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14

EVANGELINE

R avok’s hand brutally crushed my wrist, delicate bones grinding together, that rotten stench of death choking me as I thrashed to get free.

Every desperate breath burned sharp in my lungs, the magic inside me screaming to escape, coiled and caged, still partially bound by the block Malachi had placed on me for my own protection.

But I didn’t need protection.

Malachi did . He was going to die—soon—if he didn’t feed, and if Ravok took me away, that would never happen.

Funny, how quickly enemies became allies when an even bigger monster showed up.

I wanted to pour out every last flicker of this consuming power and let my frozen flames devour Ravok until there was nothing left of this asshole except a pile of yellowed bones, just like Tyrell.

But my strength was failing, body shivering like I was being carved apart by a thousand tiny knives, every breath getting harder as choking darkness whirled around us. Maybe because Ravok was preparing to dematerialize me away.

Maybe this was my magic, trying to escape.

Darkness had nearly cut us off, Ravok dragging me through the wreckage toward that gaping hole, but I managed one last, desperate glance in Malachi’s direction, “Release the block, Malachi. Do it.”

If you can hear me, you have to remove the block. Let me at least try.

Malachi’s jaw clenched, blood dribbling from his bone white lips as his mouth moved. “No. Too dangerous. Might…hurt…you.” The words were the barest whisper, I doubted he even realized he spoke them aloud.

Fuck that.

Fuck that when everything was lost anyway. What was the difference if the world was ending? What did it matter once Ravok had me under his control? I swore I’d never become anyone’s pawn again, that I would fight to the death before anyone used me the way Silas did.

He must have heard my thoughts, because Malachi exhaled—a sharp, pained rasp of sound—and something inside me shattered.

Magic roared through my veins like slivered glass, a flood of frozen darkness and raw, crackling power. Cold burned through my skin, my bones, icing my breath. The air inside the ruined castle groaned, bending under the assault of something long-dormant finally being freed.

I didn’t know how this magic worked, or what my limits were, but I’d been trained since I was a child to turn everything around me into a weapon and to use that weapon to bludgeon my enemies to death.

Flames danced at my fingertips and I winked at this fucking entitled monster who thought he could strut in here and yank me away to be his plaything. “Now that’s more like it.”

Ravok thought he was the hunter. He was wrong .

I shoved against the pain, pushed those sharpened knives deeper into my very being, carving away at Malachi’s block, cutting past anything that felt wrong or constrictive until the last of his magical protections fell away, revealing the roiling core of darkness at my center.

The silver box gleamed, illuminated by a halo of light.

And the sight was glorious.

I lifted the lid and a web of darkness wove around me like a spider’s silken web, thrumming with energy, shifting and crackling as the flames grew.

Ravok hissed, jerking his hand away, eyes glowing red in his hollowed-out excuse for a face, his confidence faltering.

I threw my power forward, dark fire exploded from my fingertips—shadowy threads weaving into a conflagration that wrapped around the room, twisting reality itself. The torches stuttered, the floor disappeared, the very walls of the castle became nightmares, distorting and shifting.

Ravok eyed the darkness seeping from me like liquid fire and backed toward the opening, his eyes darting between me, my devouring magic, and Malachi, prone on the floor behind me.

I prowled after him, something truly terrifying growing inside me. “What’s the matter? I thought this was what you wanted?” I tipped my head and the shadowy flames thrashed between us. “I thought all this power was the prize you hoped to claim?”

The room darkened as he unleashed his magic, his shadows writhing like living creatures. They surged forward, colliding with mine. Cold flame and empty darkness battled, reality warping, dust and debris rising from the floor into a choking storm.

I felt that collision in my very bones, the crushing weight of his ancient power, the cold fingers of darkness trying to suffocate my dark, beautiful flames. I forced my magic to fight back, to devour those shadows, one bite at a time.

To become something greater than vapor and fire.

My flames turned the shade of darkest night, slipping silently through the space between us like whispers of death.

The moment that shifting, amorphous plume touched him, my magic turned slick, shining with an iridescent sheen, the surface reflecting twisted versions of reality—warped faces, screaming mouths, skeletal hands grasping.

The air around us thickened with the repulsive scent of decay.

Then my dark fire became the faces of hundreds of ghostly people—women, men, children—morphing and undulating, circling Ravok like phantoms, speeding faster and faster, an indistinct murmuring filling the air.

For the first time, I saw something flicker in his black eyes. Doubt.

Then the specters struck as one.

Those phantom claws tore at Ravok’s throat, his face, every inch of exposed skin, raking deep. The Ancient roared, his own magic faltering beneath the onslaught. Blood— his blood—splattered across the marble floor like some macabre painting.

Horrified, I watched as my magic ripped him apart, a hundred different shadowy ghosts tearing and shredding like feral animals.

Ravok staggered beneath the onslaught, blood streaming down his face, his neck, as he cast defense after failed defense. “This… is not over. Only…beginning.” His voice was a raspy whisper, his gaze flickered to where Malachi lay.

I closed in for the kill, calling up another surge of power when something moved in the darkness behind Ravok, creeping through the ruined gardens like a hunched animal. A set of blood-red eyes glowed. Then another. My breath froze. Revenants.

Fuck, Ravok had brought revenants with him.

Could I fight them? Was I strong enough? Oh God, they were hideous. Fear turned my magic into a sloppy cloud of spilled flame and I glanced back to an unconscious Malachi, my movements growing more and more desperate.

One of the hunched figures straightened, his dark blond head, then his shoulders taking form as he stepped forward another pace, enough that the light spilling from the room slanted across his sunken features.

My father looked more emaciated than Ravok, his skin a grayish-white, once-bright blue eyes now clouded with that unnatural crimson hue, thin shoulders hunched forward as he crept toward Ravok.

Behind him, Alistair followed, hands clenching and unclenching, a slight limp to his gait, his beard caked heavily with gore. While Ravok moved with a predatory grace, these two moved like insects, jerky and halting, like they didn’t control their own bodies.

I didn’t know what Ravok had done to them, but the change was horrifying.

They were hideous copies of the cruel men I’d once known, as if their inner wickedness was now on display for all to see. I’d spent my entire life despising them and yet, pity tightened my throat, my eyes burning when I saw what they’d been reduced to.

Puppets, serving at the whims of a monster.

Because self-control was for the weak, I didn’t stop to wonder if I was doing the right thing, I dropped every bit of restraint I possessed and let the magic burst out of me in a cresting wave of black, heading straight toward Ravok, my father and uncle.

If I finished this now, Ravok—and my own family—would never darken my door again.

Angel would be safe, this would be over, before it even began.

My fiery onslaught ripped toward Ravok like a tidal bore, crushing everything in its wake, tearing through the gap in Malachi’s ward. Seconds before darkness destroyed the monster and his minions, a brilliant light flashed in Silas’s right hand, and the three of them vanished, while that wave of unstoppable power proceeded to decimate the gardens.

I swayed on weakening knees feet, the room spinning. “Fuck.”

Far off crashes and thuds told me the wave continued unimpeded, but there was little I could do except hope there was nothing in the way except trees and rocks.

Crossing the room, I dropped to my knees beside Malachi, head lolling onto his shoulder, one hand still pressed to the wound on his side, not that the pressure was helping. I pulled him into my lap, running my hands over his exposed skin, cataloguing the worst of the damage.

Blood was everywhere. Red seeped between the cracks in the stone, a dark tide pooling beneath his trembling body, soaking into my pants. His breath came in ragged gasps, his body ruined from the impact, and…bile rose in my throat. Was that white edge of a bone poking out of his shredded shirt?

He’d put himself between me and Ravok, like an unbreakable wall.

Except he was the one who broke.

Tears pricked at my eyes as I pulled him into my arms, trying to ignore how fast my body responded, how volatile my senses turned, knowing he was hurting. “Do not fucking make me regret this,” I grumbled. “Because I swear to God, if you do…I’ll…”

His eyes fluttered open, not a flicker of flame to be seen, and all I smelled was old, dirty pennies. He’d lost a shit ton of blood, no telling how long before he died. And maybe he wouldn’t stay dead, but I had no desire to face Ravok alone.

I stared down into those empty eyes, a keening ache building in my heart as I realized something else. I had… I had no desire to see Malachi die .

My gums burned as my fangs burst out and I sank them into my wrist in one ruthless bite, then pressed the bloody punctures against Malachi’s mouth. The stubborn bastard tried to turn away. “Drink. You’re dying. You know you are.” My voice cracked, and I instantly despised my own soft, worthless heart.

Malachi shook his head, hesitation darkening his battered face.

“Either drink,” I hissed, “or I’ll force my blood down your goddamned throat. And you don’t want to test me right now.”

For a moment, silence hung thick between us.

“Fine. Be a stubborn asshole and see what happens,” I muttered, gripping a handful of hair and forcing my bleeding wrist into his mouth. He fought, tried to push me away, until finally, his lips fastened weakly around the bite, and he took one shallow pull.

My sense of relief was tempered by the growing cloud of darkness around us, the creaking coming from the roof overhead, and the sheer amount of blood he’d lost. Oh, and the fact my family were now thralls to Ravok.

But worse than any of that was the undeniable heat kindling inside me, the throbbing that only grew stronger with every pull at my wrist, the way my body purred as I fed him, the satisfaction of having him nestled between my legs.

“Glad to see you have a modicum of common sense,” I said hoarsely, knowing he couldn’t argue with his mouth full. “Your Maker is a douchebag, by the way. I’ll bet it just chafes your ass, knowing that a newly turned vampire who can barely control her magic saved your ass. Speaking of which, I think I need…a little help in that department.”

I batted an errant shadow away with my free hand.

They were back to being harmless, but what just happened?

Why had my shadows become… people ?

Malachi’s lashes fluttered. His lips barely moved against my skin as he drank, but I barely caught the shape of my name. And out of habit, my fingers began to stroke gently through his silky hair.