“Vlad!” Belladonna sobbed. “Please stop! You’re killing him.”
“My father has survived worse,” Gabriel said. “You won’t though.”
“You are my son, and I love you, but if you touch her,” Vlad growled as he pulled his broken and bleeding body over the floor. The vampires watched him struggle, but before he could reach her, a vampire kicked him in the gut, shoving him across the room.
“Stop!” Belladonna cried. “Please, stop.”
“Let her go!” Vlad roared as he forced himself to his hands and knees. “You can have me instead.”
“You would die in her place?” Gabriel asked, his harsh features contorting in disgust.
“She is my mate.” Vlad met her gaze, his heart breaking at the tears streaming down her face. “I love her. Do you hear me, little witch? I love you.”
“I love?—”
“Shut up!” Gabriel cut her off, but Vlad’s chest swelled despite the pain. She didn’t need to finish the sentence. He knew. He felt it. His wife loved him, and he would die before he let them take her from him.
“What happened to you?” Gabriel asked. “You were themost fearsome vampire known to history, but now you’ve lost your dignity to a witch.”
“No, son. I haven’t lost my dignity. I’ve done what no other vampire was brave enough to do. I learned to love the enemy and embrace peace. There’s enough power to go around. The witches aren’t our enemies. Hatred is.”
“Someone shut him up,” Gabriel said. “It’s pathetic. To think I worshipped you as a boy.” He shook his head. “Belladonna will die, and I’ll have my war… perhaps I’ll seize your reign as well. You’re too weak to lead our people. It’s time for a regime change.”
Vlad launched to his feet despite the pain and leaped for his wife. The vampires flinched at his speed, at his ability to move with so many stakes anchored to his flesh, but he couldn’t let them touch her. He would use his own body as a shield if it meant she survived long enough for Rowena to arrive. It didn’t matter if he died. She just had to hold out until her mother’s army saved her.
Vlad slammed into Belladonna’s seated form, capturing her in his embrace. “I got you, little witch. Your mother is coming for you.”
“Vlad, no.” Her voice panicked as he clung to her.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve lived a long life.”
“Please don’t leave me,” Belladonna sobbed as the stakes dug into his flesh. “I love you, Vlad, but we haven’t had enough time together. Don’t make me live forever without you.”
“But you will live forever, and that’s what matters.” Vlad spat blood as the vampires beat his body, yet he did not yield. They could not have her. “Kiss me, wife. Kiss me as I leave this world.”
“No. You’re not dying.”
“Little witch,” he slurred, his vision blurring. “I waited my whole life for you. At least I’ll die holding you. Your motherwill be here soon. Tell her I loved you and make her swear to uphold the peace. Tell her you did the impossible. You made me love a witch.”
“And I love a vampire.” Belladonna’s lips crashed down on his, his blood filling her mouth, but she didn’t pull away. She kissed him fiercely, delivering him to death on the wings of an angel. Vlad could barely keep his eyes open, but he put his soul into his last kiss with his wife. He often thought he would die in battle, but dying as the woman he loved pressed her lips against his was far better. He didn’t want to release her mouth until he breathed his final breath, but then pain ripped through his back.
He roared as the killing blow struck true, but as his world faded, a shockwave of power exploded throughout the room. It was unlike any magic he’d ever experienced, and he wondered if he had died and gone to the afterlife because through hazy vision, he watched Belladonna scream so loud that heaven and earth broke apart.
The moment Vlad’s blood touched her tongue, Belladonna’s magic woke. It stirred within her veins like a dragon waking from its slumber. Her fingers twitched. Her skin burned, and the wards inside her shattered. Vlad screamed in agony as his own son ordered his death, but Belladonna would not let him die. She would not let him leave her. How often had she practiced casting spells within a warded mansion? How often had she brewed potions in a kitchen that should’ve prevented her magic? There was a reason Rowena kept her hidden. A reason she was the coven’s heir, and after months of honing her skills in a magic-less house, her body exploded. She’d trained for this, had grown stronger for this, and she roared her rage.
A shockwave emanated from her chest, throwing the attacking vampires onto their backs. With an expert twist of her fingers, she cast a spell, and her chains shattered, collapsing to the floor in broken shards. Belladonna launched to her feet, arms outstretched as she absorbed themagic of Halloween night, absorbed the energy of her true love’s blood. Vampires drank from their mates to strengthen their bond, but because no witch had ever loved a bloodsucker, they didn’t understand the power of blood sharing. But she did. She’d sealed their marriage with that single taste, and Vlad's strength now flowed through her.
Belladonna launched into the air, rising high above the shocked vampires as her hands contorted. Spell after powerful spell, she cast magic at her enemy, and even though she was outnumbered, they were no match for her. The world hadn’t felt power like hers in centuries. Power born of love and not war. Power that not even wards could contain.
“Surrender, or I will flay the flesh from your bones,” she growled, her voice deep and otherworldly, as if every witch who’d come before her, and who would come after her, spoke through her words.
“Never!” Gabriel shouted. “Kill her!”
The vampires rushed forward, and with a flash of her eyes, her fingers twisted in a spell. Her attackers screamed in agony as magic peeled their flesh and muscles from their bones, and when only their skeletons remained, Belladonna lowered her hovering body to the ground.
“You see what I can do,” she boomed as she cast a healing spell over her husband’s collapsed form. “Surrender, and I will spare you. Your father doesn’t want your death.”
“Never!” Gabriel snarled. “I will never bow to a witch.” He turned to his remaining army. “What are you waiting for? Kill her!”
