Bloodspell

by Amalie Howard

  "It was as dark as I have ever seen."

  "So?" Lucian glared at her obtuseness.

  "Le Sang Noir ... it's her."

  VICTORIA HOPED HER Mini would still be where she'd left it in the parking lot at 125th Street. If not, this would end up being one of those teleportation jumps gone tragically wrong. She didn't have a choice because it was the place she knew in New York that had the lowest variability risk. She couldn't go to Angie's apartment because that would be too dangerous, and there was no way she could just pick a spot in the city and hope for the best, far too risky.

  "Transeo," she said.

  When she opened her eyes, she was sitting in the freezing cold interior of her car, and she breathed a slow, grateful breath. She hopped on the express number five subway train and switched to the local number six train to get to the address that Enhard had given her. She hoped that Enhard would have already arrived.

  Time was running out. Victoria had stayed close to Christian via the tenuous tunnel between their minds that she'd kept open despite the risk of discovery. After a time, the effort for the portal had become mindless and she barely had to think about holding it open, it was just another thing that the blood magic did naturally.

  Although it had been a matter of hours, the magical wounds that Gabriel had inflicted were doing what they were intended to do, and the accelerated blood loss coupled with Christian's lack of a will to live, left him weak and floating in and out of consciousness. He was still alive but his desire to die worsened his weakened condition. He had no fight left.

  The few times that Victoria had reached him when he had seemed more conscious, he had treated her voice like a figment of his tortured imagination, and kept saying how sorry he was that he hadn't been able to save her. The more she tried to tell him that she was alive and well, the more he struggled against her, convinced it was Gabriel playing some inhuman game.

  Enhard was waiting in the foyer of his apartment, his face brooding.

  "We have to hurry. We don't have much time," Victoria told him. "I ran into Lucian in the elevator after I saw you in Paris, and he knows who I am. I had to invoke the blood magic to teleport away from him. Now that he knows, there's nothing else standing in his way. He'll be here, I can feel it." Enhard's face whitened even though that piece of news did not come as a surprise to him. Lucian would do whatever it took to take everything away from Christian.

  Realizing that the stakes were higher than ever and that there was no margin for error, they combed through the details of the plan. They would sneak in the way that Angie had brought Christian. With any luck, Gabriel would have assumed that Angie had used the first entrance. No doubt he would have already discovered that Victoria and Holly had gone, but if he hadn't, that would be an added element of surprise. Once they got in, the main objective would be to get Christian out safely. The plan had many, many holes but it was the only option they had to save him quickly and in short order.

  Victoria brushed Christian's mind gently as they were leaving.

  I'm coming my love, she told him, hold on. She looked around the room through his consciousness and noticed that although the room seemed similar, it was different from hers and Holly's. She had no way of knowing which room it was. When the time came, she'd have to guess which door he lay behind and hope for the right one.

  They walked briskly downtown and Victoria glanced sideways at Enhard. It had been a risk going to him for help, but she really had had no other choice. There had been a fifty-fifty chance that Enhard would help, given how he felt about Christian's relationship with her, but she had bargained on the strong paternal bond that he'd had with Christian winning out in the end. And it had.

  "I know you don't approve," she said, "but I love him."

  Enhard didn't break his stride at her softly spoken words but she could see his face tighten and knew that he had heard her. A few moments passed before he spoke.

  "My mentor was a vampire called Valerius. He met your ancestor, the Duchess toward the end. From what I have seen in his memories, you look very much like her. But you're different too, stronger ... worthy of the curse you bear." Enhard raised a hand and placed it on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "He loved her, I think, but he died for it." Victoria looked at him.

  "As I would for him," she said quietly.

  In the exact moment that she said the words, Victoria realized something. She hadn't been able to control the blood when she'd challenged Christian at his house because she hadn't understood it fully even then. But now, it was all so clear. It was an epiphany of epic magnitude, yet she'd known it all along—it was Brigid's legacy!

  Love was the answer.

  Her mind scanned through the last pages of the journal remembering what Brigid had written, "the price of the blood's magic had always been mine to set! I lost the one thing that could have saved me ... love." Her son's unfaltering love and her love for her granddaughters had been her saving grace, her one chance to salvage her humanity and control the blood curse. And she had conquered it and died doing so, but she'd done so on her terms. For the first time, Victoria felt hope that she would prevail.

  They reached the entrance on Lexington. The metal gates to the alley were closed, most likely because it was in the middle of the day, but Victoria swept it with her mind just to be sure. Empty. Victoria kissed the ring Christian had given her and touched her amulet. She would need all the strength that both had to offer as she pulled the grates open and walked down into the darkness.

  "Specto," she said. Her eyes acclimatized magically to the enveloping dark. She glanced around at Enhard and knew that he'd have no trouble with the darkness. He nodded for her to continue.

  They crept to the door and Victoria scanned again; the room seemed to be empty but she couldn't be sure. Gabriel was nothing if not resourceful. Chances were, he already knew that she was there but she was hoping that he wouldn't be prepared for Enhard, which would give them a slight advantage. Indicating that Enhard should remain in the shadows for a few minutes before following, she invoked an invisibility spell and stole into the room. She felt the alteration as the protective wards within the chamber negated the simple spell of her own magic, and she gritted her teeth. Push forward, she thought. She didn't want to engage the blood magic unnecessarily.

  The room was still in a shambles from Christian and Gabriel's fight, and she moved noiselessly to the doors in the back, her senses alert and her mind searching for Christian. Suddenly, every cell froze as she felt the delicate shift in the air.

  "I knew you'd be back," Gabriel said.

  Victoria turned, her features composed. Gabriel stood flanked by three people she didn't recognize, two older guys and a girl. Behind him, stood Angie, and Victoria almost gasped aloud in horror—her face was covered in purple bruises, her lips puffy with one eye swollen completely shut. She held her head down and shielded her face with her hair. Victoria's face must have reflected her horror because Gabriel smiled grimly.

  "That's what happens when you defy me," he said, his tone hard and menacing. Victoria straightened her shoulders.

  "Is that supposed to scare me, Gabriel?" she said. Victoria raised her hand and Gabriel laughed.

  "Remember, your magic doesn't work here."

  "Oh, is that why Holly and I were able to get out?" she said, and was rewarded with the barest flash of unease in his eyes, which he quickly masked.

  "No matter, it won't help you this time. And if you try anything your boyfriend dies," Gabriel said. He nodded to the three people beside him and they fanned out. Angie remained where she was, motionless. Victoria watched the other two warily. "Oh, and in case you were wondering, they're warlocks and she's a witch so you may as well give in now, and I will honor my promise to you. Devereux can go."

  Gabriel feigned sincerity, but Victoria knew that he would never let Christian go, just as he would stop at nothing to control her. She smiled coldly, she could already feel the blood hotly pressing against the inside of her skin, tingling.
It was ready. She was ready.

  "Where is he? How do I know he's even alive or still here?" she asked. Gabriel nodded toward Angie and she walked obediently to the last room, opening the door where Christian lay slumped in the back corner, his hands bound behind his back. Victoria's heart lurched upon seeing his beautiful face, so deathly pale that her knees almost buckled. The wounds on his shirtless body were deep oozing lacerations and she could see the poison infecting the grayish flesh beneath them. It was a spell of sadistically evil proportions. Her hands clenched in a rage so terrifying that her entire body shuddered with it; she didn't even have to draw blood, it came on its own as she brushed her nose, the blackly red smear shimmering on her fingertips.

  The time had come.

  "You really should be afraid you know," she whispered. "Obscurum!" The entire room was plunged into darkness. In the seconds it gave her, Victoria dispatched the other witch with an energy blast so powerful that her entire body imploded into nothingness within moments.

  Victoria could feel Gabriel's wards pulsing outwardly against her, trying to force her magic into obedience, but the blood-craft was far more powerful, especially now that it had already received one death with such ease. She felt its power churning wildly within her and she reined it under control.

  "Iacio!" A heavy chest hurtled toward her. Victoria watched it in slow motion as if it were being hurled underwater.

  "Impedio," she said, and it came to a dead stop just above her head. She twisted her hands and it rocketed back the way it had come, dispatching its owner with a wet crunch. Her blood whistled, gleeful. She spun to her left trying to get closer to where Christian and Angie were but was immediately blocked by three fire bolts that flew past her head. She whirled around, brandishing her hand in Christian's direction and shouted, "Protectum!" At the very least the shield spell would protect them from getting hit by the blasts in the cavern.

  Through the hazy darkness, Victoria could see the two warlocks circling her, one on each side. Gabriel's face contorted with anger and he screamed a lethal pain spell. "Excrucio!"

  "Corpus venenum!" roared the other warlock at the same time. Victoria barely had time to use a shield charm against Gabriel's spell, diffusing it completely, before blasting a lightning bolt in return. In the seconds that she saw the bolt send him flying backwards into space, the corporal poison spell from the other warlock hit her dead center in the middle of her body. Curiously, she felt nothing at first and then she realized that her blood was boiling hot, bubbling like lava as it absorbed the most brutal part of the spell. Still, she staggered backwards, a sheen of sweat coating her forehead as her skin glowed red.

  "Curo," she said, and felt the immediate cure eliminate the rest of the poison. She could see the warlock who had delivered the spell staring at her with newfound trepidation. At the very least, the poison spell should have knocked her unconscious. Instead, she was barely afflicted.

  Victoria inclined her head in gracious challenge, recalling the poison spell he'd cast and flung it back toward him. The warlock blanched and dove out of the way. It missed him by inches. Working her way backwards toward Angie and Christian, she noticed that Enhard had silently entered the room, staying out of sight, and she whispered a non-detection spell to help shroud him in secrecy.

  The darkened room was clouded with smoke and dust from the menagerie of spells flying back and forth, and Victoria moved stealthily, searching for Gabriel. She didn't want him anywhere near Christian. Inching herself toward the back, she leaned against one of the walls and edged to the right feeling her way along the cold stone, kicking through the debris that littered the floor.

  Just a few more steps, she thought.

  Without warning, a dust-covered hand snaked out from her left and grasped her by the throat. Victoria kicked wildly but her captor jerked her against him, his forearm braced against her neck.

  "Not so tough now, are you?" the warlock said, his breath hot in her ear. Victoria flung her head back connecting with the bridge of his nose and the soft tissue of his cheeks, and she heard bone break as his arm tightened convulsively, blood spattering from his nose onto her back. "You'll pay for that," he screamed. "Excrucio!"

  She barely had time to react before her blood reacted in her stead, deflecting the blast of the pain spell and rebounding the curse onto the man holding her prisoner. A high-pitched scream burst from his mouth, and she could smell the singed flesh of his blistered arm as he ripped it away from her incandescent skin, staring at her like she was a demon. His skin peeled off in sheets as the pain spell was magnified a hundredfold from the blood magic.

  Victoria could taste her blood's metallic desire in her mouth, clamoring for its reward. She gave it. The warlock's face distorted in horror as her eyes metamorphosed from luminous green to darkly black, and her lips shaped the death spell.

  "Mortis omnino," she said, watching as his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears bled rivers of red, as his internal organs collapsed. What was left of him folded like string to the floor. Victoria's blood sang and she swayed unsteadily, feeling drunk with its power.

  "Illustro!" roared a voice from the other corner of the room. The lights came on blindingly. Victoria's bemused gaze registered that Gabriel had Angie's neck in his hands, his face black with suppressed fury. Christian lay unmoving on the ground to the right of them, about fifteen feet to her left just inside the doorway of the small room. She searched for Enhard and saw him crouching behind a chair, and imperceptibly nodded for him to try to get closer to Gabriel.

  "What makes you think I care about her?" she said. Gabriel laughed wildly.

  "Oh you should care, Tori. Have you forgotten so carelessly what she does? You think your new magic is safe from her?" he said shaking her body like a rag doll. "That's all she's good for."

  "My new magic, Gabe?" Victoria mocked with a grim smile. "Don't be naïve. Do you really think the Cruentus Curse can be controlled? And did you honestly think that I would come here alone?" She saw his eyes widen and he looked around calling her bluff. She took an imperceptible step closer toward Christian and met Enhard's eyes.

  "Libero!" she shouted, freeing Angie from Gabriel's grip at the same moment that Enhard leapt from his hidden crouch straight toward him, and knocked Gabriel to the floor.

  Gabriel looked stunned even as Enhard snarled and tore at his body with ferocious blows. He rolled away and jumped to his feet only to be knocked to the ground again by Enhard, who was lightning fast, his attack unpredictable and fierce. Before Gabriel was even able to gasp a spell, Enhard had him flat on his back or on the defensive, physically running away from him. Enhard moved so swiftly, he was a blur!

  Victoria rushed to Christian's side. "Christian," she said, cradling his head in her lap and caressing his face, "can you hear me?" He moaned. She could see his teeth fully extended beneath his lips and she knew it was because of his constant state of unconscious hunger. They were sharp and white and still lethal. Angie crouched near to them and her face was lined with concern.

  "Is he going to live?" she asked.

  "He's alive but he needs blood, lots of blood," Victoria said. Angie stared at her for a moment and then hesitated.

  "He can have mine. I'm human. I mean, not a witch ... sorry ... I mean ..." she said, suddenly unsure of what she had offered. Victoria was amazed at her generosity even now after her own considerable injuries at the hands of her brother. She couldn't believe how badly she had misjudged Angie; she was stronger than anyone she knew.

  "No Angie, but thanks for offering. He would probably kill you, he's so hungry that he wouldn't know how to stop," Victoria said. "I don't even know if he's too far gone for either of us to help him."

  But Victoria knew that there was only one way to save Christian. She knew what she had to do. She would have to invoke the blood magic, all of it, just as she'd done the last time when they'd fought in the woods near his house. But this time, she would win. She would control it. She had to.

  Love was the answer.
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  Victoria looked out into the main room as Enhard and Gabriel circled each other. Enhard was far too quick for Gabriel's spells to even find a target and Gabriel was far too powerful at self-healing for Enhard's physically punishing attacks to have any lasting effect—it was almost a stalemate but they circled each other in a cautious unchoreographed dance, each waiting for an opening. She stared at Angie and then reached out her hand.

  "Curo," she said, squeezing Angie's fingers and watching the marks on her face fade and the swelling disappear. "Get away from him, Angie. He will only bring you ruin, and you deserve so much more than that." The tears leaked unbidden from the corners of Angie's eyes. Christian stirred, and Victoria knew that she didn't have much time.

  Christian? Can you hear me? She waited, her heart so tight it was impossible to even breathe. Please, Christian ... come back to me, wake up ... please ...

  His eyes fluttered but did not open. Victoria summoned the blood magic, pulling on the energy from the amulet, and went as deeply as she ever had into Christian's mind, searching for his subconscious, that silent part of him that she knew would remain as alert as anything else. The part that Fardon had said was always there.

  I'm ready, she said. She almost jumped out of her skin when it responded.

  Ready for what? Conversationally, as if it had known her all her life.

  For you to take me into you.

  Silence, pondering. What will I become?

  I don't know. Victoria hesitated. Will you accept me?

  Always.

  Victoria stroked his face. None of the books or the journal had said what could happen if she did what she was going to do. For all she knew, they would both die, but either way, Victoria knew one thing—she owned the blood and she would make it bow to her will. She was her own master, and her love was the key. That's what the journal had been saying all along. She had to trust herself.

  She stirred, inhaling deeply and pulled Christian close, removing the amulet from her neck. Angie's eyes widened as Christian's teeth grazed Victoria's neck.