Page 78 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

EVANGELINE

I stumbled back onto my feet, the air in the underground chamber choking me, like pure poison.

Every breath I took burned as the corrupted pool leaked foulness into the already stifling atmosphere, the ley line magic adding its own potency to the mix. The acrid stench of Ravok’s decaying body, and sulfur warred with metallic scent of blood—mine, from where Ravok's claws caught my shoulder.

Blake’s, from a brutal gash along his ribs.

Eldric’s, from the claw marks that nearly took his eye.

Magic hung between us, thick as fog, and Ravok?

Didn’t have a mark on him.

And how could he? His hide was as tough as any revenants, scaled, almost, with thick, bony growths that only enhanced his protections. His magic was unbeatable, and he was growing stronger by the minute.

But at least he’d stopped growing.

This creature was something from my deepest nightmares—twelve feet tall, but squat like a rhino, his head was a mass of bony growths, gaping mouth lined with sharp teeth wide enough to swallow my entire head in one gulp.

Thick ridges of bone protruded from his shoulders and down his spine, eyes burning with an unholy light that ignited his entire face .

But there was no intelligence left there.

Ravok had finally become a god, but had lost himself in the process.

I raised my hands, shoulders straining, dark magic coiling through my veins like liquid shadow. My power responded sluggishly, as exhausted as my overtaxed muscles, but I managed to spool up two handfuls of darkness, enough to decimate an entire army.

I’d lost count of how long we’d been at this.

Ten minutes?

An hour?

Longer?

Blake met my eyes and gave me an encouraging nod, keeping pressure on his side, the four deep gouges that cut to the bone.

If he hadn’t moved when he did, he would have been gutted.

Riordan’s torniquet on my shoulder was holding, rudimentary field dressings a must down here, since all the corrupted magic in the air was preventing us from healing.

“Get out of there, Evie,” Riordan growled. Again .

“Not a chance,” I growled right back.

Ravok stepped toward the door, crossing the line I’d drawn with my boot in the dirt.

Eldric materialized beside me in a swirl of flames, his face tight with concentration. “Get back, give yourself a minute to refill.” The fire around him writhed and twisted, and Riordan dragged me back, far enough the heat of dragonfire scoured the side of my face.

The roaring plume of flame did not let up, Eldric holding his magic steady, the room turning into an inferno, steam hissing out through the opening as we all flattened ourselves against the wall, trying to breathe.

Finally, Eldric dropped his hands, sweat and soot and blood running down his face in dirty rivulets, the last of his dying flames reflected in his eyes, along with the hulking shape in the center of the chamber.

Still on his feet.

Still alive.

“Impossible,” Blake muttered. ‘Nothing could have survived that. Nothing .”

But Ravok simply flexed his muscles and then all I saw was black as the tunnel filled with enough of his magic to swallow us whole.

Blake threw up his good hand, shadows surrounding us, and we all gasped down a mouthful of air before a wave of pure power crushed us.

My head slammed against something hard, and stars exploded in my vision.

Eldric just…disappeared, blown backwards into the darkness. The last thing I saw was the shock on his face, his golden eyes flaring wide, just before he vanished.

Blake hit the wall beside me and crumpled, his shadows dissipating, eyes half shut, blood dripping from his nose and ears.

“Blake,” I screamed, but there was no time to even check if he was breathing. Ravok was advancing, those powerful claws flexing, as if he was deciding where to start shredding. I tried to move, tried to put myself between my mate and the oncoming threat, but I couldn’t move.

Riordan stepped between us, his hands wreathed in white flames tinted red, hurling them at Ravok before any of us could get back on our feet. They spilled over Ravok in a graceful, slow-motion wave of power, greedily devouring, and this time the monster actually staggered backwards.

“The light burns, doesn't it?” Riordan hissed, pressing his advantage, herding Ravok back into the chamber as he sent another whip of flame lashing across our enemy.

But even the white flames weren't enough.

They left angry red welts, made the beast hiss, but they didn't penetrate deep enough to do real damage.

“Watch out.” I screamed, but I was too late. Ravok's answering blast of dark energy caught Riordan full in the chest and sent him sprawling. But worse than that, the ceiling above us groaned. Ancient stone cracked, sending chunks of rock and dirt raining down around us.

I coughed violently as dust mixed with the toxic fumes from the corrupted pool to create a choking haze.

My eyes were streaming, my throat raw, but I fumbled with my jacket pocket, trying to undo the zipper as another low, menacing growl came out of the haze, a hulking form advancing through the falling stones as if they were nothing more than rain.

I had The Book, and the key. I had the knife.

I could pull this off, I could…

A massive piece of the ceiling crashed down between us, and Ravok paused, claws twitching at his sides.

“Go Evie,” Blake shoved at my shoulder, face coated with dust, eyes filled with pain. “Get as far from here as you can. You can…” He swallowed and I shook my head. Hiding was not going to save me. Nothing was going to save any of us now.

Not with a monster looming over us, deciding where to strike.

Not when I saw death reflected in his red, burning eyes.

I braced myself as Ravok raised his hand for the killing blow, energy crackling around his deadly claws. “Close your eyes, love,” Riordan called softly, still trying to crawl across the ten feet that separated us. He would never make it. “Close your eyes and don’t look.”

But I had to look.

I wasn’t about to hide when this fucker killed me. I was going to hold this fucker’s stare and look him dead in the eye until I took my last breath. I fumbled the knife out of my pocket, tried to raise the blade, but my hand wouldn’t work right, stars floating in my vision.

So many fucking stars.

Glowing points of light, like dancing fireflies, their soft phosphorescent glow cut through the thick dust and choking haze. I blinked and they were still there, Ravok batting at them in confusion.

Dozens of them, then hundreds, leaking through… the portal .

For a second, I could hardly breathe, instantly knowing who had sent them through. And why. They moved with purpose, with intelligence, converging between Ravok and me like a constellation of tiny stars.

Ravok hesitated, and for the first time, uncertainty flickered across his monstrous features.

The dead had come for Ravok.

And they were very, very angry.