Page 61 of Loving Amari

Torin’s eyes suddenly snap open, but they’re still glowing that eerie blue. The color is wrong, unnatural, like looking into the depths of cursed water. With my vampire senses, I hear all the other children waking throughout the academy. The sound of small bodies stirring, feet hitting floors, doors creaking open. It’s like a horror movie unfolding in real time.

Nathaniel is here.

Angie falls into me and I catch her, pulling her protectively into my arms when we feel a surge of magic suddenly hit the academy. It’s like a shockwave, rippling through the building. Pink webbing shields the structure in a magical barrier thrown up by the spider children. Through the windows, I can see the intricate web patterns glowing.

I want to go out and help, but I know I can’t. Not yet. I don’t want any of them to get hurt. Noki, Tofi, Moria, Kemnebi, or the rest of Carla’s children. They’re my children too now, in every way that matters. I may not be able to feel their deaths like Carla can, but the pain of not knowing, of being separated from them during battle, hurts all the more.

“Well fuck, getting it at all angles. How lovely,” Angie mutters against my chest.

Torin’s already on his feet, moving with unnatural speed and grace. His claws extend with an audiblesnikt, sharp and deadly. He leaps at us—every movement a trained killer’s.

Angie tries to cast another sleeping spell, blue and gold magic sparking from her fingertips, but he claws her hand badly. I grab Torin's possessed body by the back of his neck, my vampire strength allowing me to fling him into one of the bookshelves harder than I meant to.

The impact is brutal. Wood splinters. Books tumble to the floor. The shelf itself cracks down the middle.

I didn’t want to hurt the boy, but I don’t have a choice. It’s him or Angie, and I’m not letting anyone else get hurt tonight.

But Torin manages to stand on his feet almost immediately, shaking off the impact like it was nothing. He’s ready to attack again, his blue eyes fixed on us. That little toss didn’t do shit.

Aaron stands up. “I know that motherfucker didn’t just claw my mommy. I don’t give a shit if he’s possessed.”

Angie looks back at him, her injured hand dripping blood onto the floor. “How many times have I told you to watch your mouth?”

Jacob is smirking at Aaron’s protectiveness, clearly proud despite the situation, but he immediately becomes serious when he sees Angie’s glare. That woman’s stare could freeze hell itself.

He grabs Aaron by the back of his shirt and takes off at shifter speed, a blur of motion. Aaron is pissed, kicking his legs and yelling for him to stop as Jacob carries him to safety somewhere deeper in the academy.

“Put me down! Let me help! That’s my mom!” Aaron’s voice carries down the hallway, growing fainter.

Angie uses magic to heal her hand, blue and gold light knitting the torn flesh back together. The skin closes, leaving only blood behind as evidence of the wound. She looks at me, her brown eyes fierce. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

Torin charges again, moving even faster this time. Immediately, he freezes mid-leap. A pink magical web suddenly forms around him as he levitates into the air, suspended likean insect caught in a trap. His limbs are spread wide, unable to move.

I smile, recognition slamming through me. That magic. That particular shade of pink. That peachy scent filling the air.

Carla. My Carla is here. And I can feel her through the bond, stronger than ever before. The connection surges with power I’ve never experienced. It’s like she’s everywhere at once.

I watch as the pink magical web envelops Torin completely until he’s wrapped in it like a cocoon. The webbing is beautiful, intricate, pulsing with life. Then blue spirit energy spills out of him, seeping through the pink webbing like smoke. It coalesces into an orb that hovers in the air, pulsing with malevolent energy.

“Use the enclosure!” I shout to Bobby.

Bobby moves with vampire speed, capturing the orb in the device. The moment it’s contained, Torin drops to the floor like a puppet with cut strings. Unconscious again, but free. The blue glow is gone from his eyes.

Angie, Leah, Kade, Bobby, and I run out of the workroom and down the stairs. We reach the dorm level and that’s when we see it.

All of the children are floating the same as Torin, wrapped in magical webs that glow pink in the darkness. The spirits start floating out of all of them, releasing them from their possessions one by one. Blue orbs emerge from small bodies, leaving the children unconscious but free.

Angie looks at me, her eyes wide with awe. “Your woman is a bad bitch.”

I smirk, pride swelling until I feel like I might burst. “I know. She’s magnificent.”

There are dozens of blue orbs around us now, floating like jellyfish. Not enough enclosures for all of them. The childrencollapse to the floor one by one as the spirits leave their bodies, their small forms crumpling.

“Well, what now?” Angie asks, staring at all the spirit orbs.

Then suddenly, each orb is attacked by another pink magical web. The webs shoot out from nowhere, wrapping around the spirits like lassos. We all look around, trying to find the source, trying to understand what’s happening.

I look down from the balcony to the main floor. I see both Damon and Selene together, staring up with expressions of absolute wonder.