Page 42 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

EVANGELINE

T he moment Blake's shadows touched mine, and I felt more complete than I ever had before, started me thinking.

What if…what if the four of us were meant to be together. Like pieces of a whole.

Riordan, my steadfast rock who steered me in the right direction.

Blake, my mate who made my magic sing.

And Malachi, my enemy who had spent his life making sure I was safe.

I blamed Nikolai, with all his talk about different bonds and how none of them were any more important than the other, for sending me down this path. There was an undeniable connection between each of us, a different kind of bond, and Nikolai was right, I felt just as strongly for each of them.

I loved them equally, for who they each were.

The revelation was mind-bending, and I probably should have reached this conclusion earlier, but better late than never, as Angel always said.

After giving me nearly the same lecture as Blake, Riordan set me down and went about the grim work of helping Nash identify the fallen guards, and dragging the thralls into a pile, while Blake assisted Brendan and Fiona in shoring up the wards around the ley line, and by assisted, I mean made unhelpful suggestions that had her giving me the death stare.

“ Blake ,” I called, finally taking pity on her.

“Shouldn’t we go down there and make sure our enemies are splattered all over those rocks?” Actually, I could see the rocks from here, and knew for a fact Ravok and Romulus were not splattered anywhere below, but I still wanted to check.

I doubted I’d sleep tonight if we skipped this very important part of after-battle reconnaissance, and it would do my heart good to know one or both of them were dead.

Still, just picturing Ravok tipping backwards over the cliff in a tangle of uncoordinated limbs and highly-pitched curses gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.

“Blake, I’m serious .” At least that earned me a wave of gratitude from Fiona, then Blake prowled my way, his scent hitting me like a physical blow, filled with musk and thunderstorms and a hint of shadows.

“I don’t see anything, Evie,” Blake's jaw tightened as he looked over the cliff's edge, so close I itched to drag him back to a semi-safe distance. “But sure, we can go down there and make sure.” He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, loud enough to blow out my eardrums. “Riordan. We’re checking for bodies below.”

Then the three of us were down among the pine trees, our footsteps echoing in the unnatural quiet. I would have loved to find Ravok's broken body. I’d even settle for him sitting on a rock, cradling his broken arm and looking sad.

Disappointingly, there was nothing.

As if he'd been swallowed up by the darkness itself. I craned my neck to get a better look at the rift, directly above us. “Didn’t we use the rifts to travel here, the first time we came?” I asked. “I mean, I know this one’s unstable, and dangerous, but…”

“Possible.” Riordan stared up, as I admired the strong column of his throat, my empty stomach growling. “He could have gone over the edge, dematerialized, then used the rift to transport himself thousands of miles away.”

“Where are Romulus and Dante?” Blake’s voice was tight. “Alistair?”

“Romulus would never leave Ravok’s side,” I mused, knowing that was true. “And there was a swirl of shadow, before my uncles disappeared.” I shrugged. “Looked like Ravok’s magic, maybe?”

I sucked in a breath of cold, fresh air. “What I don’t get is why Ravok’s keeping them around. I mean, my uncles are barely more than animated corpses, and Romulus…he’s not much better. None of it makes sense.”

With a rumble, the ground shifted beneath our feet, a low, guttural rumble from inside the mountain that felt alive—or angry—throwing us all off balance, sending rocks tumbling down into the deep ravine below.

“This entire area is getting more and more unstable.” Blake murmured, “That ley line is hemorrhaging power, bleeding magic that has nowhere to go. Fiona’s wards are only sealing all that power below ground, creating a powder keg.”

I took a deep breath, tasting a hint of copper and ozone and the lingering reek of decay. My power lay dormant, exhausted, not rousing, even when I poked at it. Just as well, I supposed, given there was no one left to fight.

After searching the pine trees and not coming up with Ravok’s corpse, we spent the next few minutes helping Brendan and Fiona by moving some rocks—and by that, I mean Blake and Riordan moved rocks while I told them where to put them—and keeping an eye on the leaking rift, stopping only when Eldric showed up.

“Commander Forge is on his way with a full contingent of guards. I told him he’d be too late, and it looks like I was right.” Eldric cocked his head, the humor fading from his expression. “You look like death warmed over. You should probably sit down.”

I was dead on my feet, every muscle in my body trembling with exhaustion. I’d barely mumbled an I’m fine , when Blake caught me around the waist, his arms binding me tight, but those lines forming between his brows. He was worried.

“She expended a lot of magic today,” Riordan laid his palm over my forehead, concern written all over his face. “You do look pale, Evie. When did you last feed?”

“I’m good.” I mumbled, not wanting another lecture. I studied the devastation surrounding us—the dead thralls, the crumbling Keep, the lines of dead guards and wondered when this would end.

Every time we fought Ravok, there was always a steep cost.

And he always came back.

“Where is he hiding?” I asked quietly. “He has to be somewhere.” I pulled out of Blake’s arms and drifted closer to the pile of dead thralls, crouched down to get a better look. “What do these look like to you?”

“People who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Blake said softly.

“Their clothing. Shorts, t-shirts. Open toed sandals, no socks. They’re American.

Tourists.” I pointed to one of the t-shirts, hanging loose on a desiccated torso, the macabre emblem familiar.

“The Headless Horseman. That’s why Dante and Alistair are still alive.

They’re back at Sleepy Hollow. Back at the family compound. ”

Blake's arms tightened around me, and through our bond I felt his resolve crystallizing into something unbreakable.

“My clever, clever mate. Once we have the site stabilized, we flush them out,” he said, with a grin that ignited something a vicious inside me.

“All of them. And then we fucking finish this for good.”