39. Callie

Fabian’s cry of pain drew all of my attention as I ran, racing away from my sister and Erik Belvedere. I was compelled by the mark on my palm, driving me toward my husband, forcing me away from my sister no matter how desperately I wanted to remain by her side.

My heart clenched in panic as I sprinted towards Magnar and Fabian.

I saw the blood first, and my pulse pounded violently as I charged closer. So much blood, too much blood.

Please be alright, please, please.

Fabian staggered sideways with a hand pressed to the gaping wound on his stomach, his shoes sliding in the rain as he fell back against a wall, barely remaining upright. Magnar swung Venom over his head, preparing to finish what he’d started, death written into his features and challenging the entire world to defy him.

Terror threatened to overwhelm me, and I threw myself between them without a single moment of hesitation, raising Tempest to take the force of the blow which was intended to rip Fabian from this world.

Venom crashed against my blade so hard that my bones shook, the brute force of Magnar’s strike almost toppling me before him.

I stared up at Magnar in shock, unable to believe what I’d done. I’d leapt between a Belvedere and death, my blade still ringing with the force of the collision.

My arms started to tremble with the strength required to hold Magnar off, and he wrenched Venom back, staring down at me in wild confusion, and as Fabian sagged to the ground at my back, he readied another blow.

“Please don’t,” I begged, catching Magnar’s arm as he lifted his blade above Fabian’s heart, my husband bleeding out on the street beneath him, unable to so much as regain his feet. Tears burst from my eyes, mixing with the rain that continued to drench us as they scored acidic lines down my cheeks.

“What the fuck is this, Callie? What the hell has he done to you?” Magnar demanded, pausing long enough to look into my eyes, his golden gaze searching mine, disgust and betrayal swimming in their depths.

“It wasn’t Fabian.” I held my left hand out and showed him the cross on my palm. “It was Idun. She doesn’t want me to love you.”

“And do you?” he asked, his eyes burning with an intensity that carved its way through me, past every wall I’d ever constructed to shield myself from men with black hearts and smiles gifted by the devil.

My breath caught in my throat as I stared up at him, the rain slicking across his skin, highlighting the strength of his features, the ruin I could so easily find in his arms. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth as the goddess tried to seal my lips, but I wouldn’t let her. Not this time.

“I’ve been falling for you since the moment you pinned me against that wall.” It broke my heart to admit it because I knew I didn’t deserve his love. I was offering him a fractured version of myself. I was tied to a monster he’d sworn to kill.

Magnar slowly lowered his sword. His eyes filled with a burning desire as something shifted within his expression, and he took a step towards me before halting again. Idun still wouldn’t let him move closer, but I knew he wanted to.

Fabian released a groan filled with pain, and Magnar’s gaze hardened instantly, whatever he’d been going to say lost as his focus returned to the Belvedere who lay at my back. “Step aside, Callie. I have to do this.”

Magnar’s command slammed into me, and I was forced to do as he said, despite the unwanted portion of my soul crying out in alarm as he raised Venom over Fabian’s heart.

“No,” I gasped, a sob escaping my lips as I looked down at the vampire I wanted to hate but found myself longing for instead.

Fabian was slumped against the wall, his skin even paler than usual, his white shirt stained bright red. His hand pressed down on a wound which would have been more than enough to kill a mortal but wouldn’t ever be enough to end a vampire.

His eyes were on me, and he reached out, brushing his fingers against the hem of my dress, his sword laying forgotten and out of reach. “You shouldn’t have put yourself in danger for me.”

I wanted to pull him into my arms and take away his pain…or maybe I wanted to end it myself, drive my blade through his blackened heart and save the world from the burden of his existence. My grip tightened on Tempest, but I couldn’t raise it. I was so confused, I didn’t know what I wanted anymore, but as I looked down at the immortal monster with eyes so deep I could lose myself in them, I knew that his death would tear me in two.

“Please,” I whispered, knowing I couldn’t stop him if he chose to act now, the power of his control over me keeping me back, his skill outmatching my own even if it wasn’t. “If he dies, I think a part of me will die too.”

Magnar released an angry growl, but he stayed his blade for a moment, though the tip of it hovered over Fabian’s chest.

“I will tear Idun from the heavens in payment for this curse,” he snarled, indecision halting him as he weighed my words, none of us knowing how much truth they held.

“I propose a trade!” Clarice’s voice startled me, and we turned to find her at our backs, her dress bloody and torn, her hair plastered to her cheeks, but victory clinging to her just as fiercely. Julius was kneeling on the floor in front of her and she held a thin blade pressed to his throat while fisting his hair in her grip to expose his throat to it. “My brother for yours.”

The silence around us was pregnant with violence. Even the rain began to slow as the world held its breath for Magnar’s answer.

“Tell her to get fucked, Magnar,” Julius called into the space between raindrops. “I took my vow, same as you. I’d give my life to end his, and you know it.”

Magnar’s gaze was locked on his brother, and I could tell the strength of his belief in the vow he lived by was battling against the unending love he felt for his brother. Of course he wouldn’t give Julius’s life for Fabian’s, but Idun wanted him to. I could feel her watching us, testing his devotion to her cause yet again, despite how often she toyed with him and betrayed his loyalty.

I needed more than just this trade though. I had to get as far from Fabian as possible. Whatever the goddess had done to me was growing stronger with every second that passed, and I couldn’t bear to think about what that might mean for me. What it might make me do. My legs were already shaking with the desire to bend, to drop me down beside my fallen husband so that I might take him in my arms, press my mouth to his and-

“Please, Magnar,” I begged, his name falling from my lips as I forced my tongue to follow my commands instead of Idun’s. He stilled as he realised what I’d managed to do, and his eyes glimmered with some deep emotion, his resolve hardening as he made his choice. “I don’t know what’s happened to me, but I need to get away from here. Away from him.” I pointed at the bleeding vampire at our feet. “Please, just make the trade and take me far away.”

My heart thumped painfully at the thought of leaving Fabian behind, but I knew I had to do it. The closer I was to him, the more I ached to be with him, the more I yearned to feel his flesh against mine, his mouth on my skin, more and more until I couldn’t breathe with the need for it. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t me. And I needed to get away from him to make certain that I wouldn’t give in.

“You would leave me for him?” Fabian asked quietly, his voice laced with raw pain, the power of this spell which had captivated the two of us ripping something open in him.

I fought hard against the part of me which yearned to be his and spoke what I knew in my heart was the truth as I looked down into his dark eyes. “Yes. I belong with him.”

The heat in Magnar’s gaze burned a little brighter and his shoulders sagged as he drew Venom back an inch.