Mika, as she ripped out of Kane’s grasp, reached up and slid his dagger from its sheath on his hip. As he reeled from her bite and the venom it sent coursing through his veins, she sprung up. Launching from the floor, she sprinted to me.
I had no reaction time. Her advancement didn’t drag out in slow motion. I hadn’t even seen her coming. I felt her hand on my shoulder, pressing me to the wall. And just as I hadn’t felt her coming, I also hadn’t felt the sharp blade of the dagger pierce the skin on my abdomen, sliding in until her fingers, on the hilt, pressed against me.
Eye to eye, she sneered. “Because you took him from me, I am taking everything you love from you, including your life.”
I stared at her. My eyes didn’t go wide. My mouth didn’t open. And for a moment, I didn’t breathe. I simply watched my murderer as she watched me. I expected to see satisfaction. Hell, I would have not been completely shocked by a hint of regret. But I hadn’t expected that her expression didn’t change. She still pulled her brows in tight, anger and jealousy blanketing her face without wavering.
Unlike my lack in ability to see her coming or my inability to feel her run the dagger into me, I felt the exact moment the life inside me was extinguished. It was like a fluorescent bulb in its last moments before burning out when it clicks on and off in a haphazard patter of light until it blinks out, leaving everything in darkness.
She held me there, watching as I faded. I could see Kane having joined the ranks of the rest of the crowd that was desperately trying to get to us, which meant she had moved her shield of energy closer to us. So, I was on my own.
Something coursed through me. A surge that combated with the radiating pain. I reached out and clasped my hands on hers, both of us gripping the dagger. I was too weak to try to fight her to remove it. All I could look down in shock.
Something became clear. A line at first, then two… three… until the entire spell came into focus. The cluster of words and symbols near my wrist stood out. My other hand let go over hers, my thumb running over the ink that had adorned my body for so long that it had become a part of me.
It dawned on me. Every single spell on me was a part of me. It was… a part of who I was. And a part of this moment. Or at least one would be.
I opened my mouth, but the nausea that had plagued me reared up, and I convulsed with the pain, blood pouring from my lips. But I choked it back. Trying again, I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand.
She leaned in. “Your beloved vampire will watch as you bleed out. He will live eternity knowing he could have saved you if he’d just forsaken you and came to me. But now, you’re going to die while he is just out of reach.”
“No.” I coughed, nearly choking on the blood I’d vomited up.
Kane was on the other side of the barrier, banging his fists on the invisible wall. “Auriena!” He slammed his fists harder, his own blood staining the air in front of him. “Mika! Stop!”
She laughed, ignoring him. “But yes.”
“Fine, but...” I reached up, placing my hand over her heart. “I’m taking you with me.”
I closed my eyes and whispered a binding spell. Finally, the anger radiating off of her shifted as she reached for my hand, but she was unable to pry it from her.
The resonating banging of the fists of the soldiers, warriors and friends, trying desperately to come in ceased, but they were still shut out. I could feel them still as a heat rose up from where I touched Mika.
The new flow of energy that had begun to wash over me had filled every vein, every cell. The power behind it grew and pulsed from the deepest parts of my being out past, rippling like an aura.
My lips parted. But instead of blood pouring out over them, it was words. I read the incantation that was tattooed on my arm as I stared into her eyes. It was in the tongue of my mother’s family… one of the languages spoken by the man who had also held me captive, using my body as a living grimoire. I still knew it. My mother had taught it to me saying that not all in our lineage were bad. And one day, whether it be for good or to ward off bad, I may need to know it.
And in that moment, I knew just how right she was.
“Vin să mă răzbun pe tine. Să mă răzbun pe mine, viața și iubirea mea. Îi chem pe zei să se răzbune pe tine. Să mă răzbun pe mine, viața, iubirea mea. Pe măsură ce pierți, zeii să refuze toată mila.” As the last word crossed the threshold of my tongue and was uttered out into the universe, the heat between us intensified. With it, a light became blinding and started to engulf us.
I heard Kane shouting through the barrier, banging his fists on it again. “Auri no!” he raged against the force.
But it wasn’t just Mika that was holding it up. I was, too. I didn’t want any of them near what was about to happen. And while I didn’t know what it was, I knew it would be far worse than making them feel my despair.
I was dying. But I was taking her with me.
Mika froze, unable to move. She fought against the inability to even take a breath. And while she couldn’t change her expression,
