Page 21 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

MALACHI

T he portal pulsed like a living thing.

There was no light through that opening—only a darkness that came alive, ready to gobble me up. This was the kind of dark that lurked inside your worst memories, waited in the corners of your nightmares, whispering lies into your ear, dressed up as promises.

Everything in me rebelled against getting any closer.

Not that I could move, trapped within the blood oath, held captive by Ravok’s will as he pressed the point of that knife in so deep Evie’s red blood welled up around the tip.

I will kill him for touching her, shred him, tear his eyes out and feed them to…

“Now.” His tone was pleasant, his eyes like chips of ice. “We will try this again, and this time, you will both listen and obey. You will bend to my will, and when this is over, well, perhaps you will survive. One never knows.”

His words echoed over the quiet chamber, the still pool, once again a smooth sheet, but darkened in spots, like the sheet of pure silver, smooth enough to rival any mirror.

I thrashed, trapped in a dream I couldn’t wake from.

The runes above us flared and dimmed in a rhythm I recognized all too well—a heartbeat. Every second felt like a countdown.

And when that last beat came? —

I would be gone.

Not dead. Not really.

Orcus.

A god born from ruin and death, carved from ancient magic and even more ancient cruelty. And Malachi Draven, the boy who once loved the stars and the mortal man who believed in loyalty to his friends, would vanish into myth.

I had fought this ending every step of the way and I had failed.

Even worse, I had failed her.

Evangeline was perfectly still, that knife point poised at her throat, her power coiled tightly in her body, waiting. Ready to fight for me. For us, her eyes finding mine over and over again. But Ravok would not risk another failure. He would not allow himself to be tricked a second time.

No, he would rather slit her throat than lose, and that was what terrified me most.

Vicious didn’t flinch. Her face held no fear, only fire. Her hand was buried deep inside the pocket that held The Book, the last secrets of my dying life. She had trusted me with everything, followed me down here on the promise of a lie, and now…

For a second time, I could not save her.

I wish everything would have been different. Her eyes flared slightly, Ravok going off again about how he was going to use us to forge his unholy kingdom, as if I gave a fuck about his plans.

I wish I had thrown ambition aside and come and found you, long before I did. That I had courted you, the way you deserved to be courted. That I told you every truth in my heart, then made love to you beneath the stars, without any ugliness or secrets between us.

You don’t get to say those words to me .

You don’t get to make pretty promises you can’t keep.

Nonetheless, I would have worshipped you like a queen, pleading on my knees for your first kiss, and all the ones that came after. That is my wish, which I know is foolish, and comes far too late. I paused, pondering the wisdom of my next words.

But I was too in love to think with anything but my heart, and I thought we would have forever.

Her eyes filled with tears and I knew…I should have told her sooner. But the words had always felt too heavy, too final. Saying them out loud would make them real. And I had been so, so afraid of losing what little we still had.

But here I was, losing her anyway.

Somewhere outside of us, Ravok droned on, but I was too lost inside her fierce, lethal glare, the viciousness dancing in her tear-stained eyes to notice.

So this is my vow. I will get you out of this room alive.

I will hold Ravok back, long enough for you to get into the outer passageways.

Once you do, promise me this. I need you to run, Evie.

Run as fast and as hard as you can. And once you find Blake, or Riordan or Finn, you let them take you away from here.

As if I’d run away from this. As if I’d leave you.

I would have growled, if I had control over my body, which I didn’t.

And that was when I realized the only sound in the chamber was the dull roar from the portal. Ravok had gone silent, his gaze flicking between us. “Did you hear what I said? How things are going to be? I own you both. You are mine .”

“You don’t own anything, you fucker.” Her voice was raspy, her gaze finding mine, locking as Ravok’s hand dropped an inch, the point of the knife dragging along her throat, leaving behind a deep scratch that had rage swallowing me up.

“I’ve told you this before, but apparently your brain is rotted and you need reminding.

” She went on, never breaking our stare.

“You will lose. You are just an old, twisted up vampire who has lived too long. You are not powerful or even especially clever, just selfish and deluded by your own inflated ego. And soon, when this is over, I promise you this. Nobody will even remember your name.”

Vicious…

I saw—in stark detail—how the fine muscles of Ravok’s forearm tensed, how his fingers tightened around the hilt of the silver athame.

All those centuries spent as a soldier, when my very survival had relied on the shift of an eye, the slightest change in stance, I knew exactly what this fuck was about to do.

He was going to kill my beautiful, vicious girl.

He was going to take her away from me. Steal everything that made her the most unique creature this world had ever seen, and he was going to kill her because he was petty and jealous and greedy.

And I would not allow him to take her from me.

Vicious was mine and I was hers, and we would always be together. Over time and space and even death, nothing—especially not this old, sick fuck—would sever us apart.

My will sent cracks rippling through the blood oath.

His magic dragged me down, but I managed one step, then another, hands reaching, reaching, as Ravok began to drive the knife upwards, one hand clamped down over Evie’s shoulder, her eyes still locked with mine, the point of that knife moving toward her…

I crashed into Ravok with the force of a bull, knocking Evie away, landing on top of him in the pool. All around us, the chamber groaned, runes flaring red, as if they smelled blood.

We rolled, my claws carving through skin and muscle as my momentum threw me forward, him sinking that knife into my side over and over while above us, the portal screamed, long shadows leaking from the opening, like reaching fingers.

Ravok pawed at me futilely, trying to peel me away, his magic—the power of the blood oath—dragging me down, binding my arms to my sides. I snarled, mouth opening, teeth ready to shred and rend, power rising hot and fast, something dark and primal and I made no attempt to stop it.

The portal’s shadows snapped forward—a wave of invisible force struck me like a freight train, ripping me off Ravok. I went flying, limbs flailing, hurtling toward that charged darkness, the portal yawning open like an enormous mouth.

“Malachi!” Evangeline screamed.

I clawed at the air—shadows wrapped around my torso, my shoulders and yanked .

The last thing I saw was her face.

And then?—

Nothing.

Just darkness.

And the name Orcus.

Rising like thunder.