Wrath

I’d almost reached her when the sorceress banged her staff against the ground. The breath slammed out of me, and all of my power and energy went with it. I crashed to my hands and knees. Kali drew on my power again, and this time she was quickly draining me. Charlotte, Owen, and Blossom slid to their knees, too, while still trying to shield Rina, Mom, and me.

“She’ll grow too strong,” Owen said, his voice croaking as he strained against the sorceress. “You have to hurry!”

He’d barely said the words before he collapsed. His shield over Rina fell. Kali cackled and threw her arms in the air, and all of the gunfire ceased. Her gaze fell on Owen with a gleam in her eye. She moved her staff to point it at him.

“No!” Charlotte yelled, throwing herself in front of her son. “You take me, you bitch!”

“Gladly,” Kali said through Rina’s smile. Lightning shot out of the staff and hit Charlotte. The warlock’s body fell next to Owen’s. “Time to finish this night once and for all.”

“I don’t think so,” Tristan growled, and he paralyzed Rina’s body.

Her form trembled against his power, but not because Kali fought Tristan. Rina fought Kali, trying to push the evil soul out. A ghostly image began to emerge from Rina’s body.

“Alexis, I need your help, darling.” Rina’s voice grew weaker in my mind with each word.

“No!” the sorceress shrieked.

“One . . . chance,” Rina said. “Now!”

The muscles in Rina’s neck strained, and her eyes popped wide open. A combination of pain and effort mixed in the scream that emitted from deep within her. With every ounce of energy I had left, my hands and feet scrambled at the ground until I could push myself to my feet. I staggered and lurched toward my grandmother. The gauzy image of the sorceress grew larger and more whole as Rina pushed the soul out of her body. My arm felt dragged down as though a magnet in the earth pulled my dagger toward its center, but I forced it up. I lifted the blade to waist height and then straight out in front of me. Rina’s hands reached out for me, for my arm, and she helped me lift the dagger higher. Over my head.

The soul released, but Kali’s yells of frustration turned into a shriek of victory as she streaked toward Owen and Charlotte.

“No!” Vanessa threw herself in front of the gray light of the ghostly image.

Blossom’s hands shot out and created some kind of block. The soul’s light slammed into an invisible wall and plopped to the ground with a sickening splat like an egg hitting a rock.

I plunged my dagger downward at it.

Into the swirling light.

An ear-piercing siren screamed through the night, making my toes curl. I slashed and twisted the blade in the gauzy substance until the soul became nothing but a stringy clump wrapped around the tip, and I could barely hold my grip on the dagger. The icepick in my brain dug deeper as Kali continued screaming. I began to sink to my knees, my trembling legs unable to hold me any longer and my head close to exploding. Tristan caught me and held me upright as my shaking hand fumbled inside my jacket for the soul jar. As soon as I freed it, he grabbed the small container and twisted the lid off. I lifted my dagger with Kali’s soul on the end of it and wiped it into the jar as if it were nothing more than extra mayonnaise on a butter knife. Tristan clamped the vessel shut, and it sealed with a hiss.

The world fell silent.

No more sorceress screaming her last moments. No more gunfire tearing apart the night. Even the thunderstorm quieted, as though the sorceress herself had brewed it. Perhaps she had.

Dorian landed next to me and whispered, “Hey, Mom and Dad.”

I tackled him in a hug and peppered kisses all over his face, not quite believing I actually held my son—my baby—again after so long. Without pulling away long enough to study him, I could tell he’d grown quite a bit in the six months since he’d been taken. I wouldn’t worry about that right now, though. I would push away all the negative thoughts for the moment and focus on the boy finally swathed in my arms once again. My Dorian. We had him back. Tristan wrapped his arms around both of us, and my heart swelled at our reunion.

But something about the moment gnawed at me.

Tears and anguish and heartbreak in the distance.

Sobs. Loud, ugly sobs. And not mine.

Mom’s.

But Mom never cried, let alone sobbed.

With a surreal sense of this-is-not-happening, I turned my head toward the ruins of the abbey, toward the sounds of loss and desperation. My head tilted at the sight of one body huddled between two others, as my brain slogged through the last few minutes as though my heart tried to prevent it from remembering. From remembering Mom trying with all her might to put out the fire consuming her soul mate. From remembering Rina’s small body crumpling to the ground once Kali’s soul had been exorcised.

One moment I held my son in my arms, and in a flash, I fell to my knees next to Mom.

“No, Winston,” Mom cried, tears and snot flowing down her face as she held the vampire’s burnt body in her arms. “You can’t leave me again, my love.”

I rubbed my hand down her back, but it was Rina’s small body, so tiny and frail looking, that caught my attention. She lay so still on the ground. Too still. But her eyes, warm and brown and full of wisdom and love like they always were, rolled toward me.

“Rina?” I said as I crawled over to her. “Are you healing?”

She blinked slowly. Very slowly. So slowly I thought she might not open her eyes again.

“Rina,” I said more urgently as I placed a hand on her shoulder. I wanted to shake her, to wake her up, but I feared I’d break her even more.

“No, darling,” she finally said.

“Tristan!” I yelled, jumping to my feet and searching him out. “Hurry! Rina needs you.”

“No,” my grandmother gasped. Mom’s body heaved as she looked over at us, at her mother. She choked back another sob and joined me at Rina’s side. My eyes jumped to Rina’s hand, which twitched as though reaching for mine. I sprang to her other side and fell back to my knees before taking her hand into mine. Julia appeared next to Mom, and Solomon at Rina’s head. He lifted her shoulders and pulled her halfway into his lap. Rina whispered, “It . . . is time.”

Solomon stroked Rina’s hair, and Mom pressed her palm against her mother’s cheek.

“I know, Mother,” she said while tears continued to stream down her face. “You have been so strong. But you can rest now.”

“What?” I demanded.

“She knew it was coming,” Julia said quietly.

Tristan appeared next to me. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Rina said, her voice weak. “They . . . are waiting.”

“She insisted on seeing Noah first,” Solomon said. “I told her it was a bad idea.”

Rina’s eyes rolled upward to look at Solomon, and her mouth jerked in a sad smile. “No, darling. I needed it.” She looked at Mom. “Tell Noah I love him.” She struggled to pull in a breath as her gaze traveled to the faces hovering over her. “I love . . . all of you. I am . . . grateful for . . . my life . . . with you. But . . . I must . . . go.”

“No, Rina,” I cried, not wanting to believe any of them. “You can fight this. You can’t give up!”

Her hand gently and oh so lightly squeezed mine. “I don’t . . . give up. I . . . ascend.”

Her eyes closed. Her head lolled to the side. A peaceful smile donned on her lips.

Julia cried out and threw herself on top of Rina’s body. Solomon stroked Rina’s head, and Mom scooted away, toward Winston again. She pushed herself to her knees and then folded herself over them, crying into her thighs, both hands reaching out to the side of her. One still held Rina’s hand and the other rested on Winston’s charred body. Pieces of his skin flaked off and disintegrated into ash.

Without thinking about it, I somehow managed to push myself to my feet. Tristan sprang up and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him tightly, my cheek pressed against his chest as I inhaled his tangy-sweet scent