by Ariel Marie
~Nicu~
Nicu came to an abrupt halt as they burst through the double doors of the necromancers’ throne room. An electrified force field kept them from entering the room any further.
“Sodan!” he shouted, tightening his grip on his blood-covered sword. The necromancer king sat smug in his chair, as if his house wasn’t about to fall.
Nicu and the Dark Shadows—under the cloaking spell of the witches—were able to infiltrate the necromancers’ wards. It was because of the witches that they were able to see the large building hiding in plain sight of the field. The wards surrounding it, built from necromancer magic, created an illusion for whoever looked in the direction of the building. They would only see an old, unfarmed cornfield.
The Valkyries and vampire army arrived, lending a hand to the battle going on throughout the building. Nicu lost count of how many necromancers, rogues, and versi he had fought and killed to reach the throne room. This had to be their headquarters. Who knew how long this building had been here, but it was crawling with rogues and versi.
Tonight, this building would burn to the ground. Gadiel and Viktor were charged with making sure it would no longer stand by morning.
“How the hell are we going to get through that?” Adrian asked, breathing heavily from exertion.
“Where did the witches disappear to?” Teague asked, his eyes locked on the necromancers.
“Sodan!” Nicu yelled again. “It’s time that we end this. Give me back Samara!”
“I agree, Nicu,” the necromancer king said, clasping his hands together in front of him. “But, returning your mate back to you? That is not a choice that I will have to make.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Teague muttered.
“She belongs to me. Give me Samara,” Nicu growled, as he raised his arm and pointed his sword at the king.
“Belong to you? I think not. Isn’t that right, my dear?” Sodan raised his hand to the side and Nicu watched in horror as a small hand slipped into the necromancer’s hand. Samara stepped out from behind the chair.
Curses echoed behind him as he stood frozen in place, just as her eyes met his. He quickly assessed her, finding her to appear unharmed. Her large belly outlined by her snug fitting dress was more round than the last time he laid eyes on her.
“Samara, what have you done?” he asked, stepping closer to the force field. The necros shifted, eyeing him warily.
“I’ve done you a favor,” she said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You’re free from me and the babies. You can go mate with a vampire and live your life.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” he growled. Arms grabbed him from behind as he watched Sodan stand next to Samara. He wanted to tear through the field, but the magic was too strong.
“Calm down,” Adrian growled in his ear.
Calm down?
Fuck no.
Sodan had his mate.
“You let them take me. Don’t you remember?” she cried out with tears streaming down her face. “You stood at the bottom of the stairs while I screamed and begged for you to help me! I needed you. We needed you!”
He jerked again, trying to break free as he watched the necromancer king put an arm around her and offer her a handkerchief. What was she talking about? He was completely confused. When he stood at the bottom of her staircase, she was not at the top.
“What the—” He ceased fighting his brothers as it dawned on him. The fucking necros had messed with her mind. They had created an illusion that she believed to be true. “It was an illusion,” he screamed. “It was all a lie!”
“Of course he would say that, my dear, in front of his family. He wouldn’t want them to know he was abandoning you in your delicate state,” Sodan said, petting Samara on her arm.
“Sodan! You son of a bitch,” he hollered, fighting against his brothers. Nicu didn’t care how many necros were in the room. He would go through each and every one of them if he needed to in order to get to Samara. “I’m going to cut your fucking head off your shoulders.”
“Where are the fucking witches?” Teague snapped, gripping Nicu’s arm tighter.
“They are right behind me with Ronin and Khalid protecting them,” Phaelyn’s voice appeared behind him.
“Why the fuck is Samara with the king?” Toma growled.
“No time to explain,” Adrian answered grimly. “Bring in the witches to get rid of this field so I can let our dear brother go after her.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Samara
Samara bit back another sob as she watched Nicu struggle in his brother’s arms. Why would he lie to her? She knew what she saw back at her house. A kick from inside her stomach reminded her that she had to be strong. She would have twin boys that would depend on her.
“I will make him pay for you, my dear,” Sodan assured before releasing her.
She nodded her head, not wanting Nicu to ‘pay’ for anything.
“You’ve brought witches? They will not help you!” Sodan screamed as he backed away, causing her to turn to see two smaller women ushered into the room.
Samara watched as the force field the necromancers had erected literally crumble before her eyes.
“Kill them,” he ordered his necromancers.
“No!” she cried out. Never would she want Nicu and his family killed. She would just leave. She tried to run past Sodan, but a flick of his hand caused her to fly high through the air, her back slamming into the wall. “Let me go! No! Don’t kill them.”
She struggled to break free from the invisible barrier, but it was no use. Glancing down, she found herself pinned up high on the wall. She froze. Hitting the floor from this height could certainly cause her to injure herself, or worse, the babies. She was trapped and couldn’t help but watch the deadly fight. Screams filled the air as the vampires charged in with their weapons drawn. Flashes of light filled the room as the necromancers used their magic.
Her eyes were glued on Nicu’s form. His blood-covered face was intense and focused on the fight. She watched in horror as his sword plunged into a necro in front of him.
Sodan shouted orders to the necromancers as he paced the floor below her. He turned his attention to the wall and waved his hand. The wall near her began to shimmer, opening a portal into the room. The figures that rushed in had to have been the rogue vampires she’d heard talk of. A stench rose up to meet her nostrils, making her gag as they ran to join in the melee.
She took the room in and knew that the vampires were outnumbered. Her vision blurred with tears at the thought of their defeat.
“Don’t cry, my dear,” Sodan said as he floated in the air to hover in front of her. She let loose a gasp, not sure how he did it.
“This will all be over soon. Then, we can—”
His words were cut off by another explosion. She screamed as her body jerked against the wall and slid down a few inches. She opened her eyes to find the far wall had crumbled. Female warriors were climbing through the rubble to join in the fight with the vampires.
She frantically scanned the room and found Nicu had made his way closer to her. There was no way he would come fight this type of battle, just for her. No, he was here to kill the necromancers, and that was it. He had only mentioned mating with her because she was pregnant. He wouldn’t risk his life for hers.
Would he?
She knew what she had to do. She relaxed against the wall and opened her senses to Nicu. His power and rage hit her straight in the chest. She cried out and squeezed her eyes tight as the intensity of his anger rocked through her. Tears streaked her cheeks as his desperation consumed him. But, there was one emotion streaming from him that she didn’t even know he could feel.
Fear.
She rifled through all his emotions and a sob broke through. He was afraid of losing her. If he was afraid of losing her, then he had to have actual feelings for her.
Oh my God, what have I done? she thought to herself. She opened her eyes
and found his on hers. His eyes narrowed as he fought to get to her. Two rogues jumped on him, taking him down to the ground.
“Nicu!” she screamed, frantic to get free. She fought the invisible barrier, but it didn’t budge.
He had to survive and save her. He couldn’t die without hearing her apologize. She would be willing to beg and plead if she had to, to make him realize she had been a fool.
“Kill him!” Sodan screamed, throwing up a force field around himself, just as an arrow bounced off of it.
“Nicu, get up. Please, get up!” she screamed, unable to see him.
She scanned the room frantically, trying to get a glimpse of him, but there was too much going on. The fighting had spilled outside the exposed wall leading outside.
A large growl grabbed her attention and she watched as bodies flew into the air, and Nicu emerged from the pile. He was a force to be reckoned with on his own. He was one pissed off vampire. She could see a trail of blood and bruises on his face. He moved so fast, he became a blur as he ran straight for Sodan who tried to run off toward the open portal, but Nicu was too fast for him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he growled, holding Sodan by the scruff of his neck.
“Nicu,” she cried out, but her voice was raw, and sounded more like a hoarse yell.
“You can’t defeat me!” Sodan yelled, struggling to break free from the massive vampire.
“Behind you!” she screamed as a rogue tried to sneak up behind Nicu.
His body jerked and fell to the floor with a large dagger protruding from his back. Samara looked up in awe as one of the female warriors ran over to the rogue and grabbed the knife out of his back before disappearing back into the melee.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Nicu
“It’s over, Sodan,” Nicu growled, wrapping his arm around the necromancer’s neck. He wanted to squeeze the life out of him now, but he remembered the witch’s request. She needed the blood of a powerful necromancer.
Nicu’s eyes perused around the room, seeing that his vampires and the Valkyrie had gained control. Dead rogues, versi, and necromancers littered the floor. His eyes landed on Samara, trapped on the wall, and he could see she had realized the truth.
He would never abandon her or their children.
Nicu jerked Sodan around while drawing his own dagger.
“You may kill me, but know this. This realm will never be safe,” Sodan threatened.
Nicu swung his arm around the necro’s body and plunged his dagger into the right pectoral muscle, through his thick robe. The king let loose a grunt of pain.
“I will protect this realm with my last dying breath,” Nicu growled in the necro’s ear before twisting the dagger deeper. “Athena!” he yelled, calling for the witch.
Ronin quickly escorted her to his side. She pulled out a wooden bowl from her satchel that hung across her torso.
“Witch, you shall pay for helping the vampires,” Sodan threatened.
Nicu twisted the dagger more, causing a piercing scream to come from the king.
“Don’t make idle threats you won’t live long enough to fill,” Athena murmured. She held the bowl up to the necromancer’s chest to capture his blood.
“The building has been contained,” Ronin announced. Nicu jerked his head in a nod as his eyes turned to Samara’s.
“Empty threats?” Sodan jerked forward. “If I die, then so shall your heirs.”
A burst of light flew from Sodan’s outstretched arm. Nicu watched in horror as the power slammed into Samara’s chest. Her body jerked before beginning its slow descent through the air to the floor. Ronin flew across the room, using his vampiric speed, and caught her just before she hit the ground.
Nicu let loose a straggled cry as he took the same dagger that was plunged into the king’s chest wall and sliced him across his neck. Sodan’s screams transformed into the choking gurgles as his mouth filled with blood. Nicu didn’t wait to see if the king was dead as he released the body and rushed to Samara’s side. The sound of the body slamming onto the floor was forgotten as he grabbed Samara from Ronin’s arms.
“I’m so sorry, My Prince,” Ronin said as he gently handed her over to Nicu.
“Samara.” He called her name as he brushed her hair from her face. The smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils as he cradled her to him. Her caramel skin was marred from the necromancer’s energy burst.
No response.
“Nicu,” a somber voice appeared at his side. He knew that voice. It was deathly familiar. He closed his eyes tight, not wanting to look up, but he already knew who it was.
There stood Bella, Teague’s mate, dressed in her angelic white Greek dress that appeared to glow in the low light. This was not his sister-in-law who fought battles beside him as she did in her Valkyrie days. Tears filled her eyes as she glanced down at him.
“No.” He gathered Samara to his chest, refusing to believe that Bella was here to do her other job.
The job of the Goddess of Death.
“I’m so sorry, Nicu,” Bella’s voice cracked.
“You have got to be shitting me!” Teague said, running up to Bella.
“I have to,” Bella said, wiping her hand across her face.
“No. She’s not dying. She’s just stunned. Her and the babes will be okay.”
“I wouldn’t have appeared here for any other reason—”
“How long have you known?” Nicu demanded, looking down at Samara’s still form. She looked so peaceful. All the fear was erased from her face. She looked as if she were taking a nap. His hand traced her face, going down the side of her throat and paused.
A pulse.
It was faint, but it was something.
“She still has a pulse!” Nicu shouted, desperately holding his fingers to her neck. It was extremely slow.
“These things aren’t up to me. My job is to escort the dying to their afterlife, be it heaven or one of the seven hells.”
“Bella, babe, there has to be something you can do,” Teague said as he grabbed her arm.
“I wish there was, but I cannot change destiny or fate. Samara was scheduled to die on this day. It’s been written in the stars since the day she was born,” Bella argued.
Nicu glanced back down at the woman he had come to realize he could not live without. If Samara died, then the babes would certainly follow. He couldn’t lose his entire family.
His stone-cold heart shattered.
“She cannot die,” he growled with a shake of his head. This was not what fate had in mind. He refused to believe it. To bring his mate and his unborn children into his life, only to snatch them away was not in the fucking stars.
His gums burned as his fangs descended. His eyes narrowed on Samara’s throat and in his desperation to save her, he knew what he must do. He adjusted her limp body and leaned in.
“Are you sure, Nicu?” Teague’s voice broke through his thoughts.
“It is the only way,” he snapped around his fangs as he brought her closer to him. He closed his eyes as his incisors pierced her flesh. The sounds of the room faded as her coppery taste filled his mouth. He drew on her plump artery, pulling what he knew he needed in order to make her go through the transformation.
Her emotions and memories flooded his senses like recorded videos projected onto a screen. Her brother Stefan teaching her to ride a bicycle. Her first kiss with some young man. Her sitting at the side of a woman on her deathbed, and her first glimpse of him in the prison cell.
He slowly pulled away, licking the wound closed. He ignored the murmurs of voices around him. He had to save her.
“Here, let me help you,” Adrian said, kneeling on the other side of Samara.
Nicu jerked his head in a nod as he quickly bit into his own wrist. Fresh red blood ran down his arm as they shifted her. Nicu knew that this was the hardest part, getting the human to drink the first blood.
“Samara, if you can hear me, I need you to drink,” he said as he pl
aced his bloodied wrist to her mouth.
Nothing.
She didn’t even budge. He pressed his wrist to her lips again, trying to get some of the flowing blood into her mouth. He sent up a prayer to every God he could think of that she would make it.
“Samara, please, drink.” Never had Nicu ever begged for anything in his life, but tonight, there was something he was willing to beg for.
The life of his woman and unborn children.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Samara
She opened her eyes, but was blinded by the bright light. She gasped and tried again, this time her eyes adjusting to the light. She found herself lying on a chaise in a beautiful garden. She slowly sat up in total confusion. Where the hell was she?
Her last memory was of the pain from the burst of energy that had slammed into her chest before darkness claimed her. She gasped and looked down, finding herself in a pristine white summer dress that covered her body and molded to her round belly.
“What the hell?” she murmured as she looked around the greenery.
The garden was breathtakingly beautiful and the sky was crystal clear, not a cloud in sight. She stood from the chaise and glanced around, finding herself to be alone. Fear crept into her chest. Where was everyone? She looked closer at the garden and realized it was too perfect. Something was off about this place.
“Am I dead?” she whispered, rubbing her belly as she turned around in a circle. She jumped, finding herself no longer alone. A brooding figure stood not too far away from her. Her curiosity got the best of her as she observed him and found him close to seven feet tall, with intense eyes and black hair. Her heart sped up as she met his gaze.
“Almost. Your death now depends on you,” he said as he stepped to her.
She took a step back, tilting her head up to look at the man standing before her. Her fear slowly dissipated. She wasn’t sure why, but she was not afraid of him.
