It was madness to even try it. But Hellsing’s body was shaking on the floor, his breath rattling in his chest, and I didn’t have the luxury of fear.
I didn’t know if it would work. Hell, I didn’t even know if it was real. But Peter was choking on whatever darkness had its claws in him, and I wasn’t about to just sit back and watch him get dragged into whatever hell that demon had in mind. I found the page and snatched up a white candle and a blade, my heartbeat thundering as I lit the wick, feeling the urgency press against my ribs.
The spell was simple but dangerous; it was supposed to turn dark energy back on itself, but I’d never tried anything like this. My fingers brushed over the candle, the last one in the box, and I struck a match, the flame flaring to life. It felt fragile, that tiny light, but it was all I had. I knelt beside him, murmuring theincantation as I slid the blade through the palm of my hand. My voice shook as drops of blood dripped onto the burning candle, slowly growing stronger with each word. I focused everything I had on the words, willing them to take hold, to latch onto whatever dark force was inside him and twist it back. I could feel the shift almost instantly. The air tightened, the pressure building in my chest as the energy began to move.
The shadows in the corners of the room thickened, pulsing as if they were alive. A rush of heat crawled up my legs, searing through my veins, until I felt it climb my throat like fire. As I continued to chant, every ounce of doubt and fear tried to claw its way up my throat. But I fought it, kept my voice steady, whispering into the dim light of the candle. I focused on him, on what he’d looked like when he wasn’t twisted up in pain. The lines in his face, his quiet strength, that dangerous edge in his eyes. Peter Hellsing, the man who refused to break, even when everything around him was trying to shatter him.
The dark energy in the room was almost visible, swirling around us, coiling like a serpent. I could feel it, thick and suffocating, the raw malevolence seeping into the air. I locked my gaze on the flame, willing it to cut through whatever was binding him, to take that darkness and throw it right back at whatever was hurting him.
I kept whispering, kept believing, even though part of me was terrified. I thought of him, my voice trembling with the weight of it, and I pushed everything I had into those words, feeling a pulse of heat slide up my arms and legs, crawling under my skin like a live wire.
I could hear it then, distant screams, muffled, filled with pain and fury and coming from behind a wall. They weren’t mine or his. It was like being plunged into a well of suffering, the sound clawing at my mind, threatening to drown me in their agony.But I held my ground, clinging to the only thing I knew: I had to believe. I had to hold on.
The power surged up from deep within me, slamming into me like a wave, and for a second, I felt weightless, like I was caught between two worlds. Heat flared from my core, spreading through me until I thought I’d burn from the inside out, and then…nothing. A violent, gut-wrenching silence. The flame flared one last time, and the power hit like a freight train. Hot, raw, and alive. My body lifted, slammed backward, and I hit the floor with a cry, the air knocked clean out of my lungs.
My head spun as I tried to regain my balance, feeling bruises bloom under my skin. I looked up and saw Peter across the room, sprawled on the floor, breathing but still. He looked like he’d been pulled out of a nightmare, his chest rising and falling with the jagged breaths of someone who’d just clawed his way back from the edge.
When I opened my eyes, the candle had gone cold. The air was thick with silence and both Peter and I looked like we’d just come out alive from a burning inferno.
I watched him pace past the window, his words barely audible.
“We’ll be there soon. I need to figure this shit out.”
I wanted to tell him what had truly happened. Tell him that I’d felt it too, that surge of something so raw it could’ve ripped us both apart. But I’d kept my mouth shut, swallowing back the truth. I didn’t even know what had happened, or what kind of power I’d tapped into, and I wasn’t ready to admit that, not to him and definitely not to myself.
For now, I’d just let him think that he fought his way back. Until I got a grasp on the connection I just made and figured out what the hell I just dragged myself into.
HELLSING
“I’m taking you back to my place,” I state flatly.
“What? No!” She stood up so fast the chair groaned, and I knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Grace had always been a live wire. That’s how she caught you. Sharp and impossibly stubborn yet lived life however the fuck se wanted to. I always envied that of her. She had no past or curse to blemish her future, not like I did.
“You can’t fight me on this one, Grace. Prez’s orders.”
“The hell I’m listening to either one of you! I have my home, Hellsing. I’m safe there and I don’t want or need to go anywhere else.” I watched her grow angrier by the second, and I had to admit she was twice as pretty when she was mad.
“Too bad.” I moved before she could think of arguing with me. Her keys disappeared into my back pocket with the casual theft of a man who’d been around his share of barstools and pickpockets. I reached for her purse next. “Let’s go.”
She crossed her arms, making sure to keep her feet firmly planted on the ground. “I would rather go to the deepest, most hellish of hells, before I go anywhere with you.”
I smirked. “Honey, you wouldn’t last an hour.”
“Then I’ll stay here,” she stated firmly.
“With the windows shot out, and that stench of incense and piss?” The place smelled like a rundown homeless shelter. There was no way I was leaving her here.
“I don’t care,” she replied, not caring in the least bit.
“Anyone can get in here and loot the place. Grab your stuff. Rooster and Styx will be here later to board up the place.”
“I don’t need prospects or members around my place…” she bit out.
“Stop being so damn rebellious,” I grabbed at her arm and she yanked it away with such force, I was sure she hurt herself.
““No.” She pushed at my hands, and I attempted to go in again.
“Goddamn it, Grace.” I tried grabbing her again and once again, she shoved at me. We went at this for a solid two minutes before my frustration kicked in. I finally wrapped my arm around her waist and hauled her against me.
