Page 73 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

EVANGELINE

B e safe. Be smart.

Even after waiting days for this moment, Malachi’s mental warning hit me like a physical blow, dragging me straight from the peaceful depths of sleep into full blown panic.

I’d thought I was prepared, but I wasn’t, fear sliding through my veins in a slippery, oily slide, my stomach churning with dread. Why was I the only one up? Where was everyone? Had I been left behind, despite Blake and Riordan’s promises?

Fuming, I yanked a shirt over my head. I was trained, damn it, I’d been part of this from the beginning and I was damn well going to finish this, not hide away like some coward.

His urgent warning echoed in my mind as I dragged on pants and socks and boots with shaking hands, buckled up my thigh holster, laced my boots tight, then opened the drawer where I kept my most valuable weapons.

The Wishrender, the key, and the cold iron knife.

Ravok and Romulus…Thralls inside the wards…Dravin and Nash are engaging…I’m heading to…

My heart hammered against my ribs. Chateau des Ombres éternelles was so far away, and this was my worst fear. That when Ravok did attack, we’d be too far away to help.

Now there was no time for careful preparation, no time for anything but action.

I ran my hand down the worn leather of mom’s old coat, then shrugged it over my tshirt, feeling the house burst to life all around me.

Shouting, hushed whispers, heavy footsteps pounding down the hallway outside.

I stowed the cold iron knife securely in one pocket, The Wishrender in the other, strung the key around my neck, and took one last look around.

My door flew open, Blake’s head popped in.

“Almost ready?” His face was flushed with anticipation, shadow curling around him like living smoke, eyes skimming over me for a quick second before his mouth curled in approval. “Good. Meet me in the entryway. We’re leaving in three.” Then he was gone.

I burst through Angel's door without knocking, finding her already sitting up in bed, one hand pressed protectively to her stomach. And surprise…a naked-to-the-waist Eldric right beside her, his face tense, fire blooming at his fingertips.

Yeah, remind me to knock next time.

“What’s going on, Evie?” Angel asked, “Are we under attack?”

I shook my head. “Not here. Ravok is at the ruins with a horde of thralls. We’re leaving in a few minutes, but I need you and Bex to lock Crimson House down, stay alert. If anything—anything at all—seems wrong, you leave immediately.”

Angel's blue eyes narrowed, “What if I…”

Eldric was already shaking his head, but I answered for him .

“Oh no, don’t even say it,” I told her, “You're still recovering from being drugged and I’m not endangering you or the baby.” I crossed the room and grabbed her hands, squeezing tightly. “Promise me you'll be careful. Promise me you'll run, if anyone shows up here.”

“I promise,” she whispered, narrowing her blue eyes with a hard, determined look. “But you’d better promise me the same. If you end up in some other realm again, I am so going to kick your ass.”

“I’m coming with you,” Eldric said, his eyes firmly on my sister, “Give me a minute, and I’ll meet you. Downstairs?”

“Entryway. Make it fast.” I told him, wishing he’d stay here, too. I should remind him of how these things usually ended up for him, but I wasn’t that petty.

I found Bex in the hallway, already dressed, her usually cheerful demeanor replaced by the same grim determination as my sister. “Is that a kitchen knife in your hand?” I asked drily.

“The sharpest one I could find,” she said simply. “Uncle Nash told me what’s going on. Angel and I will hold down the fort. You guys go save the world.”

“Thank you,” I breathed, “stay out of trouble, will you? And keep my sister safe.”

I met Riordan and Blake downstairs, both of them grumbling beneath their breath for the entire ninety extra seconds we waited for Eldric. “Library boy is going to get himself killed,” my mate complained, loud enough for Eldric to hear as he rushed toward us.

“Stop calling him that,” I muttered, throwing Eldric a look of apology as he raced down the staircase. “I don’t hear you calling Angel ‘library girl’, so just quit.”

“You are entirely no fun at all.” Blake snarked, his face brightening as Eldric joined us. “You got some books to throw at our enemies? Or are you planning to talk them to death today?” He asked, without a shred of decency.

“We’re about to go to war, Blake,” I admonished sternly, before Eldric could say a thing.

“I know,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

“Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Oh, trust me, he did,” Riordan said, triple checking his weapons, sounding like a long-suffering younger brother. “He’s always like this before a battle. Chatty. Insufferable. A total pain in the ass.”

“Hey, you’re the one who said you couldn’t wait—and I quote—to see monster Malachi hand Ravok his ass on a silver fucking platter.” Blake waggled his eyebrows again. “End quote.”

“Fuck you, Blake.” Riordan thumped his hand down on my mate’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s go kill something, that will take the edge off.”

The rift was a roaring hole in the sky, the ley line was wide open, spilling a steady trail of iridescent magic into the sky, most of which was immediately sucked into the rift, which made it gape wider.

Bodies of thralls littered the ancient stones, their unnatural forms twisted and broken. Knightsguard moved among the wreckage, tending to their wounded, Nash calling out orders, his expression grim.

“Where's Ravok?” Blake demanded, his fangs extended as he scanned the area. He took one look at that rift, the dark magic spilling out of it, and shielded me with a wave of his hand.

“Gone down below, along with that half-rotted sidekick of his,” Nash swiped a streak of black ichor and red blood—hopefully not his—off his face. “They overpowered us, then disappeared into the tunnels about five minutes ago. Malachi went after them.”

He shot me a look of apology. “I tried to get him to stay, I did, but he looked like he had a score to settle.”

“How long ago was that? Did any of the thralls follow? What do you mean half-rotted?” Eldric demanded, peppering Nash with questions, his eyes flicking to the opening to the tunnels, the piles of bodies stacked around it.

My blood turned to ice. A lot could change in five minutes. People could die. We were five minutes too late, and now Malachi was down in those tunnels facing Ravok and Romulus. Alone.

“They’ve gone to the silver pool,” I said suddenly, the realization hitting me like lightning. “That's what he's after. The portal to the Underworld.”

Riordan's expression darkened. “According to all recent reports, the pool is corrupted. Unusable. How will Ravok ever…”

“I don’t know,” I interrupted, “but that’s where he’s heading.”

I went over everything from our last interaction and…

“Romulus. I saw red magic, when he tried to spool up his power in the bunker. Bright red, like Aria’s used to be. If he could somehow mimic witch magic…then he can open the portal to the Underworld. Fuck .”

“He needs more than stolen magic, Evie.” Riordan reminded me as we threaded our way through bodies and injured guards. “He needed your blood last time,” he slanted me a pointed, sideways look. “Which is a compelling reason for you not to go down there.”

“Very compelling,” Blake added.

“ Extremely compelling,” Eldric chimed in, like he couldn’t help himself, and who asked him anyway?

“Now I do kind of wish we’d left you at home,” I grumbled. “Maybe Ravok figured out he doesn’t need Silverwood blood after all.” I said, thinking out loud as we approached the stairs leading down to the tunnels. “Or maybe he found another…source…that he… fucking hell .”

I stopped in my tracks, my brain latching onto something that had never made sense.

“This is why he’s kept my uncles alive. For their blood.” I raised a hand as Blake went to argue. “I know it’s corrupted now, but even tainted, it would still be Silverwood blood, right? It would still stem from the source, and maybe that’s all he needs?”

I closed my eyes and reached out with my consciousness, searching for Malachi's familiar presence. There—deep beneath the mountain, his signature was a beacon in the darkness, fierce and determined but tinged with something that made my heart clench with fear.

“I can feel him,” I said. “He's in the heart of the mountain, at the pool.”

“Then that's where we go,” Blake said grimly. “I’ve been down there often enough, we can dematerialize.”

“I’m with you,” Eldric agreed. “Just tell me where to land.”

“But what would we be dematerializing into?” Riordan cautioned. “Outside the portal room, the center of that intersection. That’s our target. Close enough to gauge the situation, far enough away we’re not in the middle of another battle, because we don’t want to end up between those two. ”

“Good plan.” I stepped into Blake’s arms, not trusting my materializing skill enough not to end up imbedded inside a rock wall. “There’s something I noticed, down in the bunkers. Ravok is still injured from…”

“Evangeline, this will be incredibly dangerous,” Riordan said, using his placating, reasonable tone, the one he pulled out when he was trying to get his way, but today, that voice was not going to work. “If something goes wrong?—”

“Everything is already going wrong,” I cut him off. “Ravok is down there, and Malachi is facing him alone. We can’t let that happen.”

“Do not make me regret this, Evie, and do not do anything rash,” was all Blake hissed into my ear before we all began to dissolve, Eldric’s red hair whipping around his face as he faded away.

We’re coming, I sent to Malachi . Hang on, my love, we’re coming.