“We’ve spotted her,” I whispered down to Kiev. “Just hold on a little longer…”
My words sent shivers running down my spine, despite the fact that he had Lilith’s protective spell around him. Not only that, the black witches couldn’t afford to harm him as long as they suspected him to be Magnus.
I reached instinctively for my waist, and then realized I’d discarded my clothes along with the dagger that I kept there. Kiev had no weapon, so I looked around at the others. “Do any of you have a dagger or any kind of weapon?” I asked.
Caleb was the first to reach into his belt and withdraw a knife. I lowered myself to him, took the blade and placed it on the ground so Kiev could pick it up. I looked my husband steadily in the eye. “You know what to do with it.”
He nodded, clenching his jaw.
Checking the scene once again, Lilith had now reached the edge of the lake. Stretching out her arms, she levitated into the air and hovered over the center of it. My stomach churned as all of the witches surrounding her withdrew their knives from their sheaths. Each witch stood directly behind a human, the blades pointing downward, ready to strike as soon as the time was right.
I’d never witnessed a ritual quite like this. But I hoped that they planned to bring those daggers down later rather than sooner…
Once Lilith had stopped drifting upward, and it seemed that she had raised herself as high as she was going to, I exchanged glances with Kiev and nodded. I felt like a nervous wreck watching him leave us and clamber over the rocks.
Kiev had to put on the performance of his life. If Lilith got even the slightest clue that he was not Magnus, everything would come crashing down upon us, all of our efforts down the drain.
“Lilith.” Magnus’ voice boomed down upon the sacrificial area.
Lilith’s eyes bulged in shock as her gaze shot toward Magnus standing on the rock. Her bouquet slipped from her hands and dropped into the lake. A deathly silence fell over the other witches as they all gazed at the vampire. Even Rhys looked speechless, though it was hard to read that warlock’s expression. I guessed his brain would soon start ticking over how to use Magnus’ appearance to his advantage.
“Magnus?” Lilith gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to speak to you.” Kiev held out a hand, indicating that she approach.
She glided away from the pool and landed on the rock where Kiev stood. Her lips parted as she continued staring at him in awe.
“How did you get here?”
Kiev’s eyes darkened.
“What is wrong? Were you unable to escape on the boat?”
“I’ve woken from your spell,” Kiev said, his voice steady and free from emotion.
“Spell?” Lilith asked. “What are you talking about?”
He reached up and grabbed Lilith’s jaw. I had been afraid that the protection she had formed around him would prevent them from even touching. But it seemed that she was exempt.
Kiev nodded toward the lake, his eyes traveling over all the hogtied humans surrounding it. “I see now what drew you to me.”
Lilith’s face contorted with confusion.
“It made no sense to me at the time,” Kiev continued, “why you were so bent on pursuing a relationship with me even when the world you lived in forbade it. Why you made love to me so unhesitatingly behind your husband’s back. Why you kept returning to me even at the risk of destroying the reputation of your entire family… But now I understand. You knew what my immortality could do for you.”
Lilith began shaking her head furiously. “No,” she stammered. “No, Magnus. You have it all wrong.” She reached out to grip his arms but he brushed her away, causing her to stumble backward.
“Had I been a warlock, you wouldn’t have looked twice at me.”
“It’s not true, Magnus! I love you.” She launched toward him again and gripped his hands, shaking him.
“Magnus!” Rhys boomed. “Get away from her.”
When Kiev ignored him, he flew through the air toward him but, of course, he couldn’t touch him. Besides, Lilith blasted him back with a spell.
“I have too many reasons to disbelieve you,” Kiev said. “As far as I can see, every action of yours to date has led up to this ritual. From the moment we met, to allowing me to be kidnapped, dragging me from the life I’d managed to rebuild for myself, keeping me with you in your chamber for centuries so that you could stay alive… it’s all been leading up to this point.”
“I wouldn’t be alive today if I didn’t love you,” she said, desperation in her voice. “I told you that already.”
“Then we do not share the same definition of love.”
She cast her eyes about at all the witches, waiting and staring up at her, then fixed her gaze on Magnus once more. “Then what do I have to do to prove it to you? Tell me!”
Kiev glanced down at the ceremonial setup. “Back out of this ritual.”
Lilith’s breath hitched.
“That’s the only way you can prove it to me.”
She gaped at the vampire. She glanced down at the pool, then back at Magnus. “Magnus, you don’t understand—”
“I understand more than you think.”
“I have to do this.”
“Then you choose this ritual over me.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Yes, witch. It is.”
She bit down hard on her lower lip even as it trembled.
Silence followed as she stared down at her feet. Even though I felt crazy for it, I couldn’t help but feel pity for the woman.
Although there was truth in Kiev’s words, I couldn’t deny that Lilith did love Magnus. She hadn’t made the right choices in her life, but then neither had I for much of my own life. I’d had a glimpse for myself of what her upbringing had been like. It was hardly any wonder that she’d turned out the way she had. And yet she had found room for Magnus in her black heart. Even though Magnus was hardly a ray of sunshine, it seemed to me that to Lilith he had been a light in the darkness and evil that was her existence. I could only imagine the pain that Kiev was inflicting on her.
“Don’t listen to him,” Rhys had begun to shout. “Get away from him!”
Isolde and Julisse both tried to approach Lilith, but she blasted them back before they could come near.
Slowly, Lilith raised her gaze to Magnus once again. Her dark eyes were drowning in pain as she whispered, “I cannot choose you, my love. You don’t understand… I was born for this.”
“And I was born for this.”
Whipping out Caleb’s knife from his belt, Kiev plunged it right into her chest.
Shrieks abounded as all the witches and warlocks present hurtled toward Kiev in the air, only to be unable to pry him away from Lilith.
“For every evil born, another is born to counter it,” Kiev hissed into Lilith’s ear. “I’m not the man you thought I was. Raised by the enemies of your ancestors, I was designed to be your downfall… I played you at your own game, witch.” He paused, watching as blood spilled from her mouth, her youthful appearance rapidly fading and turning corpselike before our very eyes.
Then Kiev spoke the last words her tortured soul would ever hear.
“I, Magnus Helios, never loved you.”
She’ll never know just how much of a lie that is.
Chapter 28: Rose
I jumped as screaming erupted behind the rocks. It sounded like someone was being murdered. I prayed that someone was Lilith.
I looked toward my parents, raising my eyebrows. Then all eyes shot up toward Mona.
I wanted to call up to her, but she was too high up. I couldn’t risk being heard. Corrine and Ibrahim lifted themselves into the air to see what was happening. Corrine gasped. Then they both lowered themselves down.
“What?” my father demanded, gripping Ibrahim’s shoulders and shaking him.
“Lilith,” he said. “Kiev did it.”
Mona descended behind Ibrahim and Corri
ne, her skin looking sallow.
“A rotten corpse,” she said, her voice choked. “That’s all that’s left of her. The last Ancient among us.”
“Where is Kiev?” Helina asked, her eyes lit with panic.
“Guys,” Aiden said suddenly. “Look.”
We all spun round to face him. He had stepped within the boundary.
It seemed that with Lilith, the boundary had vanished too. We all hurried forward and were able to enter as though no barrier had ever existed.
There was a wheezing sound behind me. I turned in time to see Mona falling to her knees on the sharp rocks, bent over double. My mother and Matteo rushed to her, laying her down gently on the ground as she seemed to lose control of her limbs. Her eyes drooped and shut.
Corrine hurried over too and bent down, touching her forehead.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” Corrine said.
Matteo, Erik and Helina pushed through, squatting next to Corrine and peering down at Mona.
“It must have something to do with Lilith’s death,” Erik said. “Mona’s powers were dependent on her.”
“She’s blacked out,” Corrine said.
I backed away from the crowd huddled around Mona and, cupping my palms, dipped them in the waves. Then I rushed back to the unconscious witch and tipped the water over her. That didn’t help.
“Ibrahim, Corrine,” Matteo urged. “Do something.”
The witch and warlock began working their magic, even as the uproar on the other side of the rock increased.
“It’s Mag—Kiev,” Micah called behind us.
A moment later, Kiev, still in Magnus’ form, dropped down from the rocks above. His right shoulder looked badly burned.
“Mona!” He threw himself to the ground next to his wife, gripping her head between his hands. “What happened?”
“Hush,” Corrine said. “We’re trying to revive her.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Caleb muttered. I looked up at where he was pointing.
A line of witches had appeared above the rocks and spotted us. Kiev didn’t allow Corrine and Ibrahim to attempt to finish their cure. He grabbed Mona and began running in the opposite direction. The black witches’ spells began to hurtle down toward us, bouncing off the rocks and hitting in all directions. The mayhem found me separated from everyone as I dodged to avoid a curse. When one ricocheted so close to me it singed my right ear, I spun around to find myself face to face with Isolde.
Her eyes glinted with mad fury, her chest heaving. She was too close for me to dodge her curse as it hurtled right for my chest. The force of it knocked me backward and winded me completely. My head slammed against a rock. It was all I could do to not lose consciousness.
No.
My story does not end here.
Not at the hands of this bitch.
Even as my skin felt like hot oil had just been poured over it and the sensation began to spread across my chest and down my arms, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to stand. She was approaching me, a look of triumph on her face. She raised her palms, motioning to strike again.
Summoning the fire within me, I forced flames from my palms. Her eyes widened with shock as they engulfed her.
I expected her to shoot out a spell to extinguish my flames but, bizarrely, she didn’t. She just began screaming as though she really was being burned.
I gaped at the witch as she stumbled around on the rocks. She was too disorientated even to make it to the sea. This was not the Isolde that I had come to know.
“Rose! Are you all right?” Mona called behind me. I was surprised to see her making her way toward me with Kiev. She was paler than I’d ever seen her, but her legs seemed steady.
The three of us stood watching in awe as Isolde burned alive until her screams subsided and her body stopped moving. She collapsed to the ground as a lump of melted flesh and bone. I shuddered, watching the flames lick at her corpse.
Mona grabbed my shoulders and twisted me to face her. Her face dropped as she stared at my chest and looked along my shoulders and arms. I looked down at myself for the first time. My skin was tinged red, but truly, the pain had felt much worse than it looked. It barely looked more serious than nettle stings. The pain was also subsiding.
“You should be dead,” Mona breathed as she continued looking me over. “Isolde wouldn’t have hit you with anything other than one of her most deadly curses. And her powers were practically on par with Rhys’.” Then she addressed her husband, whom I still hadn’t gotten used to looking like Magnus. “My blackout and now this… I and all the black witches… we have become weak. Our spells no longer hold the potency they once did. It’s because Lilith is gone. The spell she cast on you has also disappeared.”
“At least this is confirmation that she is definitely gone,” I muttered, “and she’s not somehow still hanging on in that rotten body of hers.”
My voice trailed off as the three of us looked around the rocky area. The smoke from my fire was thinning and we could see more clearly. Everyone had moved on from the area—over the rocks and further toward the castle, by the sound of it. It was just Kiev, Mona and me left here now.
We started moving to join the battle that was taking place near the castle, but Mona stopped in her tracks as we passed Isolde’s ashes. She levitated them off the ground, floated them toward the ocean and scattered them in the waves.
“She would never have done that for you. Why would you do that?” Kiev asked, looking at her in surprise.
“Because, Kiev, I’ve chosen to be a better person than Isolde was,” Mona replied, watching the remainder of the ashes sink beneath the surface. “And, after death, I believe everyone deserves at least some respect.”
Chapter 29: Rose
We reached the rocks and climbed over them, now in full view of the battle. Curses flew in all directions as vampires and witches clashed. Corrine and Ibrahim were taking on several witches at once which, to my surprise, they seemed to be coping quite well with. A single curse from Ibrahim floored three witches in his path.
“White witches are now more powerful than black witches,” I muttered, more to myself than to anyone else.
“Lilith’s demise has drained us,” Mona said.
“You think you were the only one who fainted?” I asked.
“No. I’m sure that most of these black witches passed out at least for a short while… depending on how much power they gained from Lilith. Channelers like me would have felt it the most. Can either of you see Rhys?” Mona asked.
Kiev and I shook our heads. I wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or bad thing.
I tried to make out my family and Caleb, but it was hard to spot vampires in this darkness—most of them were moving so fast in the churning crowd.
“Let’s go,” Kiev said impatiently.
Leaving our hiding place, we rushed down the rocks toward the battleground. I took a different direction than the couple, my palms at the ready to begin blasting fire at these black witches who had taken so many innocent lives. Adrenaline rushed through me, and there wasn’t the slightest bit of mercy running through my veins.
I was about to throw myself headfirst into the battle when I caught a glimpse to my right of a vat of deep red liquid. It was so large, a lake would have been a better word to describe it. Surrounding it were humans, and I realized that many of the screams and cries were coming from them. Before I could help with the battle, I had to do something about them. Spells were inching dangerously close to them and they were helpless. They could barely wriggle a few feet.
As I approached the lake, I spotted my mother and Ashley on the other side of it. They had already started freeing the humans, ripping through the ropes with their fangs. I rushed over to them and began working alongside them. I didn’t have any knife or sharp object on me. I did, however, have my palms. I approached a girl nearest to me, who looked older than me.
“It’s okay,”
I said as she squealed. “I’m here to help.”
She was writhing so much that I was afraid she might fall right into the pond and drown, being unable to swim to the surface.
Gripping the rope that bound her ankles and wrists together, I tried to move her gently toward me, away from the edge of the lake, before placing both palms around the rope and sending heat surging through it. I had to be careful not to send through too much in case I lit the whole rope on fire and ended up burning her. I managed to release just enough to singe the rope and make it weak enough so that it snapped.
The girl stretched out her limbs for the first time in God knew how long. Tears of relief filled her eyes as I helped her to sit up. I wanted to stay with her for a moment longer to comfort her that the worst was over, but there were too many other humans waiting for me to attend to. Even with Ashley, my mother and me working, we still had a mammoth task ahead of us.
“We need to hurry,” my mother said, eyeing the humans still bound.
After the first girl I’d released, the others were faster. I was beginning to feel more confident with my heat so close to their bodies, and I was able to singe through the ropes much faster.
As we released the humans, we ordered those who were able to stand on their weak legs to hide round the side of the castle where nobody seemed to be right now. Once there was a substantial crowd waiting there, my mother told Ashley to wait with them.
I wiped sweat from my brow, looking over our progress. We had about three dozen left. It was still a lot, but nothing compared to how many there had been when we had first started.
“No!” A shrill voice pierced my eardrums. It sounded no further than twenty feet away. I was in the middle of bending over a girl and turned in time to see Julisse racing full speed toward me. Her dark curly hair was scattered across her sweaty face, her eyes practically red with rage.
I tried to shoot flames at her, but she had managed to conjure up a shield of water around herself with whatever power she had left in her.
I braced myself for impact, expecting to fall back into the lake of blood, when something raced past me in a blur. The next thing I knew, Julisse crashed to the ground, Caleb on top of her. She struggled beneath him, but Caleb was too quick. Before she could summon a curse, he’d already slashed through both of her palms. Then, lowering his head to her neck, he sank his fangs deep into her flesh and jerked upward, ripping right through her jugular.
A Shade of Vampire 16: An End of Night Page 13
