Saint
“Now this is really a déjà vu situation.” My twin grins down at me. “If only I had a building to chuck her off of.”
“Let. Her. Go.” Undiluted rage and a heavy dose of fear zaps through me. My muscles shake and I grip the knives in my hands so hard it hurts.
Samuel’s eyes snap behind me, scanning the sheer number of assassins and hunters overtaking the opera house. We weren’t fucking around. It was an all-hands-on deck situation. He looks to me again, anger coloring his features. He knows he’s outmatched.
Aurora grabs his hand at her throat, struggling for air.
I take a step toward her.
“One more step and I kill her, Saint.” He tightens his grip until she yelps, still smacking at his hand.
I freeze, my world narrowing to her. She’s screaming something at me I can’t read, and I know if I even try to access her thoughts or reality right now, I’ll slip us into a tailspin. I’m that fucking angry.
So, I throw my power at Samuel. Constructing a reality where he’s drowning in a pile of dead bodies he’s responsible for.
“Enough!” he roars, jostling her so hard she winces. “Drop the vision or she dies.”
I do as I’m told. I know he’s not bluffing and there’s not a fucking thing I can do about it.
Aurora reaches for his hand at her throat again, this time with both of hers as she wiggles in his grasp.
“Fuck!” he growls, dropping her in a heap at his feet.
She hits the stage with a thunk that I feel in my gut.
He holds up his hand, and it’s shriveled black.
“That’s getting old.” He shakes out his hand, healing himself as she tries to scramble away.
He kicks her in the stomach, sending her soaring across the stage.
A blink and I’m on top of him. We slam into the stage, the impact cracking the wood beneath us. The blades in my hands slip, clattering to the floor. Samuel shoves me off, gliding to his feet. He’s poised to run, and I can see the escape route in his eyes.
“You won’t get another chance!” I roar.
He pauses. It’s only for a moment, but it’s all I need. I lunge for him again, and he dodges, then swings at me, and I duck. We’re locked in a battle of hits and kicks and attacks that make it look like we’re dancing. I know his every move just as well as he knows mine.
He lands a hit, his knuckles connecting with my cheek. The punch is hard, but the power he puts behind it is what has me doubling over. My vision blacks out for a few moments, his power stealing my sight. My other senses fire, sound and smell propelling me forward.
I catch hold of his neck, gripping so hard he groans. My vision slams back into me, his power thrown by my attack.
“Get the girls out of here!” I yell as Ajax and Alek try to rush the stage, but stop at my warning. They nod, heading to help the others.
Samuel is dazed from my hit and from the way I’m digging my fingers into his throat.
Hawke has an unconscious Avianna over his shoulder as he eyes me. “Deliver on the promise you made me.” He fights a battle in his eyes, wanting to enact his own justice to Samuel for what he’d done to his mate verses getting his mate out of here quickly as possible.
“I will,” I vow.
He wends out of sight. The king and Ajax help Cassandra and Talon out. Dagon and Annika are the next to go. The witch has regained her strength and is helping Benedict capture any of the Sons that are still alive and hauling them from the opera house.
My head swarms, dizziness making me lose my grip on my brother. He wrenches away, fangs bared as he lunges at me. We slam to the ground, and he lands hit after hit to my face, only adding to the imbalance he’s delivering with his power.
I can barely connect with my limbs to block him. He’s rendered them useless.
“They’ve left you.” Samuel shakes his head as the opera house falls eerily quiet.
Another hit sends white hot pain through my skull, my stomach rolling the more he touches me.
“They never cared about you. Not in the way I did.” He looks down at me, a micro expression of grief in his eyes. “You…you’ve disappointed me brother.”
His power waivers, just a fraction.
“Samuel,” I bark his name, shoving at him with the little strength that slips though his broken power.
The surprise hit hauls him off me, and I cling to the dregs of power I can feel beneath what he’s doing to me.
I grip his reality, but it’s slippery, making him flash to a white room where there’s nothing but us.
No escape. No Sons. No bloodmads. No hunters. Just him and me.
Samuel swipes at the blood dripping from his nose, eyes scanning the room. He shoves to his feet, eying the fresh blade I’ve drawn from my holster. “This is it, then?” he asks. “You’re really going to kill me?”
Pain slices into my soul, to the space I can feel our twin bond.
“We could rule together,” he says, hope filling his eyes. “You and me. We could drink ourselves sick and change things to how they should be. With vampires on top and everyone else bending to our will. We can remake the world, brother.” He tilts his head. “I’ll even let you keep Aurora.”
“You value nothing but death and torture and pain.” I glare at him. “You’re done.”
“I’m your brother,” he says, a plea to his voice. “You can’t kill me without dooming yourself too.” He takes a step closer, imploring. “We can stop this together. We can unite our two sides and start anew.”
Angry tears well in the backs of my eyes, memories betraying me the closer he gets. Flashes of the brother I once knew, the twin I once loved.
“Saint,” he drags my name out, stretching his arms open.
“We shared a womb. We’ve shared an eternity together where nothing and no one could come between us.
I never honestly thought you wouldn’t be with me on this.
Even when I had you imprisoned, I was certain you’d come to your senses.
That you’d see my vision, support me on it.
I need you. I need my brother on my side. Come back to me.”
He sounds like the brother I once knew. The one who trained with me, laughed with me, and never let anyone underestimate the madness I walked. I lock up, my hand shaking around the knife I know I need to sink—
He moves fast. Too fast to track.
Something sharp and hot pierces my chest. The vision I’ve created drops. We hit the stage floor again. His hands shove against me, the hot, sharp thing twisting. I look down. He’s gripping one of my knives. My head smacks against the floor, my vision flickering.
“Fuck.”
Blood pours from the wound, my heart stuttering. I cough, and red liquid flies from my lips.
“You chose the wrong side.” Samuel pushes the knife in farther, eyes wild as he glares down at me. “You’re no brother of mine.”
I can’t make sense of anything beyond the pain. Nothing but the life draining away from me. I make one last attempt for my power, trying to capture his mind again. I can’t.
I’ve failed. My head lulls to the side, seeking out Aurora one last time.
She’s not there. Ajax probably took her to safety.
That’s good. She’ll never forgive me, but she’ll get to live.
She’ll be free. Because as surely as I die, so will he, right?
The twin bond will sever by his hand, claiming his life, just like it would’ve mine had I done the same to him.
Maybe it’s better this way, with him being his own downfall, in the end. Or maybe…
I jerk my last blade up, aiming for his heart. Samuel knocks it away.
It was worth a shot.
“Say goodbye,” Samuel says, twisting the knife. Not because he needs to, because he’s enjoying this.
I gurgle, blood filling my mouth. “I’ll meet you in hell,” I spit the words.
Samuel stiffens above me, eyes flaring wide, as if my words have physically gripped him.
No, that’s two delicate hands framing his face from behind.
A gut-wrenching scream rips from his mouth, his skin turning a sickly gray as his body seizes.
Aurora.
She’s there, shoving him to the ground beside me, screaming loud enough to shatter the sound barrier. Her eyes are wholly black as her power bleeds from her so fiercely, Samuel can’t defend against it.
“No!” he roars, his hands curling in toward his chest, his cheeks going gaunt. He looks starved. Emaciated. “No.” His voice is a whisper before his eyes roll back in his head, and he goes limp beneath her.
She doesn’t let him go. She keeps going until he’s nothing but a spread of ashes on the wood.
I flinch as something that was once solid snaps inside me. The twin bond we shared cracks in two.
“Saint!” Aurora cries. “Saint, no.” Her gaze scatters all around me, noting the pool of blood I’m lying in and coughing up before she drags me into her lap.
“It’s okay,” I say on a fluid-filled breath. “You’re okay.”
“You can’t die.” Her eyes are no longer black but covered in tears. I want to swipe them away, but I can’t feel my arms. My body.
“You helped me live,” I say. “Love. You.” I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. They’re so heavy. And I’m so fucking cold.
“Saint, no,” she cries. “No. Please don’t leave me. Don’t leave me!”
I wish I would’ve had more time with her.