Page 25

Chapter 24

Adeline

I n one swift motion, Adeline knelt, slid the tip of the spear underneath the chain around the were-shifter’s neck, and flung the metal toward the vampires.

Chaos erupted around her.

The chain pinned one of the younger vampires to the floor of the cave. The smell of skin burning filled her nose, and the shrieks of the vampire being singed alive enraged her wolf even more.

Her beast lunged toward another younger vampire at the mouth of the small tunnel, who was trying to scramble away. Juliette grabbed Adeline by the throat, forcing her back against the cavern wall, but not before Adeline got a silver-tipped swipe at her former lover’s shoulder with the spear. It sliced through fabric and skin but got caught on the edge of Juliette’s corset and snapped into two.

Juliette hissed as the silver burned a crescent-shaped wound into her skin. She pressed her sharpened nails into Adeline’s neck, drawing blood. Juliette’s green eyes flared with anger, but Adeline held Juliette’s wrist to keep the sharpened nails from driving into her tendons and veins. The snarl of the were-shifter and a bloodcurdling scream from a vampire distracted them both enough for Adeline to claw at Juliette’s face with a free hand.

Juliette cursed and let go, clutching her face where deep gouges had been torn from her cheek.

Adeline rolled off to the side and darted around Juliette. She grabbed the lantern that was by a dismembered vampire and whistled a few times. Then she chucked the lantern up in the air, aiming for the exit back to the cabin. Its glass smashed into the wall. The pitch-coated wood ignited the cave walls, the flames swallowing the entire tunnel and blocking the way back to the cabin.

The were-shifter turned to approach Juliette and Adeline while two other vampires made a run for it down the tunnel that led to the cliff. The wolf lunged, and Adeline stepped in front of Juliette, meeting the wolf’s eyes. For a brief moment, Adeline worried that he would charge at Juliette, but then one of the fleeing vampires stumbled in the tunnel and grunted. The wolf snapped his jaw and turned his attention to the vampire, because everyone knows that a wolf enjoys a good chase. He took off after the vampire, snarling.

Juliette’s face was healing, which left Adeline with little time. A solitary dagger on the floor glinted in the light of the flames, and Adeline stepped forward to retrieve it. Juliette’s eyes followed Adeline’s gaze, and within seconds, Juliette grabbed it.

“Oh, Adeline,” Juliette crowed above the roar of the fire, stalking closer. “What on earth do you think you’re accomplishing here?”

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” Adeline taunted and stepped backward, heading down the tunnel to the right. How many were left alive now? “I’m going to kill you all.”

“The hell you are,” Juliette hissed, flipping the knife back and forth.

“And then I’m going after Erik,” Adeline said, only loud enough for her words to reach Juliette’s ears alone.

Juliette faltered, her brows furrowing for a moment, but she stayed fixated on Adeline’s movements, unbothered by the destruction at her back.

The flames caught on more beams in the cave, and the fire crept down the other tunnel. Adeline immediately thought of Rolf returning to his human form. Would the moon slip down the horizon before he could kill the vampire he went after? Would she, too, succumb to poor timing?

She egged Juliette on. “Do you know what he did? Did you think I wouldn’t figure it all out, Juliette?”

Juliette scoffed. “You think you’re the only one who can have a happy ever after. That doesn’t happen for creatures like us. Those are fairy tales, Adeline !” Juliette’s scream rose above the sound of the roaring flames, her green eyes flaring bright in the dark.

She lunged and took a swipe at Adeline. Adeline’s heart broke.

Juliette no longer believes in fairy tales? What did Erik do to her?

Juliette used to be a moon-eyed vampire, incapable of hurting even a fly. It was one of the reasons Adeline had been so drawn to her, at first. Because she reminded her of the sister she had pushed through a portal long ago. Juliette’s kindness extended down to the servants in the castle. With Adeline’s persuasion, Erik let Juliette manage the castle and the servants’ quarters, effectively making Juliette the head housekeeper. Conditions improved for the servants, and the vampires were able to maintain a lower profile because they were able to keep their help for longer. Erik had been so satisfied that he even weakened the castle’s defenses.

It still wasn’t enough for Adeline to trust that Erik ever had their best intentions at heart, though.

“You know he’s evil, Juliette. You know what twisted games he plays. With all of us.” Adeline exhaled. She was worn down; Rolf’s blood was already wearing off.

Juliette shrugged, stalking toward Adeline. They passed the decapitated head of a vampire, its face locked in an eternal scream. Adeline sidestepped it and continued down the tunnel. If she could keep Juliette talking, then maybe she could find a weakness in Erik’s endgame.

“Did you help him?” Adeline asked, hoping against hope it hadn’t been Juliette who glamoured Rolf. “Was it you who led Erik to where we were?”

“Where who was?” Juliette stopped in her tracks, but a howl resounded down the tunnel, cutting her off.

Adeline’s heart skipped a beat. Her wolf had been successful.

Juliette snapped her mouth closed, gave Adeline a wry smile, and pressed forward, urgency in her movements.

“What, are you afraid?” Adeline sneered, emboldened by the triumph of her beast.

Juliette roared and lunged, driving Adeline backward. She didn’t react fast enough, and Juliette now had her pinned between her legs. Adeline twisted, trying to throw Juliette off. Fighting against the strength of her former lover, Adeline cursed when she realized how far from the entrance to the tunnel they were. She needed to get through the gate before the moon went down.

Adeline thrashed and clawed, but Juliette grabbed her arm and held it aloft. With her other arm raised, Juliette slammed the blade down into Adeline’s shoulder. She screamed out as the silver seared through her skin and muscles, rendering her right arm useless.

“I’m no more afraid than I am just pissed off,” Juliette whispered in her ear. “Do you not understand that I am trying to help you?”

Adeline would have laughed if her shoulder wasn’t screaming in agony. Help her? Help her how ? By tearing her away from the man she loved? By reuniting her with her torturer? A lone pair of footsteps echoed in the tunnels behind them, and Juliette twisted the blade. Adeline fought back tears.

“What do you think will happen when Erik finds out what abhorrent things you’ve done?” Juliette whispered.

Adeline gritted her teeth. She didn’t care about the other vampires, she didn’t care about Erik. She just wanted to be free to live her life with Rolf. “I don’t care.”

Juliette cackled, throwing her head back. The flame crept closer, eating away at all of the wooden beams.

“I don’t,” Adeline said again. Her shoulder throbbed, and she felt like vomiting. But she pressed forward, knowing the sun would rise soon. “I just want to watch Erik die a slow and painful death.”

A shadow fluttered behind Juliette, and for a brief moment, she thought it was Rolf coming to her aid. Instead, it was another vampire. The one who had fled down the tunnel after Rolf.

Where is Rolf? Fury and fear bubbled in her gut.

The vampire’s face was half ripped off, and one of his arms hung limply at his side, broken bones protruding through his skin, which had tried to heal around the wound. He bled profusely from several punctures, but he was still standing. Adeline’s heart sank when she realized that Rolf hadn’t managed to take his head.

Juliette leaned forward, twisting the blade again. Adeline bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood. Her fangs immediately sharpened. At the sound of the vampire’s strangled noises, Juliette turned and leaped off Adeline, rushing to his side. Whispering words of affection, she opened her wrist, allowing him to drink her blood to heal.

A new lover? It didn’t matter. If he was precious to Juliette, he needed to go.

Juliette paid no attention to Adeline; instead, she focused on the injured vampire trying, but failing, to drink Juliette’s blood.

“There, my child, eat,” she cooed.

Let her feel what it’s like to lose something, then.

With renewed purpose, Adeline grasped the handle of the blade embedded in her shoulder and pulled, grunting as it seared once more through her unhealed skin.

Rolf howled again, but it was cut short by a yelp.

No! Adeline’s heart dropped to her stomach, and the noise around her dulled to a thrum. She needed to get to Rolf before the sun rose, and he couldn’t get away.

Kissing the handle of the blade for luck, Adeline grabbed the silver tip, wincing as the metal cut into her skin. She threw the knife at the half-dismembered vampire, and it landed with a thunk in his eye. He fell backward, sliding down the wall of the cave with the silver of the blade shining through the back of his head. Not fully dead, but beyond hope of ever healing, he was incapacitated enough to give Adeline time to run back and find Rolf.

“No!” Juliette screamed, but Adeline had already started running.

The heat of the fire pressed against Adeline’s back as she headed toward the entrance. She didn’t look back to see if Juliette was following her or not. The silver gate was in her sight when the breath was knocked from her lungs, and she tumbled forward. Sharp nails dug into her scalp as her head was yanked backward. She screamed, the echoes of it rushing past the grate as the flames roared above them.

Juliette dragged a claw across Adeline’s exposed neck, and blood welled from the slice. “You headstrong fool!”

“Rol—” Adeline tried to scream, but her voice was too warbled. Her throat constricted against the blood loss. It poured from her neck, and she knew she would be so much easier to kill after losing this much. If only she could have seen him one last time.

The crackling of burning wood and his name on the wind were the last things Adeline heard as the world fell out from underneath her.