32. Andrea
32
Andrea
“ I didn’t come out here to talk to you.” I sigh at Ash. He appeared as soon as I took a minute to myself during Brielle’s announcement. I should have stayed for it, but it’s painful when all I can think about is how horribly wrong I have handled my love life.
“I’m not here to talk. I need to get you out of here.” As soon as the words leave his mouth, the sounds of screams and glass shattering come from the ballroom. I glance toward the manor.
“What’s going on?” I start toward the house, but Ash grabs my arm. I look down at his hand gripping me. “Let me go.”
“I can’t Azra has ordered me to get everyone to safety, including you.” Torin appears with the vampire that is Salem’s boss.
“What is he doing here?” I glare at Torin and Ash as he drops my arm. Celeste runs up behind me.
“He is here to help. He was on standby just in case there was another attack. His vampires are here defending us, fighting alongside our army.” Torin looks to Celeste. “Go with Ash and Andrea,” he orders her.
“No, do you all forget I have had the same training as you? I’ve sat out too many times for the sake of maybe getting in the way, but I love Brielle too. I’m fighting.” Celeste rips the skirt of her dress in half to reveal weapons sheathed on both thighs.
Torin sighs and snarls at Kai. “You better protect her with your fucking life, do you hear me?” Kai sighs and nods. Torin walks past me, grabs Celeste, then Kai, and vanishes.
“Is no one going to tell me what’s going on?”
“All we know is it’s another attack. Azra ordered us to stay out of the ballroom and protect our people. I’m just following orders and making sure you are safe first.” He reaches his hand toward me. My eyes drop to it.
“Where’s Brielle?” I ask. He doesn’t answer, but his face tells me all I need to know. I look back down at his hand and send a flame over it. When he hisses, I take off running to the manor. I hear Torin reappear and order Ash to fly over the village.
I bunch my dress in my fists so I can run faster to help Brielle. The house is almost too quiet as I run through it to the ballroom doors. When I swing them open, my heart feels like it took its last beat.
“Brielle!” I run over to her lying on the ground, her blood pours onto the floor beneath her. She coughs and blood begins to spill out of the sides of her mouth. “What have you done?” The woman only smiles at Brielle dying on the ground.
“AZRA!” I yell to summon him. Not even a second later, he appears, his suit covered in blood and the insides of the vampires. His eyes drop to Brielle as I put pressure around her wound to stop the bleeding. Her warm blood coats my skin.
His eyes glow along with every marking on his body as he stalks toward the woman who is slowly standing.
His hand wraps around her throat and lifts her until her feet are dangling. Tears stream out of my eyes as the blood continues to gush out from underneath my hands.
“Stay with me, Brielle,” I whisper.
“Don’t!” Salem yells, running over to Azra. Torin rushes behind her.
The woman only smiles down at him. A smile that looks so familiar.
“You heard her, down boy.” Her tone is hoarse from the pressure of Azra’s hand.
“She is going to die for all she has done,” Azra demands through gritted teeth.
“Azra, they are still linked. You will kill Brielle!” Salem shouts, Torin trying to stop her from getting too close to Azra. “She has linked their life forces. I knew something wasn’t right after the ritual. Andrea only broke off the line completely connecting their powers, but their souls are still tied. Since it is a blue supermoon, their connection is stronger and she can completely drain her. If you kill her, Brielle will die too. She wants Brielle alive only long enough to siphon the rest of her powers. Once Brielle is powerless, the bond is as easy to snap as a rubber band, and Vara will absorb all of Brielle’s powers as well as her own. She will be unstoppable.” Salem steps forward, her brown eyes wide. Azra’s jaw ticks before he throws the woman to the ground.
She falls, trying to catch her breath.
“Who is that?” I ask Salem as she rushes over to Brielle, her hands hovering over the wound and the blood starts to slow.
“It’s her sister, Vara. Torin and I found the witch she brought with her hiding near the veil. Torin made her talk before he killed her. Bloodline powers are unlike any other. It’s why we could never find her with our locating spells. This has only happened once before, but in a coven long ago and the strongest sibling won.” I fall to my ass at her answer. I look back to those green eyes. That smile is familiar because she looks so much like Brielle’s mother. “Her pulse is slowing,” Salem shouts out. Torin drops to his knees beside Salem and hovers his glowing hands around Brielle’s wound as well.
“What a smart little witch. Guess that means I’m on a time limit.” Vara smiles again, her hands lighting as she lifts them from her sides.
Brielle’s body arches from the ground. Vara slowly lifts as the light surrounding her grows brighter and brighter. Her feet levitate from where she was standing. Azra steps toward her and she scowls, pushing her hand toward him. I have to cover my eyes from the blast of bright light and Azra flies across the room, unconscious.
The air around us starts to vibrate as it did when I did the ritual on Brielle.
Salem moves to Brielle’s head, “Brielle, listen to me. If you can hear me, I need you to find that thread connecting you two and pull, okay? If she can siphon your powers, you should be able to siphon hers too. You can drain her just like she has done to you all of these months. Reach within, find that fucking thread, and pull. Pull as hard as you can.”
“Nice try, but you are too late.” Vara snarls, and her hand pushes forward. A blinding light beams from them. It’s like the next moments are in slow motion. I raise my forearm and close my eyes, anticipating the scorching power.
A different warmth envelopes me and my stomach drops when I open my eyes and a pained, glowing pair meets mine. Ash’s wings are splayed, blocking Vara’s power from us.
“Ash!” Torin shouts.
“Do not fucking move, Torin. Save Brielle,” Ash strains. Torin holds his hands over Brielle’s wound as she is still arched from the ground. The blood finally stops pouring out.
“No,” I whisper. My teary eyes search his face as it contorts with pain. His dark beautiful wings begin to burn from taking the brunt of the powers. “Stop! What are you doing? Stop!” I grab his shirt. His hands wrap around my wrists.
“If this was all the time we had in this life, I am happy to have had at least this.” He winces and slowly sags, his wings revealing its bones. “Shh.” His weak hands cup my face, his thumbs wiping my tears. “This isn’t the end, baby. I will rip this world apart until I find you in every single life for all of eternity.”
The beam of power stops and Ash falls over, his eyes fluttering shut.
Vara looks down at her hands with furrowed brows. Brielle’s body lifts completely from the ground as Vara’s drops.
As Vara’s light dims, Brielle’s grows.
“She’s doing it,” Salem whispers. Vara gasps as she searches her body with her hands as if to find a shield of some sort. The dagger in Brielle’s rib clatters to the ground. Her long brown hair is floating from her head hung back. Her eyes are still closed, but instead of the visage of death, she appears as if she is peacefully sleeping.
Vara grunts as she tries to siphon Brielle’s powers again, but I stand, anger and sadness coursing through my veins. I wrap Vara in an invisible rope, repeating one of the many incarnations Salem forced me to learn. I bind her tight enough that she can’t move an inch.
I taste the blood and tears leaking into my mouth as I growl, forcing all of my power to keep her still as Brielle glows brighter and brighter.
Brielle’s eyes flick open, glowing bright as they did when I partially broke the bond. Vara begins to pale and gray, just as Brielle did in those months.
Vara’s eyes roll back as she goes limp. Two large flames radiate from Brielle’s back.
Wings. Flamed wings.
Just like the drawing.
The flames and ash begin to ripple through the wings, turning them real and gray. Feathers appear in the wake of the fire. I drop my hands and sag to the floor, heavy breathing while Brielle slowly descends to the ground. The power merges into a ball at the center of Brielle’s chest. Her wings jut out of her low-rise dress, swishing against the floor.
I drop next to Ash as Torin looks over his wings with a wince. Azra awakens and is stunned once he realizes who is walking to Vara’s body. Vara’s eyes flutter open as Brielle stands over her, the latter’s gaze still glowing brightly.
“Please, spare me. I had no choice.” Vara’s voice shakes as she cowers away from her sister. A gasp sounds from the door as Celeste rushes in, Kai beside her. His eyes are as wide as everyone else’s.
“Would you have spared me? Did you spare our mother or Willow?” Brielle’s voice boomed around us. Her eyes distant and numb, she outreaches her hand.
“No—” Vara starts to scream, but Brielle burns her to ash within seconds and the room falls silent. Only the sizzle of the charred body of Brielle’s sister sounds around us.
“Brielle,” Azra whispers as he approaches her. His hand is out in front of him carefully. She turns to him, her brows still angled down and her eyes still shining brightly. “It’s me, angel. It’s me,” he gently repeats the closer he gets. Her face relaxes. Her eyes turn back to her normal honey color, glossing over with tears as she collapses into him.
My own tears are still running as Torin is trying to heal Ash beside me. I place my hand on his cheeks and his eyes slowly open a sliver.
“Ash!” I drop closer to his face and kiss him. Careful that I don’t hurt him more. “Why did you do that? Your wings—” I whisper, my tears dropping onto his bloodied clothes.
“I can live without my wings. It is you, little bird, that I cannot live without.” His shaky hand rests on my cheek. I lean into it and kiss his palm. A faint smile pulls at his perfect lips for only a moment. His head then droops to the side. His hand was now a weight in mine.
“Ash… What happened? Is there anything I can do?” I look back to Torin. My words are a desperate and frantic plea.
Torin shakes his head. “I’m not sure. He is barely breathing.” Salem crawls over, being mindful of Ash’s charred wings beneath him.
She places both hands on his temples and closes her eyes. His shoulders relax.
“What did you do?” I place my hand on his scarred chest. My palm barely rises from his shallow breaths, but they are even now.
“I sent him somewhere happy in his mind. Just to stop the pain.” She whispers.
“Celeste, get Cleo now!” Azra yells out to her. Celeste sniffles and nods before leaving again, Kai following behind her as he was told to do.
“Will he live?” I ask, trying to control my sobs. Torin drops back on his legs, his face solemn.
“I’m not sure,” he whispers in defeat.
And then my heart shatters like never before.