Not just with vampire perception, but with her Crimson Sight showing me the exact trajectory, the precise angle, the inevitable path of the strike before it even begins. I move, not faster than I should be able to, but exactly where I need to be, and the blade whistles past my shoulder close enough to taste the distortion of it, but not close enough to connect.
My fist connects with Viktor’s ribs, and the impact carries more than physical force. Sloane’s Bloodfire channels through the strike, light exploding where knuckles meet flesh, and Viktor doesn’t just stagger, heflies, his body hurled backward with power that has no business existing in a Bound vampire’s punch.
He crashes into the side of a burned-out car twenty feet away. Metal crumples, glass shatters, and when he drags himself upright, there’s something new in his eyes.
Fear.
“What—” he starts, but I’m already moving.
The speed isn’t mine. It’sours. My vampire reflexes guided by her tactical awareness, her magic amplifying every motion, turning each strike into something more than the sum of itsparts. I blur across the space between us, and this time when I attack, it’s not desperation.
It’s precision.
Viktor blocks the first strike. The blade comes up, intercepting my forearm, and the Original-forged edge bites deep. The pain is exquisite, mortal in ways I’d forgotten pain could be. But Sloane’s presence surges through the agony, her determination overriding my body’s natural response to trauma, and I don’t stop.
Ican’tstop.
My other hand finds his throat, Sloane’s Bloodfire pours through my palm where it presses against his windpipe. Not enough to kill, but enough to make every cell in his body understand what’s about to happen if he doesn’t yield. The flames don’t burn my hand because they know me now, recognize the connection between their mistress and the vampire who shares her soul.
“She’s destroying your army,” I growl, my voice steady despite the blood loss that should have me unconscious by now.
The ground answers for her. Somewhere behind me, the air convulses, pressure rolling across the battlefield in scorching waves that rattle bodies and shatter concentration. Vampires stumble mid-strike, spells unravel in the mouths of witches, and screams cut off as crimson-gold light surges through the ranks like a living thing, merciless and precise.
I don’t need to turn around to know she hasn’t stopped.
She won’t stop.
Her Hemomancy freezes vampires mid-strike. Her Bloodfire purifying demons without killing their hosts. Her Voice of Lilith commands witches to surrender. “She chose control over chaos. Humanity over power.” A slow smile crosses my face as I bare my fangs. “And she’smaaagnificent.”
Viktor’s eyes dart toward the battlefield, and I watch the realization crystallize across his features.
This isn’t just a fight anymore.
It’s anexecution.
“Thanatos promised—” he starts, but I cut him off by tightening my grip.
“Thanatos lied,” Sloane’s voice rings across the concrete, and every atom inside me knows she is approaching before I see her. The Heart Bind hums with her presence, and when she steps into view, she’s devastating. Blood drips from her nose, her eyes burn with fire, and her entire body radiates such power that the air shimmers with heat. “Thanatos rigged this trial from the beginning. Used you as a pawn to permanently remove Crave. And you were arrogant enough to believe you’dactuallywin.”
She stops beside me, and the moment we’re in proximity, the Heart Bind flares.
Everything intensifies.
Her Crimson Sight merges completely with my perception. My speed flows through her awareness. Her Bloodfire channels through my strikes. We’re not two people standing side by side. We’re one entity operating through two bodies, perfectly synchronized, absolutely devastating.
Viktor sees it too.
The understanding hits him with a visible force. His face goes pale, his grip on the Original-forged blade trembling, and for the first time since this nightmare began, genuine terror floods his expression. “You’re not—” He can’t finish the sentence.
“We’re not a vampire and a witch,” I say, and Sloane’s voice overlaps mine, our words braiding together into something that resonates with power. “We’re something new. Something your Coven masters didn’t account for.”
“The Heart Bind fully manifested,” Sloane continues, and I feel her tactical mind calculating angles, distances, probabilities.“When a Blood Witch awakens through an Original’s blood, their life forces fuse. We become two halves of one impossible whole.”
I move left.
She moves right.
There’s no discussion, no planning… we justknow.
