Page 34 of Sophie’s Ruin (Crimson and Shadows #2)

I’d thought Damien would follow me to the cave, but he didn’t, and I was glad for it—this was something I needed to do on my own.

The cavernous space was bigger and wider than I’d expected.

It was no ordinary cave—it was a shelter.

Perhaps Emeric had always had it, or perhaps he’d had it prepared right before the impending war with the Dark Witches, anticipating that he might have to go into hiding.

I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d planned to abandon the fight once he saw we were losing.

Fucking coward. The spineless bastard deserved to die.

“You,” Emeric breathed, his eyes widening in panic when I stepped out of the shadows in the middle of the cave illuminated by lanterns. “Flee. Now!” He shouted for his family to run.

“Not so fast,” I said calmly, when the five of them rushed for the exit.

The rough walls shuddered as I unleashed my power, collapsing some of the rock to seal the vampires away from their freedom. They collided with the jagged stone, trying to break free, but their supernatural strength was no match for my powers, which blocked the only exit like a barrier.

Emeric stood unmoving before me while his family darted around the cave, trying to find another way out.

They thrashed in the confined space for several long minutes as Emeric and I stared at each other.

I knew they wouldn’t be able to escape. He knew it, too.

Despair mixed with resignation settled into his perfect features.

He didn’t beg me to spare their lives, and I wondered if he could see it in my face—that begging was pointless, and I would show no mercy.

A few seconds passed before his wife and daughters stopped searching for a way out of the cave that would soon become their grave.

The smell of their blood from where they’d cut themselves on the sharp rock permeated the air.

Heady notes of fear were mixed in the scent, and I inhaled deeply, reveling in it.

“Mercy,” came a quiet, weeping voice from behind Emeric.

My gaze tore from his and stretched behind him to his youngest daughter, Julia.

She sat on the cave floor, huddled together with her mother and sisters, who were all wailing as if they were in mourning.

And perhaps they were—they were mourning their eternal lives that would soon be cut short. By me.

“Mercy?” I curled my lip in a sneer.

“You have to understand. It was all Camilla,” Emeric said vehemently, snapping my attention back to him.

“You were on the border when she had Henry on a leash like a fucking dog, and you did nothing!” I shouted, my voice echoing off the cave walls.

Emeric flinched but held my gaze.

“If you do this,” he said quietly. “You will be no better than her, than me, than all of us.”

A menacing laughter escaped me. “You’re right.

I’m not better than you, and for the first time ever, I don’t want to be.

To fight monsters like you, I have to become a monster myself.

” Tears gathered in Emeric’s eyes as the wailing behind him grew louder.

I stepped closer to him, bringing my face inches away from his as I whispered, “You and your family will die, and it will be all your fault. Just remember, you turned me into this.”

Emeric’s throat bobbed as he swallowed when I pulled away.

The tears spilled, gliding down his pale cheeks.

Without taking my eyes off him, I lifted my hand and used my magic to move the stones blocking the cave’s exit as if they weighed nothing.

Emeric’s gaze darted to the opening before snapping back to me.

My lips curved into a savage smile as I wrapped him in the tendrils of my power and flung him out of the cave.

Moving my hands like a puppeteer to manipulate the strings of my magic, I slammed Emeric against the outside of the cave, his back to the jagged, rough surface.

Black spikes shot out from the rock, spearing through his legs and arms and pinning him to the slope of the mountain.

A strangled cry left him before everything went quiet.

He was still alive, but he wouldn’t be for long.

A hushed silence settled over the place as Emeric’s family watched me with wide eyes.

I stared back, still wearing a deranged smile on my face.

It turned into a grin when the first rays of sunlight spilled over the horizon, and Emeric’s screams of agony filled the cave.

Still smiling, I closed my eyes and let the sound wash over me.

In a strange, cathartic way, it replaced the sounds I’d heard Henry make when he’d been held captive and tortured by the clan leaders.

Emeric’s screams didn’t erase those memories completely—nothing ever would—but hearing them did make breathing easier somehow.

Emeric’s death was over all too soon, and the darkness within me was not satiated.

It demanded more blood, urging me to slaughter his family in the most horrific way.

I fought the twisted desire, resisting the darkness as something inside me was holding me back from surrendering to it completely.

The darkness tried to overpower me again, and when it did, my feet moved as if of their own accord to step toward Emeric’s family, who were still huddled together, watching me, waiting for their death to come.

My fingers elongated into claws, but before I could begin ripping them to shreds, Henry’s face appeared in my mind.

I froze as I stared at him. He stared back, begging me to leave this place without going through with what the darkness drove me to do.

A battle ensued inside me as I felt conflicted.

The darkness pushed but I pushed back, my gaze latched on to Henry’s face in my mind.

I didn’t know which side of me I wanted to prevail.

The pressure inside me built until I couldn’t take it anymore.

With a snarl, I shoved the darkness aside and glimmered out, but not before collapsing the cave and burying Emeric’s family underneath.

My shadows took me to my childhood home, to the corner in my mother’s study, where I knew the sunlight wouldn’t reach me.

Damien hadn’t followed me here, either, for which I was grateful—darkness didn’t scare me anymore, but it didn’t mean I wanted to bring it here, to this place where I’d been a child, innocent and sweet, before I’d turned into…

this. I tucked into the corner, sitting on the floor with my knees close to my chest and my back propped against the hard wall.

The sunlight drifted through the small window above my mother’s desk, bathing a part of the room in a soft, warm glow.

I glared at the sun rays, my lips peeled back in a snarl.

How could I truly become the most powerful being if I had to hide in the shadows, curled into a ball, trying to occupy as little space as possible?

I hissed at the sunlight as if the vicious sound would chase it away.

Pathetic. No wonder the clans had refused to slink back into the shadows after I’d defeated the Dark Witches.

They wanted to keep ruling this world, prowling around freely like the apex predators that they were.

My brows pulled together at the thought.

Was I beginning to think like the monsters I was trying to destroy?

I knew the realization should disturb me, but it was hard to care when exhaustion pulled at my limbs, making my eyelids heavy.

I knew this should also bother me—the fact that I was so relaxed and drifting off to sleep right after the heinous acts I’d just committed.

But I couldn’t bring myself to care. All I wanted to do was fall asleep because the darkness awaited me in my dreams, and I couldn’t wait to reunite with it.

I knew it was waiting for me with open arms, ready to wrap me in its embrace.

I was ready to be enveloped in it, so, with a sigh of contentment, I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

HENRY

“Where is she?” I growled when Celeste reappeared in the kitchen.

“I couldn’t convince her to see reason,” the witch replied.

“You should have taken me with you!” I raised my voice, failing to keep my frustration in check.

When Celeste had picked up on Sophie’s location, she had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Glimmering, they called it. A magic trick I was growing increasingly annoyed with. My supernatural speed was no match for the witches’ ability to warp from one place to the next.

“I didn’t bring you with me because Sophie is dangerous.”

“She is not a danger to me.”

“You don’t understand. You have only glimpsed a fraction of her power. Her magic is deadly.”

“The more reason for me to find her and bring her home. Do you know where she is?”

Celeste didn’t respond for a few seconds as if contemplating if she wanted to disclose that information.

“I have a way of tracking her,” she finally said. “I will gather a few witches from the village to help me trap her.”

“Trap her? She’s not a fucking animal!” I seethed.

“I know she’s not, but she is not herself.”

“Just tell me where she is so I can go to her,” I asked with a breath of frustration.

“I would advise against it—”

“I don’t fucking care what you advise!” I didn’t realize I’d moved until my face was mere inches from the witch’s, my fingers digging into her flesh where I was clasping her bony shoulders.

“Control your temper,” Celeste said low. Her voice wavered slightly, letting me know my outburst had rattled her stony facade. “I will tell you where she is, but there is nothing you can do at the moment. The sun is rising.”

My skin prickled at her words as the muscles along my shoulders tensed.

I didn’t need to glance at the small kitchen window to know she was right.

Swiftly, I let go of her and retreated into the shadowy hallway separating the kitchen from the living room.

Without saying a word, Celeste turned and walked to the window, pulling the faded green curtains closed.

“Let’s get some rest,” she said when she faced me again. “We will devise a plan of action in the evening.”

“Tell me where she is,” I said low. “Please.”

Celeste’s shrewd cerulean eyes flickered over my face.

“She’s at her father’s home in New Haven,” she said. “Don’t do anything foolish.”

I didn’t respond before I turned around and walked off, knowing full well I couldn’t make that promise.