Chapter 35

Remy shoved his sword right through my chest, cracking bones, sending me tumbling to my knees. Now, it was not the most pleasant feeling in the world, but I'd had worse in my life. Or death, I suppose you'd call it.

"Don't take this personally, but it needs to be done," Remy said as he yanked his sword free and levelled it toward my neck. "One of the tasks on my to-do list." He swung his sword and I lurched backward, the tip of it just missing the bare bones of my neck.

"ROBERT!"

Evangeline's scream reverberated through the room like the blast of a black powder magazine. I clamped my hands over my ears and rolled to the side.

"How dare you?" Evangeline hissed at Remy. "How dare you!"

Remy laughed. "You are a fool if you think I don't understand the connection between you two. Why you've survived so many things that have killed other vampires. Sun exposure, fire, wounds to the heart. All of them more than capable of killing you, and yet you lived. Why is that? I asked myself. And then I realized. Then I knew."

He circled around and Evangeline put herself between him and me. As if she were protecting me.

My mind was only halfway on their conversation because I felt a tug on my right hand. A call to join someone else. I just…I just had to go to her. Bree's voice wrapped gently around me, a warm blanket on a cold night, a kind touch that drew me.

Robert. I called you from Hell. This is far simpler. All you have to do is let her go.

Let her go.

Evangeline snorted. "It is because I am the strongest?—"

"It is because," Remy lifted his sword and pointed it at her, "You are bound to him. As long as he lives, you live. The two of you are tied so tightly together, it's a shock no one has understood until now."

I shifted and got to my feet so that I was to the left of Eva and could watch them both. If what he was saying was true, then my death…would end her. As I had suspected.

Which meant I could not go to Bree. I had to stay here and hope that Remy had the balls to kill us both.

I am so sorry, my friend. This is where I must leave your side. Be safe, Breena O'Rylee. Be safe.

I had no idea if she would hear my words. I hoped she would understand.

Eva's breathing hitched. "No. That is not why." A lie, I felt it in my bones.

"Oh, I think it is," Richart said as he stepped into the room.

Evangeline hissed at him. "You traitor!"

He shook his head. "My loyalty is to my kind, of which you are not. Demon-infested one."

It was as though a mask had been pulled from her. She tipped her head back and laughed, maniacal, unhinged.

"Fine. You understand now. Every demon has a weakness, and mine is that I am tied to this undead one. But that is not the whole connection. You are both fools!"

She snapped her hand out and darkness exploded out of her, wrapping around Remy and Richart, throwing them from the room.

"Come, my love." She reached her hand to me, and I did the only thing I could. I put my skeletal fingers in hers.

My heart was torn. My friends were in danger. But I understood what I could do to help. If I could get to Crash, I knew he would be the one strong enough to do what must be done. His magic could end this game.

Could end me. And by doing so end Evangeline. Then…the threat would be gone to Bree and her friends. To the world.

I hoped.

What I hadn't counted on was another player in the game.

"Eva, wait!" A woman's voice cut through the growing darkness. "Wait, they've taken her!"

All the shadows that had wrapped around me dissipated, unspooling so rapidly I had to blink several times to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Bramble stood in the doorway, her clothing soaked and torn, her hair a wild mess.

"What?" Evangeline whipped around, her hair floating on a non-existent wind.

Bramble leaned against the wall. "Bree…she realized I was helping you. And…she took the wand. I need it to complete the spell as you wish it to be done."

The screech that left Evangeline shook the foundations of the castle, dust and mortar trickled down from the ceiling, making the air thick. Her hand tightened on me, cracking my knuckles.

The only sounds left in the wake of the scream were the ragged breathing of Bramble and Evangeline.

"Where have they taken her?" Evangeline snarled the words, her voice gravelly and nothing like it should have been. It was the voice of darkness incarnate, and I felt every syllable against my bones.

"I…don't know." Bramble shook her head. "They didn't say. I just saw them leave as I?—"

Evangeline held her free hand out and clutched her fingers, as if she were squeezing something. Bramble's hand went to her chest, and she gasped, mouth open as she struggled to breathe.

"We need to find them."

Her eyes drifted to me as I stood there swaying, rocking back and forth on my foot bones. I knew she was going to ask. Was ready for it.

"Who would know where to find them best? Hmm? Robert?"

"Gone," I growled the word. "Away."

Best I could do. I mean, it wasn't like I could spit out much bigger words than that. Given the condition of my vocal cords and lack of a tongue, I had a limited vocabulary.

Her eyes narrowed.

I kept swaying.

The demon stepped closer. "I think you know."

"Gone," I said again. "Friend gone."

Because I didn't have to play it safe now. Evangeline and her demon would want to preserve me, because if anything happened to me, it would make her vulnerable.

But I also knew that to end this, I had to get to my friends. Which meant I had to take a gamble.

I tapped a finger to my chest. "Friend. Speak."

"You see," Evangeline purred, her voice back to that of the woman I'd known. "He does love me."

Darkness slipped from her hand and the demon's power rolled over me, putting me back together until I was whole once more. Evangeline leaned into me; her hands splayed across my chest as she looked into my face. Her blue eyes were locked on mine, which was how I once again saw the demon staring back at me, hidden within.

"Where have they gone, my love?"

I forced a smile to my lips as I betrayed my friends and gambled everything on my new insight about my connection to Evangeline. "The only place she knows as home. She will have gone back to Savannah."