In the eyes of the vampire world, he was the one for her, and we were the ones forced into the shadows. Even if we were back together, it still hurt.
“Seems like we’re all in a shitty situation.” I looked back toward the door and lowered my voice. “Something’s in there. I can feel it.”
He made a humming sound.
“Magic? I can't smell anything.”
I raised my hand, ready to open the door, but paused. Signals were going off in my mind, but the stupid part of me ignored them and pulled the door open.
That was a mistake.
One that would've cost me my life if Caspian hadn’t wrapped his arms around my torso and jerked us away from the building with his vampire speed.
I felt the explosion of magic before I saw it and recovered fast enough to create a barrier to protect us from it.
That magic collided with mine and sent us spiraling backward. Caspian and I were thrown against something, with him taking the brunt of it. I had to keep up my magical shield while the explosion hit us for a full ten seconds before it died down.
“What the fuck?”
We both looked at the building. Most of the exterior was still standing, but the walls were cracked, and chunks had fallen from it. I pushed off Caspian and ran to it, hoping to see whatever was inside.
Magic. Dark magic.Old. The same type I felt on the coin that Atlas had once used to communicate with Vesper. The same typeI felt in my nightmares as my coven leader drained the life of my parents. Whatever General Lee was hiding in there, it was something that should never have been in his hands to begin with.
I ran inside. Caspian was yelling at me to come back, but it didn't matter now. The trap was gone.
There used to be a staircase there, but it was mostly gone, so I could look down at the ruin left by the explosion. And, in the middle, a single burned body.
It was suddenly hard to breathe.
This wasn't just a trap to protect General Lee’s secret and kill whoever tried to uncover it. They were taking care of the loose ends, including the witch who had helped them along. Though “helped” was probably the wrong word. I didn’t know any witch who would willingly help vampires do something so dark.
I had an inkling as to what they were doing down here, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions. Because something this horrific would open the floodgates into a possible all-out war between witches and vampires.
I forced my shaky legs to take me to the lower level and take a look at everything more closely.
The runes are similar to the ones I see in my nightmares.
It could only mean one thing. I jerked to the side as my stomach hurled, all its contents coming up, and Caspian came up behind me, his hand patting my back in an unusual display of compassion.
“This isn't good, right?”
I shook my head and wiped my mouth before looking back at the witch, who was unrecognizable.
Well… almost. Their features and body were mangled, but their robe was one of the magically treated ones that all coven leaders gave their dogs, enhanced to withstand an explosion like this.
But what made it even more sickening was that it was a robe I recognized.
A robe I had worn most of my life.
The White Lotus.
And I knew that, if the body wasn't as destroyed as it was, I might recognize and have worked with that person.
“This is the worst possible outcome,” I said and paused, trying to give myself enough strength to even say the words. “If this is how he’s getting his powers, we’ll never be able to defeat him.”
“So witches are giving them to him?”
“They aren’t giving him anything.” I turned to face him. “He’s stealing their life force and using it to make himself stronger. Plus, he seems to know what he’s doing, which means this is not the first or second time.”
