Chapter 75
Derrick wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He could see something strange happening to Lucie.
A weird, golden, sand-like substance swirled around her.
He panted and glanced up as Abe lunged into more voidless.
They couldn’t do anything to the army that continued to revive.
All they could do was try to hold them off.
He noticed a slithering snake trying to quietly escape behind the voidless.
“Abe!” Derrick called to the wolf and nodded in the direction of Count Basil. “Can you manage without me?”
Abe growled at him, and it almost looked like the wolf rolled his eyes.
Derrick would take that as a yes. He leaped over the voidless, stepping on their heads as he dashed toward his target.
He was not going to let this man escape.
Several red bolts shot out from Count Basil’s hands straight toward Derrick, who used his blood whip and knocked them away.
The Count was distracting him with his attacks, and while Derrick was deflecting them, the man was trying to evade him and escape.
Two bodies blurred away from the battle, streaks against the dark. As much as Derrick hated leaving Lucie, he had faith in her, and she had faith in him. They had to trust each other. The Count couldn’t be allowed to get away and come back for them another day.
The trees tore past in a smear of shadow, Derrick closing the distance with every stride, close enough now to hear the Count’s ragged breath.
Then the Count stopped short and whipped around, hurling something at him.
Derrick lashed out with his whip and caught the object mid-air, but the vial shattered on impact and the contents burst over him in a fine spray.
It hit like acid. The substance seared through his clothes and into his skin, hissing as it went, eating deeper with every heartbeat.
Red dripped from him in steady rivulets, spattering the ground at his feet.
He braced himself, teeth clenched, forcing his body to stay upright.
The Count lunged. His claws came down in a vicious arc, already slick with poison, and the hiss that tore from his throat was something more animal than man.
Derrick threw his arm up to block it, the motion slower than it should have been, the acid still working its way through him.
The claws sank deep and dragged, opening his forearm from elbow to wrist. The poison hit his bloodstream the moment the wound opened, crawling toward his heart.
He staggered back, putting distance between them, and that was when he felt it.
His body pulsed. Something inside him was answering a call he hadn’t sent, syncing with a rhythm that wasn’t his own.
Golden dust began to rise around him, the same shimmering gold he’d seen curling around Lucie, and the hot energy from before stirred deep in his chest and rose like a tide.
The magic threaded into his own, merged with it, became a part of him.
His eyes shifted, the familiar amber burning away and leaving something new behind. Crimson, flecked with gold.
Specks of golden dust began swirling around Lucie as her eyes turned scarlet.
Her fairy magic was merging with her elite vampire skill that she hadn’t yet discovered.
The golden dust swirled rapidly and reentered her body, flecks of gold now embedded in her red eyes.
The clouds above her began to change into a dark crimson as they rolled in.
A heavy crack of thunder echoed through the area, drowning out the sounds of fighting.
She felt her energy pulsing and synchronizing with Derrick’s. It was as if their magic was combining and they were coordinating their attacks. The clouds swirled again, and a red flash of lightning rippled through the sky. The sky answered the light with a deep roar.
Lucie looked at Beryl, who was just a shell, a mindless resurrecting machine. The person who was Beryl was sealed in a soul that would end up being devoured by Erebus. It was time to put this creature out of its misery. Her soul would have to remain in torture until Erebus was killed.
She could feel Derrick’s warmth inside her, and she knew their energies were calling for each other.
This was all new, so she let her instincts lead her.
She envisioned their energy swirling together, and as she did, two laser-red bolts shot from the sky.
One reached down and swallowed Beryl, while the other light landed in the distance, where Derrick was fighting.
The sky growled angrily as the crimson lightning ripped over its victims.
Beryl’s eyes shifted through colors, showing hints of her consciousness flooding back into her. The red lightning disappeared and Beryl collapsed. All the voidless disintegrated at the same time.
Lucie sighed with relief. Her eyes returned to their normal color, and she turned toward where Derrick was fighting. She needed to go to him and make sure he was okay, and she wanted to check on the others as well.
She heard a small noise and looked back to see the witch’s hand trembling slightly. She was still alive. She took a deep breath and walked up to her. She would end this stage of her suffering.
She was only a few feet away when the witch snapped her wrist toward Lucie, using her dying strength.
The witch took her last breath as a vial spiraled toward Lucie.
Lucie watched in horror as Abe’s wolf flashed in front of the vial while knocking Lucie backward making sure none of the contents hit her.
The sound of glass breaking was the loudest noise in the world next to Lucie’s screams of horror.
“NOOOOO!” Lucie shrieked as Abe collapsed to the ground.
Derrick grew weaker as the Count’s poison took hold. His hands began to shake and he felt disoriented. He wasn’t sure what happened. Did Lucie help him? Did he help her? Or was it their souls helping each other? He took a staggering step closer to the Count and looked down at his burnt body.
The man looked up at Derrick and coughed. “I was doing this for you.”
“No, you were doing this for yourself.”
“You are a fool. You … you will bring about the fall of the vampires,” Count Basil wheezed between coughs.
Derrick watched the man without remorse as he took his last gulps of air.
He was ashamed that someone like him was part of his kingdom.
This betrayal was proof that he couldn’t trust his people blindly.
He would actively seek out anyone else who might have doubts about his future queen.
This wouldn’t happen again. Anyone who didn’t completely support his queen would not be allowed to remain in the kingdom. He wouldn’t risk it.
He took a few shallow breaths and turned toward where Lucie was. He needed to get to her and make sure she was okay. The world around him began to blur, and he blinked rapidly. He couldn’t lose consciousness now.
He heard a sound that sent a jolt through him … the high-pitched scream of his mate. He wasn’t sure exactly where she was, but somehow he found the strength to run to her.
He arrived to see Lucie and Myra kneeling next to Abe, blood oozing from his eyes, nose, and mouth.
“You can’t die now. How am I going to punish you for leaving me in that energy drain for so long?
” Myra said sadly. When Abe shifted back from his wolf form, Lucie had rushed over and found the crystal that had bound Myra, then released her from the barrier.
Her princess was pleading for her to help Abe, but there was nothing she could do for him.
“Why, Abe? I’m not a wolf. Why?!” Lucie cried as she gripped the demon’s hand.
“We don’t know what effects it could have had on the baby,” Abe said, his voice ragged.
Lucie looked up at Derrick. “Isn’t there a way to contract his soul again?”
Derrick knelt beside Lucie, his body moving before his mind could catch up. She turned her face toward his, and something in her expression shattered him. It was something deeper, something that had already moved past hope into grief.
“What about you? Will you be okay?” She bit her bottom lip and looked at his arm, tears falling down her cheeks.
“Shh … I’ll be fine. This can’t kill me, Lucie.”
“He won’t be able to stay conscious for long like that, though,” Myra added, and Derrick shot her an annoyed look.
“Don’t worry about me, okay?” Derrick pursed his lips together as he looked at Abe, slowly shaking his head. “There is no second contract for a soul. I’m sorry, Lucie.”
“No. There must be something. My aunt Reiya and Xander were able to save Caden. Maybe I can do something too. I—”
Abe squeezed Lucie’s hand as he choked on his blood, more pouring from his mouth. “Lucie, it’s okay. It’s an honor. It’s my penance. I’m just happy you’re safe.”
“You can’t leave us already, Abe. You can’t! Please don’t go …” Lucie’s bottom lip quivered and her nose stung. This hurt. Her chest felt constricted as the pain of this inevitable loss hit her.
“Hey, I already died once. There’s nothing to it,” Abe said with a crooked grin, his teeth stained with blood.
“This potion is working faster than the others. It seems to have been enhanced,” Derrick observed.
“It made him shift instantly.” Lucie watched Abe’s face contort in pain as his breaths became more shallow.
“Thank you, Lucie. Because of you, I felt what it was like to have a family. Thank you … for showing me what real love is.”
“Please, Abe!” Lucie sobbed.
He gave her a strained smile. “Tears don’t suit you, princess. Don’t cry for me.” Abe took a struggling breath, his life fading. His eyes stayed on Lucie, and a faint smile rested on his lips. “I’m happy.” His chest stopped rising, and his face froze. Just like that, he was gone.
Lucie lowered his hand, placing it gently by his side. She then turned into Derrick’s chest and began to sob.
Derrick’s body trembled beside her, each breath shallower than the last. She could feel the exhaustion pouring off him in waves, the poison dragging him under bit by bit.
His skin had gone pale, almost gray in the low light, and the hand he had braced against the ground shook under the weight of holding himself up.
Then her energy answered. It rose from somewhere deep inside her.
She felt it caressing him and intertwining with his energy again.
Only this time, something else rose with it.
A second current, softer, brighter, threading through her own like a ribbon of pale light.
White magic, gentle and luminous, wove itself into the familiar heat of her power.
The two braided together as they flowed into him, her gold and this new white, winding around each other as they slipped beneath his skin.
The effect was immediate. The gashes on his arm began to close, the torn skin knitting itself back together in slow, deliberate waves.
The angry red of the poison faded from the wound’s edges.
The acid burns stopped hissing against his flesh and quieted, leaving smooth skin behind.
She watched color return to his face, watched his shoulders lift as the trembling eased.
He looked at his arm and then back at Lucie. “Thank you. I feel better now.”
Lucie shook her head. “That wasn’t me. I mean, I didn’t know what I was doing. I guess the magic took over on its own, connecting because of our soulmate bond.”
She turned to Abe again, tears flowing down her face. “It’s my fault. He’s dead now because of me.”
“Lucie, this isn’t your fault. It’s that damn witch’s fault.” Derrick pulled Lucie back into his chest and leaned his head into her neck. He could actually comfort her now that the poison was no longer an issue.
Derrick heard footsteps approaching. He glanced up to see Jasper, with Justice leaning on him for support. That answered his other question about how they were doing. He saw their shock seeing Myra alive. Then their gazes fell to the ground in front of him and Lucie.
“Count Basil is dead, and so is the witch.” Derrick’s voice was solemn as he looked at Abe. “He sacrificed himself to protect Lucie. Even though he wasn’t her servant anymore, he ended up becoming a true friend.”
Lucie gazed at Abe. It was na?ve to think there wouldn’t be sacrifices. She just selfishly didn’t want it to be anyone she was close to. She reached out and placed her hand over Abe’s as tears continued to stream down her face.
In the distance, the sun slowly began to rise, piercing the dark with the dawn. But for Lucie, this day was not a welcome one.
“Thank you Abe, and goodbye … my friend.”