She shrugged. “One does what one must.”
I didn’t care about Sarki’s reasons. I didn’t care she tried to kill Drake. I didn’t care about any of it. As long as she gave me the heart and I could rescue Drake, she could do whatever she wanted.
I pointed the dagger at her. “Give me the heart.”
She tilted her head. “I can’t do that.”
“I don’t care! Give me the damn heart!”
Sarki picked up the black box and turned it around her hands, as if examining the engravings along the sides. “You see, I’m the rare offspring of a witch and a vampire.” Very rare indeed. Ninety-nine percent of vampires were sterile and witches didn’t conceive easily. “Everyone thought Reynard was my lover, but that was a decoy. I was his daughter. The bastard stole me from my mother and then killed her just because. I hated the man with all my heart, but I was weak. There was nothing I could do against him. If he wanted, he could have kill me in less than a second. But he didn’t. He took care of me, even when I tried to rebel.”
“Stop!” I cried. I wasn’t going to sympathize with her, even if I did feel sorry for her. Like Drake, her family had been killed by Reynard and she had been taken by force.
She went on. “There aren’t many half-witches, half-vampires out there so not everyone knows we are weak. The two kinds of blood don’t mix well. They are practically incompatible, actually. With the passing of the years, we found out I was dying. Then, when Reynard came across your coven and stole the heart, he had the idea of giving it to me.” She pointed to her chest. “I had a hard adaptation period, let me tell you, but I made it. And, to my surprise, it worked. Suddenly, I was strong, well, and powerful. So, so powerful.” She raised her hand and a blue flame appeared in her palm. “Unfortunately, I can’t live without the heart, and I know you’re after the heart, so I’m afraid you’ll have to die.”
She threw the blue flame at me.
I ducked behind a pile of boxes. The flame exploded, breaking several of the boxes, and sending me to my butt.
Panting, I crawled back, hiding behind some low stone pillars. I needed a minute, a second, to come up with a plan. How would I fight against a witch with the power from my coven’s heart?
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she teased, her voice echoing throughout the room, making it impossible to know where she was, or how close she was.
Damn it.
She was a witch and a vampire. She could use her powers and her strength and speed on me. I was doomed.
But I couldn’t be doomed.
I was this close to getting my coven’s heart back, in succeeding in my suicide mission, and in saving Drake. I wouldn’t be doomed.
I remembered the other shelves in this room, filled with many things. I could—
A blue flame zipped past the pillar, its heat singeing my ear.
Shit.
“There you are!” Sarki said, jumping in front of me.
She raised her hand, showing off a new blue flame.
Fast, I scooted closer and, grunting, did a low sweeping kick. Not expecting such a move from me, Sarki tripped and fell.
I lifted the dagger high, ready to stab her.
A scream echoed through the room as Sarki summoned a huge blue flame and hurled it at me.
I took off running. The flame exploded on a pile of boxes, sending splinters flying everywhere. A thick splinter pricked my upper arm, and I groaned but didn’t stop.
Dodging boxes, pillars, and shelves for cover, I reached the shelf with the vials. As quickly as I could, I read the labels while ducking from incoming flames. I found a couple of poisons, but they all had to be administered by drinking a large quantity. Finally, I found something useful and—
A force surrounded me, and suddenly, I couldn’t move.
“I’m tired of this game,” Sarki said. The force—her power—turned me around. Grinning, Sarki flung her hand, and I rushed backward. My back hit the wall behind me, taking my breath away. “You’re going to die now, little pet, and I’ll enjoy every second of it.”
The force pressed me against the wall, as if she were trying to squash me like a bug. My muscles groaned, my arms stretched, my head burned, my lungs collapsed. I couldn’t breathe, my vision blurred, my arms went numb, and despair gripped inside me.
No, no, no, this couldn’t be the end.
It wouldn’t be the end.
Fighting against the force, I turned my hand, just a tiny bit, and then threw the vial at her. “Eat this, bitch,” I spat.
It exploded and a violent tornado-like wind escaped. Sarki was flung back, and I fell on the floor, released from her magic.
My knees screamed from hitting the floor, my lungs hurt from breathing too deep, my head spun, but I had to push through. I had to move.
Focusing on one thing only, I charged at Sarki.
I stepped into her space and plunged the dagger in her gut. Sarki’s eyes went wide, her mouth fell open, and she curled into me. She gasped for air as blood seeped from her wound.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pulling the dagger out. The dust of witch’s bark on the blade was now covered with her blood. The herb, which I had snatched from the night we had healed Drake, acted fast. My coven used it primarily to relax a witch with deep wounds, so she would let us work on her without lashing out. But when used in greater quantities, it could numb a witch for a couple of hours.
I didn’t know the effects it would have on a half-witch, half-vampire, but judging by the way Sarki’s body went limp against mine, I would say it worked well enough.
I helped her to the floor, laying her flat against the cold stone. Even with the witch’s bark, she was able to move a little. She pressed a hand to her wound, but I had gone for the right place. Blood flowed from between her fingers and created a crimson pool around her shaking body.
Her eyes rolled back and she gasped, as if trying to say something.
Disgusted with myself, I placed a hand over her mouth and nose. I wished I could give her an honorable death, but I didn’t have time to waste. All the vampires were probably looking for me, and Drake needed help ASAP.
Sarki jerked against my hold, but the strength left her. Not long after, she went slack.
A sob ripped through my chest as I lifted the dagger again and aimed for her chest.
Thinking of the future of my coven and saving Drake, I opened up Sarki’s chest and carved out my coven’s heart. The moment I held it in my bloodied, trembling hands, power surged into me.
I gasped and tilted my head back as I took in the power, as I let it flood me, fill my veins and my own heart.
My mind revolved, my heart pounded, my veins, not used to this magnitude of power, thrummed.
When my body recovered, I tucked the heart into my little purse and shot to my feet.
Now I was ready to save a certain vampire.
28
Drake
I knew it was close to dawn when the guards opened the doors of my cell.
Sarki hadn’t come back. Thea hadn’t come. What the hell happened to them? I felt sick thinking that Sarki could have gotten to Thea, and only hell knew what the sick woman could have done.
A sea of guards entered the dungeon cell. Two of them unhooked my chains from the wall and held them tight, while the others kept their spears pointed at me.
While they dragged me back to the courtroom, the thought of fighting them crossed my mind several times. I analyzed everything. As we crossed the wide corridor leading to the main floor, I imagined running through there. Then the stairs leading to the main foyer. I even imagined myself breaking down the big crystal chandelier outside the ballroom as a distraction.
But it was no use. I would never make it outside, not with the quantity of vampires living in the castle.
So, like an obedient puppy, I walked with the guards to the courtroom. As expected, the place was full, even more than during my judgment. Almost all vampires, saved for a few guards patrolling the castle
, were probably here.
Seated in a privileged spot along with the other princes, Alex looked particular gleeful. His eyes shone as he stared down at me.
A wooden platform holding the sharp-looking guillotine had been brought to the center of the courtroom. I hadn’t seen this in decades. Maybe even over a century.
And now I was going to die in it.
I was pushed to the platform and brought down to my knees in front of the guillotine.
Grinning, Alex walked up to the platform, followed by Dorian.
“Prince Drake,” Dorian started. “You’ve been sentence to death for the murder of Lord Reynard and Prince Albert. Any last words?”
“Yes,” I said. “When Thea comes to kill you all, tell her I love her.”
A commotion started in the crowd and whispers rose to chatter. Killing? Thea? The blood slave? They had no idea what I was talking about.
“Silence!” Dorian shouted.
Instantly, the chatter died.
Alex leaned into the platform and said, “Your little blood slave attacked me earlier. I have the full force of the guards after her. She won’t be able to do a thing. Besides, you don’t have to worry about her.” He grinned at me. My spine chilled. “I plan on taking good care of her.”
I jerked against my chains, wishing I could squeeze his neck a little before I was executed. Perhaps I could even kill him. Since I was about to die anyway, I wouldn’t feel too bad about it.
The guards pushed my torso down over the bottom of the guillotine, and then they closed it around my neck. Like the chains, I could easily break out of here, but there was no point in that.
I could only pray for whatever god was listening that Thea found the heart and made it out of the castle before the vampires got to her.
Accepting my fate, I closed my eyes.
The sound of the blade coming down and cutting the air echoed in my ears.
Magic whipped across the run, an electrical charge like lightning. The blade flew several feet away, slicing a guard in half, and the wood around me exploded into millions of splinters.
I looked up and found the entire room frozen, staring at the woman standing at the door, her hand stretched in front of her.
“Thea,” I whispered. My chest tightened.
“Kill her!” Alex shouted.
The room erupted into chaos.
Every vampire turned to Thea. Pride filled my veins as I watched the vampires coming at her and Thea flinging them off with a simple wave of her hand, one by one.
Her clothes and hands were bloodied, and dark circles stained the skin under her eyes, but she looked powerful, fierce, stunning. As if she were Moses parting the Red Sea, Thea pushed the vampires away with her power, opening a path to the center of the room. To me.
Waking up from my stupor, I broke free of the rest of the chains. A guard noticed what I was doing and turned to me. A second later, my dagger zoomed past me and pierced his heart. I glanced over my shoulder, but Thea was busy with the others.
I grabbed my dagger from the vampire’s chest. His body fell on the platform. The dagger hadn’t killed him, but he would be out for a little while.
Holding my dagger tight, I made my way to Thea. Too worried about the witch in the room, the vampires had forgotten about me. I took advantage of my element of surprise and advanced on them. I sliced their necks or pierced their heart from behind, taking them out in a second and putting them out of commission for the rest of the night.
The other princes were the only ones holding their own against Thea. They advanced on her, she pushed them back, but unlike the others, they lunged at her a moment later.
Finally, I reached her. I stood beside her, my dagger in hand, ready to stab the vampires or rip their throats out.
I was undone when Thea took the dagger from me, pulled my back into her chest, and held the dagger against my neck.
“Stay back or he dies!” she shouted, retreating to the back of the room.
Laughing, Alex stepped forward. “You can kill him. We don’t care.”
“What are you doing?” I whispered, careful so the other vampires couldn’t hear it.
“Just play along,” she whispered back. Then she raised her voice and asked, “So you don’t care about the truth? What if I tell you Sarki is responsible for killing Lord Reynard and Prince Albert?”
The princes stared at her as if she were crazy. “It’s the truth. She let Drake take the blame, since it would be easier for her.”
“Easier for her to do what?” Nolan asked.
“To take over the castle and rule you all.”
Alex let out a loud, incredulous laugh. “You think we’d believe that?”
Thea pushed me down. Her strength was pathetic, but since I was playing along, I let her. I fell on my knees. Next, she used my dagger and sliced her palm. Blood dripped on the floor while she whispered words. An image, like a hologram appeared in front of us.
It was Sarki and Thea in a strange room.
Thea pointed my dagger to Sarki, who seemed unfazed.
“You … you tried to kill Drake?” Thea asked in a whisper. “Y-you killed Lord Reynard.”
“And I can honestly say I enjoyed it. Shame it was so fast.”
“This doesn’t make sense.” Thea shook her head. “I thought you liked Drake.”
Sarki tsked. “Drake was my favorite. I never wanted anything bad to happen to him. But he got in my way and started digging too deep. Soon, he would find out what I had done and I couldn’t let that happen, even if it pained me.”
“You’re insane,” Thea said.
She shrugged. “One does what one must.”
“That’s all magic,” Alex shouted, turning toward her. “You’re changing it.”
Nolan shook his head. “I’ve seen this before. This is blood magic and it can’t be altered.” He turned to the other vampires. “This witch is showing us the truth.”
“Where’s Sarki?” Gray asked.
The image faded away.
“I killed her,” she admitted.
Alex growled. “You attacked me earlier today, you revealed Sarki was the one behind the killings, and now you’re telling us you killed her. Very convenient, don’t you think?”
“But the blood magic—”
“Could be another lie!” Alex shouted, interrupting Nolan. “Theatrics. She’s pretending to use blood magic while she shows us an illusion.” A few other princes nodded. “I say we need clarification.” He pointed at her. “Get her!”
Thea flung her hand and the princes flew to the far wall. Swords were drawn from various bodies on the floor. They soared toward the princes, piercing their shoulders and pinning them to the wall, several feet from the ground.
They growled, howled, shouted, jerked against the swords, but didn’t move.
“Get her!” Alex shouted again.
The remaining vampires turned on us, their fangs bared, their hands in claws. The ones with swords and weapons pointed them at us.
“What now?” I asked.
Thea waved her hand and a translucent blue wall appeared between the vampires and us. She quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me up to stand beside her. She pressed the dagger to my neck again.
Still holding on to me, Thea retreated to the back door. Once we were past it and away from all eyes, she lowered the dagger and stepped into me.
“I thought I lost you,” she said, her voice breaking.
I embraced her. “And I thought I had lost you.” I buried my face on her neck. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Shouts came from the courtroom.
“The shield won’t hold for long.” She slipped her hand into mine. “Let’s go.”
Together, we ran out of the castle. Together, we were free.
29
Thea
I didn’t know the woods around the castle, but Drake did. Using his super speed and my magic, we practically flew across the woods, getting as far away from the castle as we could. We eve
n ran past Crimson Glen, and kept going for hours, afraid that, if we stopped, the princes would catch up with us.
Finally, we came across an empty cottage high in the mountains and decided to stop to clean up and rest. While Drake scouted the perimeter to make sure no one had followed us, I cast a protective shield in a five-mile radius using the power from my coven’s heart.
Together, we stumbled inside the small and cozy cottage. By the looks of it, its owners hadn’t been here recently. There were clean dishes on the counter, folded linens on the couch, and the pantry was full of food.
I helped Drake to the sofa, dropped the bag with the heart on the small coffee table, and knelt beside him. “How long since you last drank blood?”
He groaned, leaning back. None of his wounds looked too bad, but after spending the night in the dungeon suffering at Alex’s hands, fighting our way out, and running for hours, he was certainly spent. “I don’t know. Over twenty-four hours, I think.”
Damn it. I rolled the sleeve of my shirt up and offered him my wrist. “Here.”
He pushed my arm away. “I won’t drink from you.”
“You have too,” I insisted. “Or you’ll have to hunt for some animal outside and you’re too weak for that.”
“But if I take from you, you’ll be weak.”
I shook my head. “I have magic, and if I need sustenance, I can cook something for myself.” He locked his dark green eyes on mine. So pained, so raw. The shine in them twisted my gut. “Please,” I whispered.
He took my arm and leaned over me. I sucked in a sharp breath, getting ready for the prickle of his fangs, but instead he planted a soft kiss on my wrist.
“I have a better idea,” he said, his voice low. He rose, pulling me with him, then gently pushed me back until I hit the wall across the room. Drake hooked his fingers under the hem of my shirt and tugged it over my head. He lowered his mouth to my shoulder and rained kisses on my skin, making my breathing grow shallow. My stomach tensed as his lips made their way up my neck as his hands clasped around my waist. “Relax,” he whispered, his breath hot against my skin.
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