Vampire Blood (Vampire Bite #2)

Chapter Fifteen

Annika

I drifted in and out of the darkness, my body floating, weightless, as if I no longer belonged to it.

The cold stone pressed against my back, but it barely registered. I felt gentle hands lowering me onto something softer. A bed? No, it was rougher than that. A cot, maybe. My thoughts swam, sluggish and heavy, slipping through my grasp before I could hold onto them.

Voices murmured around me. I couldn’t make out the words, only the cadence. It was low, steady, rhythmic. A chant?

The scent of burning herbs filled the air, sharp and earthy, mingling with the faint tang of iron. My stomach twisted. The room spun.

I tried to open my eyes, but the weight of my eyelids pinned them shut. Heat bloomed on my skin, then vanished just as quickly, leaving me cold and hollow.

“Stay with me,” a woman’s voice said.

I wanted to answer, but my tongue felt thick, foreign in my mouth. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.

The chanting grew louder, reverberating through my skull, rattling my bones. It pressed against me, heavy and suffocating, yet something in it called to me, pulling at the edges of my soul.

The woman’s hands touched my forehead, burning hot. Light burst behind my eyelids, blinding and searing. I gasped… or maybe I didn’t. I couldn’t tell anymore what was real and what wasn’t.

I felt myself sinking deeper, falling into something vast and endless. The light shifted, turning red, like blood. Like fire. And then I saw her.

The witch.

She stood at the edge of my vision, wreathed in shadow, her dark hair wild around her face. Her eyes—my eyes—burned like embers, and her lips moved, though I couldn’t hear what she said.

Her hand lifted, reaching toward me, beckoning.

That was when the darkness peeled away slowly, like fog lifting at dawn. My feet touched solid ground, or something that felt like it, and the world around me shifted, smoothing into focus.

I stood in a clearing bathed in silver light, surrounded by towering trees whose branches arched high above me, forming a natural cathedral. The air was thick, humming with energy, alive and ancient.

There, in the center of it all, stood the witch.

She was as I remembered her. Tall, ethereal, with dark hair falling like silk around her shoulders. Her eyes glowed faintly, ancient and knowing, but there was a weariness in them now, as if the weight of centuries had finally caught up to her.

In that moment, I knew her. I knew of her.

Niram. That was her name.

“You came,” she said softly, her voice echoing in the endless void around us.

“I didn’t know I had a choice,” I whispered back. My voice felt too small, too fragile here.

She smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “No. You didn’t.”

I swallowed, stepping closer, though the space between us felt vast. “You helped me,” I said. “Back in the crypt... That was you.”

She inclined her head, but I could see the strain in her expression now. “I gave you what I could.”

Her words felt heavy, final. I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means I am no more.” Her voice was calm, but the truth of it slammed into me like a stone. “That was the last of me… what little power I kept for the direst of moments.”

I shook my head, panic clawing at my chest. “No, no, you’re still here. You’re talking to me now—”

“A shadow of what I was,” she cut in gently. “An echo. Nothing more.”

Her words left me cold. “Then what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to stop this?”

Her gaze softened. “You already know the answer.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but the words died before I could speak. I did know. Somewhere deep inside, the answer had been waiting, growing stronger with every step I took toward this moment.

“Aurelius,” I said, the name tasting bitter.

The witch nodded. “He stirs even now. The blood they took from you... it’s waking him. It’s only a matter of time.”

I felt my heart drop. “But I don’t know how to stop him.”

“You will,” she said, her voice steady despite the tremor of fading light around her. “You must.”

Her words felt more like a sentence than encouragement, but I forced myself to meet her gaze. “Tell me how.”

She stepped closer, and suddenly her hands were cupping mine. They were solid, warm, despite the fading glow of her form. “You are stronger than you believe, Annika. But power without resolve is meaningless. Remember that.”

I clenched my fingers around hers. “Don’t leave me,” I whispered.

Her smile softened. “I was never meant to stay.”

The light around her flickered, dimming, and I felt her slipping away.

“Wait!” I cried out, desperation clawing at my throat. “Please!”

But she was already fading, her form dissolving into the shadows until there was nothing left.

And then I woke.

“Niram!” I shouted as I gasped, as the remnants of my dream vision hung onto me like cobwebs. My skin was damp, and my head spun as I tried to sit up.

A firm but gentle hand pressed against my shoulder, urging me to stay down.

“Easy,” a tender voice said.

I blinked and looked up to find a woman kneeling beside me. She was older, with silver-threaded hair woven into intricate braids, her face lined with age but striking in its sharpness. Her eyes were pale gray, almost translucent, and they pinned me in place as if she could see straight through me.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

She dipped her head slightly. “I am Rowena,” she said, her voice steady but not unkind. “And you need to rest.”

I flinched, glancing past her to where Lucas and Kael stood a few feet away. Lucas looked tense, his arms crossed and his jaw tight, his eyes fixed on me like he was afraid I’d disappear if he so much as blinked. Kael stood farther back, arms resting at his sides, though his expression was unreadable.

I tried to push myself up again. “No… I can’t rest. You don’t understand.”

Rowena frowned, her hand pressing more firmly against my shoulder. “You’re weak. You’ve lost too much blood. Whatever it is can wait.”

“No, it can’t!” My voice cracked, and I shook her off, sitting up fully this time despite the way my head spun.

Lucas was already moving, closing the distance between us in a flash. His hands caught my face, his eyes dark and searching. “Annika—what’s wrong? What happened?”

I gripped his wrists, trying to steady myself. “I saw her,” I said, the words rushing out of me. “The witch. My ancestor. She’s gone now, but before she disappeared, she told me that we don’t have much time.”

I stopped, forcing a breath. My pulse was racing, my chest tight. Rowena reached for me again, but I shook my head.

“We could see that ourselves,” Kael frowned with concern. “If he rises, we’re all dead.”

Rowena finally spoke again, her voice quieter this time. “Are you certain of this? Visions can be… deceptive.”

I met her eyes, my heart still pounding. “This wasn’t a vision. It was real. I could feel her and her power fading. She’s gone, but what she left behind...” I swallowed hard. “It’s on me now.”

Lucas’s grip shifted, his thumb brushing against my cheek. “We’ll stop this,” he said, but even as the words left his mouth, doubt flickered behind his eyes.

“No, you don’t get it,” I said, shaking my head. “We can’t just stop it. We have to destroy him before he rises. She told me—” I hesitated, the weight of her words still heavy in my chest. “She said I’m the only one who can do it.”

Rowena’s pale eyes narrowed. “The blood of the witch.”

I nodded.

Lucas stiffened, but his voice was steady when he spoke. “Then we fight.”

Kael didn’t look as convinced. “We don’t even know where to start. I mean, how do you kill the worst of the undead?”

Rowena finally rose, brushing her hands down the front of her robes. “I may be able to help with that.”

All eyes turned to her, but my chest still felt tight. Even with her help, even with Lucas and Kael by my side, the fear wouldn’t let me go.

I swallowed hard and pushed back the rising panic, focusing on Rowena. “What do you mean you can help?”

Her pale eyes flicked to mine, steady but unreadable. “There are spells. Wards. Old protections that may still hold power if we can find the right place to anchor them.”

Spells. Magic. Things that sounded more like myths than tools I could actually wield.

I shook my head. “That’s not enough. You don’t understand—he’s already waking. I saw it, felt it. He’s strong. Too strong for us to contain with words and symbols. If we don’t stop him before he rises fully—”

Rowena stepped closer, cutting me off with a look. “Then we’ll make sure he never does.”

Her words hit me like a slap—sharp and final.

I opened my mouth to argue, but Lucas’s hand slid to my shoulder, grounding me. I glanced at him, at the fierce determination burning in his eyes, and my breath steadied just enough to speak.

“Tell me what we need to do,” I said.

Rowena nodded. “First, you need to rest. Your strength won’t hold if you push yourself any further.”

I started to protest, but Lucas squeezed my shoulder. “She’s right, Annika. You can’t fight like this.”

“But there’s no time—”

“Then we make time,” he cut in, his voice low but firm. “You’re not doing this alone.”

Rowena stepped closer again, her voice sharp with authority. She addressed Kael first. “You’ll come with me and help me prepare what I can. And you,” she said, turning to Lucas, “keep her safe.”

They both nodded, but I barely noticed. My focus had already shifted back to the weight pressing against my chest and the impossible task looming ahead.

“I need the Aetheris bloom,” Rowena explained, extracting a dried, crumpled leaf from one of the jars on a small shelf. It didn’t look like much of anything.

I stared at the brittle piece of greenish-gray in her palm. It looked fragile and somehow ordinary, but Rowena’s eyes burned with something close to reverence as she spoke.

“When combined with the blood of a witch,” she continued, her voice low, “it becomes the most powerful binding spell I have ever encountered. A spell capable of sealing even the darkest forces.”

I barely heard her. My focus caught and tangled on the words a witch’s blood.

My blood.

I swallowed heavily. “You mean me.”

Rowena’s gaze sharpened, pinning me in place. “You already know I do.”

“This spell…” My voice wavered. “It takes blood. How much?”

Rowena hesitated, and that pause said more than I wanted to hear.

“Enough,” she finally said. “It will weaken you, yes… but it won’t kill you.”

Her words didn’t comfort me. Not when I saw the flicker of doubt in her eyes before she spoke them.

Lucas stepped closer, his voice sharp. “There has to be another way.”

“There isn’t,” Rowena snapped, turning on him. “We don’t have time for alternatives. Aurelius is stirring, do you understand what that means? If he wakes fully, nothing will stop him. Not you, not your strength, nothing. This is our only chance.”

She turned toward Kael, who had been quiet through most of this, his arms crossed as he watched us.

“You’ll come with me,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

Kael didn’t argue, just gave a sharp nod and stepped toward her.

I wanted to ask how long it would take, how much time we had left, but the words caught in my throat.

Instead, I looked at Lucas. He was already looking at me, his expression torn between anger and worry.

“We’ll be back before nightfall,” Rowena said.

Then she and Kael disappeared out of the mouth of the cave, leaving us alone with nothing but silence and the weight of what was coming.