A wave of dizziness hit Robin, as the ground underneath her began to tremble.
No, not the ground; the shaking was inside of her. There was something happening. Calliope was altering her with the mixture of blood and whatever else had been in there, and although the notion terrified her even further, as the feeling of delirium increased, she could barely think.
Out of her blurred vision, she saw Magnus, drinking deeply from the chalice. Before she knew it, she felt it pressed to her lips, the slimy mixture pouring down her throat.
By then, the world was buzzing in a terrifyingly rapid pace. She could no longer see the room, as the shadows crawled over her own vision, rooting down inside of her.
Then, she felt Magnus’s razor-sharp teeth ripping into her neck, and a burst of pain shot across her entire body.
Her head felt like the bass drum at a rock band, and with each thud of her heart, a deep ache spread out.
The last thing she heard was Calliope’s words to Magnus.
“With this new being, Magnus Demonte, we shall destroy the vampire ranks. Unfortunately, we will not be starting with House Xander. We are entering a new age, but it is not an age where vampires will rule. It is time for the casters to take back what is rightfully ours.”
Magnus pulled his teeth back, and Robin felt a river of blood streaming from her neck. The dizziness mounted, and a feeling of power and staggering force overtook her, like a switch flipping, somewhere deep and hidden inside of her. She felt Magnus break free of her and heard his scream, just as a sharp pain dug into her head, igniting every cell in her body with fire.
Lucidia
They ran down the hallway. Ivan followed closely behind, struggling to keep up but showing remarkable strength, even in the face of his imprisonment and half-starvation.
“Wait,” he said. “Where are they?”
“Who?” Lucidia hissed.
“The vampires.”
They looked around. Nobody was in sight. Lucidia and Reykon crept forward, slinking along the shadows.
Ivan scowled, and inched towards the corner, a hand shooting out to caution them. “Something’s happening.”
“What?”
“I don’t know,” he whispered harshly. “They’re… screaming.”
“Who’s screaming?” Neither of the strongbloods could pick up on what his hypersensitive vampire ears could.
“The vampires,” Ivan replied in concern.
Lucidia’s heart quickened. “Robin.”
Reykon snapped into motion, sprinting ahead to the staircase.
Lucidia and Ivan followed closely behind, rounding the corner and then stopping in their tracks when they saw Reykon, frozen in place, staring at a heap on the floor.
No, not a heap.
A vampire. He was writhing on the floor, in a puddle of blood. Lucidia’s foot crunched over something and she ripped her eyes away from the show of pure agony to look at what it was.
“What the hell?” she gasped, stepping away from the piece of bone she’d crunched on. Her heel crushed another, and she took another step back. Ivan bent down and picked one of the pieces up, examining it for only a moment before looking to her in shock.
“They’re teeth.”
Lucidia had a deep scowl of confusion and concern, looking from the scattered teeth and pooled blood, up the grand staircases, which showed more piles of vampire remains.
What’s happening? Lucidia thought in a panic.
Reykon
They sprinted up the back staircases that went all the way up to Magnus’s suite, dodging body after body. Fallen vampires littered the area, and strongbloods and humans were screaming, now running down the staircase in throngs.
“It’s only affecting the vampires!” Lucidia yelled over the crowd.
Reykon pushed forward, thinking only of Robin. He shoved past human after human, terrified looks on their faces. They neared the third floor.
The door to the main corridor swung open, and through a brief glimpse of the interior, Reykon saw casters, wielding elemental weapons and cutting down strongbloods where they stood.
It’s a massacre, he thought in utter panic.
He ripped his eyes away and looked upward, to the ceiling. So many stairs were in between him and Robin, but he pressed forward, letting out a cry of rage and moving like a possessed animal through the masses thinking only of her at the top of the castle, in Calliope’s clutches.
Robin
She couldn’t hear anything.
She couldn’t feel anything, other the lick of fire against her skin. Her hands clawed at her own flesh, trying in vain to quell the flames, but as she writhed on the floor, she realized that the fire was coming from inside of her, welling up and consuming every part of her.
There were screams, horrible, awful screams; the bellow of a dying animal.
And then there were words, the smooth, cold words of Calliope, drilling into her ears and perpetuating the fire.
After an eternity of agonizing pain, she felt something snap, a release, and the roaring fire that threatened to overtake her quelled, leaving Robin to drown in utter darkness. She tried to hold onto the image of Reykon on the ship, the setting sun reflecting in his eyes and the smile on his lips, but he faded into the darkness, and she slipped away.
Lucidia
They broke through, slamming their way into Magnus’s private quarters. Vampires lay writhing on the floor, screams of agony echoing throughout the staircase and corridor.
Reykon was ahead and barreling through like a downright machine.
She followed closely behind, weapon ready as he kicked the massive doors down and entered the suite.
It was darker in here, now that the roaring wind had all but extinguished the candles. Calliope stood, her hands outstretched, calling an incantation into the sky. Every door on the outside wall was open, and the night air ripped through the space.
Reykon immediately saw Robin lying in a heap on the floor. She wore only a thin silk gown, which was splattered in blood.
Lucidia felt an explosion of rage inside of her and snarled like a wild animal. Within an instant, she’d crossed the room and buried the dagger into Calliope’s gut so hard it made her shoulder ache from the impact.
The frenzied
