The words were like a catalyst, and Violet relaxed into the pain, trusting his words and his own power.
The relief was so sudden that when the power surged her vision blurred. The whoosh of blood in her ears confirmed that her heartbeat steadied. Another sound insinuated itself, and only when she focused again, she realized that it was Finn roaring back, his voice breaking as his body seized under her. His eyes rolled back into his head, his hands blindly clenching at air. Violet was worried but couldn’t intervene as she was fighting her own battle not to drown.
Just as the last breath left her body and she believed there was no way she could suck in life-giving air again, everything stopped as if nothing had ever happened.
Breathless, heart pounding against her ribcage, Violet’s vision stabilized enough to see that Finn was unconscious again, Brennan was immobile on the edge of the circle, and the protective bubble was gone.
Soren, Hunter, and Layla rushed to her side as Violet leaned forward to touch Finn’s brow. It took a few seconds for her to register that he was warm, and his chest lifted naturally, with a strong, steady heartbeat under her fingertips. It was so different to the slow and almost nonexistent bodily functions he normally had she couldn’t believe it.
Colors returned to his pale face, just as his eyelids fluttered open.
Hunter helped her to move aside as Soren supported Finn to sit, evidently still getting his bearings but very much alive and well. Even the wound in his heart seemed to have healed.
Layla touched her hand. “How are you feeling, honey?”
Violet rubbed her stomach, but the burning was gone. “Better, I guess. The pain is gone, and I don’t feel stretched or torn like before.”
“And your magic?”
At her question, she swallowed and extended her hand. It felt sore as if it had been a long time since she’d used a particular set of muscles. Her magic muscles, her natural ones as a witch, had been put on hold, and now was the final test. The feeling was that her dual powers were gone, but was she back to her old self again?
Her hand in the air, Violet focused on one of the most basic spells a witch could do, which was to summon a flame. When the tiny flame appeared, it didn’t flow as usual, still trying to find its way through the usual channels, but her magic worked without any pain and minimal discomfort.
“I think I’m back to my old self again.” And now that impending death wasn’t on the table, she reached for Finn. When she touched his ankle, he looked up and blinked several times before he finally smiled.
“I feel weird.”
His smile triggered her own, and she crawled forward until her body pressed against him and his arms closed around her.
He inhaled deeply into her hair, burrowed even deeper into her arms. “I’m human again, Violet.”
The way his body shook and shivered, it was clear he was overcome, and she tightened her arms around him.
Layla rounded them a few times, and from the way she swished her tail, Violet knew something was wrong. She was about to ask what when Hunter shouted.
“Hey, guys! I need help here.”
Hunter was by Brennan’s side, and when he turned him over, blood poured freely from a neck wound.
Finn was the first to rush to his brother’s side. When Violet approached, what she saw was the silver blade, the very same he had used to pierce Finn’s heart, slicing through his neck so deep, it almost severed his head. It must have happened when the magical storm broke out while they were trapped.
Finn touched his brother’s forehead, one hand on his chest. “Hang in there, brother, I’ll remove the blade, and you’ll feed on me.”
It was clear that Brennan was dying, but he only smiled and mouthed the word no. Somehow, he had found a way to die and wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity. However, she could feel Finn’s despair, he wasn’t ready to let his brother vanish from his life again.
When he turned his head to her, Violet didn’t have to reach through their bond to know what he was begging her to do.
“Finn, I can’t. I no longer have the ability. I’m an ordinary witch now.”
It broke her heart to see the despair in the man she loved as he held his dying brother. The sadness and grief were such that Finn was now crying over his brother, speaking an old dialect in the softest of voice.
It started slow, but in the circle around Brennan, something shifted. Violet frowned at Layla, who shook her head. Even Soren seemed disturbed by what was happening.
Magic rose, and it wasn’t hers, or Layla’s. It wasn’t evil or dangerous, rather the opposite of hers.
“You sense it, don’t you?”
Layla’s question was, in fact, more of a statement, and it started to make sense as she nodded. The dark magic had found another host—Finn. The former vampire didn’t know it yet, but he had the powers of a necromancer flowing through him.
Something clicked inside Violet’s mind and she stepped back, giving Finn some privacy, and wanting Layla’s input. “How long do you think Brennan has?”
Layla sat and looked back at the two brothers. “No more than an hour. He will shut down in a dormant state, but with his head almost severed and him refusing help, I don’t see how he’ll survive beyond that. Too bad you don’t have the dual powers. You could have tried to save him.”
With those words she shared her idea. “We do have the dual powers, just in two different bodies.”
Layla looked at her as if she had lost a few marbles. “Exactly, and as they are now separated, there’s no way to use them for that purpose anymore.”
“They aren’t that separate. Finn and
