Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Enzo
Agony upon agony pumped through my body; hot sweat drenching my skin and leaking into my eyes. I had to get out of this fucking spiny cocoon, but every time I struggled, the vines squeezed tighter and tighter, their thorns ripping my flesh.
But that wasn’t the worst part. It was the damn demon blood burning through my veins.
Joy had opened the portal to the Elder Dimension.
The thought was like a punch to the gut, stealing what little breath I had left.
Christ. She hadn't done it willingly—I knew that with absolute certainty.
But Angelo wouldn't see the coercion, the impossible choice she'd been forced to make.
All he'd see was the forbidden door hanging open, spewing ancient horrors into our world.
And Keir—fuck—Keir would lose his mind. He had been guarding against this exact catastrophe ever since Cormac’s Supernatural War.
Most of the Unseelie had been banished into the dimension, but he and his men had fled, retreating to New Orleans and being branded traitors.
Joy wasn't just facing Angelo's wrath anymore.
She'd just painted a target on her back for every Unseelie in NOLA.
They'd hunt her to the ends of the earth.
Marsha's silhouette filled the doorway, her long dress billowing as acrid smoke poured in behind her.
The stench of burning cypress and something far worse—charred flesh—hit my nostrils and made my stomach lurch.
Through the gap, I caught a glimpse of the bayou changed into a nightmare of flame and smoke.
Towering flames licked at the sky, turning the familiar wetlands into an orange nightmare that painted Marsha's cruel face in demonic light.
My chest tightened. Angelo. Serenity. The others. Were they caught in that inferno? But even as panic clawed at my throat, logic kicked in. They could escape fire—vampires and the Unseelie were fast, resilient. They'd survived worse than Faas’ pyrotechnic tantrum.
What worried me was this goddamn fortress.
I tested the vines again, feeling fresh thorns bite into my already shredded wrists.
Blood trickled down my arms in warm rivulets as I strained against my bonds, my muscles cramping and spasming.
The demon poison burned hotter with each movement; liquid fire racing through my circulatory system.
Joy. Her name echoed in my mind like a prayer, like a curse. I had to get to her. Had to find her before—
My breath hitched, the only protest I could make without triggering the vines to tighten. The others could handle themselves, but Joy was out there somewhere, probably terrified, possibly hurt. And I was trapped here like a fly in a web while she needed me.
I gritted my teeth as Marsha approached me. “Where the hell has Ari taken her?”
“Into the Elder Dimension.” Marsha crossed her arms, looking entirely too pleased with herself.
Fuck, it was even worse than I thought. “Why?”
“Because Ari wants to meet with Queen Alanna. He needs her forces to reclaim what was stolen from the Dark Demons, to restore the old kingdom that was lost during Cormac's War.”
Pain gripped me again like white-hot knives carving through my chest, but I swallowed the scream and forced myself to focus on Marsha through the haze of agony.
Sweat dripped into my eyes, stinging and blurring my vision as I glared at her with every ounce of hatred I could muster. “What the fuck are you babbling about?”
“Mixed bloodlines.” She said it with a yawn, as if the topic barely warranted her attention. “Don’t worry. The mafia families are safe. None of you have any mixed bloodlines.”
My stomach lurched as the implications hit me. Mixed bloodlines. Whatever sick plan she had brewing, it targeted specific people—people like Joy.
Marsha's attention shifted away from me, smooth and unhurried.
Her heels clicked against the stone floor as she stalked toward the two forms wrapped in vines near the altar.
I knew one was Rose and the other Alice, but I had no idea which was which until Marsha drew her leg back and delivered a vicious kick.
The sound of boot meeting flesh made me flinch. Rose's agonized groan tore from her throat, raw and broken, as she curled in on herself. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, dark against her pale skin.
"But this little bitch," Marsha purred, nudging Rose's trembling form with the toe of her high-heeled shoe, "and the current Queen of the Dark Demons, won't be so lucky."
Across the cathedral, Valentin was still staked to the pillar, his arms stretched high over his head, blood staining the stone beneath him.
A muffled thud drew my gaze toward the shadows on the opposite side. Dark Demons were bricking up a doorway, their movements methodical and silent. Through the shrinking gap, I caught a glimpse of white hair—Ebony Khan. Gunnar's queen.
Was Marsha fucking crazy?
I stared at Marsha's satisfied smirk, at the cruel pleasure dancing in her eyes. She and Ari were completely unhinged—sociopaths playing with lives like they were nothing more than toys.
I panted. “Then…why take Joy? She’s of…a mixed…bloodline.”
“We need her…” An evil smile like the Grinch’s lit up her face, making my blood run cold. “For now.”
"You won't fucking hurt her. She's mine." I struggled, arching my back and then my arms. The thorns dug even deeper, fresh blood streaming down my chest. I was mad with agony.
Marsha tilted her head back and laughed. “There’s nothing you can do, enforcer. You’re trapped in my poisonous vines. There’s no escape.”
Stop thinking with emotions. Stay calm. Think, damn it. Think!
I closed my eyes and forced myself to take a deep breath. There was one way and only one way I could get the fuck out of here. I had to shift.
I reached for the familiar sensation, the pull deep in my core that would transform my bones and flesh.
Nothing. What the hell? I reached again—harder this time, willing the change—but it was like grasping at smoke.
The demon poison coiled through my veins like acid, blocking every pathway to my vampire nature.
I tried again, straining with everything I had left.
Come on. Come on!
My muscles seized as I fought against the toxin coursing through my system. Sweat poured down my face, mixing with blood as I battled for control over my own body. The shift was like trying to grasp smoke—there one second, gone the next.
Pain exploded behind my eyes as I pushed harder, demanding my vampire form to emerge. My vision blurred, darkness creeping in at the edges, but I refused to give up. Not when Joy's life hung in the balance.
Finally—finally—something gave way. My bones began to contract with agonizing slowness, each transformation feeling like it might tear me apart.
The process that usually took seconds stretched into an eternity of torture.
My muscles cramped and spasmed as they fought to reshape themselves while the poison tried to keep me locked in human form.
With one last desperate surge of will, I completed the shift. My smaller bat form slipped through the thorns, and with one final burst of strength, I flew out of that nightmare.
"No!" Marsha cried out. "You can't leave. Ari..."
Her voice faded to white noise as I beat my wings frantically.
Pain shot through the delicate membranes with each stroke.
The poison had left them cramped and unresponsive.
I lurched sideways, my tiny body struggling to gain altitude as the cathedral's vaulted ceiling stretched impossibly high above me.
Up. I have to go up.
My heart pounded against my tiny ribs as I fought for height.
Each wing beat was like lifting lead weights, my muscles screaming in protest. The broken stained-glass window glowed far above—fragments of colored glass catching the light like jewels around a jagged opening.
Saints and angels stared down at me from the intact portions; their painted faces seeming to mock my desperate escape attempt.
I was losing momentum fast, my poisoned body failing me when I needed it most. The stone floor waited below, ready to claim me if I faltered.
Desperation flooded my system with adrenaline. I angled upward, pushing through the burning pain in my wings, climbing toward that precious gap in the broken glass where freedom waited.
“Come back here,” Marsha screamed.
She started chanting. Shit, a spell. The air around me began to thicken and shimmer—her magic reaching for me like grasping fingers.
I flew toward the jagged broken window, my wings shuddering with each panicked beat. Dark smoke poured into the cathedral, scraping my throat and making my tiny eyes stream with tears, blurring my vision. I blinked frantically, trying to clear them as I fought for altitude.
Flames licked higher and higher into the sky beyond the window, their hungry tongues turning the entire world into a hellscape of orange and red. The heat hit me in waves, even from this distance, making my already labored breathing even more difficult.
Almost there. Almost free.
Dark clouds rolled overhead like an army of shadows, swallowing the firelit sky. Lightning split the darkness with a deafening crack that seemed to shake the very air around me. Then the heavens opened up.
Rain pelted me with the force of tiny hammers, each drop feeling massive against my small bat form.
My wings, already weakened by poison, buckled under the assault.
Every beat sent fresh agony through my shoulders, but I forced myself to keep going.
I had to reach Joy. I plummeted several more feet before desperately flapping back up only to be knocked down again.
No, no, no!
With one more desperate push, I drove myself forward. The jagged edges of the broken window loomed ahead—then I was through, tumbling into the smoke-filled bayou.
Panic gouged at my chest as I swirled back and forth, completely at the mercy of the wind and rain.
My wings were like lead weights, refusing to keep me aloft.
The burned trees and steamy ground rushed up toward me with terrifying speed, blackened branches reaching like skeletal fingers ready to snare me from the sky.
Fuck. The earth was coming up fast—too fast. I was going to crash.