All I could do was stare. When had he become so evil, or had he been born that way? “Shut up, Brandon, before I do something stupid.” I drew a steadying breath. “You stole Dad’s life, and in turn, mine as well. Because you are a selfish little bastard.” I lifted my eyes to his. “And when the Elder finally kills you, I hope I’m there to see it.”
The second I reappeared, I heard Selena again. Forge. Where are you?
I landed right in the middle of the chaos, thick smoke rolling down the stairs and a clearly panicked guard hitting me in the chest, driving me into the stone wall. There was no sign of Cade, and the guard and I grappled for a moment before I threw him off me and headed for the steps. The explosion had come from the third level, so that was where I’d find Cade.
I fought my way upward through the smoke, leaving bodies in my wake, looking for any sign of Selena.
“Who the fuck are you?” I’d barely crested the top step when both of the posted guards converged on me. A knife sank deeply into my side as fangs tore at my other shoulder, instantly drenching me with blood. I feinted right, plowing through the cartilage in the guard’s chest until my hand closed around his heart. I dropped it to the floor as I faced the other guard, but Cade got there first, snapping his neck with an audible pop.
“Better late than never,” he said, his cool eyes raking me over. “No sign of your human, though.”
Where are you? I shouted through the bond.
In a locked room. In the basement, maybe. I couldn’t see.
“Basement?” I shouted to Cade. “Where is it?”
“Three levels down.” He gestured toward the stairs. “You’ll have to walk—everything is reinforced with steel, so there’s no materializing. Locks are all copper.”
I killed everything in my way as I took the steps three at a time, so focused on Selena that I didn’t even take the time to make sure my enemies were dead, only to keep moving toward her.
31
I was trying the door again when it opened, throwing me halfway across the room.
Brandon was still whining about how he’d been shortchanged, and the beaten vampire was groaning in pain when the Elder and his henchmen flew through the door then slammed it shut behind them. Not quickly enough. I glimpsed the utter chaos outside, vampires rushing through the hall, smoke billowing along the ceiling.
Brandon stepped toward them, on the verge of asking a question when the Elder snapped. Faster than I could see, before I could even scream a warning, he was at Brandon’s throat. The wet, ripping sound made me squeeze my hands over my ears, and then he dropped my brother’s body to the floor before he advanced on me, his eyes glowing, his words low.
“Now. Tell me where that bastard is.”
After that, everything happened so quickly.
Bastian materialized out of nothingness, surrounded by so many shadows that he looked like a winged avenger. He took one long look at me and vanished, reappearing behind one guard, then the next, disappearing before their bodies hit the floor.
The next thing I knew, I was behind him, blocked from the blood, the bodies on the floor and the Elder, who showed his displeasure with a long hiss.
“Impossible,” the Elder screamed, his face going blue. “You can’t materialize in here.”
“Old dog, new tricks,” Bastian said mildly, his hand finding mine and giving it a reassuring squeeze before it dropped to his side, his fingers curling in readiness. “You’d know that if you cared to keep up with the times.”
The same sort of shadows that swirled around Bastian surrounded the Elder, almost masking his gloating smile. “I should have killed you all those years ago.”
Bastian said nothing in response, but something shuddered through him—surprise, maybe—before he pushed me backward as the Elder’s shadows shot forward and closed around him. My back struck the wall, harder than he’d probably intended, driving the breath out of me as I doubled over. When I was able to rise, Bastian was stock-still, bound—like he had bound Dobson—and unable to move.
“But now is as good a time as any,” the Elder said, gliding forward, his fangs descending. The shadows were so dense that I could hardly even see Bastian now, his face disappearing from view as I watched in desperation.
I scrambled to reach Bastian, but the darkness kept me at bay, as if there were an invisible wall between us. He let out a low moan, and I clawed at it until my fingertips bled, but there was no getting through it.
Run, Selena. Run and find Cade. He’ll get you out of here.
“No,” I said, my hands scrambling against the Elder’s magic. “I’m not leaving.”
Please. You won’t get another chance.
I couldn’t break through the magic, but I might be able to break through the bastard’s mind. I just had to want it badly enough. I hit his shield like a ram, the thing reverberating from my blow, and the old vampire stumbled back a step, then another as I continued my assault, not giving him an opportunity to shore up his defenses.
The second I found a crack, I pried it open and stabbed my consciousness through it, my only intention to hurt him as badly as he was hurting Bastian. A trickle of black blood ran from his nostril, more blooming in one clouded eye.
Encouraged, I pressed harder, deeper, driving into his consciousness with a brutality I hadn’t thought I possessed. Within the shadows, Bastian groaned, and I felt a flicker of him in my head, helping shore up my own defenses, protecting me, just like he always did.
The Elder was breathing hard now, his shadows slipping enough that I saw Forge’s face, bruised and bloodied, and pushed again. Something snapped within the Elder, some invisible barrier, and he went to his knees, blood spurting from seemingly everywhere as
