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EVANGELINE

W ith a snarl, Malachi ripped my father off me, and I hissed in pain as Silas’s nails tore gouges through my neck, his cracked lips drawn back in a grimace. Malachi was right. There was nothing human left of him.

But having his hands on me, those familiar, hated hands that had hurt me in such cruel ways, opened up a pit of darkness that swallowed me whole, the past sucking me down and down, like I was back in the Pit, staring up through the iron grate at the sky, wondering if I would survive another night.

I stood frozen when Malachi effortlessly tossed Silas straight into Alistair, sent my uncle stumbling back a step, my father crashing at his feet. Then I shoved my ugly past back into that dark corner of my mind where all the bad memories lived.

We didn’t have time right now for existential crisis.

“You shouldn’t have come, traitor,” Alistair hissed. “He’ll kill you first and make her watch. Don’t think he won’t.”

“Oh, he can try.” Malachi countered, his voice smooth as velvet. “Fuck knows he’s tried before.”

My hands trembled, fingers curled into fists as my magic pulsed beneath my skin, straining to hurt, to rend, to destroy. I had half a mind to let my flames devour these two, but they weren’t my targets. Ravok was, hidden somewhere deep in those shadows, but I couldn’t get a fix on his location.

Malachi ran his finger through the blood racing down my neck, his breathing ragged. “Evie,” he said, voice tight with urgency. “You’re hurt.”

I shook my head, “It’s nothing. A scratch.” Can you get a read on him? I’ll release my magic, but I can’t see him, and the blast will level this entire building. We have to be sure he’s in there.

No. His voice is coming from inside, but…I’m not sensing him.

As if we’d summoned him, a slow, mocking clap echoed from deep in the chamber, chilling me to my core. I squinted, trying to penetrate the dark, searching for the slightest hint of movement.

Ravok didn’t walk out of the building—he materialized behind us , stepping out of a plume of red-tinted smoke, like Hell itself had birthed him. That dark shadow rose up around us, until the bright morning sun was nothing but a memory. This close, his height was imposing, his presence suffocating, his power curling through the air.

He wasn’t emaciated at all—he was enormous, muscled, well fed, brimming with power.

This was no husk of a vampire, this was a monster in his prime, meant to rend the world apart, devour everything in his path, to destroy without mercy.

We were so, so fucked .

My heart thundered in my throat when that greedy, narrowed gaze gleamed, as a slow, knowing smile spread across his lips. A smile that faded the moment his nose flared, realization dawning on his face.

“Well, isn’t this touching.” Ravok’s cruel gaze landed on Malachi before a coil of black whipped out, faster than a snake and wrapped around Malachi, thick, black tendrils of energy crackling with red power. “You never knew your place, son,” the Elder hissed, hatred gleaming on his brutish face. “But you will learn.”

Alistair pulled Silas to his feet, then Dante emerged from the building, a gun in hand. I knew that weapon. Forty-gauge silver bullets, powerful enough to rupture a vampire’s chest cavity. The bullets were made to splinter on impact, sending shrapnel ripping through flesh and bone, reducing the chances of healing to zero.

Don’t let Dante shoot you.

Yeah, I see that.

But worse than the gun were the fifty plus thralls that filtered out of those doors to gather at their backs like an army of ghastly, rotting soldiers. Some were my cousins, some Silas’s hired mercenaries, but some were Bosch’s surviving guards, and the others…I shuddered. I didn’t even want to think about where they’d come from.

We were severely outnumbered.

“You think you can put your hands on my property ?” Ravok sneered, his shadows turning denser, until the entire compound was darker than midnight. “The witch belongs to me.”

“Uh, excuse me. This witch belongs to no one except herself.” My power rose, flowing down through my limbs like a living thing, shadowy flames whispering, begging to be unleashed. This was like having bones of steel, and I had never felt stronger.

Never felt more alive.

I didn’t care how old or powerful or invincible he was, I was going to kill this asshole, just for that last comment alone.

The air turned electric, my boots crunching in broken glass, every shadow stretching unnaturally, responding to my presence, drawn to me like I was one of them. Cold streaked down my arms as dark flames gathered around my hands, wreathing my fingers in rings of frozen, consuming fire.

“Impressive,” Ravok acknowledged. “Your magic is so like hers was before she died. Before your lover killed her.” His devouring grin widened as his gaze shifted over to Malachi, fighting to escape his bonds. “Strange, how history always repeats itself, especially in matters of the heart.”

A creeping weed of doubt had my flames stuttering.

Don’t let him twist you up, Vicious.

Focus, don’t let go of the tether just yet. Concentrate while I draw him out, get him to drop his shield.

“You know, history does repeat itself,” Malachi taunted, peeling the black, writhing noose off his throat. “Remember who bested you, Ravok, and put you in a box for a thousand years.” Ravok’s rage turned incandescent, blazing hotter as Malachi added, with a wink, no less,

“Here’s a hint. It was me .”

Ravok’s face grew so strained I wondered if he might burst that vein, throbbing in his temple. “I should have slain you on that battlefield,” Ravok hissed, spittle flying from his mouth. “After I ripped your brother and friends limb from limb. I should have made you suffer .”

“And here I thought you were so proud of me.” Malachi formed his magic into a gleaming blade poised to carve and slice the monster in front of us apart. “Whatever happened to the good son speech from the other night?”

Why are you poking the bear? We need to get on with this.

“You are a failure. You failed as a brother. As a friend. As a lover. ” Ravok’s red flecked gaze settled on me and I could hardly breathe. “You think you can fix the mistakes of the past, yet you continue to make the same ones, over and over again. Look at her. So much potential in the right hands. But she’s nothing in the wrong ones.”

Malachi snorted and hooked his thumb at his Maker. “The only vampire who loves to hear himself talk more than Tyrell. I can’t imagine loving the sound of my own voice so much I never shut up.”

Those were the words that finally shoved Ravok over the edge, his anger vibrating so hard the air around us trembled, then cracked, as if the world itself was ending.

No, that was the red tinged magic dome around us, breaking apart beneath the force of his own anger.

Sunlight streamed through the break in Ravok’s darkness, beams so bright they were blinding. The Elder covered his eyes and turned away with a hiss, and…blisters erupted on his exposed arm and hand, everywhere the light hit him.

Now Evie, now—release your magic.

I didn’t hesitate. My shadows warped into reaching tendrils, lashing toward him like a storm of clawing, desperate hands, every finger tipped with a curved black talon. Ravok dodged effortlessly, his movements liquid, inhuman. I spun, using my magic to propel me faster, my fire slicing toward his throat—only to be met with empty air.

Damn it.

My next blow landed, but glanced off, his shield back in place, the failure made more pointed by his taunting grin. Then the entire world disappeared in a roaring tangle of black wind, tearing at my face, my hair, ripping the scream from my lips.

I couldn’t see a thing, not Malachi, not my father and uncles, and not Ravok, until an ice-cold hand closed around my wrist, twisting me violently off balance. My back slammed against the stone wall of the building, the impact rattling my bones loose.

Then all I saw was Ravok looming over me, his grip unyielding.

“You think you can best me with your halfblood magic?” His voice was soft, amused, his darkness whirling around us in a roar that hollowed out my ears. “Foolish little newborn.”

Even pinned down, I gritted my teeth, refusing to let fear take hold. “I know who you are, now.” I told him softly. “I’m not the same girl you tricked into a bargain, asshole.”

“No,” he agreed, tilting his head. “You’ve become something far more interesting.”

Dark power swelled and I sent shadowy flames exploding outward, forcing him to drop my wrist, step back. Claw-tipped flames consumed him and I ordered them to kill, to tear, to destroy. Like enormous, burning jaws, my magic chomped down, blood coated Ravok’s brutish face as my fire masticated him.

Where was Malachi?

I still couldn’t see a thing, surrounded by this cloud of whirling black.

Ravok laughed, low and rich as he swiped the blood away. “Good. Fight me. Give me a reason to break you into pieces. I do enjoy putting broken things back together.”

“That’s the thing. I never break. Not for anyone, and especially not for you.” He was so close my dark fire hit him square in the chest, with enough force to blast a hole in the side of a building. Air exploded out of his mouth along with a foul, rotten stench. Flames ate away at his shield of glamour, and he pulled up more power, shoving my fire away, but not before frost exploded up the side of his face.

He roared in pain, but when the air between us cleared, he was still upright, his face a mess of gashes and blisters

Rubbing his sternum, though, so at least I’d left a mark.

Where are you? I thought desperately to Malachi. He can’t stand the sun. We need to get rid of all these shadows and let the light kill him for us.

“Come get me, asshole.” Ravok’s lips peeled back as he growled at me like an animal. I took one bracing breath and dropped my controls, a wall of fire consuming me, then peered out at Ravok through a wall of dark flame.

“That will cost you, witch.”

A different kind of darkness exploded from him, not the shadows above us, blocking the sun, but something solid and crushing, slamming into me like a brick wall, sending me careening into Malachi, who barely had time to catch me.

He wrapped us in a cloak of shimmering glamour, and I smelled… blood ?

I reached up, gripping his arm…he was bleeding. All over .

“What happened? Where have you been?” I checked his other arm, his face…he was covered in gashes, even deeper than those I’d inflicted on Ravok. “We have to get rid of these shadows.”

“It’s too late for that, Vicious.” Malachi’s gaze bounced from my face to the monster calling up another cloud of pure black, and his arms tightened, his body curling protectively around me. “I’m going to give you something and I want you to…”

Breath exploded from my lungs as Ravok’s magic slammed into us again, something in my spine gave way, a vertebra, maybe.

We flew through the air, ten feet, twenty… thirty . Malachi wrapped me tighter into his arms and crushed me firm against his chest before his body tensed, bracing for impact.

He somehow spun us so he’d take the brunt of the collusion and even so, pain lanced through me when we crashed on the dew-slicked stone. Skin shredded and bone shattered as we skidded over grass and rock, my ribs burning with every desperate breath until we finally stopped.

Tangled up in Malachi’s embrace, seconds passed before I could even open my eyes.

We were both alive, but that was where the good news ended.

Malachi had taken all the damage, slumped against the wall, blood dripping from his nose, eyes dark with pain. I carefully extricated myself and swallowed at the sheer amount of blood he was losing.

He’d never get us out of here.

We were trapped and somehow, Ravok had grown even stronger, so much magic whirling around us, the entire yard was engulfed in a fume of rancid smelling smoke, completely blocking the sun. The pain was so intense I couldn’t force my flames to do anything, blood dribbling from my nose; my broken hand wouldn’t work.

“Well, that fucking hurt.” Malachi’s grip on me loosened, thumbs rubbing over my skin before his hands dropped away, searching my face as if there were a million things he wanted to tell me.

“He’s too strong. Stronger than he’s ever been before. I don’t know how he recovered in two days, but this is over, Vicious.” His voice shook slightly, air rattling in his chest with every pained breath. “ Over .”

He dropped a chain over my head, and something warm and round and heavy dropped between my breasts. “Promise me,” Malachi murmured, “you’ll get far away from here. There’s a clan in Ireland, ask for Brendan Thorne, he’s an old friend. He’ll know how to keep you and Angel safe.”

I could barely lift my hand to poke his chest. “We’re not finished here…why are you giving up?”

“Because I’ve made many terrible mistakes in my life…but you will not be one of them.”

His gaze lifted over my head, his mouth thinning out at whatever he saw.

“I never deserved you, Evangeline. I’ll buy you as much time as I can so you can warn the others. Maybe, with some luck, you’ll all have a chance.” He slid two fingers down the chain and pulled up the small, glowing globe that only moments ago been around my father’s neck and spoke two words?—

“Crimson House.”

My eyes widened as his lips brushed across mine, the barest touch, regret dampening the fire in his eyes. The temperature around us plummeted, his beautiful, doomed face turning into a smear as my breath was snatched from my lungs and I dematerialized.

Without him.