“A old woman sold them to me. Not long after I changed,” she says with a shrug. “She knew what I was. Wasn’t afraid. Said they weren’t meant for me to use, just to carry until the time was right.” Her eyes meet mine. “I’ve got my guns. You’re not going in there unarmed. So, I figured the time is right.”
I nod, drawing in a slow, steadying breath as fear trembles through me. I’ve never fought. Never been in battle, let alone one against beings that can destroy vampires.My vampire.
Only you can save him.Sister Mary Joan’s words echo through my mind like a curse and a promise. I don’t know how. I only know this: I will die trying.
We pile into her truck. The engine roars to life, tires screaming as she throws it into gear. The world blurs past roads, trees, and open fields. A small town sleeps peacefully nearby, oblivious to the war about to tear reality open just miles away.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Lilith says, gripping the wheel. “You stay hidden. You follow my lead.”
“Have you fought Anathema before?”
She shakes her head. “No.” Her teeth grit together. “But I’ve fought the Dominion.”
Silence stretches between us. “If this goes badly,” I say softly, “thank you.”
She glances at me. “For what?”
“For taking me to him,” I say, my voice a breaking whisper.
She takes a sharp turn, slamming the brakes. “Ready?”
I nod. She hops out. “Climb up. Hold on.” I barely have time to wrap my arms around her shoulders before she takes off, sprinting through the forest at inhuman speed. The trees streak past, then it hits me. Lucian’s roar. Agony, laced and broken. It tears straight through my soul.
Lilith stops abruptly behind a cluster of bushes, crouching low. “It’s hard,” she warns. “You have to ignore it.”
I don’t, I look. Lucian lies on his back in the mud, rain hammering down on him as Anathema stand in a circle, hands outstretched. His tattoos blaze, the scripture lighting up his skin like lightning. He screams, and something inside me fractures beyond repair.
My breath stutters. My heart shreds. Lilith is saying something, but the sound is distant, drowned out by blood rushing in my ears. I stand. My feet move on their own.
Each blade is locked tight in my fists. His pain becomes mine. The fury at them, at the storm, at the world for daring to take him from me, floods my veins. They don’t hear me, or maybe the thunder hides my approach. Rain-soaked hair clings to my face as lightning splits the sky, illuminating the steel in my hands. It pulses like it’s alive. A roar, feral and animalistic, rips from my chest as I bring the blades down.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
LUCIAN
The pain is unbearable.It rips through me, splitting me open from the inside, like my body is being torn apart and rewritten all at once. Voices chant wrong words, ancient syllables scraping against my skull. My skin ignites. The marks carved into my flesh—my living scripture—blaze white-hot, burning so bright they tear holes in the night sky. I scream, but the thunder swallows it.
I squeeze my eyes shut, clinging to the only thing anchoring me: her.I think of her face. Her voice. The way she smells like rain and steel and home. I reach for her with everything I have left. I feel her. It’s working. I drag in a breath, and her scent fills me, floods my lungs,my veins, my soul. My eyes snap open. She’s here. Blades raised, a warrior’s scream rips from her throat as she launches herself through the storm; pure fury and love and violence. She comes down hard on one of the Anathema, blades crashing through it. The pain inside me eases as the creature shrieks, a sound so high and sharp it splits the air and makes my ears bleed. Light explodes. Black smoke coils upward into the roiling sky as the thing splits apart and dies.
I collapse onto my side, weak, shaking, clawing through the mud like an animal. Through blurred vision, I watch her—my Evelynn, my delicate mortal—cut down the other with savage precision. Her eyes are wild, feral. Her chest heaves as rain pours down her face like tears she hasn’t realized she’s crying yet. “Petal,” I rasp. My voice is shredded and barely a sound. She whips around; the moment she sees me, she breaks. Her lips part. Her eyes fill as a sob tears out of her chest. Dropping her blades, she stumbles toward me, falling to her knees in the mud. Her hands shake violently as she cups my face, like she’s afraid I’ll disappear if she lets go. Then she crashes her mouth into mine; a broken, desperate kiss. Salt, rain, blood, and grief. She sobs into me, her whole body shuddering. I breathe her in. Her touch. Her tears are soaking my lips. With what little strength I have left, Icling to her like she’s the last thing keeping me alive. “You left me,” she rasps, voice cracking apart. “You left me.” I push trembling fingers through her soaked hair, brushing it from her face.
“I’m sorry,” I choke. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“This was not the prophecy,” a deep voice says behind her. She spins instantly, blades back in her hands, sitting in front of me with her back pressed to my chest like she’s shielding me with her own body. I try to sit up. I fail. My body is useless, a dead weight. I search through the smoke for my brothers. Nothing. The darkness swallows everything.
The Anathema smiles. Needle teeth gleam wet with saliva. “I have tasted many mortals,” it croons. “But one marked by a vampire?” Its black tongue drags slowly over its teeth. “Delicious.” My undead heart lurches as Evelynn’s pulse races against my chest.
“But first,” it says softly, raising a hand, “the prophecy must be fulfilled.” Fire detonates inside me. I roar. Before I can even scream her name, she moves so fast. Evelynn launches herself to her feet, blades flashing as she slams them into the creature. It screams, a piercing, unholy sound, as she twists the blades home. Rain lashes down. Thunder cracks the sky open. She turns to me, panting, shaking, alive.She did it. She saved me.
Relief crashes through me so hard it almost makes me laugh. I force myself up, groaning, agony tearing through my body. Then her smile fades, her eyes widen. Slowly, dread pooling in my gut, I follow her gaze. Lightning flashes, and I see it: bone. A razor-shaped spike protrudes from her chest. The Anathema stands behind her, wearing one last smile of victory before it collapses into the mud.
“No,” I whisper. “No, no, no…”
She crumples. I catch her, dragging her into my arms, clutching her as she falls apart against me. Her eyes are huge, terrified. Her chest jerks as she struggles to breathe, each breath wet and wrong. I can hear it; the blood filling her lungs, her heart stuttering, failing. Rain pours down like the world is trying to drown us. I brush her hair from her face, my hands frantic, useless. “No,” I beg. “Please. You can’t leave me.” My voice breaks. “You are my everything. I do not exist without you.” Every word rips straight out of me, torn free with every shallow breath she takes.
“I had to save you,” she wheezes, barely audible. “I will always love you.” Blood spills from her mouth.
Something inside me snaps. “Evelynn,” I roar. “Petal. You aremine. Do you understand me? You aremine.”
