Page 51 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

MALACHI

T he mortal realm's sun was a blazing icepick driven straight through my skull.

I stumbled from the portal's cool dark, shadows onto soft grass that bruised beneath my feet, every ray of light searing my skin like liquid fire.

Fucking hell . I lifted my hand to shield my eyes. My true form—ten feet of muscle and shadow, horns curling from my skull, tail lashing behind me—was never meant for this world.

But Evie was here. Dying .

I sensed her every failing heartbeat, every rattling breath, every tremor of pain as clearly as a nail through my soul, the phantom pull of our bond dragging me forward like a fishhook through my chest.

The scents sent me into overload—an assault of sweet flowers and brined sea air, rich earth and growing things—everything so overwhelmingly alive compared to the utter nothingness of my realm and my deprived senses screamed in protest.

I lurched forward on unsteady feet, more and more shadows bleeding from me, blocking out the searing sun, pooling on the ground like a macabre stain. Laith Castle rose before me, rough gray stones gleaming in the cursed sunlight .

The dying ember of our bond pulled me forward with increasing urgency.

Hold on, Evangeline. I'm coming.

My vision blurred, but I didn't slow down. Couldn't slow down. Every second that passed was another heartbeat closer to losing her forever.

The castle guards saw me coming—a nightmare made manifest, shadows writhing around me like living smoke—and I sped up, not sure my feet even touched the ground, daring them to pull out their puny weapons and even punier magic.

I heard the shouts of alarm, the warnings to stop, but they were muffled and insignificant beneath the roaring in my ears.

The massive oak doors of the castle's main entrance were buttressed shut, blocked by a handful of trembling guards and I swept them away, my shoulder hitting wood and metal with the force of a battering ram.

The doors exploded inward in a shower of splinters and twisted metal.

Guards poured into the great hall, sweating with fear, weapons drawn, eyes wild.

I must look like something that crawled out of their worst nightmares—and they weren't wrong. Darkness dripped from my body, my eyes burned in the shadows of my face, and my horns…well, there might have been flames, there, too.

“We’re under attack. Demons ,” someone screamed.

Bullets pebbled my thick skin like mosquitoes, the first wave rushed me with swords raised.

I backhanded the nearest guard and sent him flying across the hall to crash into a stone pillar.

Another thrust a spear toward my chest—I caught the weapon in my fist and snapped it like kindling before lifting the man off his feet and tossing him aside.

“Stop him!”

“Use your magic.”

“No, bullets, the ones with silver, those will work.”

“Gods, what the fuck is that?”

Their voices were little more than meaningless noise. Nothing mattered except the demanding yank in my chest, the thread I followed deeper into the castle. Toward her.

A crossbow bolt punched into the center of my back, silver burning like acid. I snarled and kept moving. Some of the guards found their mark—a well-placed knife, a bullet that hit a vulnerable place, a searing blast of fiery magic across my cheek.

Pain was nothing. Pain was temporary. Losing Evie was forever.

An especially zealous guard stepped into my path, hands glowing. “You will not invade our castle, you?—”

I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground, my claws careful not to puncture skin. “Move,” I growled, my voice like grinding stone. He tried to speak and I squeezed gently—just enough to cut off his air—his magic snuffing out like a candle flame. I dropped him and continued forward.

The blond Elder spoke, I ignored him.

Blake and Riordan appeared in my periphery and I kept going.

They would pay for letting harm come to Evangeline, but I had to save her first, fix whatever they’d done to her.

The bond pulled me up the grand staircase, past blue and silver tapestries and portraits of long-dead nobles who watched my ascent with dull, flat eyes.

The pull grew stronger as I reached the upper floors, my steps quickening. She was close now. So close I could almost taste her fear and pain on the air.

I'm coming, my beautiful, vicious girl.

I’m almost there.

Hold on a little longer.

Behind me, the castle was littered with the chaos of my passing—broken doors, scattered guards, the acrid smell of the Underworld hanging in the air like death itself. But ahead of me, beyond the next corner, lay the other half of my soul.

And I no longer heard her heartbeat.