Chapter 109
Dread
The vampire stands still, inside my home.
I don’t let anyone inside my home.
He’s radiating so much heat that I’m glad I’m in only my pants and nothing else.
“I’ll get you what you need.” I make the promise, eyeing him. “Follow me. And don’t burn my fucking house down.”
Volik dips his chin.
I turn away from the wall of portals, down the hall to my basement door.
I start down the wood steps.
The vampire is behind me, filling the stairwell with his fire.
I make a slight hand motion, and wind gusts up the stairs, dispersing the heat.
When my feet reach the cement floor, I flick my fingers, and the wall of monitors across the room turns on.
The screens fill with live news reports, streaming videos, self-reporting sites…
“Talk.” I stride to the back wall.
Heavy footsteps follow me. “Where are we?”
“My home.” I give him the only answer he’ll get, then I underhand a ball of light onto the ceiling, over my long workbench. “Where did he take her?”
“I do not know.”
The room vibrates with Volik’s anger.
“How did he get her?”
“A mirror.”
I glance back at him as I pull open a drawer. “Did you destroy it?”
“Da. I melted it.” More angry heat fills the room.
I twirl my left hand as I dig through the drawer with my right.
Another gust of wind blows through the basement.
Volik lets out a low growl.
“Control your fire,” I snap, as I pull out a heavy sphere of metal.
“I am trying,” Volik bites back.
The metal thuds against the worktop as I set it down and pull open the next drawer.
“Would you have been able to track them through the mirror?” Volik grits out the question, and I hear the self-loathing in his voice.
“Doubtful.” I tell him the truth. “Better to destroy it than leave it unattended.”
I tug a leather bag out of the next drawer and dig through it until I find what I need.
“Your eyes are not glowing.”
Keeping hold of the rough green stone, I drop the leather bag back into the drawer and slam it shut. “I’m too busy for subterfuge.”
Leave it to the vampire to notice that at a time like this.
When druids use magic, their eyes glow gold.
I’ve been using magic.
But… I have a lot of magic. That doesn’t follow all the rules.
And I can feel the validity of Volik’s urgency. So I’m not fucking around with the pretense of my eyes.
“I need to find her.” Volik’s voice cracks. “I have to save her.”
He’s still telling the truth.
He has to save her.
And in his soul, Volik views it as saving her. Not himself.
Even though, if she dies, he dies.
He is worthy.
I cup the stone and ball of metal between both of my palms.
My vision sharpens as I let my magic flow. And the golden glow finally fills my eyes.
The haze of magic covers everything in my sight, tinting the world.
Sparks of gold crackle over the backs of my hands.
And I charge it with intention.
This is a weapon for death.
This blade will cut through vampiric lifelines.
The wielder of this dagger is meant to kill the killer of wolves.
I pull my hands apart, slowly.
The items hover between my palms.
I curl my fingers against the force of the glow, and the metal reforms.
It pulls. Twists. It follows my commands.
I recite old magic. I shift my left hand.
The hilt shapes to fit fingers smaller than mine.
The blade extends. Stretches.
Sharpens.
I push my palms closer together. Shoving extra magic into the stone.
It vibrates.
I force it to take even more power.
I will it to hold.
My hands move again, and the metal accepts the stone into the base of the hilt. Strips of metal pull away and cross over the top of the stone.
Locking in the magic.
Securing the curse.
Volik is standing beside me, looking down at the weapon in my hand.
The vampire killer.
I turn to him, holding out the slim dagger.
He reaches for it.
My fingers close around the hilt; the golden tint of the room darkens. “This weapon is important. But it is not the most important one today.”
I blink. And the glow leaves my eyes.
When I open my fingers, Volik takes the dagger from my hand.
He stares down at it. “I do not know where to go.”
Something catches my attention, and I lean to look around the vampire.
I narrow my eyes. “You’re going to Versailles.”
Volik spins to see as I flick a drop of magic, turning on the audio for the live video.
A male voice scrapes through the speakers. “Let Volik know what’s coming for him. Let him fear.”
The room shakes as Volik watches the recorded video of another vampire choking his mate.
There is no calming him. So I don’t try. I simply send out waves of my own magic, calming the earth, so my house stays standing.
Volik jumps to the screen.
His back heaves when the other male licks his mate’s hand.
“P-put her down!” someone near the camera cries.
“No.” Morell’s mouth pulls up into a smirk. “I think I’ll keep her.”
Volik hisses at the screen, and the sound makes my skin crawl with unease.
Then we watch Morell jump across the hall of mirrors.
But he’s still holding Nix with his arm around her throat. So she’s ahead of him.
And she’s the first to go through the sheet of glass when he jumps through the window.
A pained cry drags itself out of Volik’s throat, and he presses his hands over his heart. Not caring that the magicked dagger, made for killing vampires, is pressed against his chest.
“Ma Fleur.” His words are choked, and when he turns to me, tears are streaming down his face. “Help me save her.”
I dip my chin and head back toward the stairs.
My lids lower, my attention moving to the world map in my mind.
I focus on the grounds outside the Palace of Versailles.
And I find the location I need.
At the top of the stairs, I stride down the hall toward my portal room. And I don’t slow my stride as I walk through the third portal from the left.
My feet land on grass outside the cabin.
I wave my hand over the depression Volik left in the ground, and the earth shifts, filling it back in.
One more wave and the bits of burned grass tremble. Then regenerate.