Even across the space he could smell the blood that dripped down her arm, and the scent caused his wolf to roar as it crashed against his mental barriers, years of control eroded by the simple knowledge that she’d been hurt.
Behind him, Nate, Shade, Lily, Aria and Marcus pushed their way into the chamber, followed closely by the remaining vampire guards as their fighting spilled into the large stone room. He had to trust the others had it under control, because the only thing he could focus on was the vampire and Phoenix.
Unleashing control of the wolf, he gave himself over to instinct. The wolf’s speed enabled him to close the distance in fractions of a second and his razor-sharp claws tore free of his skin as he moved.
Ethan lashed out and felt the warm gush of blood over his hand, but his vampire target seemed to simply disappear, as if he’d never been there.
The faintest of breezes caressed the back of his neck, and he spun around in time to see the glint of silver move towards his throat. Instinct drove his body back from the blade, just enough that it lightly grazed his neck, the silver leaving a burning trail in its wake. But the sudden shift threw him off balance, and it was all he could do to avoid the blade a second time as he fell.
Darius’s attack was relentless, the slashes becoming little more than a blur. Even with the speed of his wolf, Ethan was no match for a vampire of Darius’s age, and the lethal edge of silver came closer and closer as he fought to get up from the floor.
It was only the brief flash of red that gave away Phoenix’s movement as she attacked Darius from behind, giving Ethan the precious seconds needed to lunge to his feet.
He used the temporary distraction to launch a second attack at Darius, forcing the vampire to divide his attention between both of them. Weeks of training together allowed him to fall into an easy rhythm with Phoenix as he complemented her movements with his own. But Darius was too quick. Each fist merely glanced off the intended target and each claw merely grazed.
Ethan’s wolf pushed against the final restraints that bound it, but he fought back. They needed to find a weakness, and he needed to think clearly. He was slowly pulling back from the haze of animal instinct when his concentration was shattered by a high-pitched scream of terror.
Lily.
Spinning out of the way of Darius’s fist, he used the momentum to pivot so he could seek out the young witch in the chaos that surrounded him. His eyes found her, little more than ten feet to his left where she was pinned to the ground with a stocky, blonde vampire looming over her. Ethan could tell by the frantic movement of her lips that she was trying to cast a spell, but the vampire was twice her size, and was easily overwhelming her.
Torn between the need to save Lily, and his wolf’s instinct to protect Phoenix, he hesitated.
“Go!” Phoenix yelled as she shoved him insistently.
Lily screamed again as the blonde vampire reared back to lunge for her throat, effectively cutting off any further argument.
Ethan propelled himself to the side, sending his full weight barrelling into the vampire and knocking him away from Lily; leaving Phoenix to once more face Darius alone.
***
Phoenix’s heart thudded in her chest. The terror she felt for Abi now extended to each and every person that had come to fight by her side. People that were willing to risk their lives for her.
Darius waited patiently for her to make a move. The smile that graced his face was one of complete arrogance, filled with the surety that he was faster and stronger.
He was. But it changed nothing.
They had come for her, and she would fight.
Drawing on every ounce of resolve and strength she had, Phoenix moved in a blur of speed, trusting her instincts to guide her strikes. For each blow Darius evaded, she followed with another from a different angle.
Another scream tore through the air, coming from Ethan and Lily’s direction. The momentary fear she felt for them distracted Phoenix long enough that she failed to see the glittering blade swinging towards her in time. She threw up her arms in defence, but a blaze of fire burnt through her left shoulder as the blade struck.
Pain blackened her vision momentarily until there was only numbness. The arm fell limply to her side, useless and unmoving.
Darius’s blade dripped with blood, and a look of satisfaction filled his cold stare as he stalked towards her. He slowly ran his tongue along the blade, shivering with undisguised ecstasy.
Disgust and terror washed over her in equal measures.
Backing away from his advancing form, she abruptly hit a cold, hard surface with a thud. The jagged wall dug into her sweat-soaked back, effectively cutting off one avenue of escape. The smile on Darius’s face widened as he looked to her right and his shoulders appeared to relax ever so slightly.
Every instinct told her not to take her eyes off the snake in the grass, but she needed to know what could’ve possibly made him even more sure of himself. Tentatively, she reached her only working hand out to the side to blindly feel along the wall until it hit something. The rattle of cold iron made her stomach drop.
How many bloody chains are there in this place?
A frantic urgency clouded her thoughts, but she pushed it back forcefully. She needed to get away from the wall. If he managed to chain her, she’d be at his mercy.
Just like her parents.
The thought brought with it a desperate need to act, and Phoenix shoved forcefully away from the wall before lunging to the right. In less than a blink, Darius was there, his body an unmoving barrier as she barrelled into him, damaged shoulder first.
The impact brought a burst of pain that caused her vision to go black again, followed immediately by a flare of colour behind her eyes.
Darius’s chilling laugh filled her ears as she fought to regain her orientation. His empty black eyes swam in and out of focus, mere inches from her face, and his hot breath brushed against her skin as he placed an almost tender palm against her cheek.
The burning itch in her palm was so unexpected that for a moment Phoenix thought her bruised consciousness was causing her to hallucinate. An instinctive desire to pull back from the feeling caused her gut to clench. With a surge of hope, she did something she’d never truly done before – she embraced it.
She grasped the infant thread of power and held it for all she was worth. Letting go of all doubts, she urged the burning to grow, to expand, to take on a life of its own.
Darius leaned closer, his fangs extending as his hand moved down to her neck. “Maybe one more taste …”
Her body rigid, Phoenix fought to stay controlled, to encourage and nurture the heat that continued to rise in her palm, even though all she really wanted to do was scream and fight back.
She waited until she felt the first sharp scratch of his fangs before placing her hand on his chest. And finally, she let go.
The light left her body in a blinding explosion of white. Brighter than anything she’d ever before called to her.
When she could finally see again, she found the space in front of her empty. Darius lay slumped against a wall almost twenty feet from where she stood, and spiderweb cracks began to spread through the stone behind him.
Slowly, he began to rise to his feet. He looked so much like something from a horror movie that Phoenix felt a strange urge to laugh hysterically. Charred skin covered his face and hands. Patches of glistening red showed through as blood oozed down his cheek. White fangs glowed in contrast to the blackened flesh surrounding them. And the rage in his eyes was clearly visible even at a distance.
Desperately, she began to call the light to her again, pushing her untrained abilities to their limits as her hand shook and sweat ran down the back of her neck. Her vision faltered and the pain in her head grew, but still she raised a trembling hand.
A slim, pale hand wrapped itself around hers, squeezing gently. The warm, comforting scent of the sun filled her senses, and her trembling hand steadied. Phoenix looked into her mother’s green
eyes, and the pride she saw there made her breath catch in her chest.
She wasn’t alone.
Marcus came to stand on the other side of her, a similar look of pride in his eyes. He placed a large hand on her injured shoulder, and warmth spread through her arm, chasing away the chilling numbness.
Together, they turned to face the vampire before them. The man that had betrayed their family.
Phoenix saw the surprise register on Darius’s face. Rage filled his eyes at the sight of her parents standing whole and healthy by her side, and he snarled.
“Hello, old friend,” Marcus said softly, moving forward to place himself in front of his wife and child.
She moved to protest, but Aria squeezed her hand once more, giving an almost imperceptible shake of her head before pointedly closing her eyes. Reluctantly, she followed her mother’s lead and tried to slow her breathing by blocking out the sound of fighting.
A strange pulsing sensation began in the palm Aria held, and Phoenix’s eyes flew open with a gasp. Each little pulse felt like a mild electric shock, an oddly comforting electric shock that began to gradually build in heat.
Aria threw her a wicked smile, and as if on command, Marcus launched himself at Darius, moving so quickly he became an indiscernible blur. Phoenix tried to pull her hand free of her mother’s grip; fear for her father’s safety demanding action. But Aria held fast, her green eyes urging Phoenix to trust her.
The recent infusion of werewolf blood seemed to give Marcus an edge the other vampire didn’t possess. He matched Darius blow for blow and more wounds appeared between the charred patches of skin as Marcus’s strikes landed true.
When a well-timed throw sent Darius flying in their direction, Aria squeezed her hand tightly and yelled, “Now!”
The flash of light was effortless this time. Controlled and beautiful in its simplicity, it struck its intended target, causing Darius to roar in pain.
Aria moved forward and Phoenix realised her mother had finally released her hand. She watched in shock as the gentle woman she called mother viciously kicked the fallen vampire in the gut. Blood and spit flew from Darius’s mouth with the blow, but he remained on the ground.
A second kick to the head lifted his body clean in the air, causing him to land a couple of feet away on his back. His body started to shudder. It took Phoenix a moment to realise he was laughing; full-bodied, soul-deep laughter.
Aria stalked towards him, her green eyes flashing with barely contained wrath. Her pale skin began to glow with a white light that emanated into the darkness of the chamber.
Darius rolled to his side, and Phoenix had just enough time to register the blade in his hand before it was flying through the air towards her mother. A silent scream froze in Phoenix’s throat and her heart stopped beating as Marcus threw himself in front of Aria, knocking her to the ground.
In an instant, she found herself standing between her parents and Darius, unsure quite how she got there. The scent of her father’s blood filled her senses as she faced the other vampire.
“Mam?”
“We’re okay, Phoenix.”
The sound of shuffling followed the muffled response and Marcus’s pained voice concurred, “Just a scratch.”
Darius snarled and spit blood as he slowly rose to his feet. She noticed with surprise that he wasn’t healing, at least not like a vampire normally would. The parts of skin that had been burned by their fae powers remained exposed and oozed blood.
As if he had been burned by the sun.
Realising this, Phoenix encouraged her still fledgling heat to grow once more. She fuelled it with all the fear and anger she felt as she walked towards Darius.
A single tear ran down her cheek as she placed her palm to his cheek.
In a vague recess of her mind, she wondered why he didn’t stop her and felt an uneasy confusion at the victorious look in his eyes. But then her only thought was of the sun. The bright heat and the warmth of it on her skin.
This time the light was not as strong, but it came. Bringing with it the acrid smell of burning skin, screams of agony, and a headache unlike anything Phoenix had felt before. She pulled her hand away and stumbled backwards as she grasped her head to keep her brain from leaking out with the pain.
Then everything went completely black.
***
Time seemed to hold its breath. A silence so complete and a darkness so never-ending filled the entire chamber. With it came a whole new level of fear.
And then, on an exhale, it was gone.
Phoenix looked immediately towards Darius, expecting some form of attack. But there was nothing. No attack. And no Darius.
The floor was covered in a pool of blood that almost appeared black in the dim light of the chamber, but no other signs remained of the vampire.
“Where is …”
Her own scepticism was met with similar perplexed expressions from her parents as she turned a slow circle and waited for the shadows to attack.
Guards littered the floor around her. Many lying motionless, some even missing their heads and beginning to fade. Blood soaked the walls and seemed to pulse with life as it seeped back into the earth. The remaining vampires were swiftly retreating, leaving Phoenix to stare in confusion.
A cold breeze began to fill the chamber, and the skin on her arms pebbled with goose bumps that had little to do with the chill of the wind. Electricity charged the space around her, and the air became heavy, like the weight just before a storm. Every cell in her body screamed danger. She held her breath and waited.
A shuffling sound to her left caused her heart to leap into her throat. Relief flooded through her as she saw Ethan moving towards her, holding Lily. Phoenix ran to him and added her support as she wrapped her arm around Lily’s waist. The knot in her stomach eased somewhat as she looked at him.
The young witch appeared to be limping, and blood dripped from a number of cuts along Ethan’s forehead and chest, but both were alive. A further look around the chamber and she found Nate and Shade, both in a similar state of disrepair. Nate’s cocky grin as he flipped a long knife in his hand told her that he had sustained no serious damage. Shade’s trademark scowl could have indicated he was at death’s door and she’d have been none the wiser.
Finally, her eyes fell on Abi.
Her friend hung limply from her chains, no longer conscious, but breathing.
Without a word from her, Aria and Marcus rushed to unlock the chains, gently lowering her friend to the ground. Even as the wind picked up, blowing strands of red hair into her damp eyes, relief wrenched a sob from her throat. She’d been so afraid. So afraid they would die because of her. Her friends. Her family.
A sharp cackle echoed around the chamber and Phoenix whipped her head around, her adrenaline spiking once more. Everyone stood to attention with weapons drawn, waiting for the next threat to make itself known. But for a moment there was just silence, and the wind.
The cackle came once more, changing to a gurgling cough that choked off abruptly.
Phoenix followed the sound, ignoring Ethan’s attempt to pull her back as she walked slowly towards the stone altar. The shadows seemed deeper somehow, more complete, but she could just about make out a woman’s form lying hidden from view.
The witch.
Cursing the stupidity that allowed her to forget such a dangerous foe, Phoenix picked up a long, black blade that lay on the altar. Slowly, and deliberately, she made her way towards the woman that, not long before, had held her completely defenceless at Darius’s mercy.
Even in the shadows Phoenix could see the dark stain that surrounded the witch. It slowly expanded as the blood continued to flow. A quick glance showed a jagged object protruding from the witch’s chest that shuddered with each wracking cough. The dagger in Phoenix’s hand suddenly seemed unnecessary.
“Kill me if you want, hybrid. It won’t change anything.” The witch’s words wheezed out and were quickly followed by a coughing fit that brought up mor
e than just phlegm.
In a blink, Ethan was by her side, extended claws gripping the witch’s throat. Phoenix wasn’t ashamed to admit that a large part of her felt satisfaction at the shift in power. She could easily turn her back and let the woman die. If she was so inclined. But something about the shrewd gaze that met hers made her hesitate.
“Ethan, wait.”
She held out a hand towards him, as if the gesture alone would stop him if he decided to rip out the witch’s throat.
“Let her speak.”
Dark eyes met hers from the floor, assessing and calculating, even as the life force behind them seeped out onto the floor.
“Your friends may have saved you, child, but it’s too late.”
“Speak plainly, witch,” Ethan growled, and his fist tightened on the pale throat beneath his grip. “Or I will gladly end your suffering.”
“Nothing you can do will change my fate now, wolf.” The witch’s eyes briefly flicked towards his face before their heavy weight fell once more on Phoenix. “The spell was complete. The prophecy will be fulfilled tonight.”
Phoenix felt her stomach drop as the tension she’d been holding left her body in a gasp. She had known. It had been too easy. Some part of her knew there was more to come.
Around her, everyone began to speak at once, but it was only noise. Her mind was unable to focus on anything besides the witch’s words, repeating themselves over and over again in her head.
“Unless …” The witch spoke in little more than a whisper, but it brought the noise to a sudden and complete halt, all eyes falling on her.
“Unless what?” Ethan shook her impatiently.
The witch glared at him even as another choking fit took hold of her failing body. When she’d caught her breath, the weight of her gaze landed on Phoenix and it softened as something akin to pity settled in the dark depths of her eyes.
“By your bloodline this was started,” the voice that came out of the witch’s mouth changed, becoming deeper as the wind began to whip around them with more force. “By your bloodline it may end.”
3 Minutes to Midnight: Urban Fantasy Midnight Trilogy Book 1 Page 20