She couldn’t … but I was already inside the circle. Sofie was sending me a message. She was telling me what I needed to do. I needed to take Imogen out to save us all. Me—the terrified, weak human.
Swallowing hard, I glanced around. How? I was a human surrounded by a ring of powerful witches, one of whom had a knife on Caden, ready to dig out his heart. It needed to be quick and effective. My eyes roamed the ground for weapons. Cobblestone to the temple? Did she need to be dead or just injured? God. I broke out in a cold sweat. This could end in disaster. Everything I did seemed to turn into a disaster. I looked back at Sofie, pleading silently for her to give me something to work with. I got nothing in return except flaring nostrils. A sign of impatience. I was failing her. I needed to do something now.
Suddenly, Sofie stretched her arms out to her sides, palms up. She tipped her head back and yelled, “We made a deal! Any time now, Terra!” Terra?
“What’s she talking about?” Imogen muttered, her fingers raking my arms, her tension increasing. I tried edging away but she yanked me back with her death grip.
And that was when I felt something cold and hard against my calf.
My dagger.
That would work. If I could just reach it …
“You can’t win,” I said, my voice hoarse, a desperate plan unfolding in my head.
“Shut up!” Imogen lashed out, annoyed.
Hope sparked inside me. Annoyance was what I needed. I needed to goad her further. “They’ll get in here. They’ll beat you. Sofie will outsmart you. She’ll always be smarter than you.”
“Shut up, you little bitch!’ She threw me to the ground. I landed on my forearms and knees, the stones cutting into my flesh. I barely felt it, though, my heart pumping fiercely. I could see Caden’s face at this level. Our eyes connected. I held his gaze as I slowly reached down to my boot. Could he tell what I was doing? Without moving my head, I scanned the group. Could they? So many eyes. Too many eyes. I needed a distraction. Something other than the ring of vampires around us.
“Are you so afraid of a few vampires that you have to hide behind this wall? Come on, Imogen! Fight like a real sorceress! Show me what you’ve got!” As if reading my mind, Sofie began shouting obscenities at the group, provoking them, distracting them. I shifted my weight as I pulled one leg up, steadying my foot on the ground. My hand slid into the boot. Was Sofie watching? She couldn’t know what I was doing. She didn’t know I had a knife, I realized. Whatever. Maybe she expected me to smash Imogen’s head in with a stone. All I needed to do was stop this she-devil, and the circle would be broken.
Or maybe I’d fail. Maybe I’d die trying.
Inhaling a lung’s full of courage, I glanced one last time at Caden. His eyes hadn’t left me. I love you, I mouthed, fighting back the tears that threatened as my hand wrapped around the handle of the dagger—Caden’s gift to me.
“What are you doing?” Imogen’s sharp voice froze my hand. I looked up to see her towering over me, glaring suspiciously, at my hand.
I failed. Already. And I hadn’t even tried.
All of a sudden, a banshee’s wail let loose in the atrium, setting my hair on end. Heads whip around. I followed their gaze to the one mountain of burned bodies within the circle, where tiny fissures spidered through the hard ash.
Something was breaking through.
It quickly rose, unfolding like a butterfly for the first time. A naked body. A female body by the supple curves taking form under the soot-colored skin. Good God, what new monstrosity has Imogen created? Its eyelids burst open. Steely violet eyes. I knew those eyes.
“Fiona!” Bishop’s bellow sent shivers down my spine. He crashed to his knees, using one hand for support, as if delivered a deadly blow, an eternity of sorrow vanishing from his face.
Screams of terror exploded within the bubble. I turned to see Sofie smiling gloriously. And then she turned to me and she roared, “Now!”
I didn’t waste another second doubting. I yanked the dagger out and stood in one fluid motion. My arm wound back above my head, aiming for my target with all the strength I could gather. For Caden. For Veronique. For me.
And then I struck.
I felt the blade slide into Imogen’s back, tearing through muscle, splintering bones, and finally piercing something deep inside. I yanked the blade out with force, winding to strike again. Imogen spun around, teetering forward, her eyes wide with shock. For just a moment, I thought I had failed. Her mouth opened to scream. A gurgling sound came out, and then she collapsed. Dead.
The pink translucent glow evaporated and, with it, any hope of survival for these witches. Red hair and fur flew past me in a whirl, tearing Merth bindings off, freeing everyone to exact their own personal revenge. I stood there holding my bloodied dagger, immobile, unable to focus on any one person. Not wanting to focus on any one person for too long. My sweet childlike Lilly, who fed me drug-laced warm milk only hours ago, tore someone’s throat out mere feet away from me. Max and his brothers ran side by side to tear down sorceresses trying to escape. All around me, sorceress bodies fell as their enemies—my friends—held true to their promises.
But where was Veronique? My eyes flashed wide with panic as I searched the ground for her. Mortimer was there, gently lifting her up, a beautiful, wide smile like nothing I’d ever seen on him before, transforming him into the man Veronique no doubt fell in love with.
“Evie!” I searched the chaos. There, standing over the blond, his fist on the dagger protruding from her chest, Caden stood smiling, his face the picture of relief. We did it. We saved Veronique. We saved Bishop. I threw a wink and a kiss to him. His smile vanished, his attention flying to my right, panic igniting them. I turned.
Viggo lingered five feet away, hateful eyes devouring me. I grappled for air as it left my lungs. He had promised, after all. I then felt a sudden breeze, accompanied by the beginning of Caden’s scream.
And then nothing.
***
White mist clouded my eyes. Instinctively, I reached up to rub them. When my hands moved away, four celestial beings formed in front of me, their colorful irises sparkling as they gazed down at me.
“Hello, Evangeline.” The man speaking had the most beautiful voice.
“Where am I?” I asked as I took in their white gowns and the gossamer wings floating behind them. Angels? Am I dead?
“That depends …,” he answered. I realized he was answering my unspoken question. The fact that he could read my mind didn’t bother me. Not much bothered me right now. “We are the Fates. Do you know why you’re here?”
I felt my head shake back and forth dumbly. The Fates … I was meeting the Fates?
My surroundings shifted and I now stood beside myself in the atrium, just as I’d left it moments prior. I watched a replay of those last few disastrous seconds as an invisible bystander—of Caden’s panic, of Viggo flying toward me. Of Viggo snapping my neck.
Viggo kept his promise to me.
“I’m dead.”
“For the moment,” a female Fate answered. “You have an important choice to make, and not long to make it. We made an arrangement with Sofie. You must make your choice—do you remain human or transform to become a vampire?
I frowned, not comprehending.
The male Fate explained, “If you choose human, then you die. If you choose vampire, you live.”
“What do you mean? Right here, right now? You’re going to turn me?”
“Is that what you want?” he asked.
I wasn’t prepared for this. I hadn’t expected it. But … “Yes! Yes!” Tears of happiness rained down my cheeks. Could it finally be coming true?
As if this answer pleased him, the Fate reached out to cup my chin. “So it is done. We will honor our arrangement with Sofie. Your wish is granted.” He smiled at me, a smile of familiarity and adoration. When he leaned down to plant a kiss on my forehead, he whispered, “I am so proud of you … my child.”
***
A hot, searing sun scorched my eyes, set fire to my blood, and charred my skin to a black crispy ash. It penetrated through my muscles, deeper and deeper, its flaming tentacles snatching my vital organs, ripping them out of my body.
My senses tumbled in disarray. Sounds waffled and blurred yet I heard everything. Sofie’s wails, screaming my name over and over … Caden’s pleading whispers.
“Please survive.”
“I love you.” A thousand times over.
Images hazed over and quadrupled and yet I saw everything. Street lights and snowflakes and crowds of pedestrians. Bodies lying in the middle of the street. Julian’s body slung over Amelie’s shoulder. Veronique, cradled in Mortimer’s arms. Running …
The world was still and spinning at the same time. Churning, twisting, flying by.
A thousand-pound weight crushed my lungs, paralyzing them. I couldn’t breathe. I could see the air floating around me—a solid form—and yet I clawed and heaved and wheezed for it, only to have it out of reach. Time passed by in leaps and bounds and not at all.
And through all of this, deep, consuming agony, as if I’d been stuffed into a blazing fire and purposely kept alive to forever endure the pain.
***
The smell of sour, wet soil flooded my nostrils. I welcomed it eagerly, letting its coolness envelop my entire body.
“I think she’s awake.” My eyes flew open at the sound of Caden’s voice to find him hovering over me. I noticed a flash of surprise across his face before he smiled. I inhaled deeply, soaking up his magnificent scent—the mixture of ocean and forest crushing me with overwhelming desire. I let it absorb into my pores, circulate through my body, hungry for it. For him.
I thought about kissing him and the next thing I knew, my mouth covered his, adoring the sweet taste of his lips. So much sweeter than ever before. I wanted to touch the deep ridges in his chest, and the next thing I knew, my fingernails tore through his shirt, as though made of tissue paper, to reach his sculpted chest below.
“Jeez, Evie,” another male voice muttered behind me. “Thirty seconds back from the dead and you’re already mauling him. Get a room, will ya? Or at least another dark hole to hide in …”
Bishop! With a surprised gasp, I whipped around to find Bishop grinning widely at me, his arm hanging over Fiona. Fiona! I stared unabashed at her, my jaw gaping wide. She really had risen from the dead! With a giggle, Fiona threw me a wink and then squeezed Bishop’s torso as if she’d never detach from him again.
My memory slammed into me. “Viggo killed me and the Fates brought me back. They turned me.” A long pause. “They turned me?”
“Yes,” Caden’s fingertips slid along my cheek, the intensity of his touch sending shudders through me, almost too much to handle now, so powerful my attraction to Caden. Like a feral animal with no discretion, I wanted him. I looked at him, at that gorgeous face, and I could see he felt it too.
“How do you feel?” a French croon interrupted our private moment. I jumped, quickly zeroing in on Sofie, leaning against a wall to my left.
“Fine, I think. I don’t know.” I had no idea. Was I okay? Glancing down at my arm, I found them unblemished, healed. Perfect. “I feel … different but the same?” I looked at her questioningly. “I thought I was supposed to be going crazy for blood right now.”
She smiled sadly. “Your body is still in shock from the transformation. That, and there are no humans down here. But it will come. Soon.” A million questions whirled through my head but I silenced them, focusing on the most important.
“You made this happen, Sofie. You fixed us.” I stared pointedly at Fiona. “You brought Fiona back. You saved me, Sofie. Thank you.”
She offered a tight-lipped smile and nod. “I bartered and won two requests. Fiona was one. Giving you the choice to become vampire was the other.”
A mixture of relief and happiness exploded inside me. My eyes danced around the space, landing on Lilly, standing near an iron gate off to the side. She smiled shyly at me. I had the urge to hug her. In a split second, I found myself with my arms wound around her tiny frame.
“We can be forever sisters now,” she whispered, gazing up at me with awe. Had I still been human, I would’ve cried. But I already sensed that no more tears would stain my cheeks and so I smiled instead, nodding.
“Forever sisters.”
Finally, Sleeping Beauty graces us … Max was stretched out on the floor in one corner. I dove on top of him, giggling hysterically as he grunted in mock pain.
“I’m sorry for keeping you in the dark and being a royal pain, Max,” I apologized, giving his head a fierce kiss. He grumbled in response. I could tell he was happy.
Rolling off him with the grace of a feline, I landed in a squat next to a grinning Julian and Amelie, their hands entwined, and another wave of delight bowled over me. “You look different, Julian.”
His eyebrow raised knowingly. “So do you.” We smashed into each other in a fierce embrace. “It was a package deal. No one bit us. We just kind of … fell asleep.”