Page 25 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

RIORDAN

W e raced toward the portal, our breathing harsh and ragged from the desperate sprint through the underground passages. My flames cast shadows on the walls around us, while Blake’s shadows guarded our backs.

We’d cleared the final cave in, and Finn’s radio crackled with instructions—right—left—you’re almost there—as we tore down the tunnels, Nash shoulder to shoulder with me, Nikolai ahead of us moving with a predatory grace that made our inhuman speed seem clumsy.

I knew the truth in my bones—we were almost too late.

The air thrummed from the portal’s power, every instinct screamed something catastrophic was unfolding. The ancient stones beneath our feet vibrated, as if the very foundations of the mountain trembled beneath whatever dark ritual Ravok was performing in the chamber ahead.

“Faster,” I growled, pushing my legs to their limit.

The others matched my pace without complaint, though I saw the strain etched across their faces.

We'd dug through stone and dirt, run for what seemed like hours through this labyrinthine maze, following the pull of ancient magic that tasted of death.

When we reached that final intersection, when the blank wall came into view, a shadowy ball of magic came from behind me, powerful enough to hollow out my ears, the wall exploding into a shower of dust and rock.

Through the haze, that round room came into view and my blood turned to ice.

Ancient runes pulsed with an eerie light, and in the center of the silver pool, two figures faced each other.

Evangeline’s pale hair whipped around her face as something hideous stretched from the mouth of the portal.

Like fingers of death, shadows twisted and clawed the air, reaching for her.

In one hand, she gripped a small dagger, but I knew her stance well enough to know she was waiting for an opening to strike.

Across from her, Ravok loomed taller than a nightmare, mouth moving, one hand pressed to his stomach, black blood dripping and dripping into the silver pool, every drop hissing steam.

That wasn’t the only thing I smelled. I raised my head, nose flaring.

Evie’s blood . And Malachi’s blood.

Was Draven dead? Or was he injured, and biding his time, waiting to strike?

With a snarl, Blake surged forward, I caught him across the chest with my arm. Not yet. There are too many blind spots, Ravok has her in arm’s reach. He’ll kill her before we can get close. Where the fuck is Malachi?

Who the fuck cares? I smell her blood. I’m going in.

I lowered my hand, looking for some way to get closer without endangering Evie and where in the fuck was Malachi?

But the portal was what truly made my heart race in fear.

Suspended like a tear through reality itself, its edges crackled with dark energy that made the hair on my arms stand on end.

Through that gaping opening, I glimpsed a realm crafted of shadow and nightmares—the Underworld, with its twisted landscapes and eternal twilight.

We were only ten feet from the gaping hole when Evangeline glanced at Ravok, then at the portal, her entire body tensing, determination setting her jaw into a hard line.

“No,” I breathed, as understanding crashed through me. She was about to do something impossibly brave and impossibly stupid.

With fluid grace that spoke of years of training and desperation, Evie lunged, a small, dark dagger in her hand. Oh gods no, that weapon was too small to do any damage, too small to…

But she wasn’t attacking. Instead, I watched in horror as Evangeline ducked beneath Ravok's blade, sprinting toward the portal, boots splashing through the edge of the pool. Her intentions were clear, and every fiber of my being rebelled against what she was about to do.

I love you both so much . Evie’s voice echoed inside my head, full of desperation and longing and regret. Tell my sister she’ll be a great mother, I’m only sorry I won’t be there to help her.

This couldn’t be happening.

She couldn’t make this choice— she couldn’t leave us .

“ Evangeline, no ,” I shouted, my voice echoing as I raced into the room, Blake beside me. I reached for her, like I could snatch a star out of the sky, tear her away from those ungodly, shadowy fingers.

But I was too late.

Without looking back, she dove through those reaching shadows like she was plunging into dark waters. The portal rippled as she disappeared into its depths, and I felt something inside my chest tear when she vanished from sight .

Behind her, Ravok clutched at the wound in his side, his face contorted with rage and pain.

“She used a cold iron dagger,” Nikolai said matter-of-factly, as he slipped around me into the room, prowling across the dusty floor with that same unhurried gait. “I thought I recognized that blade.”

I didn’t know where Evangeline had found a cold iron blade—they were nearly mythical in reputation—but the iron had done its work—smoke poured from the wound, along with black blood, thick as sludge.

Ravok glared at all of us, then his gaze narrowed on Nikolai, and I swore he turned a shade paler. “Impossible. You’re dead.”

“So were you, if I wasn’t mistaken.” Nikolai paused beside the pool, studying Ravok, the now-closed portal, the silver pool with detached curiosity. Black blood dripped into the bright surface, darkness spreading across the surface like blotches on a mirror.

“You will pay,” he snarled, his voice like grinding stone, clutching the wound as blood—if that was even blood—seeped through his fingers.. “All of you will burn for her insolence.”

Power gathered around him like a storm, and the shadows that had been merely ghosts before now became weapons.

They writhed and twisted, growing larger and darker, tinged with a red light that spoke of blood and violence.

I sensed the malevolent energy building to a crescendo that would likely bring the entire chamber down on our heads.

“Move!” Blake shoved me out of the way, his hands already wreathed in dark magic as he prepared to defend us. But even injured, Ravok was faster than any of us had anticipated .

The red-tinged shadows erupted, crashing into the ceiling high above our heads.

Where they touched the ancient stone, cracks spread like spider webs, and chunks of masonry started to rain down around us.

The very foundations of the chamber groaned under the assault, and I realized with growing horror that Ravok intended to bring the entire structure down on top of us.

We can’t fucking dematerialize.

He’s going to bury us down here.

“Watch out, my king,” Nash yelled, his shoulder connecting forcefully with my back, sending me sprawling to the side.

Before I could react, before I could do anything, Nash’s next words were cut off by a chunk of falling debris, shattering his skull, blood spraying as he was crushed beneath a rock nearly as big as him.

I closed my eyes against the sickening scene—the spreading pool of blood, Nash’s sightless eyes staring, the way his weapons fell from his limp hands—helpless to save him, like he’d saved me. His king.

He’d sacrificed himself for me, and I didn’t deserve the price of his life.

But there was no time to mourn, no time to grieve.

I lunged to my feet, bracing myself. My fire was worthless, Blake’s shadows formed slowly, too slow to shield us from the collapsing ceiling. Then Ravok sent another blast roaring into the stone and the entire room exploded.

We were going to die down here.

Thank you , I sent a prayer up to the sky. Thank you for getting Evie out of here. Keep her safe, protect her from harm. Let me find her in my next life, and…

Nikolai raised a hand and the collapse just…stopped.

Rock froze midair, dust motes were trapped in place as Nikolai’s magic…somehow, impossibly…stopped time .

I met his gaze across the frozen chaos, his grim expression seeming to say— you were never supposed to see this, but this is what true power looks like.

I had seen plenty of magic before, but never anything like this. Nikolai's power wasn’t a visible, tangible magic, like shadow or fire. This was something more, something that happened outside of this dimension. Something that transcended our kind altogether.

Ravok growled something I couldn’t understand, Nikolai growled right back, then Ravok bent over, one hand pressed to his wound, and when he straightened, he threw that wicked looking athame.

End over end, the weapon spun toward me, a blade sharp enough to cleave me in two.

Nikolai didn’t move. Ever so slowly, he twisted his hand in the air and the next second, my ears hollowed out, my chest caved in, as if some enormous weight settled on top of me. In the space of a second, time froze in place, rock and dust suspended midair, then everything began to move backwards.

Everything except Ravok. And me.

The blade was inches away when it paused, then began spinning the opposite direction, toward Ravok.

Broken chunks of stone flew upwards, rearranged themselves back into a smooth ceiling carved with intricate runes, which began glowing red once more.

Blake’s shadows snaked across the floor like spilled ink, reabsorbing into his palms,…

and Nash was once more on his feet—alive and unharmed, those guns back in his capable hands.

“ Holy shit ,” my breath whooshed out, knees wobbly from relief and I resolved to thank Nash for saving me, even if he wouldn’t remember his own heroics.

But Ravok was closing in, lifting that blade, a look of pure death on his face and I flung out my magic—those pure white flames now tinted with red, courtesy of his corruption—and the blast struck him full in the chest, leaving a reek of burnt flesh lingering behind.

The impact sent him reeling, shattering his concentration so badly he lost his grip on the athame, which splashed into the pool, swallowed up by the water.

But Nikolai wasn’t finished.

Another twist of his wrist and time began flowing normally again, and I hit Ravok with another wave of fire, his own shadows rising to meet my attack, but now he was wounded and off-balance.

And outnumbered, as we forced him toward the far side of the chamber, trapping him in the pool of silver water that reflected the dead portal overhead.

Blood seeped between Ravok’s fingers, an unstoppable flow of black that dripped into the pool at his feet, spreading like the corruption of my magic, ruined, like everything else this bastard touched.

I sensed power radiating from those unseen depths—ancient power, the kind that had existed long before any of us.

A vortex formed around him, the now-black waters hissing and steaming as the magical liquid clung to him, and then, as suddenly as if someone had thrown a switch, he simply vanished.

The pool's surface solidified back into an unbroken plane, the now-mottled surface reflecting nothing but the dying magic still flickering through the air. There was no sign of Ravok—not even a ripple in the frozen water to mark where he had disappeared.

For a moment, silence filled the chamber. Then reality crashed back over me like a cold wave, and I spun toward the portal.

“Evie… ”

But there was nothing there. The gateway had closed. There was no sign of those living shadows, only a dark, empty space and the chemical taste of otherworldly magic on the air. The connection to the Underworld had been severed, and with it, any hope I had of following Evangeline.

“No, no, no,” I muttered, splashing through the pool until I stopped beneath the portal.

“Evangeline. Can you hear me? Evangeline .” I screamed her name, reaching out with both hands, grasping at empty air as if I could somehow claw the gateway back into existence through sheer desperation. “There has to be a way through.”

I whirled to Nikolai. “Turn back time. To before she dove through. Turn it back .” I screamed.

“I cannot.” He gestured to the cracks in the walls, the floor. “This place is already too unstable. If I use my magic again, I will shatter this mountain around us. There won’t be anything left.”

“I don’t give a fuck.” I bore down on him. “ Fucking turn it back .”

“If I fail, and I destroy this room, there is no way home for her,” he explained calmly. “No way back for Malachi. We leave this room as it is, they have a doorway back to our world, we just have to open it again.”

Malachi.

Fuck, Malachi was gone, too.

“That’s why she went through. She went after him.” I muttered to myself, staring at the now-closed doorway. The truth tasted bitter on my tongue, like something rotting away.

“Riordan,” Blake's voice was cautious, but I barely heard him over the roaring in my ears. “Nikolai’s right. We lose access to this room, we could lose her forever. There has to be some other way to reach her. Right?” He stared at Nikolai with the kind of hope a fated mate had for the impossible.

Nash joined us and I had to check to make sure his skull was still intact, to stop envisioning him flattened on the floor, crushed beneath that granite boulder.

Replaying how he’d saved me without the slightest hesitation made my throat close up.

Someday, when this was over, I’d have to make it up to him.

“She's gone,” I whispered, the words as sharp as broken glass. “She's really gone.”

“We'll get her back,” Blake said forcefully, staring at Nikolai. “There are other ways into the Underworld. Right?”

“There are, but this portal…” Nikolai gazed up at the portal. “We know this one works, so we can’t risk losing it.”

We rechecked the outer passages, the other chamber, which held a wooden chair, a table and a few burned down candles.

The entire time, bitterness pressed down on me like a physical thing.

Evangeline had risked her life to wound Ravok—with a legendary iron blade, no less—then threw herself into an unknown realm to save Malachi—who didn’t fucking deserve her sacrifice—and I hadn't even said goodbye.

The entire mountain echoed with emptiness, the ancient stones bereft of the pulsing magic that kept it alive.

The ley line still leaked a steady stream, but instead of flowing into the portal, the glittering power filtered up through the myriad of cracks on the ceiling.

Ravok was gone, disappeared to whatever rock he hid beneath, and Romulus was dead, buried in some forgotten tunnel beneath a million tons of rock.

I stared at the portal and made a silent promise.

I would find a way to reach her. I would pry this doorway open with my bare hands and follow her into the Underworld itself, because a world without Evangeline in it wasn't a world worth living in.

Somewhere beyond the boundaries of our world, Evangeline was facing the dangers of the Underworld and I was powerless to help her.

But not for long.