He needs you, my inner voice quipped.
And a light bulb flicked on in my head. Casually, I put my hands under his shirt, touching his skin. Happiness and joy at knowing he was alive poured out of my fingers, along with the power of the Seal, and into Dorian. At my touch, I felt his ribs heal. His internal bleeding stopped. The bones of both wrists knitted back together.
Dorian took a deep breath, as though there was an invisible weight pressed against his chest and it suddenly disappeared.
Sharra finally noticed what I was doing. “Retrieve the boy!”
Christopher lifted Dorian and punched him in the face in one movement. Then he grabbed him by the shirt collar and brought him to stand next to them.
“Here is my final offer, dear Snow.” Sharra grabbed Dorian under the chin. His nose was bleeding. “Give me your body. In return, I will allow the remaining marked to live as well as this human.” She squeezed his face between her fingers. “It seems you have a soft spot for him. I would hate to kill him while you watch.”
My knees buckles. So many emotions pummeled my mind. I felt betrayed by Christopher, relieved Dorian was alive, and terrified I wouldn’t be able to help anyone.
“Don’t agree to anything. She’s a—” Dorian began, but Sharra backhanded him so hard I heard his nose break.
“And his death won’t be quick. It’ll be painful.” She tossed Dorian to the floor near my feet.
I knelt beside him, touching him. Healing him as best I could while they watched.
“This first thing I’ll do is rip out his tongue,” Sharra continued.
“Fine,” I said. “You win.”
Sharra’s evil grin became filled with glee.
I looked at Dorian. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered, but I didn’t believe it. Perhaps I was just being cowardly. If Sharra took my body first, I wouldn’t have to witness the evil I felt sure she would bestow on Dorian, the other marked in the room, and all those I loved. What else could I do though? Pretend I didn’t care? Watch hundreds die?
“Fight her,” Dorian said, his voice quiet but filled with strength. “You’re stronger than her. You can win.”
Sharra squatted down on the other side of Dorian so our noses nearly touched. I could reach out and grab her. Make her suffer. Kill her where she knelt.
The wicked feelings twisted through me like a snake. If she died, then no one else would. If she died, all of our problems would be solved. If she died, the world would be a better place.
Before I comprehended what I was doing, my hand went around her neck. Squeezing like a constrictor. With that anger, I sent the power of the Seal pulsing into her. Sizzling red burned into her flesh.
She screamed.
But Dorian yelled out in pain too.
I looked down and saw that Sharra had dragged her nails across his chest. Blood filled the wounds, leaving a red trail.
“Do…” she took a ragged breath. “Do we have a deal?” she growled.
I released her neck, my eyes trained on Dorian’s blood. “Yes,” I whispered.
“Good.” Sharra stood. Her neck, the place I touched was blackened with my handprint.
Christopher moved to stand closer to her. He smiled and my body swayed in agony as though he struck me. Every word he spoke, every kiss we shared, every touch—had all been lies.
The knowledge rocked me to my core. Like Silindra, I was betrayed by one I loved. But at least I hadn’t loved him as completely as Silindra had loved Gabriel. At least I was privileged to witness and feel real love.
Sharra stepped forward. The smirk on Christopher’s face grew. He was proud of himself, confident in his deception and in his place as Sharra’s second.
“Give me your sword.” Sharra commanded.
Christopher raised a brow in question but did as she asked. He slid the blade from the sheath strapped to his back. His lips parted as though he wanted to question her, but he remained silent.
Sharra planted a kiss on his lips when she took the blade from him. Then she turned to me.
“Are you in love with your hunter?” she asked, a knowing smile on her lips.
I stood facing her. It was happening. My body would belong to Sharra.
She thought she knew the answer, but she was wrong. “Yes,” I lied.
In an instant, Christopher’s smirk changed into horror. He understood what came next. That Sharra used him, betrayed him as he betrayed me. He meant nothing to her, except what he could do for her. He told me the kind of vampire she was. He should’ve listened to his own warning.
“Lips red as rubies. Hair dark as night. Drink your true love’s blood. Become the Vampire, Snow White.” The worker vampires chanted the words. With each repetition, the air became heavier with tension.
“Why?” Christopher asked Sharra, his eyes pleading. “I did everything you asked.” His voice broke in desperation and for a moment I felt sorry for him. “Snow is here because of me. I did everything,” he repeated.
Sharra rolled her eyes, giving me a knowing smile before turning her attention back to him. “I know, and that is why you must die. She loves you. In order for the ritual to work, she must consume the blood from your heart.”
“I’ve already consumed the blood from my true love’s heart,” Pocahontas yelled. “Pick me. Allow me to be your next vessel.”
The vampire queen paused, as though considering her words. “That’s true. And you were my second choice. But this one—” she pointed at me. “Snow White is the Seal and she is the granddaughter of the elven king. Her body contains a lot more power than yours does.”
Pocahontas glared. Sheesh. If a look could kill, I’d already be dead. She should be happy. Didn’t she get that once Sharra claimed my body, I wouldn’t exist anymore?
Forcing myself not to shudder, I refocused on Sharra.
Christopher used Pocahontas’s interruption to his advantage and ran to the door. He was nearly through when Sharra used her power to lift him into the air and deposit him directly in the spot where he was a moment before.
“Don’t leave. Cowardice doesn’t look good on you.” Sharra shifted the sword and held it like a dagger, the blade facing me.
I gave her a curious look. She spun and lifted the sword.
Everything intensified and sharpened while the events unfolded in slow motion.
Sharra’s red dress flared out like a tulip as the blade sliced through his neck.
Christopher made a choking sound as his fell to the ground, his head rolling away like a macabre kickball.
Sharra faced me again.
The chanting became muffled, each word dragged out making it hard to understand what they said. Except I knew. The words were seared into my very being.
Still in slow motion, Sharra dropped the sword and kneeled beside my hunter bleeding body, prying open his chest with her bare hands. I knew magic was involved. Otherwise what she was doing would be impossible. But I still couldn’t move. I watched as she removed his heart and turned, her body and bloodied hands facing me.
With a pop, the world around me returned to normal.
“Drink the blood from his heart. Do it while it’s still warm.” Sharra held Christopher’s heart out for me to take.
Chapter 30
My stomach turned. Christopher’s heart still beat. It sounded like a bass drum inside my ears. My body twitched in fear and I wanted to run. Escape before she did that to me. She was so quick. I was nothing against her.
Worst of all, the vampire in me wanted Christopher’s blood. My fangs grew. I opened my jaws, allowing them to extend. The scent caused my mouth to water. Stepping over Dorian, I took her hands in mine.
“That’s right,” Sharra cooed, encouraging me.
I barely heard her. Every inch of my body craved his blood as she placed the slowing heart in my hands. Sickened at seeing Christopher so broken, I turned away. As I stared at the heart and smelled the blood, my body wanted one thing. To do exactly what Sharra wanted. Consume the bl
ood from his heart. The rational part of my brain kept telling me to stop, that I was falling into the vampire queen’s trap. But the rest of me didn’t care. As in my vision, the heart was all I could see, all I wanted. Slowly I lifted the heart closer to my mouth. The warmth and scent nearly pushed me into a frenzy.
Before it reached my mouth, there was a noise, and my eyes caught hold of Dorian’s face. Tears tinged his lashes. His mouth was twisted with words I couldn’t hear. His arms reached out to me. I felt my head tilt and I paused, waiting, Christopher’s heart only inches away.
Images of Dorian rushed through my mind.
His smile.
His mischievous comments.
The way he always watched out for me.
He told me he loved me the last time I saw him.
And he kissed me.
Not the kiss of a friend, but one of pure love.
My heart lurched at the pictures, at the way my soul burned with comprehension.
Dorian wasn’t dead. My true love was actually alive, and he wasn’t Christopher. Christopher’s love had been pretend, false, and superficial. Dorian’s was deep, real, and everlasting.
I needed to ask Dorian why he never told me how he felt. Why he waited until we were both about to die to reveal his true feelings. His love was potent, and I would spend the rest of forever showing him I was worthy of his love.
“Dorian,” I whispered.
“I love you. Forever, and alw—” His voice cut off as a needle and thread appeared from thin air and sewed his lips shut.
Damn vampire queen. Anguished fury I didn’t know I possessed rose inside me and, without completely realizing what I was doing, I reached out a hand toward her. My only aspiration, in that moment, was to crush her. Destroy her. Make her disappear so she wouldn’t hurt those I loved, ever again.
As I moved, a red light shot into Sharra’s stomach and she screamed, clutching at herself in pain. Disbelief crossed her face and bloody tears dripped from her eyes. “What are you doing?” She fell back, tripping over the bodies of her latest victims.
I quickly placed Christopher’s heart back in his chest. Professor Pops said that to kill a drone vampire the head had to be severed, but Christopher wasn’t a drone. He was a hunter, and I’d already healed him once with the power of the Seal. Picking up his head, I set it next to his body.
“Anya, come to me, child,” I heard Sharra say.
From the corner of my eye, I watched the red-headed marked step over and around the dead girls and kneel next to Sharra. “I’m here to serve, my queen.”
“Nooooo!” I screamed, and a pulse of red shot from my hands and into the girl. She tumbled back without a word.
Sharra’s eyes were wide with shock. “You will do what I command, or I promise you this.” Her voice shook with fear and rage. “I will spend every waking moment making your life a living hell. I won’t rest until every last person, creature, and being you’ve ever loved or cared about is destroyed.”
I stepped toward her. “No,” I said, knowing the vampire queen’s threats were only that—threats. She would be defeated, and I would be the one to defeat her.
“Workers,” Sharra moaned. “My dear workers. Save me, darlings!”
I heard the buzzing and glanced up. They were talking, but unmoving. They sensed her weakness. They knew her end was near. I faced the queen. “The only way you can harm me is if I allow you to continue to live as you are. And that isn’t going to happen.” I lifted both hands in front of me.
“Wait. Don’t,” she pleaded. “If you kill me, you’ll be no better than I am.”
One Abernathy’s words—rehabilitation—struck a chord and found resonance in me. I hesitated and allowed a triumphant smile to spread across my face. “You’re right, Sharra. I’m not going to kill you.” I shifted my emotions. Instead of hate, I thought of forgiveness, pity, and mercy. This time the light that pulsed from my hands wasn’t red as in the past. It was black. All seven of the magics combined.
Sharra howled in rage and pain as the power of the Seal pulsed through her.
Her body writhed on the floor. Black smoke surrounded her, consumed her until her body and the smoke became one. There was so way to tell where her body ended and the smoke began, until she became the smoke and wafted away.
Not a body.
Not a speck of dust.
Where her body had been, there was only emptiness.
The vampire queen was gone.
Chapter 31
A collective sigh of relief came from the worker vampires and the remaining marked. The magical bonds which held the girls dissipated. They scrambled from their prison, stepping over the dead bodies. Some hugged each other like they were friends, and I wondered how long Sharra held them captive.
Tentatively, a few of the girls came forward.
“Thank you,” one of them said.
“You saved us.”
“How can we ever repay you?”
They patted me on the shoulder, grabbed my hands, and pulled me into hugs.
I let them, unable to respond. Their words didn’t register.
Was it over? I struggled to believe Sharra was gone. Like gone, gone.
I turned toward the worker vampires. Some were hugging, others weren’t sure what to do. And others appeared angry.
I’d deal with them later. First, I needed to get to Dorian. He was still on the ground, his breathing labored, but his lips were no longer sewn shut. I placed my hands on his chest, near his heart, and began to heal him.
“Hi,” he said gently.
Even after all I went through, all I’d done, I felt suddenly shy. “Hi yourself,” I responded.
He turned toward me, but I held him steady. “Don’t move. Let me finish healing you.”
Dorian cleared his throat. “Alright. But go easy on me.” He tried to smirk, but it looked more like a grimace. If he weren’t so broken, I would’ve slapped him playfully. Instead I sent the power of the Seal into him, repairing the damage I hadn’t managed to fix earlier.
After several long moments, he looked better. His eyes were bright and unblemished, his nose was no longer broken and the scratches on his chest were gone. I also wondered about the wound on his back, where he was stabbed over and over while protecting me on the altar. “What about your back?” I asked, trying to raise him.
“It’s fine,” he said, his hands sliding up my arms. My body shivered. Tingled. His fingers wound their way through my hair, and he pulled me forward so my face was above his. “You’re awesome.”
I smiled and was about to say something sassy in return when I really looked at his eyes. They were no longer hazel, but dark and flecked with all the colors of the seven magics. His eyes reminded me of the gem still in my pocket. As I thought of the gem, it warmed. “Your eyes. They’ve changed,” I whispered, ignoring the gem and focusing on him. We were so close I could smell his blood, and I yearned to taste, to suck, to drink him in.
“So have yours,” he whispered, touching my cheek.
“What? No way. What color?” I asked, surprised.
“They’re black, and flecked…” He pulled me closer, so we were nose to nose. “Gold, green, red, vio—”
A shriek interrupted him.
I stood and stuck out my hand for Dorian to take. He did, bouncing onto his feet like a new man. And he was in some ways.
“What’s wrong with that guy?” One of the girls cried.
I glanced from the group of girls to the spot where they were pointing. Christopher’s body and head were trying to reattach themselves. As Professor Pops once said, it was a gruesome sight.
Dorian placed a hand on my arm. “Maybe you could help him?”
My first thought was to say no. If I helped him, he might just try to kill me again. But then I thought about what happened to Sharra. Perhaps I could heal him and use the Seal to give Christopher a change of heart. Maybe. If he disappeared the way Sharra had, then all the better, as long as he never came back. “You�
��re a good man, Dorian.” I touched his face, searching his eyes, wishing I could tell him all I learned and felt because of him. Instead I went to Christopher and knelt beside him.
His body and head were squirming as he stitched himself back together. His eyes were filled with pain. When he noticed me, they turned to fear. “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you,” I said and actually meant it. Though he betrayed me, it was easy to let it go. The reason was simple. Dorian. My love for him was so powerful, there was no room for hate. At least not at the moment.
Christopher blinked as though he didn’t believe my words.
I touched his chest and took a deep breath, calling for the power of the Seal. My thoughts swirled with healing, mercy, and kindness. There was regret and a sliver of anger too. But I pushed them down. For now. As I watched, his head and neck reattached, and his body stitched back together until I could once again hear the beating of his heart in his chest.
Christopher sighed and then looked at me. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” I said. How could I explain that because of the love I felt for Dorian, I wanted others to know such a gift. “But you are free to go, on one condition.”
His eyes, which were the same color as Dorian’s and I guessed mine as well, widened in worry. “What is it?” he asked.
Dorian was suddenly next to me, and I was beyond grateful. Perhaps I loved him so intensely because he was a friend first.
“I don’t ever want to see your face again.” I sat back on my heels, waiting for his response.
“Anything else?” He wasn’t convinced.
“Do that and you’ll live,” I added.
He scooted into a crouching position, his eyes still on mine. “Deal,” he said, and ran.
After he was gone, I turned my attention to the worker vampires, the females who surrounded and served the queen for eons. “You’re free as well. Go. Do good. Don’t kill. Don’t hurt others. Be kind.” I felt like I was speaking to children, but also felt like they needed to hear the words.
“I am Sasha,” she said placing her hand against her heart. “Thank you for what you’ve done.” She looked away, but I sensed she had more to say. “Will you lead us?” She returned her gaze to me, her light brown eyes searching for answers.
Queen of the Vampires: Snow White Reimagined with Vampires and Dragons (Seven Magics Academy Book 3) Page 12