapidly aging hair, but on the inside where I was trapped, parts of my body were covered in burns, and my soul was burning away. I gritted my teeth as I watched the fight unfold, a passenger in my own body.
Father stood above Faelen, guarding her body still, and my heart bled for her. She didn’t deserve the death she’d received.
"That was the most entertaining thing I've seen in centuries." Cain wiped the bloodstains off his hands, smiling at the black blood that had belonged to his mother.
I staggered backward, my eyes blurry.
I’m dying.
“Goddess!” I called out, but she didn’t answer.
My body was growing weaker by the second. But the Goddess was right—this wasn’t over—so I held on. I clenched my fists and ground my teeth as veins popped on my neck.
The side of Cain’s face and hand were badly burned, the skin wrinkled. He stepped over Amythia’s body, and Will hissed at him.
“You killed her.”
Cain shook his head. “No brother, we did, although you and your wolf did most of the work. She was already dying. Your venom and that thing behind you weakened her enough for me to finish her off. Thank you.”
Cain removed his coat and then ripped his shirt open, revealing a brand that covered the entirety of his chest. It was a large circle, with a second circle in the middle, and then a third smaller one. It began to turn red, just like the symbols on the hybrids whenever they tried to self-destruct. But somehow, I doubted he was about to commit suicide just to kill us.
I looked up as a new power caressed my skin like a passing wind. Above Cain, small balls of black smoke began to gather, and a few lowered to float around him before joining together with the others over his head.
Cain laughed villainously as the cloud above him grew larger.
A look of triumph curved his lips upward with a sinister grin. “Can you all feel it? Can you feel the raw power in the air?”
Indeed, I could feel the magic in the air, and it was twisted, malevolent, and old. Whatever he was doing, this power was going to be devastating.
One of the balls of smoke left the body of Resurrected fae who’d entered the garden and her body fell to the ground. The Goddess growled.
“You’re absorbing the black magic you used to create the Resurrected,” the Goddess said.
“Witches are useful creatures, and many of those who practice the dark arts have always been allies to the vampires.” Cain glared at me. “For centuries, I stood by Amythia. I never left her side, not once, while Will turned his back on her.” Cain looked up at the gathering cloud over his head. “She loved him, he betrayed her, and she loved him still.” He pointed at Will. “You neither wanted nor deserved the throne, but still, she wouldn’t give it to me.”
Will and I stepped back as the power gathering over him grew more ominous, the energy coming from it pure evil. “I figured, why save all of this power just to try to kill her and possibly fail, when I could just wait for you to do it, Elinor. Or should I say, Goddess?"
“I knew you were up to something. I might not have wanted the throne, but you were never worthy of it. Amythia knew that,” Will spat.
But Cain merely laughed, then looked behind him at his mother’s motionless body.
“She’s gone now, so who will stop me? You and your dying wolf?” His grin disappeared and was replaced by a black stare. “She underestimated me, and that was her downfall. Now the same will happen to you.”
Will appeared in front of Cain and punched him, sending him staggering backwards. Cain regained his balance before he could fall, and I coughed up more blood as both men began to fight in earnest.
I’d fulfilled my destiny to kill Amythia. But this new foe was just as dangerous. The gathering black magic above us descended on Will and Cain, throwing Will back.
Cain’s mouth fell open in silent agony as the power he was too weak to control overcame him. His body trembled violently, and the black smoke seeped into his body through his eyes, nose, and ears.
No longer vampire crimson, his red eyes had transformed into black orbs of darkness. Symbols from an ancient language began to crawl across his skin, originating from the circles on his chest. The symbols spread across his chest to his arms, down his stomach, and then finally to his legs until they covered his body completely. He emitted an earsplitting screech, then a long, pale tail with the same symbols beneath the skin swayed back and forth across the ground in the darkness surrounding him.
His laugh echoed around us, the cackle of a madman gaining more power than he could handle.
The Goddess coughed up more blood, and the moment she did, something pierced my chest. She looked down—I looked down—to find Cain’s tail embedded in my chest.
Blood spewed from my mouth, and I heard Will and my father’s distant cries as I fell to one knee. Cain ripped his tail out of me, and I watched helplessly as he absorbed the last of the black magic. All I could do was try to cover the gaping hole with my shaking hand.
Wings began to sprout from Cain’s back, much like his mother’s, but like the rest of his body, they were covered in symbols I could not read.
“Goddess,” I cried out again, and she appeared by my side. “Please, enough.”
“I know it hurts, girl. I know.”
“Release them,” I said. “Release the Nephilim Sisters. They can help us now. They don’t deserve the hardships they’ve had all these years. Before I die, please use what strength I have left to free them.”
I could hear Will and Cain fighting, but they sounded so far away. “Will,” I called out, but I was only speaking inside my head. “Tell him I love him. Tell him I’m sorry.”
The Goddess grabbed me quickly as I fell, then laid me down gently on a bed of flowers she’d conjured.
“Rest,” she whispered. “You’ve done your duty.”
I closed my eyes, accepting the sweet feeling of numbness, and the world went black around me.
Alpha Grayson
The worst thing a parent could ever suffer was watching their child die. Darian and Circe appeared in the garden, but all I could do was run towards Elinor.
My soul was withering away inside me, dying as I watched my daughter gasping for breath.
“Goddess!” I roared. “Don’t take her! Not my daughter!”
Darian ran past me to aid Will as he fought the monstrosity his
brother had become. Twisted by the black magic he’d consumed, Cain had transformed into something grotesque. His arms had grown long and lanky down to his knees, his hair had grown long to his torso, and his mouth had filled with two rows of sharp teeth. His wings batted at Will and Darian, while Circe sank to her knees beside Elinor.
“Let me help her!” she shouted over the noise from the battle. “Go help the others!”
Reluctantly, I did as she commanded, but I was no match for what Cain had become. He was twice the size of the creature his mother had turned into, his tail covered in spikes that swiped at anything that came close to him.
We all crumbled to the ground, holding our heads as his power to control our fears hit us full force. I saw my pack destroyed, my wife and son dead, and my daughter’s body burning. Loss, desperation, and crippling fear forced me to my knees.
Cain’s tail connected with my side, and I howled as multiple ribs shattered. I collided with a pillar, my spine snapping, and all I could do was watch as Cain wrapped his arms around Darian’s wolf and began crushing him.
Will attacked his brother, clawing at his wings before finally managing to bite him. Black veins appeared under Cain’s pale skin, but then Cain flapped his wings and smacked Will to the ground. In seconds, he was on his feet again, ready to fight. Cain just glared at him, totally consumed by wrath and practically foaming at the mouth.
I could see it now, Will’s love for my daughter. I could tell because of the way he was fighting. It was as if something had broken in him.
Despite Circe’s best efforts to heal her, I heard Elinor’s heartbeat slowing. I longed to move but couldn’t. My spine was healing far too slowly for me to fight anymore. I had started to lose hope, when a portal opened overhead.
Three figures fell out of it, and suddenly, one of Cain’s wings was severed from his body, followed by his right arm. It took a moment for me to believe what I was seeing. Three women had dropped out of the portal, each standing at least seven feet or more.