I followed her gaze, studying the massive barrier that imprisoned Rose and Alice. The thorny wall had indeed shifted dramatically—thick vines that had once formed an impenetrable cage now hung lopsided like a torn curtain. Tendrils of magical smoke continued to seep beneath the vegetation, slowly but steadily pushing the barrier away from the ancient stone walls. Several heavy vines had fallen away from the cathedral’s wooden double doors, and I fought the urge to rip them open and storm inside.
It could be a trap. The vines were retreating, but were they truly dying or just waiting to strike the moment I got close? I’d already been grabbed once—barely escaped being crushed. If they lashed out again while I was trying to get through the doors, I’d be trapped.
Angelo immediately turned to Serenity. “You stay here.”
She opened her mouth, fire flashing in her eyes, but something passed across her face and she shut it again. That surprised me—in the last couple of months, Serenity rarely backed down from Angelo’s overprotective instincts, especially after everything she’d survived. Hell had taught her she was stronger than she’d realized, and she usually fought him tooth and nail when he tried to sideline her from danger.
But tonight, something was different. Maybe she understood that with Joy trapped in another dimension and two witches imprisoned in a vine-covered cathedral, we needed every advantage we could get—including not having Angelo distracted by worry for her safety.
Angelo, Keir, Lorcan, Nyx, and I slowly approached the cathedral. My body stayed alert, braced for the vines to lash out one final time. Every step felt like walking into an ambush—the silence too heavy, the darkness ahead too complete. The century-old doors cracked open with an ominous groan, revealing nothing but impenetrable darkness beyond.
A small ball of fire formed in that void, pulsing like a malevolent heartbeat.
Damn it. Faas.
None of us spoke as we instinctively fanned out, making it harder for him to target multiple victims with one strike. The fireball hovered in the darkness, slowly drifting toward the entrance.
But then something moved in front of the flames, momentarily blocking out the orange glow. The sound of powerful wings caught my attention and I squinted into the darkness. A red-eyed figure with long blond hair suddenly burst from the cathedral, launching himself into the night sky while the fireball remained trapped within the stone walls.
Faas. Fury detonated in my chest. That bastard was escaping—fleeing like the coward he was while Joy was still inside. I wanted to chase him, to drag him back down and make him pay for everything. But Joy was in there, possibly hurt, possibly dying. Faas could wait.
The figure soared in a wide arc above us. He ripped open his shirt violently then threw his head back in a commanding roar. “Hades, come forth!”
Oh shit. It wasn’t Faas. It was Gunnar. And he was summoning Hades—the Cantan Dragon, a creature of pure destruction. My mind raced. If Ari had turned Gunnar back into a weapon, that beast would tear through us in seconds. Joy might be stuck in the damn cathedral, and we were about to face a monster.
Something small emerged from Gunnar's chest and began to transform, growing rapidly into a Cantan Dragon the size of a large German Shepherd. Hades. The creature was a lethal hybrid—a proud lion's head with a flowing mane, the muscular body of a great cat, powerful dragon wings, and scales that gleamed like burnished copper in the moonlight. His eyes burned with ancient intelligence.
Damn it. We were in serious trouble now.
Hades released a mighty roar that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Smaller than other dragons but just as powerful—maybe more so. I'd seen what this creature could do.
But there was something fundamentally wrong. Gunnar’s eyes were blue, not burning ruby red.
He flapped his black wings and circled above us like a vulture toying with its prey. “I’m giving you one chance to leave.”
Dread pooled in my stomach. This was bad—really bad.
Gunnar could summon Hades with a word, could kill any of us with a single touch. If we stayed and fought, people would die. But Joy might be in that burning cathedral. The screams could have been hers. I couldn’t leave—not without knowing. But fighting Gunnar meant wasting time we didn’t have, time Joy might not have if she was in there. Maybe there was a portal inside. Maybe that’s how Joy’s scream reached us.
“He’s possessed!” Tinker Bell yelled.
Gunnar’s laugh was cold and merciless. He tilted his head back, savoring our fear. “No, I’m not. I’m back to what I was meant to be—a killer.”
Keir stepped forward, his ethereal features tight with concern. Despite his otherworldly beauty, his expression was deadly serious. “You’re under a spell, Gunnar. Where’s your wife?”
For just a moment, something flickered across Gunnar’s features—confusion, maybe even pain. He hesitated, shaking hishead as if fighting an invisible force. But then his expression hardened again. “She won’t be my wife much longer. She’s of mixed blood—contaminated.”
This wasn’t the Gunnar I knew, or at least had heard about. The real Gunnar had risked everything for Ebony, time and time again. He would have died before speaking of her with such venomous contempt.
My hands clenched into fists. Marsha had done this. Her spell had stripped away Armond’s healing, reverting Gunnar to the very weapon we’d all feared. I was a made vampire, but Gunnar and Hades possessed the power to kill us all.
