I release my grip on time, and the world surges back into motion like a film reel suddenly kicked into high gear. The chaos of battle resumes in a dizzying blur of violence and sound.
Without hesitation, I unleash a torrent of celestial fire at Azrael's back. He whirls, surprise etched across his features for a fleeting moment before he shifts into shadow. But his form wavers, insubstantial as smoke, and he staggers like a drunkard.
I lock eyes with Rhyland, a silent message passing between us.
Shadows Grasp.
Understanding dawns in his gaze, quickly replaced by a cold, ruthless determination. He advances on Azrael with predatory grace, every muscle coiled and ready to strike.
Azrael collapses to his knees, black ichor oozing from his mouth. His flesh smokes and chars, the stench of burning sulfur filling the air. "What... what have you done?" he chokes out, his voice a wet, gurgling rasp.
Rhyland doesn't waste words. He plunges his fist into Azrael's chest with a snarl of pure hatred. The sound of rending flesh and cracking bone turns my stomach, but I can't look away. "This is for every goddamn thing you've done, you fucking bastard," he snarls, his face a mask of primal rage. "For Adrian, for Dani, for her whole fuckingfamily. I hope you rot in the deepest pits of hell for all eternity, you worthless sack of shit!"
With a sickening, wet sound, Rhyland rips Azrael's heart from his chest. The organ pulses obscenely in his grasp, black blood oozing between his fingers. Azrael makes a horrific gurgling noise, his body convulsing before he topples over, his form turning to stone as thetrue deathclaims him at last.
Rhyland reaches down, tearing the ring from Azrael's lifeless hand and pocketing the Soul Stone. With a final, contemptuous spit on the piece of shit, he turns to face me.
His Nordic blue eyes are a storm of emotions—fear, regret, anger, and relief, all warring for dominance. I run to him, throwing myself into his arms with a sob. He catches me, crushing me to his chest so tightly I fear my ribs might crack. But I don't care. I bury my face in his neck, breathing him in as the tears fall unchecked.
Rhyland holds me; no words are needed as I pour my grief into his skin. The loss of Damon is a raw, gaping wound in my heart, the pain as fresh as the blood staining my hands.
Screams shatter our moment, a harsh reminder that the battle still rages around us. Rhyland sets me down, his expression grim. "This isn't over yet."
He blurs us back into the fray, and I waste no time unleashing hell on Azrael's remaining forces. White-hot fire explodes from my hands, scorching witches, vampires, and werewolves alike. The stench of burning flesh mingles with the coppery tang of blood, a nauseating cocktail that coats the back of my throat.
The battle seems to stretch for an eternity, each second marked by another life snuffed out, another enemy felled. It's not until Erik rips the heart from the last vampire, the creature's dying scream echoing across the clearing, that stillness finally descends.
Exhausted, I slump to the ground, my lungs burning with each ragged breath. Blood, soot, and gore paint my skin and clothes, the stench of death clinging to me like a second skin.
Through the haze of smoke and carnage, I see Rhyland approaching, his form battered but unbroken. He's drenched in blood, his clothes hanging in tattered ruins, but the set of his shoulders speaks of grim triumph.
Just as I allow myself to believe it's finally over, the sky splits open with a blinding flash of light—a swirling vortex of color slams into the earth directly on top ofRhyland. The force of it sends shockwaves rippling through the ground, blasting me back—hard up against a tree.
I roll and try to catch my breath. My lungs scream as the wind is knocked out of me.
Rhyland struggles against the vortex's pull, the cosmic winds whipping at his hair and clothes. "Danica!" he shouts, his voice nearly lost in the roar of energy.
"Rhyland!" I scream, sprinting towards him with every ounce of strength I have left. Lucian and Erik blur past me, throwing themselves into the maelstrom in a desperate attempt to reach him.
Erik and Lucian are hurled backward by the sheer force of the vortex, their bodies smashing through trees as if they were twigs. They crash into the ground with the impact of a meteorite, leaving craters in the earth. They lie there, limp and unmoving, as if life itself had been knocked out of them.
With a final, desperate lunge, I hurl myself toward Rhyland. The wind tears at my hair, raging like a hurricane. My fingertips stretch out toward him, our hands almost touching. Then, with a deafening crack, the vortex vanishes, taking Rhyland with it.
Another blast rocks the open area like a shockwave, throwing me across the field—I hit the ground hard, the impact driving the air from my lungs for the second time.I can only lie here, stunned and disbelieving, as the reality of what just happened sinks in.
Rhyland is gone—vanished into the aether, stolen away by forces beyond my comprehension.
I hack and wheeze, my lungs desperately trying to remember how this whole 'breathing' thing works.
As I look up, my heart stops. Damon is walking towards me, his form silhouetted against the smoke-filled sky.
This can't be real. My mind must be playing tricks on me, conjuring up mirages in the aftermath of trauma.
"Damon?" My voice is barely a whisper.
Something's not right. As Damon draws closer, I see his eyes—they're red, the sclera shot through with crimson veins. It's like looking into the eyes of a stranger wearing my brother's face.
A sudden, desperate hope surges through me. Did the stone work? Did it somehow bring him back, even after I'd given up all hope?
