“You’re stuck with me now, bond or no bond. You’re my friend, and I will always trust you.” Lucie smiled at him and his eyes watered. She gripped her daggers and flicked her gaze in Derrick’s direction. “Just hold them off. I’ll try to end her soon.” She raised her daggers and darted toward the witch as Abe flashed next to Derrick. He shifted into his wolf and began attacking the voidless alongside him.
Lucie’s green eyes met with pitch black as she swung her daggers at Beryl, or what was once Beryl. Honestly, there was nothing human about her now. She was making weird screeching and screaming sounds and seemed to have lost the ability to speak. She was just an angry, mindless zombie herself now.
A black tar substance shot out of the witch’s mouth and landed on Lucie’s skin. The substance burned like acid and stuck to her flesh. Lucie used this moment to lodge her dagger deep inside the witch. The witch glanced down at the object in her chest, then raised her lifeless black orbs back to Lucie, completely unfazed.
Lucie hopped back in shock. The dagger had pierced right where her heart should have been. This could only mean one thing … she couldn’t be killed with a mortal weapon. Clenching her fists, she inhaled deeply. She knew fairy magic was finicky about how it showed itself and often came only when you needed it. Well, right now, she needed it. She called to the energy inside her to come to her aid.
A gentle light caressed her body, warming her. And with this light, Lucie’s new power was born.
CHAPTER 75
Derrick wiped the sweat from his forehead. He could see something strange happening to Lucie. A weird, golden, sand-like substance swirled around her. He panted and glanced up as Abe lunged into more voidless. They couldn’t do anything to the army that continued to revive. All they could do was try to hold them off.
He noticed a slithering snake trying to quietly escape behind the voidless.
“Abe!” Derrick called to the wolf and nodded in the direction of Count Basil. “Can you manage without me?”
Abe growled at him, and it almost looked like the wolf rolled his eyes. Derrick would take that as a yes. He leaped over the voidless, stepping on their heads as he dashed toward his target. He was not going to let this man escape. Several red bolts shot out from Count Basil’s hands straight toward Derrick, who used his blood whip and knocked them away. The Countwas distracting him with his attacks, and while Derrick was deflecting them, the man was trying to evade him and escape.
Two bodies blurred away from the battle, streaks against the dark. As much as Derrick hated leaving Lucie, he had faith in her, and she had faith in him. They had to trust each other. The Count couldn’t be allowed to get away and come back for them another day.
The trees tore past in a smear of shadow, Derrick closing the distance with every stride, close enough now to hear the Count’s ragged breath.
Then the Count stopped short and whipped around, hurling something at him. Derrick lashed out with his whip and caught the object mid-air, but the vial shattered on impact and the contents burst over him in a fine spray. It hit like acid. The substance seared through his clothes and into his skin, hissing as it went, eating deeper with every heartbeat. Red dripped from him in steady rivulets, spattering the ground at his feet. He braced himself, teeth clenched, forcing his body to stay upright.
The Count lunged. His claws came down in a vicious arc, already slick with poison, and the hiss that tore from his throat was something more animal than man. Derrick threw his arm up to block it, the motion slower than it should have been, the acid still working its way through him. The claws sank deep and dragged, opening his forearm from elbow to wrist. The poison hit his bloodstream the moment the wound opened, crawling toward his heart.
He staggered back, putting distance between them, and that was when he felt it.
His body pulsed. Something inside him was answering a call he hadn’t sent, syncing with a rhythm that wasn’t his own. Golden dust began to rise around him, the same shimmering gold he’d seen curling around Lucie, and the hot energy from before stirred deep in his chest and rose like a tide. The magicthreaded into his own, merged with it, became a part of him. His eyes shifted, the familiar amber burning away and leaving something new behind. Crimson, flecked with gold.
Specksof golden dust began swirling around Lucie as her eyes turned scarlet. Her fairy magic was merging with her elite vampire skill that she hadn’t yet discovered. The golden dust swirled rapidly and reentered her body, flecks of gold now embedded in her red eyes. The clouds above her began to change into a dark crimson as they rolled in. A heavy crack of thunder echoed through the area, drowning out the sounds of fighting.
She felt her energy pulsing and synchronizing with Derrick’s. It was as if their magic was combining and they were coordinating their attacks. The clouds swirled again, and a red flash of lightning rippled through the sky. The sky answered the light with a deep roar.
Lucie looked at Beryl, who was just a shell, a mindless resurrecting machine. The person who was Beryl was sealed in a soul that would end up being devoured by Erebus. It was time to put this creature out of its misery. Her soul would have to remain in torture until Erebus was killed.
She could feel Derrick’s warmth inside her, and she knew their energies were calling for each other. This was all new, so she let her instincts lead her. She envisioned their energy swirling together, and as she did, two laser-red bolts shot from the sky. One reached down and swallowed Beryl, while the other light landed in the distance, where Derrick was fighting. The sky growled angrily as the crimson lightning ripped over its victims.
Beryl’s eyes shifted through colors, showing hints of her consciousness flooding back into her. The red lightning disappeared and Beryl collapsed. All the voidless disintegrated at the same time.
Lucie sighed with relief. Her eyes returned to their normal color, and she turned toward where Derrick was fighting. She needed to go to him and make sure he was okay, and she wanted to check on the others as well.
She heard a small noise and looked back to see the witch’s hand trembling slightly. She was still alive. She took a deep breath and walked up to her. She would end this stage of her suffering.
She was only a few feet away when the witch snapped her wrist toward Lucie, using her dying strength. The witch took her last breath as a vial spiraled toward Lucie. Lucie watched in horror as Abe’s wolf flashed in front of the vial while knocking Lucie backward making sure none of the contents hit her. The sound of glass breaking was the loudest noise in the world next to Lucie’s screams of horror.
“NOOOOO!” Lucie shrieked as Abe collapsed to the ground.
Derrick grew weaker asthe Count’s poison took hold. His hands began to shake and he felt disoriented. He wasn’t sure what happened. Did Lucie help him? Did he help her? Or was it their souls helping each other? He took a staggering step closer to the Count and looked down at his burnt body.
The man looked up at Derrick and coughed. “I was doing this for you.”
“No, you were doing this for yourself.”
“You are a fool. You … you will bring about the fall of the vampires,” Count Basil wheezed between coughs.
Derrick watched the man without remorse as he took his last gulps of air. He was ashamed that someone like him was part of his kingdom. This betrayal was proof that he couldn’t trust his people blindly. He would actively seek out anyone else who might have doubts about his future queen. This wouldn’t happen again. Anyone who didn’t completely support his queen would not be allowed to remain in the kingdom. He wouldn’t risk it.
