40. Montana

My heart wouldn’t settle as I watched the madness unfolding before me, the last of the biters now turned to dust around us. Erik stood at my side, assessing the situation in stony silence, looking from Fabian to Clarice like he was measuring every outcome of each decision he could make from here.

“Trade!” Clarice commanded, her golden hair plastered to her cheeks and a look of desperation in her eyes.

Magnar stiffened, glaring at her, then turning his gaze to Erik.

The Belvederes’ love for one another was undeniable, their bond defying all else.

Miles and Warren appeared, running over to join us. “Sorry we’re late to the party, we were off hunting biters,” Miles commented, then his eyes fell on Fabian at Magnar’s feet, terror brightening his blue eyes. “No - brother!”

Erik didn’t reply, watching Fabian intently, his jaw tight and his eyes as black as night.

Magnar’s face contorted as he weighed his odds. The slayers were outnumbered. And fear struck a chord in my heart at the idea of this descending into another fight. Of more blood being shed.

I took a step toward Callie, my heart hurting over what the gods had done to her, twisting her mind and binding her to Fabian. It was sick.

Magnar turned his gaze to Julius, his chin raising with a firm decision. “Release him.”

I let out a breath of relief as Magnar took the trade, praying we could all still walk away from this with our lives.

Clarice nodded, lifting her knife from Julius’s throat, the tension in the air easing just a little. Magnar kept his sword aimed at Fabian until Julius was at his side, then reluctantly drew it away. Callie pushed Magnar back a few steps, keeping close to him, her features fraught with confliction.

The moment they moved, Clarice darted forward and dropped to her knees beside Fabian. She hugged him to her chest, but he seemed to have fallen unconscious, lying in an ever-growing pool of bright red blood.

Erik advanced, his shoulders tensing as he stared Magnar down.

Magnar snarled in response, lifting his huge sword, seeming ready to fight Erik to the end. “Come and face me, monster. I will give you the slow and drawn-out death you deserve for what you did to my father.”

“No- please,” Callie begged Magnar. “I have to get away from here.”

Erik didn’t slow, his fists curling in preparation of a fight, and my heart lurched into my throat.

I raced into his path, turning my back to Magnar and planting a hand on Erik’s chest.

“Stop. Let them go,” I commanded.

Erik’s eyes slid down to mine and the darkness in them lifted a fraction. “I cannot let the slayers leave. They’ll never stop hunting us. I have to finish this.”

He took my arm to push me aside and fear tangled with my blood.

“No!” I yelled, pressing my full weight against him even though I knew it was pointless. If he insisted on this, I couldn’t stop him. But I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t let him dismiss me.

“Erik,” I growled. “You will let them go. If you hurt them, I’ll never forgive you.”

I could hear Callie begging Magnar to leave, and he looked tempted to give in. If I was able to convince Erik to stay his hand, maybe I could give them a chance to run at least.

Miles and Warren shared a glance, seeming willing to follow Erik’s lead.

“Rebel...” Erik took hold of my chin, his expression torn. “You don’t understand.”

“I do.” I took his hand, pressing my mark to his so a hungry energy flowed between us. “And I’m still asking you to let them go.”

I glanced over my shoulder, spotting Callie, Magnar, and Julius grouping closer together with their golden weapons raised.

“Monty?” Callie called.

She wanted to run, but she wouldn’t leave without me. I could see it in her eyes.

My heart was tugged in two directions, the new bond demanding I stay with Erik and my heart wanting that too, but my choice would always be my sister.

“Leave him - let’s go,” Callie insisted, her cheeks ashen and her eyes glimmering.

“Please,” I begged Erik. “Stand down.”

Erik released a low growl, slowly turning to Miles with his fangs bared. “We’ll fight another day,” he commanded, and Miles opened his mouth in surprise.

Tears pricked my eyes as I backed up, relief spilling through me, but it was quickly drowned away as I realised what came next. I couldn’t part from Callie again. We’d been away from each other too long. We were owed a free life, away from the vampires, far away from this city and any fences that were built to cage us.

“She needs me,” I breathed as the rain battered my cheeks. “And I need her.”

Erik’s posture stiffened as he stared at me in anguish, realising what I was saying.

“You’re leaving,” he stated with so much pain it was as if he was announcing my death.

He wasn’t going to keep me, no more cages or possession. He was finally taking the shackles off.

“I have to,” I said, my words choked as emotion threatened to overwhelm me. Because we both knew, the moment I walked away, we’d never see each other again. I may have had plans to help with the curse, but now I’d seen the carnage caused by the slayers and vampires colliding, how could we ever return here? And with Callie bound to Fabian, I couldn’t risk him getting his hands on her. Maybe we could help from afar, maybe there was something yet to be done. But right now, there was only one option available to us. We had to run and never come back. Leaving Erik behind was a pain I couldn’t bear to endure, but it was one I had to choose for myself as much as my sister.

“My whole life has been dictated by your kind,” I said, the truth of what Erik and I were, vampire and human, too stark to ignore anymore. “I’m done living in cages.”

He raised a hand, carving his thumb along the line of my cheek. “And I’m done caging you, Montana.”

“You mean it?” I whispered.

He looked ready to argue, to demand I stay or even take me into his arms and refuse to let me go. But he did none of those things. Erik was letting me make my own choice for once. As his arms fell to his sides and defeat took root in his eyes, I knew his decision was made.

“If it’s what you truly want,” he said tightly, staring at me like he could see the part of me that wanted to stay.

“It is,” I said, ignoring the agony those words caused me, the way the mark on my palm seared.

“Then I won’t stop you.”

I moved closer to him, tears burning the backs of my eyes as I stared up at this creature who had claimed some piece of my heart, if not all of it entirely.

“Thank you,” I whispered, my soul shattering at the weight of this goodbye.

“I won’t look for you,” he said darkly, and the mark on my hand screamed, demanding I take back what I was saying and let Erik steal me away. But I knew my own mind, and my decision had been made long before the gods tried to decide it for me. “Even when the demons in me demand it.”

I leaned into him, his cypress scent surrounding me, and I felt the burning stares of the slayers at my back. The judgement they must have been casting on me. But I couldn’t waste my final moments with Erik Belvedere pretending I didn’t care about him. Leaving him felt like tearing out a piece of my heart and abandoning it here. It would hurt like hell, and perhaps I’d never really recover from it, but it had to be done. I couldn’t abandon my sister. Not now. Not after everything we’d been through to find each other.

“They’re waiting for you,” he said coldly, his eyes slipping to the slayers with unmasked hatred, but there was envy in his gaze too now. “Perhaps you will come back for me one day, and you will raise a blade against me at their side.”

“Never,” I said through my teeth. I wanted him, no matter what the world thought of that, but that didn’t mean we could be together.

“It’s in your blood,” he said. “We’re made to destroy each other.”

“I don’t care what the gods made us for. I’m not their pawn.”

“Always the rebel.” He smiled but there was no light in it, a sea of darkness clouding his gaze. “But I fear your blood will out. Though perhaps that fate isn’t so unbearable if it means I will see you once again.”

“Stop it,” I begged, gripping his arms and fighting against the jagged lump in my throat. Our seconds were counting down, each one fractured and lost.

“Montana,” Julius barked, but I didn’t look back.

Erik’s gaze slid over my head, arrowing in on the slayer who had called my name, and his hand curled around mine, latching tight.

I backed away, knowing I was crushing him by doing this, and I was breaking myself in the process.

I turned to leave, unable to bear this goodbye a second longer, but Erik yanked me back to him, crushing his lips to mine. Rainwater sailed between our mouths, the taste of unfulfilled promises making a sob crack through my chest.

His lips were icily cold and sent a shiver through to my heart, but as he held me, the cold ebbed away and a fire coursed through my veins in its place. I knew with a suddenness that frightened me that I had fallen in love with him, and this love was condemned to die.

I pulled away and heated tears rolled down my cheeks, mixing with the rain. His hand still gripped mine as I backed up, like he was regretting agreeing to this, like he might just change his mind and seize me once again.

But then he let me go, his brow lowering as the rain cascaded over him and he became a broken creature accepting his fate.

My feet stopped moving, but Callie ran to me, taking my hand and dragging me away. I kept looking over my shoulder as I forced myself to run with her, and Erik’s gaze burrowed into mine, a ceaseless want passing between us. A want that had been doomed the moment we’d first felt it.

The rain swept around Erik and his family, making them appear like statues in the mist, so still they defied nature.

I fell into step with Julius and Magnar as they raced away from the royals, my soul crushing with every step I took, the mark on my hand burning, begging me to go back.

We turned a corner and my heart shattered into a million pieces, even though I was sure I’d done the right thing. I had to stay with Callie, the last of my family. But doing so sent a shudder of finality through me, the agony of it slicing through my veins.

There was one thought I held onto in the wake of my choice. It was more than a promise, it was a vow. One I committed to with my entire being.

I’ll find a way to break the curse, Erik.

I swear it.

_______________

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