Chapter 23 Aurora #2
“Because we’re fighting our own dead now. Every time one of ours falls, they join their ranks. Because we’re losing the war, through lies and betrayal, while the real enemy grows stronger.” My voice strengthened the more I talked. “If you don’t act, there won’t be a Republic left when you wake.”
His eyes narrowed. The pressure lifted slightly, enough to let me rise on my heels.
“You speak of defeat. Have my children grown so pathetic?”
“Our defenses are non-existent. Our leaders are corrupt. We’re losing because we don’t understand what we face.” I fought the pain and struggled to my feet. “You made us from your blood. Help us finish this.”
Black seeped into the white of his eyes. I stepped back, expecting him to annihilate me.
“Approach.”
Blood Aura crashed into me with that one powerful word. Every muscle seized, then moved at his command as his power carried me up the steps.
My thoughts scattered. I was clay in his hands.
I stopped at the base of his throne, gasping as he released his hold. He towered above me even seated, but when he rose to his full height, I had to crane my neck just to see his face.
He struck without warning. Iron fingers clamped around my throat, hauling me off my feet. A debilitating fear paralyzed my body.
My hands clawed at his wrist, but his skin was harder than stone, and my nails splintered against him.
“Your blood will show me truth or lies.” He tilted my head, baring the vein pulsing beneath my skin. “Pray you speak honestly.”
His fangs drove through my throat in one clean bite.
I expected my blood to burn, to feel the same searing agony as when Lev tore into me.
But this felt nothing like Lev’s violation. Dracula’s grip remained clinical, purposeful. No grinding hips, no groaned threats, no savage thrusts that ripped flesh. No bloodlust-crazed eyes demanding I ‘bite back.’ He held me like a specimen under examination, not prey to be devoured and defiled.
I stopped fighting and surrendered. The pain evaporated as his all-powerful consciousness invaded mine. Every secret, every fear, every moment of war flashed behind my eyes. He sifted through decades in heartbeats, discarding worthless moments, cataloguing what mattered.
My vision dimmed as he drank deep. Then his fangs withdrew with a wet sound, and color returned to my world.
“You speak truth,” he said, releasing me so I slumped to my unsteady feet.
Crimson stained his lips as ancient eyes blazed with stolen knowledge.
“This enemy has grown bolder. Wields power that shouldn’t be available to him.
” Shadows pulled around him, melding with his robe.
“I will give you what you need, even as your blood has already been touched.”
I stumbled backward, hand flying to my throat. “Touched?”
A chill ran down my spine. Someone had tampered with my blood? When? Who? What does that even mean? Dread filled my stomach, but his dismissive wave silenced my spiraling thoughts before I could voice them.
“Power demands sacrifice. Swear to me you will devote yourself to the Republic until this threat ends.”
The air itself seemed to hold its breath. “I swear it.”
“Swear you will be my instrument of war. My will made flesh, my heir in all but name.”
His offer siphoned the breath from me. Power to save them all. Power to end the lies, the corruption, the meaningless deaths.
“I swear.”
“So be it.” He sliced his wrist with one claw. “Come, my child.” Brimstone and copper filled the air as dark blood welled up, so rich it looked black. “Drink. Let my blood bind you to your oath. Forsake it, and you’ll never see another dawn.”
I didn’t hesitate.
I pressed my mouth to the cut. His blood hit my tongue, and my body became an inferno. It burned down my throat, flooded my system.
Power erupted beneath my skin. His Blood Aura punched through my bones and ripped through my body. Every cell tore apart and reconstructed. The magic swelled until I’d split open. It ripped a scream from my throat, but only blinding light poured out.
My vision went white.
Shaking, I clutched at my chest. Focus. In, out. Count the breaths.
One, two, three.
The marble split beneath me. Silver light bled through the cracks. Something was awakening inside me. Something I could never walk away from.
My sight cleared slowly.
I stared at my hands and gasped.
Red lines bled under my skin. A faint glow traced their jagged edges across my palms and fingers. I felt them burning beneath my sleeves. They raced up my arms, seared across my chest, and spread down my back, thrumming with his divine power. His mark.
When they melted into my bones, I felt empty and overflowing. His terrible power was now part of me.
The throne room dissolved, and I fell back into my body.
My head sagged as I slumped back on my heels. I would have killed for a moment to breathe, but the fates weren’t listening. Strong hands grabbed my shoulders and dragged me back to a hard chest.
“Come back to me.” Radu’s voice cut through the fog. I blinked, trying to clear my vision. He exhaled hard. “You’re okay, thank the gods.”
I could sense the worry gnawing at him. Tilting my head back, I met his gaze. Storm clouds had gathered in his eyes, dulling their brightness. His wolf stared back at me, the golden feathers spinning around blown pupils.
Radu tightened his arms and pressed his lips to my forehead. “Goddammit, don’t scare me like that again,” he said. “Did it work?”
I let out a shaky breath. “It worked.”
He kneeled in front of me, and despite our height difference, I spotted the smoky threads of Darklings gathering over his shoulder.
Instinct kicked in. I yanked Radu’s hood over his head.
“Aurora,” he started to protest, then caught the scent.
Geranium and mint.
He went rigid.
I saw her first. The High Priestess emerged from the darkness, crimson robes bleeding from shadow. Her floral perfume couldn’t mask what I smelled beneath it—fear. Sharp, metallic fear.
Her eyes swept the crypt. When they locked onto mine, something cold slithered down my spine.
Radu exploded upward, dragging me with him. His sword sang from its sheath, the blade pointed in her direction. He growled, a low rumble that came from his throat but sounded completely feral.
“One word and you’re dead,” he snarled.
She didn’t flinch. Didn’t even breathe hard. But she sank into a curtsy so deep it looked like worship.
My heart stopped.
She knew.
“Princess, you must leave now,” she whispered. “The Nightwatch have surrounded the temple. My sisters can’t delay them much longer. Hurry.”
Heavy footsteps thundered above us, muffled by stone but growing closer. We had seconds—maybe less.
“Go,” I told her. “If they catch you here, they’ll know you helped me.”
She didn’t argue. Shadows swirled around her, and then she vanished.
I turned to face the man by my side, trying not to read too much from the way his arm had fastened like a steel band around me. Like he was afraid I was going to disappear if he let go even for a second.
“Radu,” I called.
“No.”
“Portal out.”
“No,” he repeated, his mouth set in a grim line. “We leave together.”
I pulled away from his touch, my heart racing in my throat. The loss of his warmth knotted my stomach.
Confusion sparked in his eyes. I watched him fight the urge to follow, to close the distance I’d created. His hands twitched at his sides, but he held himself back.
“What are you doing, Aurora?” he whispered.
Shouted orders accompanied the clank of armor.
A spike of adrenaline made me nauseous. If I fled now, it would make me look guiltier.
Too many people had seen me at the Temple.
And even though they didn’t know my identity, it wouldn’t take long for the Elders to figure it out.
I was the only woman of rank with the power to release the officers stationed to guard the Creators.
The Council wouldn’t know the chamber had been left unguarded.
I couldn’t defend myself if I ran away. Lev could spin whatever story he wanted about what happened here.
Besides, no one would listen to warnings about the Shepherd from a fugitive princess hiding in the outer wards.
The Council needed to hear the truth, needed to face the real threat.
And they’d only listen if I confronted them with the dignity my title demanded.
I’d stand and fight.
The guilt was already eating me alive for the lives lost because of my cowardice. More outliers would die if I continued to hide.
I had information the Republic needed and authority they’d respect. My name would protect me from immediate execution.
And most importantly, I had Dracula’s power to prove my innocence. If I learned how to summon it in time.
I’d always known capture was a possibility. Better to face them alone than drag Radu down with me and get us both killed.
“I’m staying,” I said with all the conviction I could muster.
“Like hell you are.” He moved toward me.
But I stepped back. Out of his range.
His eyes almost appeared pleading. “I’m not leaving you here.”
The pain in my chest turned to acid. It seeped into tiny cracks and poisoned my blood.
I swallowed, not an easy task given that all the spit had dried up in my mouth.
I felt like puking. I had to make him go.
Had to save him. They would kill him without hesitation, tear him apart while they’d make me watch.
And there was only one way to make Radu leave willingly.
I had to shatter his trust.
“This was always temporary.” I forced glacial ice into my voice. “Did you think it was real?” I lifted my chin, making myself meet his eyes even as mine burned with unshed tears. “That I could actually care for someone like you?”
He clenched his teeth, the confusion marring his features turning to pain. “Aurora…”
“You’re a varcolac.” I spat like it was toxic. My hands trembled, so I fisted them at my sides. “Your kind murdered my father. Killed thousands of innocents. Did you really think I could forget that? Forgive it?”
He went utterly still. The kind of stillness that came before violence.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I don’t?” A cruel laugh scraped from my throat. “I used you. Your guild, your protection, your blood. It was all just… convenient. You were convenient.”
His mouth opened, closed, opened again. I watched the devastation bloom in his eyes.
But I knew this wouldn’t be enough to make him leave. So, I twisted the knife deeper.
“The only reason I let you touch me,” I retorted, letting the hatred I felt for myself seep into my voice, “was because I needed your portal magic.” I gestured toward Dracula’s chamber with a dismissive wave.
“But now I have what I came for. I don’t need you anymore. I can finally reclaim my throne.”
He shook his head. His hands curled into fists at his sides. “You’re not like them, I know you.”
The pleading in his voice nearly broke me. I wanted nothing more than to throw myself into his arms and beg forgiveness. My whole body ached as if rejecting me and the poison in my words.
Yet even after everything I said to him, a stubborn flicker of doubt burned in his gaze. The guards were nearly here. Leave, damn you. I had to cut deeper, reach where it would hurt him the most. Destroy any chance of reconciliation.
“You hear their voices!” I shouted, uncaring the Nightwatch could hear us. “You belong with them just like Conin does now. Maybe that’s where you should be too. Listening to your brother beg for death in that thing’s voice every night. At least then you’d be useful for something.”
He took a step back; his breath turned ragged.
The silence that followed was excruciating.
Even the door exploding above us seemed muted, distant against the roaring in my ears.
Radu stared at me with winter in his eyes, icy enough to flay off my skin.
His chest rose, his jaw working soundlessly.
I could almost hear the walls he’d always kept erected around me slamming up. Locking me out.
“I see.” His voice turned hollow, stripped of everything that had made it his. He straightened to his full height, rolling his shoulders back. “Should have known better than to trust a pureblood.”
A portal cracked open behind him. Jagged. Violent.
His beautiful golden eyes met mine one last time, and I saw nothing there. No warmth, no recognition. Just emptiness. “Goodbye, Your Highness. Hope your throne keeps you warm at night.”
He stepped toward the portal, then paused without turning back. His shoulders sagged for just an instant—so brief I almost missed it.
“For what it’s worth,” he said quietly, “I would have died for you anyway. Didn’t need to lie about it.”
Then he crossed. His form dissolved into thick darkness, and the portal snapped shut, leaving only the acrid smell of burned coffee and the shards splintering my chest.
I stared at the spot he’d vanished, my heart a bleeding ruin, as the Nightwatch poured into the chamber. Guards surrounded me, electric batons drawn, but I barely saw them through the tears blurring my vision.
I did the right thing. I’d saved him. Whatever Lev did to me, whatever the Council decided, I’d saved him.
Even if I’d just murdered the only good thing in my life.
More guards wearing the silver armor of the royal knights rushed in, filling the spaces between the pillars. The force Lev had spared would’ve flattered me if their menacing glares didn’t remind me how much trouble I was in.
Behind me, the air fizzled with Darklings, vomiting four more originals into the chamber. I recognized their scents instantly. Lev, and his loyal dogs: Alexandru, his right hand in political matters; Tristan, head of the royal guard; and Sevastyan, the eternal sycophant.
I turned to face them, barely containing my disgust.
Dressed in black silk that made him look like spilled ink against marble, the most hated man in my universe fixed me with the focus of a predator who’d finally cornered his prey.
Death seemed to waft off Lev like smoke off dry ice.
His straight hair fell past his shoulders, hiding the shaved side underneath, and the dark-purple shine of it matched the silk on his lapels.
Silver rings, one on each finger, caught the torchlight as he dragged his thumb along his lower lip. Triumph flickered across his face, and my stomach clenched.
Then he went still. Nostrils flared as he scented the air. His scarlet eyes turned polar, moving from Dracula’s chamber to me. The scowl he hit me with could have convinced a seasoned Nightwatch guard to empty his bladder.
“Aurora, what the fuck have you done?”
To be continued