Page 39 of Blood Legacy (Eternal Descent (MistHallow Academy) #1)

Kill. Destroy. Gaida.

Those three words fill my mind as I tear through the throngs of vampires flooding into my academy. The dining hall is a mess of blood and dust, the lingering scent of terror and magick thick in the air. Harlow has fled. She will pay for this betrayal.

Every hooded Equilibrium agent I encounter falls to my rage. My fangs drip with their blood, my hands stained with their ash. I haven’t unleashed this side of myself in centuries. The monster within me glories in the carnage, feeding on the terror of my enemies.

But beneath the bloodlust, my mind remains focused on one goal: protecting Gaida. She is mine to defend, mine to cherish. The bond between us shimmers with golden light in my mind’s eye, stronger than any sire bond, more vital than mere possession.

I know the boys will protect her with their lives if need be. I just hope it doesn’t come to that. They are powerful as individuals, and they are more powerful together. I just hope they can put their egos aside and do what needs to be done.

Three vampires rush me at once. I dodge the first, catch the second by the throat, and use him as a battering ram against the third before tearing his head clean off. This is more fun than using magick, but my fun will have to end soon. These creatures need wiping out indefinitely.

The third vampire is smarter, circling cautiously.

“Luke Blackthorn,” he says. “The Equilibrium merely wishes to collect what is rightfully ours.”

“She is mine,” I snarl, coiling my power, ready to strike.

“The Blood Sovereign must fulfil her purpose,” he insists. “The severed bonds are only the beginning. With her, we can reshape vampire society and create a new hierarchy of power.”

Without bothering with a verbal response, but with a gesture that’s become second nature over my centuries of existence, I unleash a wave of pure magickal force. The vampire before me has just enough time for his eyes to widen before he’s obliterated, not just killed but unmade, his very essence scattered beyond recovery.

I turn, sensing more approaching. The Equilibrium has planned this well. The severed bonds, the attacks, all of it coordinated to create enough chaos to extract Gaida while MistHallow’s defences are compromised by the very creatures who have warded this place against attacks. The betrayal stings, cuts like a knife, but they will pay.

They will all pay.

They’ve underestimated my desire to preserve the sanctity of this place.

They’ve underestimated how far I will go to protect Gaida.

My power surges outward in a wave, incinerating a dozen more attackers who were foolish enough to try to breach the dining hall.

I stride out of the dining hall, leaving nothing but ash in my wake. The feral students are harder to deal with. I won’t kill them—they are victims in this—but I can’t allow them to harm others. With precise magickal strikes, I immobilise each one I encounter, binding them in stasis fields that will hold until we can find a way to restore their bonds.

Pausing briefly to track Gaida, my eyes narrow as I teleport to the entrance of my office, stepping over crumbled bits of stone that are slowly merging to reform the broken Gargoyles and piles of dust that make me cough a few times before I step into my office.

What I find there makes me smile. “Blood of my blood,” Constantine says, holding a hooded vampire in one hand while he reaches over to pluck my favourite stake from Dante’s frozen hand. “Nice of you to finally join us.”

“Constantine. What are you doing here? Apart from being involved in a massacre?”

“Apparently,” he says, before slamming the stake into the heart of the vampire in his grip, “Dimensional ripples amplify my connection to you.” He hands the stake back to a gobsmacked Dante, who clutches it tightly, his eyes never leaving Constantine.

“Ripples?”

“Things are breaking down, dear boy. My wife is unimpressed. You know she has a serious issue with one of her counterparts. Dreadful woman. Can’t stand her. We do not need her to be able to step into our world whenever she pleases. Outside of whenever she pleases,” he adds with an annoyed expression that baffles me.

“What?” I say, my gaze finding Gaida, unharmed and wielding the Sword of Mashtar, which should be impossible and yet…

Gaida looks at me with wide eyes, the sword in her grip glowing with ancient power that shouldn’t respond to her. No one has been able to wield the Sword of Mashtar since I recovered it three centuries ago. The runes along its blade shine golden, responding to her blood, her lineage.

“Who is this guy?” she asks, gesturing toward Constantine with the tip of the sword.

Constantine smiles, that familiar, unsettling smile that has terrified enemies and allies alike for millennia. He straightens his cuffs as if he hadn’t just slaughtered a dozen vampires with his bare hands.

“He’s my sire’s sire,” I explain, moving to stand between them. “Constantine Aquila, meet Gaida Aragon.”

“Ahem,” Dante mutters.

“Oh, and Dante DuLoc and Felix Davenport,” I add with an inward eye roll.

“What is this about dimensional ripples?” Felix asks, coming closer, his gaze searching, his breathing slightly laboured.

Constantine pins him in place with his laser-like stare. “Parallel universes,” he says as if that explains everything. “Luke’s presence here is causing some havoc.”

“Why now?” I ask. “And surely you mean mine and Lucius’s?”

“They know?” Constantine raises an eyebrow.

“They know enough,” I grit out, which is a complete lie. Only Gaida knows some of the sordid story.

“Hmm,” he mutters. “Well, yes, you and Lucius crossing over as you are has done this world no favours. It’s time to return.”

“What?” I ask as Gaida steps forward.

“What?” she snaps, waving the sword around wildly. “He isn’t going anywhere.”

Constantine glares at her and places his finger on the tip of the blade, pushing it away from him. “It’s a good thing I know what you mean to him,” he mutters. “Otherwise, I’d have to kill you where you stand.”

Gaida’s eyes narrow dangerously, but she has the good sense not to respond.

“Could we focus on the attacking vampires?” Felix interrupts. “And what exactly do you mean by Luke needing to return somewhere?”

I run a hand through my hair, struggling to keep my composure. Constantine’s unexpected appearance complicates matters exponentially. “This isn’t the time.”

“You are from a different world,” Felix says. “One parallel to here. That makes so much sense, and that is why your magickal signature is different. How long have you been here?”

“Longer than you know,” I say. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Constantine says, and for the first time in a long time, I see the monster beneath the suave exterior.

“Oh, but he does,” Gaida says. “You aren’t taking him away from me.”

Dante lets out a long breath. His Empathic abilities are being overwhelmed by the ancient, not-of-this-world vampire in the room. It’s a surprise he’s still standing.

“How long do I have?” I ask carefully, ignoring Gaida’s hiss.

“Not long. Days. Unless you balance the order.”

“Meaning?” I ask, but I think I know. The time has come to take down what I’ve never been able to accomplish before.

“Uh, guys,” Dante says, stumbling back, his eyes wide and going pitch black as the emotions flooding through him take their toll. “We have company.”

“No shit,” I mutter, but then my blood runs cold. The familiarity of my sire’s icy presence hits me square in the chest, and it crushes my lungs as I spin and come face-to-face with Lucius.

“Well, well,” he says, stepping into my office. “Quite the gathering. Sire and charge and the little girl who enjoys playing with fire.”

“Don’t,” I say to him as his gaze bores into Gaida. “Don’t touch her.”

“Such protection,” he says. “Constantine. To what do we owe this pleasure?” He shifts his gaze warily to his sire.

Constantine gives him a lazy smile, but he is anything but complacent. “Time to go home, Lucius.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You’re going to make me force you?”

I stumble back from the iron band that is squeezing my lungs closed. I can’t go back. I can’t go back.

“Luke,” Gaida whispers.

It takes all the strength I have to look her in the eye.

Instantly, I see what she is thinking.

Crossing over as you are.

“Do it,” I croak, taking a further step back as Lucius glares at her.

She raises the sword and Lucius smirks as Constantine watches this with interest. He knows. Somehow, he knows exactly what is going to happen here, and he isn’t stopping it.

Golden threads of magick wisp out of Gaida’s hand as she raises it, aiming it at me. They wrap around my neck, around my wrists and ankles. I stumble, bracing myself and hoping to the old gods that this isn’t going to be a mistake.

The second the sire bond snaps, I feel it in every cell in my body. I cry out as the pain is searing, white-hot and agonising, but then it’s gone. I turn to look at her, but her eyes are on Lucius. Everything drops away as my vision goes red, and my mind goes blank. There is only one thought.

Blood.

I launch myself at her, fangs drawn, claws extended.

She screams, but before I can reach her, a hand grips my throat. I feel the presence of my former sire near me as Constantine rips us from this reality, taking us back to the world we were born from, away from Gaida, away from… everything.

Read on with book 2: Blood Rights