Page 5 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

BLAKE MARTEN

T he ancient stones of Chateau des Ombres éternelles groaned under the weight of the terrible power coursing through the mountain and spewing up into the clouds. All around us, mist clung to jagged peaks like ghostly fingers as a late morning storm rolled in, the temperature plummeting.

Or that could be the clash happening before us, three immortals battling like ancient gods in this ruined stronghold of a forgotten king.

Far off thunder rolled across the mountain range, echoing the groaning stone beneath our feet, as if somewhere inside these crumbling walls, reality itself was beginning to fray.

While she’s working on the ley line, we take out Romulus. I thought to my king. Ravok’s distracted, and we might never get another chance.

Agreed. I’m low on magic, so we’ll need to make this decisive.

Riordan balanced on the edge of what had once been the main tower, his dark hair whipped by the non-stop wind, keen eyes burning as he surveyed the catastrophe unfolding before us.

The space around the ruins shimmered and warped, revealing glimpses of darkness, then flashes of lightning, as if other realities were bleeding through the growing tear of the rift .

Remembering that fucking portal to hell beneath our feet, I wouldn’t be surprised if this entire mountain opened up into the bowels of the earth and devoured us whole.

“What’s taking so long?” Eldric’s question to his sister carried on the wind.

I couldn’t hear Fiona’s answer, but from the expression on Eldric’s face…

there was a problem. Still, magic from her hands surrounded the power flowing freely up into the sky, magic crackling wildly as she tried to contain the leak long enough to seal it off.

“Where do you want me?” Nash asked, his weathered face grim, scars gleaming through his cropped gray hair.

“We’ll provide backup,” he nodded to the fifteen remaining guards, all of them grim faced and exhausted.

The commander’s guns were loaded with silver nitrate bullets, gleaming in the unnatural light pouring from the ley line, and those deadly missiles would tear through vampire flesh, then rupture, like little bombs.

But he didn’t have many left.

“Stay with Fiona. Guard her back. We’re going after that one,” I jerked my head at Romulus, circling the fighting trio of Elders, looking for an opening to help his Master. “With luck, we take him out today.”

“Then I’ll keep eyes on both you and Lady Fiona.” Nash checked his weapon. “Stay sharp. He won’t fight fair. I know the type.”

“You’re right about that.” I agreed, shadows slipping from my fingers, a chill creeping up my arms. “But neither do we.”

Dravin rolled across the floor of the ruined Keep, blood streaming from his side, a triumphant Ravok gloating until Wolf struck him from the side and took them both crashing down into a pile of debris.

Ravok, the fucking architect of this potential apocalypse .

The Elder should be in his iron box, but no, through a series of mistakes that had to be cosmic in proportion, he was free, wreaking havoc.

After last night, he should be weakened, barely able to stand.

Instead, dark energy crackled around him like living shadow, while overhead, that rift grew larger.

“My revenge will be absolute,” Ravok's voice boomed across the ruins like he was the villain in a terribly written human movie, each word causing the stones beneath us to tremble. “If this world cannot be mine, then everything will burn.”

Now that last part, I could believe.

The rift split open with a deafening roar and for a moment, everyone present caught a glimpse of what lay beyond—an endless, hungry void, waiting to devour everything, including us.

Not the shadowy hell of the portal, but something worse.

A nothingness yearning to be filled, a vacuum that would drain this entire world dry.

“Don’t let him do this,” Fiona screamed, magic spilling from her hands as Nash guarded her back. “Stop him before he tears it completely open.”

“He's got to be drawing power from somewhere else,” Riordan observed, his narrowed gaze focused on Ravok, dodging another attack from Dravin. “He has to be. There is no way he’s still this strong without feeding from his thralls.”

“Is he drawing from the ley line?” I focused on his magic, those crackling shadows taking on a life of their own. “Or something else?” I said, almost to myself as I picked up that constant hum vibrating up through the rubber soles of my boots .

Fiona was having no luck containing the rupture, every time her wards appeared to hold, a trickle of iridescent magic seeped out, then her containment field would collapse. I heard her cursing from here, along with Eldric’s unhelpful pointers on what she was doing wrong.

In fact, there was so much magic clogging the air—and I’d been so engrossed in Dravin’s feral fighting style—I hadn’t noticed that Romulus was gone.

Not until Riordan threw up his arm, sending a plume of fire spinning out in front of us, and just in time. Romulus’s magic struck us full force, sent us both stumbling back a step.

“Fucker.” Nash yelled. “Told you I knew the type. Keep your heads up.”

“You should have run when you had the chance.” Romulus emerged from the shadows like a nightmare given form. “Now we’ll kill you and take the girl anyway. My only regret is, you won’t live to see the Master turn her into an obedient little toy who does his bidding.”

My entire world turned red—red for killing, red for Romulus’s blood coating my hands.

This fucking bastard . How dare he utter my mate’s name? How dare he fucking taint her goodness with his poisonous tongue? He was dead. So fucking dead, he was nothing but a walking corpse. All I had to do was suck the rest of the life out of him.

I threw my head back and laughed. “Apparently, you’ve never met Evangeline, if you think Ravok could turn her into anything, much less an obedient toy.” We circled one another, and the shadows spilling from his hands were perfect copies of mine.

Fine. Romulus might have stolen my magic, but he’d never wield this deathly power like I did. Those shadows would never answer to him, not the way they answered to me. I was vibrating with unholy rage and the need to kill, and if he uttered one more fucking word, I’d rip his tongue out.

This fucker totally has to die today.

Painfully , Rohr added.

“As for you, dickhead, I’m not sure if you realize this, but you lost . Evie escaped, so did Malachi. Your little magical death room is buried beneath a literal mountain of stone—which was all your doing, by the way—and now the world’s about to end. I’m not sure how you can look at today as a win.”

“Escaped? We let them go.” Romulus snorted. “The Master can call his pet back, any time he wants.”

Is that true ? Rohr asked, his tone doubtful, but worried at the same time. If he can control Malachi…

Fuck if I know, but I’m not about to take anything this asshole says at face value.

Up close, I saw the effects of centuries of hatred and dark magic, the dark veining beneath his skin, his blackened nails, all signs of The Darkening.

Romulus circled to the left, moving with the deadly elegance of eons of experience, fangs bared in a snarl of pure malice.

“As for you lot, you’ve become vulnerable.

Almost human ,” he spat. “That weakness will be your doom.”

Beyond Romulus, Ravok and Wolf were tangled together now, the sound of ripping flesh and grunting punctuated by Dravin’s pained roar as he tried to lift himself off the stone floor, one arm bent at the wrong angle.

“I’d rather be human than whatever the fuck you’ve become, Romulus,” Riordan growled, his voice thick with hate. “You're so polluted, so blinded by obedience, you can’t see you’re fighting a losing battle. And you will lose. ”

Romulus launched himself at Riordan with inhuman speed, claws extended like razors.

Before I could dive between them, they collided with bone-jarring force, crashing through what remained of an ancient pillar.

White flames exploded around them as they rolled, both vampires snarling as those flames flickered and burned.

I moved to help my king, but my path was blocked by three thralls, materialized from the shadows. “Where in the fuck did you come from?”

One still wore the stained, tattered uniform of Tyrell’s guards, the other two were in civilian clothing, their decay not nearly as advanced.

I sent my shadows billowing toward them and the moment the deathly mist touched them, their eyes went white and they collapsed.

A few seconds later, they were nothing but piles of dark cinders, carried away by the howling wind.

Riordan was holding his own against Romulus, but every time my friend’s magic shifted, so did our enemy’s—from white fire to red, from mere flames to devouring creatures—the tip of every flame taking a bite of flesh at every opportunity, until both were dripping blood.

Romulus’s mimicry of our powers was immediate and near-perfect.

Something we couldn’t fight against, not without a plan.

I sent my shadows racing his way and he was barely able to throw up a shield of fire in time. shadows battled fire, then shadow against shadow, and there was even a moment I thought we had him, but then he combined both our magicks together and sent them roaring toward my king.

I roared, shifting my attack to defense. That potentially-deadly blast collided with my shadows, the resulting explosion throwing Riordan to the ground, pissed, thankfully unhurt .

Fine then, if magic failed, steel would do just fine.

I went in low and fast, my blades singing. Dodging blasts of fire and my own stolen shadows, my boots slipping through broken rock and debris, I gauged the distance between us, waited for Romulus to turn his body to just the right angle…

And when he did, with a flick of my wrists, I sent my knives spinning, then dematerialized.

Romulus howled as the blade bit deep into his thigh, followed by a pained roar of fury.

Sweat dripped down my spine, my heart hammered in my chest as I reformed beside Riordan, shoved him behind some rubble when Romulus released another blast of magic, chunks of an arch crashing down around us.

“We have to give Fiona more time.” I pointed, and Riordan blinked, following my finger. “Look.”