Page 53 of The Curse of Eternity (Descendants of Helsing #1)

“We have them.” He dropped back to crouch beside Mihai’s body, and rifled through the vampire’s vest pocket without even a glance at the severed head several feet away. After straightening up, his figure blurred to my side, quickly ushering us toward the doors. “We must go, while we still can.”

“I’m right behind you.”

Without looking back, we fled the room’s destruction, pausing only long enough to close the double doors behind us.

By the time we reached the winding staircase, Drake had taken my free hand.

He hurried my descent, until I was jumping two or three steps at a time.

Whatever noise I made didn’t seem to matter anymore.

Drake urged me on like we were running on borrowed time.

Fatigue slowed me down, no matter how hard I fought to keep my breaths even and footfalls sure.

Goosebumps rose along my arms in spite of the cold sweat beading my forehead, trickling down my temples and making my scalp itch.

Too soon, a chorus of clamoring bells echoed through the halls.

Reverberating peals of the high alarm made me squint, my eyes watering, and I struggled not to clap my hands over my ears.

If I wasn’t breathless from sprinting, I would have asked Drake what it meant, but I could already guess.

We’d left just as bloody of a mess in the throne room as we had in Mihai’s quarters.

It was only a matter of time before our escape was discovered.

Our turns began to look familiar, which meant Drake was dragging me back the way we came.

“But the guards—” I managed to choke out, but Drake shook his head.

“Our only route is the way we have come. They will have blockaded all other paths to the exit.”

How many more guards could I face before my body gave out? I stumbled over my own footfalls, trying to keep my momentum going. Another bend, and the hallway widened, the ceiling slanting higher. The silhouette of the gargoyles guarding the throne room came into view.

Just as we reached the open space, and Drake pulled me around like he was about to pick me up and carry me, the hammering sound I thought was my racing heart turned out to be getting closer .

We both paused, listening while the stomping of metal boots across the stone floors was joined by distant snarls.

The lycans had transformed. I looked to Drake, who glanced up and down the hall with such uncertainty behind his dark eyes that I could easily read the truth on his face. When his gaze found mine, understanding passed between us.

We wouldn’t be able to fight the next horde and win.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, glued to the center of the space while the enemy closed in. Drake shook his head, his expression vehement as he took my left hand between his.

“Not now. Do not lose your hope, after everything—”

“Drake…” My grip on my machete loosened, my right arm lowering until my weapon hung limp at my side.

I raised my left hand to trace the sharp plane of his cheekbone.

From the corner of my eye, the first row of guards came into view, their silhouettes becoming solid out of the darkness.

Frenzied waist-high shapes sprinted across the marble from beneath swaying metal arms, claws skittering to echo alongside the lycans’ growls.

Tears stung the backs of my eyes, and one finally escaped down my cheek despite my best efforts to hold it in.

I didn’t want to die—not like this, when we were so close… Rooted to the spot, I raked in a shuddering sob as Drake’s cold hand placed something in mine. Looking down through my blurry vision, I found the smaller of the two rings in my palm.

The larger was already placed on Drake’s left ring finger, and when I didn’t make a move, he slid mine on for me.

A flash of light circled the golden band, illuminating our faces in the darkness for one brief second.

Solidarity seemed to spread between us when he turned his back to mine, never letting go of my hand.

I inhaled deep and raised my machete. Figures blurred behind the advancing mob of brainwashed lycans. Our execution would have an audience, and it sickened me. Pain mingled with rage at the injustice of our imminent death. Because my family would never know where my final resting place would be.

Even if I did go down swinging, in fabricated glory like Grandpa had always aggrandized, I would never see Johann again.

Never again feel the comfort of his big bear hugs, and his rough-hewn pride in me that even my dumbest decisions couldn’t expunge from his enormous heart.

There was emotional distance between us, but we were always held together by the glue of our family surrounding us.

Uncle Alaric, Aunt Susan, and my cousins, who were more like my own siblings, having grown up in the same church.

Their love meant everything, the only reason why I survived not only Mom’s death, but the mistakes I’d made last year.

If it wasn’t for them, and Everly, Caleb—all the Tsosies, as much my family as the people I was related to by blood—I wouldn’t be who I was today.

Maybe if I’d been more like Linda, Elias’s oldest, and ignored the calling to hunt monsters altogether, I could’ve survived this legacy.

Except, with Drake at my back and ready to fight to our death, the choice to battle for what I believed in or stick to the sidelines had always been obvious.

Because that was all it came down to, even if it meant abandoning the warm Albuquerque sunshine for the dark catacombs of this ancient magick fortress.

Saliva flecked to the marble floor as the nearest transformed werewolves ran toward us at full bore, their eerie too-human eyes focused on mine with no hesitation to make the kill.

If I could help it, I wanted my last thoughts to be of home.

How the heat would beat down, mercilessly drying out the earth until only the toughest of flora learned to survive the desert. I’d taken it for granted.

This time, I wanted to do more than survive—I wanted to live .

An explosive rumble of cascading stones pierced the air. My eyes widened, my mouth popping open when the gargoyles on either side sprang to life. On my right, the gargoyle wielding a stone staff whipped its curved edge against the three transformed lycans closest to us.

Blood splattered the walls as tufts of fur were ripped away from flesh by the enormous gargoyle’s unyielding advance, leaving crushed canine limbs and caved-in skulls in the wake of its massacre.

Behind me, a similar sound of savagery echoed back.

My arm holding my machete shook, and I glanced over my shoulder to lock eyes with Drake.

His gaze was awed, but not frightened. Then his hand gripped mine, the pressure too firm to be reassuring.

I swung my head back around to stare down the hall, where the gargoyle on my side met the oncoming army head on.

Exclamations rang around the room, and Drake tugged me into motion.

A resonant crack hit my eardrums, making me stagger.

I peered through the doorway to the throne room on my right.

At its epicenter, the tall onyx throne behind the lesser six had shifted.

A huge fissure ran down its stone structure, leaving the seat backing’s highest edges crumbling while a rumble shook the fortress beneath our feet.

“Run, Maria!” Drake’s shout zinged through my head, returning me to the moment a split second before a piece of the ceiling broke off in a huge stone chunk. It crashed against the marble behind me, but I didn’t look back to assess the damage.

With the other gargoyle now preoccupied by the hall of enemies Drake had intended to face down, a path to escape was slowly being revealed.

This couldn’t be happening, but through the shock, I forced my aching legs to sprint in Drake’s wake.

Our joined hands had him pulling me faster than I could move, and I stumbled, but Drake’s focus was on assessing our surroundings.

Another archway came loose from above when the gargoyle flung an armored lycan into it.

Rubble rained down as dust stuck to my sweat-soaked skin, but I held my burning breath to keep from choking on it.

Whatever army the Domnitori had at their disposal within the fortress was quickly being decimated, thanks to the gargoyles whose stonework bodies were now coated in a warpaint of blood.

Chaos reigned, but Drake and I were easily obscured by the dust and debris piling up while he led me through the corridors beyond.

The fortress still shook, making me wobble until I was clinging to Drake’s hand for balance.

My next shaky inhale of stale air burned in my lungs, the exertion blazing my stomach by the time we reached the final door.

The hallway on either side was unfocused around me, my gaze trained on the iron handle I recognized.

Without delay, Drake pushed the door open with brute strength.

Wood slammed against the stone while the door creaked on its hinges, and my breath exploded out of me at the sight of the mirror across the macabre sitting room.

Knowing what was coming, I gulped down air and threw myself at the mirror.

After having accidentally taken in Mihai’s blood, the enchantment worked its magick and let me through.

Ice embraced every inch of my flesh. My nerves screamed for relief, but I was mentally prepared for the onslaught.

What could have been seconds, or minutes later, I finally fell forward into the barren room beyond.

I flung out my hands to catch myself, and released my grip on my machete an instant before Drake’s familiar cool hands caught me around the waist. The clatter of my blade hitting the stone floor echoed while Drake pulled me tight against him.

His cold hands clung to me, and I threw my arms around him to hold him equally as tight.

Heart hammering, my eyes briefly closed as I buried my face against his chest.

His hysterical chuckle was my only warning before Drake lifted me up into the air and spun us around in a circle. An insane smile spread across my lips, and a giggle climbed my throat by the time he’d set me back down. With his hands on my waist, Drake leaned in to press his forehead to mine.

“We ought to still be running, love.” So close, his whisper shifted the tangled hair around my face, tickling my chin.

“We did it.” Surprised couldn’t come close to describing how I felt, but it was probably plain on my face when I looked up to gaze into Drake’s eyes.

“ You did it.” When Drake smiled, my chest flooded with warmth.

This—it was all worth it. Tears welled in my eyes, pouring down my cheeks with every blink. Drake’s grin slid from his face, replaced by concern. “What—Are you hurt?”

All I could do was shake my head. Inhaling a stuttered breath, I scrubbed the tears from my face.

“I don’t know what I’m feeling, but at least I’m alive to feel it.”

Sympathy and understanding shone behind Drake’s eyes, and he nodded. Without another word, I leaned heavily against him as we took our first steps toward the stairs—to freedom. I even let Drake carry my machete as we left the miserable fortress of the undead behind us.