Page 128 of Her Vampire, His Ruin

Basilia tips her head back and laughs. “Oh, but she did.”

A scream rips through the air, and I lunge for the door. Basilia flings out her hand, and an invisible force hurls me against the far wall. The impact knocks the breath from my lungs, leaving me gasping.

“How is this possible?” I choke out, struggling to rise, but whatever magic Basilia wields is stronger than I am.

“I may be a vampire, but I’ve always been a witch, and I’ve had three centuries to hone my magic.”

“Edie has nothing to do with this. Let her go.”

“She has everything to do with this. She is your final lesson, Dorian.”

“No. Leave her out of it.”

“It’s too late for that now.”

“Edie, run,” I roar as another scream rips through the air.

“Very soon Edie will be weakened by blood loss. She won’t be running anywhere. I’d be surprised if she’d even be able to walk after your little whore has drained most of her blood.”

“Sybil would never betray me.”

Basilia throws her head back and laughs. “Sybil betrayed you the moment she changed me after you walked out of this room that fateful day.”

“I thought you had died.”

“No, you hoped I had,” Basilia says, gliding toward me, her long dress swirling around her legs. She crouches before me, her fingertips tracing the back of my hand, the vines tightening with her touch.

I grit my teeth against the pain as a smile carves across her face.

“Just like you had been, Sybil was overcome with bloodlust. After you left me to die, she drank from me until my heart stopped beating, and then she fed me her blood. Was it instinct, possibly? But I suspect that it was also because she wanted to have some hold over me, over the woman who had the power to curse you.” Basila laughs, her black eyes glinting with amusement. “Sybil may have become my sire that day, forging a blood bond between us, but she underestimated me. Of course, I later figured out how to break that bond. Manipulating Sybil over the last three centuries was easy. She has been my eyes and ears for all this time. She ensured I was well fed, glamouring humans to travel here so I could feed, and you had no idea.”

Her words leave me reeling, my voice lost somewhere in the storm of her confessions.

“When Sybil said the curse was triggered,” Basilia continues, “I was curious to see the woman who finally captured your heart. Sybil hadn’t believed it was possible, and she was enraged. She always loved you, but like everyone you fucked, you never loved them in return. Until now.”

“There is only one curse. I’m a vampire. You changed me that day,” I hiss, my fangs dropping as I allow my monster to rise within me. I refuse to acknowledge my feelings towards Edie, knowing if I did, even to myself, I’d never have the strength to fight for her.

“You silly, foolish man. Within the original curse, hides another. If you ever found true love, it would kill you, permanently, just like my love for you killed me. That is the true curse. The rest is just a pretty package. Rather clever, don’t you think?”

“No,” I shake my head. “No. No. No.”

But no matter how much I wish it wasn’t true, I know it is. That’s why my feelings for Edie cause so much pain. That’s why I could never be like Viktor and truly allow myself to love Edie, because in doing so, it would kill me. The cruelty is almost too much to bear, not because I am dying, but because I’ve dragged Edie into this. This is all my fault. All of it.

“I’m just sorry it’s taken this long to come to fruition. She must be quite a woman,” Basilia continues, rising to her feet and stepping aside as Sybil hauls Edie in by her hair, dropping her limp body in the centre of the room.

“Edie,” I yell, thrashing against my restraints, every muscle straining to reach her. She’s deathly pale. Her breath shallow, pulse thready. Death hovers over her, and I know she won’t survive unless I find a way to break free. Sybil crouches over Edie’s body, trailing her finger through the blood seeping from her neck. She lifts it to her lips, humming around the taste.

“She does taste like starlight, doesn’t she?”

“What have you done?” I spit, my whole body trembling with rage.

“This is for your own good,” she snaps, her eyes cutting to mine.

“Stay the fuck away from her, or so help me. I will kill you.”

I expect her to retreat, my powers of compulsion stronger than hers, but she just smiles. “That won’t work,” she says, looking over at Basilia, “Thanks to your wife, I haven’t been under your control for some time now.”

“What did you promise her?” I ask, turning my attention back to Basilia.