Epilogue
EPILOGUE
TALIN
I smoothed my hands over my favorite vest—black with metallic thread that caught the candlelight just right. The secret room in Lizzy's shop was empty now. Everyone was back at Aunt Judy's house to deal with the aftermath of Alex's abduction. Alone, the silence felt oppressive. Even the candles' flames stood eerily still.
"This is seriously messed up," I muttered to the empty space.
I'd been trying to do a locator spell, but it wasn't working. Nothing would show on the map lying on the floor before me.
However, something strange tugged at my consciousness. It felt like an invisible thread pulling at my sternum, urging me to move... somewhere.
I blew out the candles and folded up the map, putting it back in the drawer where I'd found it before I left the room, shutting the door and magically locking it behind me. As soon as I stepped out of the room, the sensation intensified—a directional tug that was impossible to ignore. Not painful, but insistent, like someone had tied a string around my heart and was gently pulling.
"What the hell is this?" I whispered, pressing my palm against my chest.
Against my better judgment, I grabbed my jacket and followed the pull. It led me down Magazine Street, past shuttered storefronts and bars still thrumming with late-night revelry. The thread pulled stronger when I turned north, then east.
Sweat beaded on my forehead despite the cool night air. I'd never experienced anything like this before. Was it a trap? Marcus's magic trying to lure another witch?
But it didn't feel malevolent. It felt... familiar, almost like family.
"Alex?" I gasped as realization hit me.
My cousin was lost to us, but somehow, I could sense him. We'd been close when we were younger, although not so much now. Especially since he'd mated with Kenya. But I liked to think there was still a connection between us the others didn't have.
Obviously, I was right.
I quickened my pace, following the invisible tether through the labyrinth of the French Quarter. The pull led me to an abandoned building on the outskirts of the district, the windows boarded up, graffiti marking the crumbling brick exterior.
But the moment I approached the door, the sensation vanished. The thread snapped, leaving me disoriented.
"No, no, no," I whispered frantically, turning in circles, trying to recapture the connection.
I closed my eyes, focusing all my energy on finding that thread again.
But there was nothing.
I slumped against the wall of the abandoned building, my chest hollow where the connection to Alex had been. The severed bond left me feeling strangely bereft.
"What are you doing out here alone?"
I startled at the deep voice, whirling around to find Elias standing a few feet away. Gods, he was huge. His dark eyes assessed me with a mixture of curiosity and concern, his black shirt open at the collar to reveal a glimpse of olive skin.
"Jesus! Don't sneak up on me like that." My heart hammered against my ribs. Why was he following me?
He arched an eyebrow, his neatly trimmed beard framing his slight smirk. "I wasn't sneaking. You're just not paying attention.”
"I was..." I hesitated, suddenly aware of how foolish I'd been, chasing a magical thread through the Quarter alone. "I just…thought I felt something."
Elias stepped closer, graceful and predatory. "You felt something. And you decided to go wandering after it?"
His sarcasm wasn't lost on me, but neither was the way his eyes tracked my movements or how his nostrils flared slightly, taking in my scent.
"I'm not exactly helpless." I straightened my vest, a nervous habit. "What are you doing out here, anyway? Shouldn't you be polishing glasses or something?"
"The club's shut down for repairs." He shrugged, his gaze drifting to my fidgeting hands before returning to my face. “But I thought I’d come down and check on things. I saw you wander past, like you were in some kind of trance or something. So I decided to check on you, too."
The air between us suddenly felt charged. I could sense his power—controlled, contained, but potent. My own magic responded, a low hum beneath my skin. I barely knew this vampire, yet something in his eyes made me want to trust him. “I know where Alex is," I said. "Or at least, I did. I could feel him, but then?—"
A deafening crack split the air, followed by a blinding flash from inside the abandoned building. Elias moved with vampire speed, shoving me behind him as the ground beneath our feet began to tremble.
"Stay there," he growled, his body a shield between me and whatever was happening.
The front door of the building burst open, releasing a wave of black smoke that writhed like it was alive.
And within that smoke, a pair of glowing eyes looked directly at us…
* * *
Thank you so much for reading!
Sacrifice of the Vampire, book 5 in the Deathless Night-Into the Dark series, is coming soon!