Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
Vidar
It’d take a single second to grab Kai.
Enough time to stop Summer from slicing his throat open?
What if I save him, and Summer attacks Emma? His soul will be gone forever.
Too many questions. Too many possibilities where I lose him.
“You lied to us,” Lucero grits out. “To Golden.”
Sen steps forward, dark gaze black as the obsidian blade at Kai’s neck. Summer's hand twitches, Kai’s eyebrows shooting up.
“Sen!” I bark. “Stay back!”
A vicious noise leaves his chest, and Sen slinks back but stands ready.
“You want something,” I say to Summer, impatient, “and you’ll tell me now.”
Beads of sweat roll down Kai’s fever-pale forehead. Yet his chin is up, shoulders straight, my little prince is always trying to be brave for everyone else.
Summer peers at each of my offspring before landing on me, brow wrinkled as if she’s pleading for us to understand. “Kai already knows, but I need to be more powerful to fight the Demon King who killed my family—”
“I don’t give a shit!”
Summer’s lips thin, annoyed she can’t explain herself? Tough. All I want is Kai safe, and I’ll kill her for putting that shocked, betrayed look on my mate's face.
After a beat, Summer’s wrinkled brow smooths into a hot glare directed over my shoulder. “Emma, give Kai his soul back, and in return, you’ll give me the First Blood Mage Tome.”
“And heal me?” the dying blood mage begs.
“Once Kai’s soul leaves your body, you’ll recover. But it’s been inside too long and has damaged your magic, something only a mountain mage can repair. I’ve already got someone waiting who’ll help.”
A sinister chuckle with no humour leaves Rurik. “That’s why you made us wait. Not for Kai, but so Emma would have no fucking choice.”
“I thought we had more time.” Guilt flashes in Summer's eyes, but she doesn’t drop the knife, so she can shove her feelings.
Kai’s legs give out, his pained cry filling the room. Summer steadies him against her chest, causing the knife to slice into his neck.
“Kai!” Blind, electric panic surges me forward. Sen, Lucero and Rurik following my lead.
Summer—who looks more surprised than Kai—grips my mate like she’s trying to help him up. But her tight grip causes a weak sob to leave him as the blade digs deeper, so more blood trickles.
“Stay back!” Summer barks, glare frantic and wide.
My offspring freeze.
“I will slaughter EVERYONE YOU’VE EVER LOVED!” I force myself to halt, and the windows shake with the force of my shout. “If anything happens to him, Summer, I will hunt down anyone you’ve ever cared for and rip the meat from their fucking bones while you watch!”
“Don’t ever speak about my family!” Summer screeches.
“When you hold a blade against the throat of mine, I’ll do what I have to.”
Tension thickens the putrid air.
No one moves, and even Emma’s pathetic whimpering stops. The wind outside picks up and rattles the house like a pair of hands around prison bars.
“Emma.” Summer might say the blood mage’s name, but her attention remains fixed on me, nostrils flaring and any guilt she had long gone. Replaced with brash determination. “I’ll take you to the mountain mage for healing. Swear in honour of your blood you’ll return Kai’s soul.”
“I swear on my blood. Swear on your sh-shadows you’ll take me,” Emma gurgles.
There’s a second of silence that hangs like an axe before the chopping block. The obsidian blade at Kai’s neck is sharp enough that even in the gloom it shines.
“I swear.”
A ball of black swirling shadows materialises within Summer’s black-ringed hand. I start to move, Sen at my heel, just as she tosses it in the middle of the bedroom. Reaching out, the tips of my fingers graze Kai’s arm before I’m sucked into a tirade of hungry shadows.
Yelling, my body collides with Sen’s, smashing into Rurik’s and Lucero’s flailing limbs. We’re whipped into a violent current, so black the physical weight of it presses on my bones. Yet somehow, whatever noise we would’ve made is swallowed within the dark, swirling depths.
Noises from outside fade in and out of the storming void—Kai’s screaming, wood splintering. The scent of lavender so thick that it covers the stink of rot, along with blood.
Roaring like a wild animal, I try to fight back. But there's nothing to hold onto or push myself off.
Without warning, the darkness sucks itself into a dot then blinks out of existence. My offspring and I fall towards the ground, but I have enough sense to land on my feet. Dizzy, I whizz around to find both Summer, Emma and both spellbooks gone.
I don’t care about any of that. I care about the pool of fresh blood on the bed.
Twisting towards the hallway, I suck in an inhale sharp enough to pierce my heart. Kai is sprawled on the dusty carpet, clothes shredded and chest sliced open. The knots of scars peel from his body like clumps of torn paper, revealing normal skin beneath.
In one smooth motion, I pick him up and sprint out into the street, refusing to turn my love into a vampire in this house of nightmares. At the very least, Kai will have fresh air.
“M-my soul is ba-back,” he whispers, hiccuping with each shallow breath as I gently lay him on the ground. Ripping off my shirt, I drape it over his trembling body to keep out as much cold as possible and within seconds, it’s drenched in his blood.
“Shh, I know, I know.” I see his soul in his eyes, clear as the rising sun. “You’re going to be okay, Kai. I’ve got you now.”
He swallows wetly, tears rolling down the sides of his face. “T-tell me what will ha…happen.”
Shadows of my offspring fall around us, but I pay them no mind. I stroke Kai’s braids away, pull him close. Wishing I could’ve made him into a vampire somewhere beautiful and soft, with art hanging from the walls.
“I’m going to bite your neck and drain you of blood, it’ll stop all this pain, love,” I tell him softly, like it’s nothing but a bedtime story. “Once there’s only a drop left, I’ll give you my blood, and you’ll fall asleep, my little prince. Only for a few seconds. Then you’ll come back to me.”
His breathing evens out. “Wha…what about when I wake up?”
“Birth is always painful. I’m sorry I can’t change that, Kai. But it won’t be like Golden’s days of endless pain. A few short hours like my other offspring. Ramy only took three hours to become a vampire.”
“Then…?” he asks, eyes full of trust.
“Then no more pain. Ever.”
Kai’s eyelids shut, sighing. “I’m ready to fall asleep, Vidar…”
I cradle the back of his crown to expose Kai’s neck, then slide my fangs into his pale throat—into his slowing pulse. I am gentle, but quick, not savouring Kai’s blood like the gift it is. Summer will die for many crimes, but tainting Kai’s turning will be one of them.
In only a few short gulps, he’s on the brink of death, and I pull back, ripping my wrist open with little grace and holding it to his mouth. He doesn’t swallow most of my blood, but once his throat bobs, I can relax.
“Sleep, love,” I tell him, pulling my hand away and laying his head in my lap.
“Soon…?” Kai’s eyes droop.
“Soon,” I promise as his heart finally stops, and under a sky full of stars, Kai dies.