Page 19 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

EVANGELINE

I was still picking apart Malachi’s bullshit, martyr-ish explanation when a rusted scythe swung from the ceiling—one final insult from the creator of this cursed place—Blake barely managing to yank me out of the way in time.

The blade clanged off the wall, sparks flying, before lodging into the floor.

My mate fussed over me, dusted me off, checking for non-existent injuries as I studied that rusted edge, still sharp enough to cleave stone. Malachi watched unblinkingly, and I felt a faint ripple of approval down our bond as Blake tended to me.

I refrained from flipping him off.

How dare you orchestrate all of this without my consent? I fumed, when we set off again, hoping he heard every word . How dare you decide what I want? If I want to be bonded to a monster, then I will goddamned well be bonded to a monster.

We were getting closer to the round room, and the pool, and the portal.

Closer to a final goodbye.

How could you leave me ? I swallowed past the knot in my throat, past the tears burning my eyes. How fucking dare you leave me here all by myself, while you give up so easily.

A low rumbling growl vibrated his chest, but that was all. There was no answers in my head, no promise to stop this bullshit ritual.

I could barely breathe, my stomach twisted into knots. There hadn’t been a single blocked passageway, a single cave-in to clear away. Only these enchanted, well-lit tunnels, guiding us—no, pushing us—right where they wanted us to be.

And every step we took, I had the eerie feeling we were being watched.

Not by the stones, or the magic, but by something aware and alive, something that had a vested interest in us ending up in that cursed room. But every time I wanted to turn around, to abandon this stupid quest, something stronger kept pulling me downward.

Ahead, the tunnel widened, the walls curving into an archway, an intersection of three corridors of ancient stone. Beyond that, a pale light pulsed—too red to be natural. Malachi had gone preternaturally still, eyes as dark as night as something pulsed through the air.

“What the fuck is that?”

“The pool.” I whispered, at the same time Riordan muttered, “The portal.”

“The bullshit magic in this place.” Blake clarified, as Nash drew his gun. “That won’t do you a bit of good, my friend. Don’t brush up against the walls, don’t touch anything, and no one get close to the water.”

Even from here, I sensed the endless depths lurking behind the blank face of the portal, like staring down a cold, dark well with no bottom.

The incessant hum vibrated my teeth, sank into my skin, made my bones rattle.

The sound of our breathing grew louder, our steps slowing, the air murky with a fog of magic and shadow.

“That intersection leads to two rooms.” Riordan explained softly, as if he was afraid the walls might hear. “To the left is the room with the portal, to the right…an empty chamber. Brendan, make sure you have everything ready for the ritual, because the less time we spend in that room, the better.”

“The air is fucking noxious down here.” Finn muttered.

“It’s about to get worse,” Blake said and I pressed my hand against the cool stone wall, letting myself acclimate to the sheer intensity of the place.

Vibrations throbbed up my arm, slow and wrong, like a heartbeat trapped beneath the surface of the earth.

The ley line here wasn’t just broken—it was bleeding.

Magic shimmered in the air like mist, thick and heavy, pricking against my skin, tasted like ash on my tongue. Everyone seemed to move slower, murky forms blurring together.

And beneath all of it…the tick, tick, tick of time, slipping away.

Malachi was right behind me, silent, a shadow larger than life, holding all that pain inside himself, unwilling to share. I didn’t need to turn to know he was barely holding himself together.

I knew better than to reach for him. I couldn’t risk that kind of disappointment right now, because I was already stretched too thin, and one more rejection might break me.

Anger made me strong, but grief…grief chipped away at my resolve, my heart aching in my hollow chest, as I slipped my fingers along the chain around my neck.

The key was still there. Warm from my body. Smooth, except for the tiny runes carved along its length. The Book was safe in my pocket, the black cover velvety soft, made from the finest leather, humming faintly with some secret only Malachi knew .

I had been told to protect them both. That they were important.

But he hadn’t told me why.

Were they weapons? Insurance? Secrets?

Or part of the ritual that Brendan was even now rehearsing, his lips moving silently, eyes reflecting the red light glowing off the walls. We filled the hallway with our nervous silence, waiting for him to give the order to proceed.

For the moment this bond would be severed between Malachi and me.

The bond I was just now realizing existed.

Beneath my hand, the stones shifted, as if the mountain was coming alive, and that clock began to tick faster, Brendan’s lips moving, moving, as he recited his spell, dark eyes now closed against the red, pulsing light, bathing the corridor in a sickly glow.

My throat closed up, bile turning my mouth sour.

Stop, Vicious, you’ll make yourself sick.

You don’t get to tell me what to do. I snapped into his mind. You lost that right when you decided to keep things from me.

I was furious at the world. At this hideous place. At Ravok and magic and fate. At everything that had conspired to bring us here and rip us apart, as if we did not matter. We were not just cogs in a bigger machine.

We were people.

With hopes and feelings and fragile souls that could only take so much. And I…I’d already taken so much, I wasn’t sure I could handle another loss like this. As a matter of fact, I knew I couldn’t.

I was done losing things in my life I cared about.

Finished .

Finally, Brendan’s eyes snapped open. “I’m ready.” His gaze dipped to me and filled with pity. “This won’t take long, only a few moments.”

“Space is tight,” Finn and the others stepped back, giving us space to pass. “You and Malachi go in first.”

I nodded and looked to Malachi, a monstrous silhouette at the edge of the torchlight, his eyes like burning coals in the dark. He moved first and I followed.

We passed under the archway and stepped into the heart of the mountain, the others filed in behind us, crowding carefully into the room, not touching anything, as Blake had instructed.

The round room was untouched by the explosion, those runes carved into the rock with ancient precision glowing, pulsing like veins of living fire. The smooth, silvery surface was perfectly still, like a mirror, undisturbed by a single ripple.

But hanging above that reflective surface?—

The portal.

Or what remained of it.

The doorway was dormant, but not dead. The shadows surrounding the still opening were unmoving, no trace of the red lightning, only that incessant, roar. Yet…that was where that feeling came from, like a million eyes were watching.

Surrounding us— choking us—was the corrupted energy of the leaking ley line. Magic poured out in glittering waves, pressing into our chests, filling my aching lungs with so much magic, my head swam from lack of oxygen. I staggered against Malachi, gagging on the poisoned air.

Finn swore behind us. “The ley line is too unstable. Get her out of there, before she?—”

Malachi raised one clawed hand and swept it through the air .

The choking magic vanished like mist before wind. Glamour rolled through the room, thick and cold, sheathing the ancient stone walls in layers of quiet, veiled strength. The runes dimmed, then winked out. The weight on my chest lifted.

I looked up at him, heart pounding. “How did you?—?”

At my feet, the pool rippled, as if something was moving beneath the surface.

Something big .

But then the portal groaned with a metallic grind, like an engine firing up after being idle for too long, those dark shadows swirling to life. A full body shiver shook me as the portal began to spin, setting my teeth on edge.

“Is this part of your ritual, Brendan? Because if it’s not, we all need to materialize out of here.

Right the fuck now.” Rohr sounded so calm, his voice so even, for a moment my fear eased, then returned tenfold when the portal fully roared its wrath, spinning faster and faster, the wind strong enough to tug my braid free.

The runes glowed bright as stars and beneath the smooth plane of the pool, something moved again.

Nikolai, who had been observer thus far, not an active participant, finally spoke. “I agree with the king. This is not right. Either perform the ritual, Brendan, or we leave and try something else.”

No.

The word shook the walls, made the water tremble, even the portal paused, as if surprised, and Malachi’s jaw flexed. He looked at me—really, really looked at me—for the first time in what felt like hours, and painted in his desperate gaze was fear.

Ever so carefully, he stroked my cheek with one talon, the cool hard claw dragging down my skin with the utmost care. There was a sense of finality to that touch, like this was goodbye.

No. We finish this. We must.

There is still a chance we can fix this without breaking us apart. I wanted to scream. But I didn’t and the moment stretched between us—so fragile, so sharp, so fucking final.

Brendan stepped forward, then?—

A crash, a shift in the air, blackness.

I reached out, clawing at the dark.

Blind.

The runes burst into light. The archway was gone.

In its place stood a seamless wall of stone, the runes glowing brighter through the fading haze of Malachi’s glamour. No doorway. No crack. No seam. And no one left in the room except for me and Malachi.

Trapped together as the portal roared back to life.

I smashed my fists against the place the door used to be. “Riordan? Blake? Finn?”

Nothing. I turned, breath quickening. “No, no, no—this isn’t right?—”

Malachi didn’t move. He was staring at the pool, the way it was rippling, the silvery edges lapping at the dusty floor, like waves on sand as something beneath the surface began to rise, like a leviathan from the depths.

Ravok breached the surface, with a grin that was terrible in its superiority, silvery water sliding off his shoulders, leaving him miraculously dry as he stepped onto the stone floor and faced Malachi.

Malachi lunged, hands stretching, reaching for Ravok’s throat, curved talons ready to slash, and he was almost there…

when he froze in place. Ravok chuckled. “I warned you that blood oath was for life. And still, you bent the knee an d swore your soul away. I own you. I control you. You are forever mine, that is the simple truth.”

Ravok pressed the tip of that silver blade to my throat, used that sharpened point to tip up my chin so I had to stare straight up into his hateful face. “Make no mistake, I will bleed her into this pool until the waters run red, even if I have to drain her dry.”

The pool rippled, as if it understood his words and was hungry for another taste of my blood.

Malachi growled and growled, his chest vibrating, body straining to gain a single step, every muscle quivering beneath Ravok’s control. But he could not move.

The portal began to roar, red lightning tracing the outline, sizzling around the doorway, as if it was coming alive.

Between my breasts, the key burned. I closed my hand around it, wincing at the heat. The key pulsed in my palm, The Book vibrated. Something was happening, but I didn’t know what. They were important, but I didn’t know how .

I looked to Malachi.

But he couldn’t help.

“I’m not giving you anything,” I said loudly. “Not one goddamned thing, especially not my blood, you fucking prick.”

Something inside the portal howled—low and long, like a night creature being dragged from sleep. The water churned in earnest, and Ravok’s smile grew wider as he pressed the point of the knife in deep and drew his first drop of blood.