31. Chapter 31
Chapter thirty-one
LUCA
The heavy smell of Sage’s blood slammed into me the moment I stepped through the back of the safe. My eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and I descended the stairs, following the smell of blood and magic until the wall of the staircase ended and the nightmare unfolded before me.
Immediately at the bottom of the stairs was a huge spell circle. Magic that smelled strangely familiar lingered in the air. Inside, Sage lay in a pool of blood. His shoulder was mangled and his eyes were struggling to stay open as his shaky fingers traced patterns on the ground beside him. Smears of blood coated his hands and the floor, but he just kept repeating the pattern over and over as his lips formed words too quiet for even me to hear.
On the other side of the circle, Mars pounded Sage’s barrier with a spell that made Sage gasp, breaking his concentration even as he continued casting. His spell held, but it was only a matter of time before Mars broke through.
Beyond both Sage and Mars, a smaller circle took up the rest of the floor. A man I didn’t recognize stood outside of it, but I barely paid him any attention. My focus was on the demon kneeling inside the circle. His hands scratched at the ground beneath him, sharp claws meeting the resistance of the magic. His gray skin and dark swirling markings were unfamiliar, and long, dark hair hid his face, but I knew exactly who he was.
Keir cried out in pain as the mage tried to bring him under his control, tossing something at the circle to make the faint glimmer flare. The demon had nowhere to run. Every attack hit him dead on, whether he was crouched in the circle, or melting into the shadows, desperately trying to escape. The magic flared and Keir reappeared, writhing in pain.
I needed to help both of them, but I had no idea how. I didn’t know the first thing about magic. Was it even possible to deactivate the circle trapping Keir without harming him? Not that I could get to him with Sage’s circle in the way. That left Mars and the other magic user. They were both outside of the circles, but getting to them was going to be just as much of a problem. The circle literally took up the whole floor. The edges of the room had metal shelves bolted to the floors, but that was the only space not inside the active spell. Guess I was about to find out if those old shelves could hold a vampire.
The attempt was laughably conspicuous. I couldn’t move quickly with so much shit in the way and every inch closer knocked half of it down. It didn’t take long for Mars to notice me and the next spell came flying my way instead. His angle was bad, but the spell smashed into the shelves, throwing books and random items flying at my face. I didn’t let his attacks slow me down, but the next hit made it clear it wasn’t actually me he was aiming for. The magic slammed into the old rusted bolts holding the shelving to the wall and between the impact and my weight, the whole thing started toppling into Sage’s circle.
I don’t know what I expected would happen if a vampire was thrown into a protection spell, but I was pretty shocked to fall right inside, completely unharmed. The shelf and everything on it bashed against the barrier and I quickly shoved it back against the wall hoping that would relieve some of the strain on Sage.
I rushed to his side, overwhelmed by the smell of his blood and fear. Those disgusting instincts welled up inside me and only my own desperate fear at the thought of losing Sage kept my vampire side at bay. Though my mouth still watered, and I hated myself for it.
Sage’s pained eyes flickered to mine, but he didn’t pause in his chanting. I wanted to take his hand, but I didn’t dare interrupt his casting. My gaze lifted to find Keir watching us, something close to relief on his face. His mouth formed words with no sound, a plea meant only for me. Take care of Sage.
“Don’t!”
It was too late. His next words weren't directed at me, but they slammed into me with a pain I wasn’t expecting all the same.
“I submit.”
A choked sob broke Sage’s chanting next to me, telling me he felt the same way. Keir’s body was forced to the magic user’s side and an evil smile broke over the man’s face. Mars stopped attacking and turned to the other man.
“Is it working? You have control?”
“I’ve got him,” the second magic user said. His confidence in that statement made my chest ache.
“Test it.”
The magic user turned to Keir. “Bow to your master.”
The demon didn’t hesitate to drop to a knee and bow to the man. He didn’t even lift his head before a blast of magic threw him backwards. A burn scorched Keir's chest, but he barely reacted, merely peeling himself off the ground to return to a kneeling position at the man’s feet.
My blood boiled, and I started to stand, unable to take another second of what they were doing to him.
“Luca,” the weak whisper pulled my attention back to Sage.
His breathing was labored, he didn’t have long. I should get him out while Mars was distracted. But that would mean leaving Keir under their control.
Sage understood my struggle and one corner of his mouth twitched. “If the mage is weakened, he won’t be able to hold him.”
“But you—”
“Do you think Mars would let another magic user have the demon he’s been after for decades?” Sage interrupted. His voice was pained and breathy, but he was as sharp as ever.
“He’s the trial run?” I guessed.
“Mars is stronger. Keir might not be able to escape on his own once he claims him.”
In other words, this might be our only chance. Keir had been trapped inside Sage for so long we had no idea how strong he actually was or whether he could break their hold. He said he’d been cast out by his own people and the sorcerer that claimed him because he wasn’t strong. But Sage didn’t seem to agree, and I didn’t either. What Keir had done to save Sage all those years ago weren’t the actions of the weak.
Sage stopped casting his barrier and I felt the magic weaken, but it held for now. His fingers gathered more blood from his shoulder and he used it to draw a symbol on the back of my hand as he chanted a new spell. This one seemed simple, but his voice had an undercurrent of power that wasn’t there before. He seemed weaker when his hand fell to the ground again, but after a minute of catching his breath, he started chanting the protection spell again.
“What’s this?”
“The wards are keeping Keir from escaping,” he explained. “They can just call him back, so the mage needs to be weakened first. But if the wards are broken when he gets free, he’ll have a chance.”
“But I broke the wards to get in.”
“The outer wards fell earlier. There’s another down here.”
The spell at the back of the safe. We were stuck down here until that was broken too. Remembering the wards on Mars’s house, my eyes came up to scan the room finding the glow on the opposite wall. Half of the crystals on the spell had shattered, but the rest of the spell was still active. “This will break the wards?”
“Hope so. ‘Nullus’ will activate it.”
I pulled off my outer shirt and tied it tight around Sage’s shoulder, but with a wound that big it wouldn’t do much. Sage gasped in pain, but for now it was the only thing I could think to do.
“You’ve lost too much blood.” I was trained to handle situations like this, and yet my voice broke beneath the weight of the words. Some professional I was.
“Then you’ll have to be quick,” Sage rasped, as fearless as always.
He was right, it was only a matter of time before his spell fell. He had minutes, maybe less. There were a million things I wanted to say, just in case there wasn’t a chance later, but there was just no time.
“You’ve always been too good for me,” I told him instead.
A raspy chuckle escaped his lips and a trickle of blood trailed from his nose. “Was gonna… say the same… about you.”
We were out of time. “Hold on a little longer. I’ll be right back.”
Sage sighed in relief. His fingers still traced sloppy symbols, and his lips still moved, chanting his spell in between our conversation, but he wouldn’t hold out much longer. “Save him, Luca.”
It sounded a little too much like a last request.
I darted out of the blood circle, bypassing the smaller spell in case it was still active and I circled around behind the mage still testing his control over the demon. I’d moved at top speed. They would barely have been able to see me in the dark, felt nothing more than a breeze as I zipped by. But Keir’s head tipped, angling his ear in my direction. He made no attempt to fight, in fact, he looked resigned to his fate.
His new master gave the order before I could attack. “Kill him!”
Keir looked pained as he fully turned to face me. His dark eyes held so much emotion I couldn’t begin to interpret what he was trying to tell me. But I didn’t have to. He melted into the shadows before I could make my move on the magic users and reappeared at my side. I was dragged into the darkness and we reappeared, crashing into a shelf against the wall. Books and bottles fell, scattering across the ground. I was still worrying about Keir standing among the broken glass when his whispered words touched my ear.
“Kill me.”
The ground disappeared and we reappeared in another part of the cellar, where the struggle for control continued. I just needed to break free from him and get back to the mage.
“Keir, let me go!”
“Please,” he begged, pulling me into the shadows again.
We were leaving a trail of destruction everywhere we reappeared, but Keir hadn’t actually hurt me yet. He was fighting the order, but how long could he hold out?
The lack of serious injuries didn’t go unnoticed by the mages because a ball of magic came flying at us and Keir threw a punch, using the motion to cover the fact that he’d put himself in the path of the spell.
“End it and save him before it’s too late,” he whispered as we crashed to the ground close to where we’d started.
He’d purposely moved us to a spot where he knew I could get back to Sage. The smell of fresh blood filled my nose as broken glass cut into his bare back and shoulders, burn marks scorched his beautiful skin along his ribs where the spell had hit him. Keir was sacrificing his life to save Sage again. He’d been holding back this whole time, but so was I. Had been since I became a vampire, so afraid of myself that I never fully used it to my advantage.
I lifted Keir and slammed us both into the far wall, my hand cracked the cinderblock right next to his head. Keir seemed to think I was doing as he asked and he closed his eyes as if prepared to die.
“Nullus,” I whispered, feeling the source of the wards go dead under my hand.
Keir’s eyes opened in surprise. Sage’s protection spell flickered in my peripheral, the glimmer of magic growing weaker with each passing second. We were out of time.
“You’re going to have to be the one to end it,” I told Keir. “But you won’t do it alone.”
Before he could pull me back into the shadows, I broke free and darted away to sink my teeth into the mage’s neck. Mars immediately launched a spell my way, but I’d already dragged the mage back with me. Hot blood poured over my lips, filling my mouth as I drank in a way I never dared to indulge in. The monster inside of me reveled in it, urging me to keep drinking, to drain him dry.
The moment of stunned fear passed, and the mage’s hands lit up with magic. But he was too slow, too weakened, too distracted from what he should have been focused on. Mars threw another spell, but the shadows had thickened around us and he could only aim in the direction of the glow from the other mage’s spell. The attack grazed my shoulder as I released the mage and jumped out of the way.
The shadows moved with me, leaving the mage exposed. He dropped to his knees, pressing a hand to his bloody neck. His terrified eyes darted to every corner, a spell still waiting for a target in his other hand.
“Where are you?” he demanded. “Show yourself!”
Keir appeared in front of him, head bowed. The mage raised his spell to attack and I tried to step forward, only to be stopped by the shadows. Somehow, they held me in place. I didn’t even know he could do that.
“I ordered you to—“
The words choked off on a gasp as the mage looked down at the hand inside his chest.
“I don’t take orders from you,” Keir finished as he tore the man’s heart from his chest.
“Disappointing,” Mars sighed when our focus turned to him. His eyes flicked to Sage and back to Keir. “But not a total loss.” He said something in a language I didn’t recognize, but apparently Keir did because he tensed. “I’ll be seeing you again soon.”
I lunged for him, but his entire presence disappeared. His scent, the beat of his heart, the sound of his breathing, all vanished into thin air. My hands swiped through the spot he’d just been standing, but came up empty. He’d already slipped away.
Without a word needing to be spoken, the two of us were at Sage’s side in a flash. Footsteps now filled the upstairs, breaking the ward would have made the smell of fresh blood obvious to any shifters outside and the sound of the Sheriff’s voice had me releasing a relieved sigh. We didn’t have time to fight anyone else.
“How long ago did his spell fall?” Keir asked, trying to gauge how long he’d been unconscious.
His pulse was weak, his breathing too shallow. “I don’t know, but he doesn’t have long.”
“I can take him through the shadows, but where?”
“How long would it take you to get back to Eastbend?” I asked, pulling my phone out to call Elliot.
“I can’t jump that far. It would have to be several smaller jumps, maybe ten minutes?”
Considering we were a little under an hour from home, that wasn’t bad, but I didn’t know if Sage had ten minutes. Keir seemed to come to the same conclusion because his eyes reddened.
“You have to turn him,” he decided.
I choked as the phone rang in my ear. “What? I—I can’t!”
“You have to, I can’t lose him! He’s all I have left. Please!”
I’d never seen Keir like this before. Desperate, absolutely beside himself with a grief that echoed in my own heart. But if I turned Sage, he’d lose everything all over again. He’d become the monster I’d spent the last year of my life wishing I’d never heard of. The magic he just got back would be gone, along with his humanity, the sun, his warmth.
Keir’s eyes hardened. “Are you not capable of loving him no matter what the circumstances? You defended him when I killed without mercy, can you not accept him as a vampire?”
My eyes burned as I held Keir’s stare. “This isn’t about what I want.”
“Luca?” Elliot’s voice cracked in my ear through the bad connection. Now that the wards were down we were left with just the shitty reception in this basement.
“Elliot,” my voice broke. “Sage needs you.”
“We’re already on the way,” he answered. “Silas called in the troops when he got your message. We’re about halfway there.”
That wasn’t close enough.
“Five minutes,” Keir said. “But I’ll need to know where they are.”
“Where are you now?” I asked Elliot.
Instead of answering, my phone pinged with a map of their current location in Lost Hollow. It was a small shifter town and they might get territorial if a bunch of demons and magic users stopped on their land, but we didn’t have a choice. On the bright side, it was a pretty rural town filled with parks and nature preserves, so there wouldn’t be a ton of humans to deal with.
“Pull off at the next exit, we’ll bring him to you.”
A minute later, Elliot pinged my phone with the exit they were waiting at. I pulled up the map for Keir and scooped Sage into my arms.
“Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Keir hesitated before his dark gray eyes met mine. “Luca, do you trust me?”
My heart thundered strangely in my chest. “It’s faster without me, isn’t it?”
Keir nodded. “I know—”
“Go,” I interrupted, settling Sage in his arms instead. “Whatever it takes, save him.”
The demon nodded again. “I’ll come right back… we might need you.”
He said nothing else before melting into the shadows, but his last words made my heart plummet through my stomach. I didn’t want Sage to have to live his life as a vampire. He couldn’t possibly want that. To barely get a taste of the magic he’d been missing all this time, only to have it ripped away again. He might have feared Keir before he knew what was living inside him, but that would be nothing compared to becoming a vampire and having that darkness gnawing at him every second of the day. The hunger, the bloodlust, the fear that it might take over and make me hurt someone I cared about.
In the beginning, it felt like the only answer was to stay away and never care about anyone again. If I was the one to turn him, Sage might never want to see me again. I wouldn’t blame him. I didn’t even know how I made it through those early months when I’d lost everything and my only consolation prize was this monster inside me.
No , that was wrong. I did know. There had been a frustratingly persistent bright spot in those dark days. No matter how much I pushed him away so I could wallow in the dark, Sage pushed his way in over and over, refusing to let me lose myself completely. If there was no other way, Keir and I would do the same for him. But I prayed we wouldn’t have to.