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He pushes through the door, leaving all of his people to their deaths while the council members who have no idea what’s happening panic and flee the room.

They get in my way, and I end up having to throw a few back to get through that door.

Abel is just going to run, he’s going to flee and find Rylee and Mads, and this will all be for nothing. He’s going to?—

I’m slammed to a stop as pain rips into me. I look down at the pipe rammed right through my stomach, staking me to the wall. What the fuck was that? Why was I so wrapped up in my mind that I would let myself get caught like this?

“You’re getting sloppy, Ender ,” Abel snarls. “I really think I taught you better than this. How is it that no matter how many chances I give you, you still insist on pissing me off?”

Alexei is on him, trying his hardest to drive a sword through his back and into his heart, but Abel quickly draws back. It only takes seconds before vampires swarm into the building and force Alexei back. Thankfully, Claude isn’t going to let any of them get near Alexei.

I use the moment of reprieve to tear the pipe out of my stomach and hold it tightly in my hand as Abel turns to face me again.

“You were the only creation that I was ever truly proud of, and you’ve thrown it all away,” he says as he shakes his head. “Everything you could have become. Everything?—”

Abel jerks back as Marcus attacks. I use the distraction to rush him, hoping that if his attention is on Marcus, I can come up from the back. The problem is that there are just so many of his men and so few of ours that every plan is thrown to shambles.

Even the explosion I hear outside doesn’t seem to cut down on the numbers. He truly has spent years finding those he could manipulate and twist until they followed him unwaveringly.

Marcus is cut off from Abel by at least fifteen vampires, allowing him to come for me again.

I dodge his hit and swing the pipe, which he grabs with his hand.

He crushes it and throws it so hard it impales Callum who was either fighting or fleeing, I can’t tell.

Callum hits the ground hard as Abel’s vampires tear into him.

“They’re just so weak. All of them,” Abel scoffs as he darts to the right.

I push into him and when I dodge a strike of his, he doesn’t see my attack until his side is bleeding, but he heals immediately.

He’s just on a whole different level, and it doesn’t help when he has so many assisting him.

Any time I could possibly get a hit in, I sense someone coming after me and have to move back to protect myself.

Even when I kill one and drop them to the ground, more fill their place.

I turn as I see Marcus rush in and I try to use this as an opportunity to reach Abel, but a woman slams into me before I can.

I realize she’s a true vampire well before she pushes me back.

She has the strength behind her and is an extremely skilled fighter, so I can’t let my attention stray off her.

Another vampire smashes into me, throwing my focus off the woman who uses the opportunity to shove me back, where I crash into a chair that shatters beneath my weight.

I roll up and as she presses in, my fingers wrap around the broken chair leg which I drive straight into her heart.

She might be able to heal from it, but not anytime soon.

I turn and see that Abel has acquired a blade that he’s using to press against Marcus’s throat where Abel has him cornered.

Blood is running down Marcus’s neck, and the only thing stopping it from cutting through the soft tissue is Marcus’s hand on the blade.

It’s slicing right into his hand, blood dripping off and onto the ground, as Marcus tries to push it back, but Abel is overpowering him.

I rush forward and just as I see the blade slip on Marcus’s bloody hand, I slam into Abel, driving him back. Abel has so much momentum going with the blade that it cuts right into me, tearing open my chest and side before I can stop it.

Abel is pissed. He wants to kill Marcus and he wants to control me, and currently, he’s not accomplishing either of those things.

My wounds heal, but I know it’s only so long before the blood loss will get to me. There are too many people on his side who keep pushing us back anytime I could do anything to hurt him.

“You are not going to win this. I have hundreds of people, and look around you. You have a couple of council members and a few VRC? The rest are dead. You’re surrounded by death.”

I can’t look away from him to see, but I’m aware he’s not lying.

I can feel the slick blood beneath my feet.

I can hear someone crying for mercy. I can smell the stench of death.

And I want to say that there would’ve been less bloodshed if I’d done this alone, but how the fuck would I have done any of this alone?

The monster from my dreams is very much still a monster.

Maybe if it was just the two of us or just Marcus and me against Abel, we’d have already won, but not like this. Not when there are so many.

Abel’s vampires close in, wrapping around the spot Marcus and I stand.

“You have a place by my side and that is the only fucking place you belong. Do you understand?” Abel screams. “I’ll let them live if you come to my side.”

I see Claude hit the ground, knocking someone down as another swings a weapon straight for his head. Alexei cuts the man’s head clean off, but a woman quickly fills his place.

“Come to my side and this will end. I’ll let them live.”

How can he still spout such bullshit and expect me to believe any of it? Not that I believed it back then. But he showed me what happened when I didn’t believe him. “You have killed everyone I’ve cared about. You destroyed me. And you really think I’d choose going back to you over death?”

I hear someone coming behind me and I turn, but it only gives Abel an opportunity to tear into me.

I fall back, skidding on blood and barely managing to keep from tripping over a body as Abel raises something to cave in my skull.

I twist, narrowly avoiding it as I see Alexei try to move in, but he’s not fast enough.

The sliver of tension in Abel’s body tells me he notices, but Alexei doesn’t.

Abel pivots fast as I shove Alexei to the side, taking a hit to my side that is lessened by the way I’d turned my body.

Alexei hits the floor, and I trip over him before scrambling to my feet, but Abel is right on Alexei again.

Thankfully, Claude manages to draw Alexei back, aware that fighting isn’t going to end well and he needs to pull him away.

And that is the very moment I see Mads, of all people, sneaking into the fight and bloodshed.

What the fuck is he doing here? He was supposed to stay out of this. He was supposed to be safe. He’s not safe here. The second Abel sees him, he’s going to take him.

An explosion sounds right outside of the building. The noise is deafening and Mads takes that opportunity to rush Abel and stab him with something. Abel doesn’t hear him, but he sure feels it and it causes him to swing back, knocking Mads away from him, not realizing who it is.

“You… fucking…”

“Outside!” Mads yells. “GET OUTSIDE.”

Does he seriously think I’m just going to leave him in here?

I watch as Mads runs and Abel rushes for him, but Mads is almost immediately lost in the crowd. “I’m not going to let you have him.”

“Oh? Then I will simply use your fucking body to get him to come to me, eh? He’s really too nice for his own good.”

Mads’s words strike me again as I realize that this likely means there is some kind of plan outside. Maybe one of the bombs or something, and if I get Abel outside…

But his eyes are on Mads, who is struggling to get through the vampires who’ve realized that this is the very man their maker wants, and if they were to deliver him to Abel, they’d likely get to keep their heads.

I hurry into the crowd and grab Mads, sliding my arms around his body and holding him tightly before jerking him out the door and into the sunlight.

“Oh fuck. Oh fuck,” Mads cries as I see Finn and shove Mads toward him. Quickly, I turn around, prepared to be the barrier between Mads and Abel.

“I will teach you how to fucking listen, Ender,” Abel snarls as he rushes after me. When he sees that we’re not running, he slows down.

“You will not take him.”

Abel merely laughs. “You can say it however much you want, but at the end of the day, words are meaningless. I heard how many times you told yourself that you wouldn’t hurt your brother, and still… you were the one who killed him.”

I’m tired, coated in my own blood, but rage is eating through me…

even so, I know I can’t lose control. Maybe that’s what he’s wanting.

Maybe he wants to watch me kill those I care for.

It sure would make him happy. But I’m in control.

I have to be in control. Though if I wasn’t…

could I win this? I’m always stronger when I reach that state, but I can’t control who I kill or what I do.

Abel hesitates and looks down at his arm with a confused expression as Mads hurries up behind me and whispers, “Whatever you do, don’t let him go back inside.”

“What?” I ask, but before I can ask more, I see Abel start to back toward the building, almost like Mads predicted he would… but why?

Rushing him, I slam into him, driving him away from the door as he begins clawing at me desperately.

His actions have turned from calculating to sporadic.

I manage to pull him back as he screams out and turns to attack me.

He hits me hard but when Marcus shoves him back, Alexei throws something our way.

I snatch up the blade as I see that Abel’s skin is bubbling up, rippling and turning red.

He jerks back, aware that we’re not going to let him in the building where the others are blocking the entrance, keeping his people inside.

Without hesitation, he turns to run. He finds a tree as I realize that the sun is burning him.

The sunlight is eating through his skin like it would a new vampire freshly turned.

Abel doesn’t see me until I slam into him, blade driving into his chest as he’s thrown out of the shade and into the sunlight. He screams and thrashes while his skin burns off him and as he staggers back, I swing the blade, cutting his head clean off.

His blistered head hits the ground as I look up to see where his “children” are. They’ve broken through the barrier created by Alexei, Claude, Brooks, Orin, and DeGray, but I’m ready for them.

When they see their maker’s body on the ground, many stop moving.

And when I start toward them, most draw back.

They know that without Abel to keep me preoccupied, they’re no match for me.

Some think in numbers they still have a chance, but when Alexei kills one who tries to make their way toward me, more pull back.

And this time, they flee. The VRC get a few down, but while they’re busy, most take the opportunity to run.

I tear a few down in an attempt to help but still, so many get away.

As soon as it’s clear, I hear someone coming up behind me, but I recognize Mads’s footsteps.

“Oh fuck…” Mads whispers as he wraps his arms around me from behind. “Oh fuck. Oh fuck.” His arms tighten. I want to turn to him, but I can’t allow my attention to wander from the vampires we have down and submitting. “Sorry. I don’t mean to distract you, but oh fuck.”

Thankfully, there is little they can do, and most allow the VRC to handcuff them with minimal fighting. It’s this or death and they’re aware of it.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

I reach to where he’s gripping me, and with my free hand, I cup his. My hand is coated in blood, and I’m sure I’m dirtying him, but at this moment, I don’t even care.

“What was that?” I ask. “What did you inject him with?”

“Uh… well… you know how I created something that allows me to walk in the sun? Long story short, instead of using a drug to remove the reason why young vampires can’t walk in the sun but old ones can, I simply reversed it.

I injected his body full of that shit and really fucking hoped it’d work.

I hoped so desperately that it would work. ”

“I would say it worked,” I say as I eye the body.

He lets out a laugh, showing how relieved he is. “Quite well. Thank you for saving so many lives.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.”