Page 109 of The Silver Fox Vampire

He would never let that happen.

“I love you,” he whispered against her lips. “For eternity.” Then, wrapping his wings around his beloved, he circled his left hand in the air. The ring formed a force field of shimmering silver around them.

“Amore conqua multu.LOVE WILL CONQUER EVIL.” He roared the ancient words of the Hale clan, and as Clare arched her neck, he plunged his teeth into her jugular. Deep, deeper they sank, until he felt the letdown of his venom from his fangs and pumped it into her vein.

With a tiny gasp, Clare went limp, heavy in his arms.

Time lost all meaning as he closed the wound with his tongue, then murmured words of endearment into her hair.

When finally he raised his head, he saw Igor trying to batter through the force field, roaring to his minions to help.

Oliver took a deep breath and channeled everything he had, every last drop of his energy, into the Hale ring before pointing it at the center of Igor’s chest.

“Be gone, dark being. Hell awaits you.”

Arcs of light zapped into the demon’s bloated body. Black blood spilt from the wound, and the beast’s flesh started tomelt. Soon Igor was an amorphous mass of putrid, foul-smelling liquid. But still he screeched for Matteus to save him.

Matteus flew at the force field, bounced off it and began waving his left hand and cursing wildly, trying to get the ring on his finger to activate. But the diamond remained lifeless.

Swiftly, Oliver pointed his left hand at Matteus. Sparks shot from the Hale crest like a volley of bullets and Matteus crumpled as they hit their mark.

“You are done, Matteus. Finished,” Oliver said with a sneer. “The Kominsky clan will no longer be tethered to dark forces. Your power base has dissolved.”

“Don’t take my invisibility away, you bastard,” the other vampire whined. “It took me fucking years to get to where I am now.”

“Bad luck. Igor has been banished to the hell realms where he came from. You no longer have access to dark magick, Matteus. You will finally face the justice system you and your family have evaded for centuries, and be tried for every fucking crime you have ever committed.”

As Oliver watched the vampire writhing on the ground, ropes of silver cord appeared. They bound Matteus’s arms tightly to his sides and looped around his ankles. Oliver had to hide his own surprise at the powers imbued in the ring.

Meanwhile, Matteus rolled around, cursing the Hale name, his gloved hands clawing at the bonds, which merely grew tighter the more he struggled.

“The Motham PD eagerly awaits your return,” Oliver growled, as the ring sent out one final beam of silver light. And then, in a billow of black smoke, Matteus disappeared.

And then, nothing.

No Igor.

No Matteus.

No citadel full of grimaalds.

Just Oliver, holding Clare unconscious in his arms.

A vast abyss of stillness opened up at his feet, like a silent, bottomless lake.

A sense of peace spread through his body.

Clasping his beloved to his chest, Oliver closed his eyes, took a step …

And fell …

CHAPTER 33

“Are you okay?”

Oliver looked up into the human face of a girl, pallid and worried, her sandy hair falling to her shoulders. “Is Clare okay?”

It was Natalie Spriggs, he realized.