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I barely had time to process the threat before the librarian lunged at me. It was nothing like the lunges Amalthea made when we sparred, or when Demos modeled his movements. This was a vampire’s lunge, fast, deadly, and unstoppable.

The librarian grabbed my shoulders in his hands, nails digging in.

“Let go!” I cried.

Startled, his grip halted for a second. I had only the moment to reach into my deck and pull the one card I still had. Half a thought pulled the magic from the enchantment.

Bzzz!

A cloud of insects manifested between us, diving for the vampire.

The sound that came from the vampire was nothing human. He roared as the swarm of wasps attacked. His limbs swung wildly, attempting to swat them away.

They’d buy me scant seconds. They blocked his vision, but there was no chance I could run and escape in time.

There was only one move open to me.

I pulled the dagger from my belt, the bronze blade surprisingly light. The wasps continued to sting the vampire, but he was once more moving towards me.

I lunged.

And planted the blade squarely in his chest.

The ancient vampire crumpled to the ground.

His face turned from pale to the color of ash. His skin began to crumble, turning to dust and falling in until there was nothing left but bones and the clothes he’d worn. The wasps disappeared with the spell. My dagger clattered to the ground, no longer embedded in the flesh.

So this was how a vampire died.

A strange calm had come over me. I stood transfixed, watching as centuries of undeath faded into nothing.

I had done that.

Without thought, I smiled.

What transpired after was a blur. Amalthea found me there, drawn by a vision.

“Samara! What happened?”

The story stumbled out of me, and she pulled me into her arms. I didn’t manage to lift my arms, and her brows knitted together in concern. “We need to tell Raphael.”

“Can you?” I asked. “I just want to go back to my room and work on the translation.” I was so, so close to deciphering the last words of the critical first page.

Amalthea looked at me like I had lost it. “Sam, you shouldn’t be alone right now. This… this would be a lot for anyone, but especially…”

Especially someone as fragile as me. She didn’t say it, but I knew what she meant. Yet at the moment, I didn’t feel fragile.

I didn’t feel anything.

“Let’s go to my rooms, and I’ll tell Raphael to meet us there,” she suggested.

Suddenly tired, I did as she bid. Raphael came immediately once she sent word, furious.

“How did this happen?” he snarled.

“Raphael,” Amalthea said, her tone reproachful.

She had cleared one chair from the mountain of dresses it was buried under and given me a cup of tea.