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FELIX

The impact knocks the wind out of me, and for a moment, all I can do is stare up at the sky, trying to remember how to breathe.

“What the actual fuck?” Dante groans beside me, rolling onto his side.

Gaida’s already on her feet, that sword still clutched in her hand like it’s fused to her palm. Her eyes are fixed on the shattered window we just flew through.

“He’s back,” she whispers, a mix of hope and fear in her voice.

I push myself up, wincing at the glass embedded in my palms. A quick spell extracts the shards and seals the wounds. “Yeah. We know.”

“He just blasted us through a fucking window,” Dante adds.

The sounds of battle intensify from inside. Flashes of blue and gold light up the broken window frame, accompanied by inhuman screeching. Luke is unleashing hell in there, and from the sounds of it, he’s not discriminating between friend and foe.

“We need to go back,” Gaida says, already moving toward the building.

I catch her arm. “Are you sure about that?”

“He didn’t throw us out of a window intentionally. It was backlash.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that, but fuck.” I rub my head.

“How can you be so sure?” Dante asks.

“He wouldn’t hurt me,” Gaida says.

“She has a point.”

“He tried to attack her earlier. If Constantine hadn’t grabbed him, who knows what would have happened?”

Gaida’s face hardens. “That was different. That was when I severed his bond with Lucius. He wasn’t himself.”

I exchange a glance with Dante. Neither of us wants to point out that Luke might still not be himself. Constantine took him back to whatever parallel dimension he came from, and now he’s back, throwing power around like it’s going out of style.

“Look,” I say, trying to be the voice of reason. “We don’t know what happened to him in the time he was gone. That could have been minutes for us but years for him.”

Another explosion rocks the building. The air around us crackles with magick so dense it makes my teeth ache. Whatever Luke is doing in there, it’s beyond anything I’ve ever felt before.

“I’m going back,” Gaida says with that stubborn set to her jaw. “With or without you.”

“Oh, we’re coming,” Dante says, pulling the stake from where it’s somehow remained tucked in his waistband. “Someone’s got to watch your back when you do something monumentally stupid.”

I roll my eyes but follow as she marches toward the smashed window, ducking blue power as it flies out of the hole in the wall in all directions. I cast a quick shield spell that deflects a stray bolt of energy that would have hit Dante square in the chest. “You’re welcome,” I mutter before he can say anything.

As we approach the window, the scene inside becomes clearer. Luke stands in the middle of his office, surrounded by what can only be described as a hurricane of raw power. His eyes glow an unearthly blue, and his skin seems almost translucent, veins of golden light pulsing beneath the surface. The Equilibrium members who managed to get inside are being systematically destroyed, their bodies disintegrating before they even hit the ground.

“Holy shit,” I breathe, genuinely awed by the display. This isn’t just vampire strength or even typical mage magick. This is something else entirely.

Gaida doesn’t hesitate. She vaults through the window, somehow managing to avoid the shards of glass still clinging to the frame. The sword in her hand leaves a trail of golden light as she moves.

“Bloody hell,” Dante mutters, following her moves. I’m right behind him, climbing through the window with considerably less grace and summoning a dark energy shield that absorbs some of the ambient magick crackling through the air.

“Luke!” Gaida calls out, her voice somehow cutting through the chaos.

He turns toward her, and for a moment, I think he is going to send us back out the way we came. But then he shakes his head in that way he has that screams he is exasperated as all fuck with us.

“Stay back,” he growls and sweeps his arm out in a wide arc, annihilating the remaining hooded members, their screams cut off as they simply… vanish.

The quiet in the office is chilling as he turns back to us.

“Whoa, there a second,” I say, stepping in front of Gaida. “Firstly, are you Luke-Luke, or some parallel freak, and secondly, are you feral or normal.”

“Define normal,” he replies in that tone that makes me want to hit him. Respectfully, of course. “And I am the Luke Blackthorn you know, Headmaster of MistHallow Academy.”

“Where did you go? And why are you back?” I demand as Gaida just stands there, sword in hand, looking a bit lost.

“Constantine took me and Lucius back to our own dimension. I came back.”

“Why?”

“My work here isn’t done.”

“How do we know it’s you?”

“It’s him,” Gaida says, going to him and flinging her arms around him.

He grabs her around her waist and crushes her in a hug so tight, she grunts.

“Where is Lucius?” I ask.

“Still with Constantine.”

“Will they be back?”

“Not any time soon. I took his timestone.” He holds up a smooth black stone before fisting it and making it disappear.

“Timestone?” I ask, practically drooling at all of this otherworldly activity.

“The ability to move through time and space. It was created by the Dragon Emperor where I come from so that the time shift between the realms didn’t exist.”

“Something tells me that is the Dummies version.”

“That’s because it is,” he says, his eyes amused as he stares at me.

His gaze shifts to Dante, who still holds the stake with white knuckles. “You can put that away now.”

“I think I’ll hang onto it for a bit,” Dante replies, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Luke doesn’t press the issue, but I can tell he’s amused by Dante’s caution. He turns back to Gaida, who still hasn’t let go of him, and gently untangles himself from her embrace.

“You have the Sword of Mashtar,” he says, nodding at the weapon still clutched in her hand.

“Yeah, about that,” Gaida says, lifting it slightly. “The Gargoyles called me the Blood Queen. Said this sword can unmake and remake... everything.”

Luke’s expression turns surprised. “They spoke to you?”

“Gaida made them,” I snort.

He stares at her with pride. “I see.”

“How long were you gone?” Dante asks, coming closer, his expression wary as he keeps the stake in his hand.

Luke’s gaze drops to it, and he raises an eyebrow. “Minutes. Time is the same between these worlds.”

“Are you feral?” I ask bluntly. I mean, he seems okay, but who can really tell?

Those unnerving eyes pin mine, but I see the respect lurking in their depths. “I’m okay. We need to secure the academy. I’m sure there are those who fled before I could get to them, and of course, the ferals are still running amok.”

“Some of the professors rounded them up,” Dante says. “I felt it.”

He nods. I watch him warily.

“I’m fine, Mr Davenport. You can stop staring at me like I’m about to attack.”

“Forgive me if I’m cautious, but you did attack Gaida before your grandsire, or whatever you call it, removed you.”

“That was a natural reaction to my bond breaking with Lucius. I can assure you I am not pining for him or even require his presence in my life. I am better off without him.”

“So, what now?” I ask, lowering my shield as the immediate danger seems to have passed.

“Now,” Luke says, walking to his desk with purpose, “we clean up this mess and figure out exactly why The Equilibrium came here. If they just wanted Gaida, her father could’ve called her home.”

“That’s what I said!” she exclaims, then hefts the sword, examining the still-glowing runes along its blade. “They wanted me to have this. They wanted me to remake vampire society. That’s what the Gargoyles said.”

Luke pauses, his hand hovering over a drawer in his desk. “Did they, now?”

“They are quite chatty with the right person asking the question,” I point out, helpfully.

Or, unhelpfully, if you are Luke Blackthorn.

Gaida giggles at Luke’s stony expression. He could moonlight as a Gargoyle himself right now.

“I see.”

“You never thought to ask them?” I poke that ancient bear with all the joy of a kid at Yule.

Luke’s expression is so deadpan I almost laugh. “Gargoyles aren’t known for their conversational skills, Mr Davenport. They’re guardians, not gossips.”

“Well, they certainly had a lot to say to Gaida,” Dante mutters, finally tucking that savage stake away. It is enchanted with something fierce, something that isn’t burning Dante’s pureblood vampire hands off his body but should be.

Luke sighs and pulls open the drawer, retrieving a small crystalline orb that pulses with an inner light. “The academy needs to be secured. We need to find the remaining Equilibrium members, if there are any still on the grounds, and determine who among the staff was working with them.”

“Harlow, for one,” I say. “She was practically gloating when everything went to hell.”

Luke’s jaw tightens. “I’m aware. She won’t get far.”

Gaida steps forward, the sword still clutched in her hand like she’s afraid to put it down. “What about the ferals? Can we help them?”

“That depends,” Luke says, his gaze dropping to the sword. “On whether you’re willing to use that blade for more than just severing bonds.”

“What do you mean?” she asks carefully.

“The Sword of Mashtar recognises you, your blood. No one has been able to touch it in centuries.”

“How did you get it in the cupboard, then?” I ask.

He glares at me. “With heavy magick that you are not capable of wielding.”

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“Magick from your world?”

“Does it matter?” Dante snaps. “What does it do exactly?”

“The Gargoyles said in the hands of the Blood Queen it can remake,” I remind him.

“Blood Queen ?” Luke murmurs, his gaze on Gaida.

“That’s right, vamp-daddy,” Dante drawls. “Queen. Female. Pureblood.”

“What did you just call me?” Luke thunders at Dante, who simply shrugs.

Luke’s withering glare could peel paint from the walls, but Dante merely crosses his arms, unrepentant. I bite back a laugh, not wanting to draw that thunderous expression my way.

“Vamp-daddy?” Gaida repeats, her lips twitching. “Really, Dante?”

“Well, he’s acting like an overprotective father figure, isn’t he?” Dante gestures vaguely toward Luke. “All ‘stay back’ and ‘I’ll handle this’ while blasting people to smithereens.”

Luke pinches the bridge of his nose. “If we could focus on the matter at hand rather than your juvenile attempts at humour, Mr DuLoc, I would appreciate it.”

The crystal orb in his hand pulses more rapidly now, casting eerie shadows across his face. He places it on his desk and waves his hand over it in a complex pattern. Immediately, a three-dimensional map of MistHallow materialises above the desk, showing glowing dots of various colours moving throughout the grounds.

“Red are the remaining Equilibrium agents,” Luke explains, pointing to several crimson dots clustered near the eastern boundary. “Blue are faculty members. Green are students. The purple ones...” he hesitates, “are the ferals.”

There are far too many purple dots for my comfort.

“That’s nearly a quarter of the vampire student body,” I whisper, counting quickly.

Gaida steps closer to the map, the sword humming with energy. “Can the sword really help them? Remake their bonds?”

“Theoretically,” Luke says, his eyes never leaving the map. “The Sword of Mashtar was created in an age when vampire hierarchy was first being established. Perhaps it was a failsafe in case things went awry.”

“Like they are doing now?” I ask.

“Quite,” he clips out.

“So I could rebond the ferals to their sires?” Gaida asks.

“It’s not that simple,” Luke warns. “The sword responds to intent, to will. And your will must be absolute. Any hesitation, any doubt, and the results could be unpredictable.”

“She could make them worse,” Dante says grimly.

“Or bind them to herself instead,” I add. “That is what The Equilibrium wanted. For Gaida to create an army of vampires bound to her alone.”

Luke’s gaze shifts to mine, and I see the confirmation there. “Seems that way. A Blood Queen with an army of loyal vampires would certainly upend the current order.”

“Which my father sits at the top of,” Gaida says quietly. “Along with a handful of other ancient families.”

“Including mine,” Dante adds grimly.

“So we do this carefully.”

“I’m afraid not yet. Gaida doesn’t know what will happen. As we said, there are multiple things that could go wrong. The last thing we need is to have Gaida sired to a bunch of vampires.” His growl is frighteningly possessive. The temperature drops several degrees in the room, and Gaida licks her lips.

“Okay, so we round them up and wait,” she says carefully.

“Wait for what?” I ask, expecting the silence that descends because no one has an answer.