15.

A KSEL

“Anna and the children are this way,” the frail man said before he stopped suddenly. When I looked at his face, I saw a vacant stare and then his eyes got wide before he smiled. “There are people outside.”

“Guards?” I asked. “How many?” I looked at Genji and shook my head when I said, “I’m not sure we’re strong enough to fight.”

“You can’t feel it?” Genji asked with a mysterious smile.

“Feel what?”

“A shift in the balance,” she explained. “It’s not just the guards who are outside, my friend.”

“Who is here?” one of the vampires who Genji had just rescued asked.

“The cavalry.”

“We should get to the children before their guards are alerted,” the frail man said as he rushed off. I could tell that every step pained him, but there was a determined air about him that let me know he would protect the children he spoke about at all costs.

“Who is that?” I asked Genji, not even trying to hide my question since I was surrounded by supernaturals and understood that at least one of them, if not all, could probably read my thoughts in my weakened state.

“That is Stassi’s brother,” Genji explained. “Two of the children who are captives here belong to him.”

“Then let him rescue his own children while we find Stassi.”

“She’s going to burn this place to the ground, Aksel, and all she asked was that I make sure you and the children were safe. I have to do what she asked.”

“Because she rescued you?”

“She saved me from certain death and took it as her own.”

“I won’t stand for that. It can’t happen. I can’t lose her when I just found her, Genji.”

“Let us gather the children and our friends, then we’ll find a way to get our Stassi,” Genji said firmly. “That is what we must do.”

“The future is certain on that path, my friend,” one of the others that had been rescued assured me with a secretive smile. “We shall watch the magic as it unfolds.”

“As long as that magic includes forever with the woman I love,” I mumbled as I staggered down the hall behind the frail man who I could tell was getting weaker by the moment.

“Just a little farther,” the man said after we turned a corner and found yet another drab, gray corridor - the walls nothing more than cinder block and concrete, reminding me of the prisons that my friends and I called “the buffet” where we gluttonously imbibed on the evil blood of murderers and rapists. “They’re happily playing so word hasn’t gotten to the . . .”

There was a loud explosion and then the sound of falling concrete behind us. Without thinking, we all flinched and covered our heads.

“I will find him, and I will rip him limb from limb,” I heard our friend Lenae - referred to by everyone as Lovey for her sweet and timid nature, yell in a murderous growl that I would never have imagined could come from her body. “I’ve been waiting for this day for centuries.”

“You have been friends with Stassi for so long that her impulsivity and recklessness has rubbed off on you,” I heard Clarisse say as I rushed back around the corner.

I had never been happier to see my friends than I was at that moment and knew that the vision the vampire had seen about magic unfolding was true.

They were covered in blood, but I could tell by the scent that it wasn’t their own. Snarling and howls of pain could be heard from outside the gaping hole that Lovey had created in the wall.

“We will get the children,” Genji said before she shoved me toward our friends. “Take them with you and find Stassi, Aksel. There might still be time to save her.”

“Who is this?” Clarisse asked, motioning toward the frail man with Genji.

“Nicholas,” I explained as Genji turned around followed him. “That’s Stassi’s brother. His children are captives here too. Go with Genji. All of us are weak and she’ll need your help.”

“Where is Stassi?” Clarisse asked.

“She’s with Agmund.”

“I’m going with you,” Lovey insisted. “I’ve got a bone to pick with that man.”

“Now is not the time, Lovey. Stassi is intent on killing him.”

“Well, she’ll need to get in line because I called dibs.”

“I don’t know how to find her. I can feel her here, but something’s blocking me.”

“Talk to her through your connection, Aksel. She’s blocking you so you can’t find her and stop her. Maybe we should just let her . . .”

I shook my head and interrupted Clarisse, “She took poison in the hopes that Agmund would feed from her and die too.”

Clarisse gasped just as Maribel walked up and yelled, “She did what ?”

“They struck all of us down with magic, and when we regained consciousness, we’d been injected with poison. Apparently, they didn’t poison Stassi because Agmund had plans for her, so she drank from Genji in the hopes that Agmund wouldn’t realize her blood had become toxic. Genji said she’s going to burn this place down and plans to go up in flames with it.”

“Let’s focus,” Clarisse said as she reached for Lovey and Maribel’s hands. They linked together in a circle when Vivienne suddenly appeared and pushed her way between Lovey and Maribel to join in.

I could feel the power of the four witches emanating from within the circle and knew that they would be able to pinpoint where my Stassi was within seconds so we could rescue her - not from any danger, but from herself. I had no idea why she thought she should go down with the ship, and I’d probably be angry about the thought later, but right now, I was terrified.

I heard Neema’s voice just as I saw something flicker in my peripheral vision. It flickered again, and I realized it was Neema as she said, “I know where Stassi is, but you’ll need backup because I can’t help you right now. I’m too weak after being transformed for so long.”

As one, the witches lifted their heads and stared at the spot where Neema kept appearing and then disappearing before Clarisse whispered something, most likely a spell, and Neema’s body took shape.

“Thank you! I couldn’t get back into my physical form no matter how hard I tried.”

“Take me to Stassi!” I ordered.

Neema shivered and took a few deep breaths before she nodded and said, “Come with me.”

When she took off down the hall, back in the direction we’d come, I followed her and could feel the witches behind me, power still emanating from them like a force field. We made a different turn, taking us to the other side of the building than where I’d awoken just a few minutes ago.

I could tell we were closer to Stassi now because the feeling in my chest had become more intense. Now, it wasn’t just a presence but a wildfire of pain that felt like it was sweeping through my veins. I could feel something else, though, and this wasn’t pain.

I felt rage like I had never known before.

We walked through a doorway and were surprised to find four . . . creatures - there was no other way to describe them. They were guarding the door and went into defensive postures the second they spotted us.

“What in the . . .” Clarisse’s voice trailed off when the guard covered in scales hissed at us. She took a step back when the creature blinked with reptile lids and hissed again. “I don’t even know what to . . .” I heard her gulp loudly and then say, “What has Agmund done here?”

Lovey seemed to snap out of her shock first and put her hand up as she whispered a spell that I knew would bring the creatures to their knees in supplication. When they didn’t move, she did it again. Somehow, I knew Stassi had already spelled them for this exact instance.

Stassi didn’t want to be interrupted while she was alone with Agmund, the man she most likely knew as Stefan, who was responsible for killing her parents and keeping her hostage for years. The rage I felt made sense now, and when I heard her laugh through the closed door, I knew she was finally exacting the revenge that she’d only imagined until now.

Since the spells wouldn’t work on the creatures, I knew that only brute force would get us past, so I assessed the four to see if I could pick out the strongest. Suddenly I felt a presence behind me and then a gasp of shock that I recognized as Blair’s.

I took my eyes off the guards long enough to look over my shoulder and found Blair and our three sons behind us, studying the guards with the same shock I was feeling.

“Stassi is behind that door,” I announced.

Santiago chuckled, and I could hear laughter in his voice when he said, “Let’s play!”

I felt them at my back as we rushed across the room. I set my sights on the lizard person, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Blair join the fray while our sons took the remaining two. Santiago, Diego, and Angel had seen their fair share of violence before they were turned into vampires and even more since then, so it wasn’t surprising that they knew what they were doing. However, Blair seemed like a mild-mannered vampire because of her caring heart and love of children.

That was absolutely true. She was funny, sweet, loyal, and caring. What most people didn’t realize until it was too late was that Blair was also deadly.

The creatures understood that they were under attack, however, I was positive they hadn’t encountered experienced, aged vampires before - because if that were the case, they wouldn’t have lived this long. Obviously, today would be their one and only experience.

The being in front of me crouched down and then cut to the right, but I had the advantage of being even quicker than he was and moved out of the way of his sharp claws before he could disembowel me, which I was positive was his intention. As my opponent regrouped and tried to catch his balance to come at me again, I watched Blair take a running start at hers, used his thigh as a step, and jumped onto his shoulder before she wrapped her thighs around his neck and used her hands to twist his head around to a very unnatural angle.

I looked back at my own opponent just before I heard a sickening crunch and a loud thud as Blair’s victim’s head rolled between me and the lizard-being who was strategizing another attack. I watched his eyes go wide in horror as I sank my fingers into the fleshy part of his neck. He didn’t even have enough time to register the pain before I ripped his throat out and tossed him aside like a rag doll.

Before his body had even hit the ground, I was facing my four sons and realized that they had already killed both guards and thrown their bodies aside so they could gain access to the door. Diego pushed through it with his brothers at his back, and they rushed into the room and fanned out as if they’d practiced the maneuver a million times. Blair and I were right behind them but skidded to a halt at the sight before us.

Stassi was sitting on a throne at the front of the room. She was bent forward with her elbows on her knees as she watched the man in front of her on the floor writhing in pain. The temperature in the room was so hot that I felt like my skin was melting, but I knew it didn’t affect Stassi in the least because she was the one creating the heat.

I heard the witches come through the door behind me and gasp at the temperature right before a cool breeze swept through the room.

That was enough to get Stassi’s attention, and she looked away from her victim long enough to glance up at our ragtag group and smile.

“Welcome to the party, my friends. You made it just in time to watch the final act of the show.”

“I’m game,” Lovey said as she walked closer to Stassi. She put her hand out and a bag of popcorn appeared in it before she sat on the floor about six feet away from Agmund’s prone body. “This will be the best show I’ve seen in centuries.”

“I planned to set him on fire and raze the entire area, but I’ve found that watching him squirm around in pain is much more rewarding.”

“Stassi,” I whispered as I stepped over Agmund’s prone body. “The poison?”

Stassi stood up, still weak but healthier than I imagined her to be, and motioned toward a man who was leaning against a pillar at the edge of the room. “He helped me force Agmund to take more of my poisoned blood and then fed me his own as an antidote.”

“Devon?” Clarisse asked from behind me.

“Help me,” Agmund begged through his tears.

Stassi looked down at him and glared before she flicked her fingers and made stitches appear across his mouth, effectively sewing his lips shut. I felt another pulse of rage from her and watched as her eyes changed from their usual color to embers as the temperature of the room started to rise again.

“Sweetheart, I’m all for you letting him die painfully, but please don’t roast us in the process,” I said as I pulled her into my arms. When she sagged against me, I had to take a step back, my weakness even more apparent now that the adrenaline had started to fade. “How much longer do you think it will take?”

“I’ve revived him three times already, so . . .” Stassi shrugged and said, “I suppose I could let him go.”

The longer I held her, the cooler the room became. I blocked out the commotion around me as I gazed down into her face.

“I thought I was going to lose you.”

“I planned . . . I wasn’t thinking . . .” Stassi stammered. Finally, she took a deep breath and said, “I was filled with so much rage that all I could think about was killing him and finishing what I started. I didn’t care if I had to die in the process, but then I thought about you and what we have together and knew I couldn’t go through with it.”

“I’m glad. I don’t think I could live without you.”

◆◆◆

STASSI

Aksel’s words gave me a feeling of dread that just added to the pain I still felt deep in my bones. The fire had eased in my blood when I took blood from Devon, but it wasn’t completely gone. I hoped it might have something to do with Anna and Ivan, and that when they were finally reunited, I would be back to my old self. Something told me that wasn’t going to be the case.

I glanced over at my new friend Devon, the hybrid witch shifter who had eagerly helped me in Agmund’s demise, and saw that he was leaning against the wall, physically weak and clearly shaken after I’d drained him of so much blood.

Devon looked as if he’d seen a ghost, and I worried that I’d drained him too far.

“Will you help Devon? I think I took too much. He can drink from the guards outside, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen,” Aksel mumbled. “Let’s get everyone back to the hotel, and we’ll find someone to feed him.”

“I think I could use a little more myself,” I admitted. “And a steak.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Aksel promised before he put his lips on mine for a kiss that showed me just how much I meant to him. That was solidified when he pulled back so he could look into my eyes and whispered, “And the second you’re feeling better, I’m going to spank your ass for even considering your original plan.”

“I have a feeling you’re not talking about the fun kind of spanking,” I mumbled.

“Once again, your instincts are spot on, sweet Stassi.”

In this instance, that was fine, but what my instincts were telling me about my health and future was something I really didn’t want to think about.