Chapter 10

Chapter

Ten

S erenity

When I woke up, my skull felt like it had been bouncing around a pinball machine. Sunlight streamed through the barred window, sending fresh spikes of pain through my temples, and I winced.

“I’m sorry Gage hit you,” Balthazar said softly. It sounded like he was right next to me.

I scrambled to the other side of the bed, my heart pounding. The sudden movement made the room spin. Balthazar sat beside the bed, staring at me with those unsettling eyes. His long black hair flared over his muscular shoulders and once again, he was shirtless. His legs were crossed and he had on a pair of jeans. High black boots hugged his calves. The casual pose didn’t fool me—there was nothing casual about being locked in a room with him.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you, beautiful.” He sighed, and regret crossed his face. “Gage hit you before I could stop him. It was my fault.”

The acrid smell of smoke still hung in the sparse room, a reminder of my failed escape attempt. Through the barred window, Cypress trees draped with Spanish moss swayed in the breeze. Somewhere in the distance, a bird called out across the bayou. I was miles from civilization, miles from help.

Miles from Angelo.

I clutched the blanket tightly, trying to hide the way my hands shook. “What are you doing here, Balthazar?”

He shrugged, the movement making his muscular shoulders ripple. “Protecting you. What else?”

“From…?”

“You didn’t think Gage would be content with just hitting you once, did you?” Something dark flashed in his eyes.

I thought of Gage’s threat, and fear jumped into my heart. “He won’t kill me, will he?”

Balthazar walked over to the window and peered out, his reflection ghostly in the morning light. “No. At least… Not yet.” A bird’s cry echoed across the bayou, as if in warning.

His broad back blocked my view. “What’s going on out there? What’s happening?” I asked fearfully.

He turned back to me, and for a moment, the way the sunlight caught his face made him look almost angelic. But I knew his beauty was a mask for something ancient and deadly. “Nothing that concerns you.”

Another lie. But instead of confronting him, I changed the subject, trying to ignore how my head pounded with each heartbeat. “What did you mean when you said I had to be willing to heal the crystal?”

“Tell me...” His voice dropped lower, more intimate as he moved closer. The air seemed to thicken at his nearness. “When you healed the Aeternum Stone, did Angelo force you?”

The memory rose up sharp and clear—Angelo revealing how the stone was all that stood between him and Dracula’s vengeance. He hadn’t begged, hadn’t threatened. Just spoke a truth I couldn’t bear: his death if the stone failed. Angelo was a killer, a monster by any human standard. But the thought of him being destroyed had left my heart aching with a fear deeper than any moral judgment.

I shook my head. “No, I wanted to.”

“Because you love him?” His lips curved into a wicked smile. “Sweet, but your love won’t save him if he tries to interfere. I could end him with a thought.”

His words made me uneasy and I didn’t respond. The way he watched me—like he could see right through my silence—made my skin crawl. He moved with the fluid grace of a creature that had had centuries to perfect its predatory movements.

“Why didn’t Gage kill me?”

“Because I told him I could teach you how to use your powers to heal the Crystal.” He grinned, and there was nothing human in that expression. “That is, if you wanted to.”

“That’s why you want to teach me? So I can heal the Crystal?”

He chuckled, the sound turning my insides to ice. “Not exactly. I couldn’t care less who is wolf king. Trystan, Gage, it means nothing to me.” He traced a finger idly along the window bars.

“Then why?”

Balthazar turned to me and ran a finger along my jawline, his touch electric against my skin. “Because you’re a Nephilim and possess power that I want. Your father... He’s quite something, isn’t he? All that celestial blood running through your veins. So much power, just waiting to be unleashed.” He leaned closer, his breath ghosting across my cheek. “Don’t you want to know who your father was? What you really are? I could show you things Angelo never dreamed of.”

My heart slammed against my ribs. After years of questions, someone finally had the answer. “You know my father?” The words came out raw, desperate. “Is he a demon?”

His laugh filled the space between us, head tipped back in genuine amusement. “To some, yes. I’ve encountered him once or twice over the centuries.” His gaze raked over my features. “You look just like him. That golden hair, those green eyes—the minute I saw you, I knew exactly whose daughter you were.”

My fingers trembled as they nervously went to a strand of my hair. All my life, I’d wondered about that. My mother had been a brunette with brown eyes. Every time I looked in a mirror, I’d been seeing pieces of him without even knowing it. “Is he demonic?”

Balthazar’s smile curved slow and dangerous. “Like I said, to some he is. But trust me, sweetheart, there are others that are worse. Far, far worse.” He prowled closer. “Present company included. Now, if you want to save your favorite vampire, I have a proposition for you.”

My mind spun as it raced through impossible choices. Balthazar was offering me everything—knowledge of my father, power, maybe even a way back to Angelo. But at what cost? The way his power reached for me, tried to wrap around whatever celestial essence flowed in my veins, made my skin crawl. Angelo might have bought me for my Nephilim blood, but he’d never tried to twist me into something dark.

A small voice whispered that perhaps I should play along, let Balthazar think he had won me over until I found a way back to Angelo. But there was something so seductive about Balthazar’s darkness that called to parts of me I didn’t understand. If I gave in—even just pretended to—would I be able to pull back? Or would I become something even Angelo couldn’t control?

Yet Balthazar’s words about my father were like a siren song that sang to my blood, even as my instincts screamed to run. Angelo had never offered me these answers, this knowledge of who—and what—I really was.

“You will become powerful.” He ticked off each point on his fingers as if he was offering me a particularly good deal. “You will be in control. And—” His smile turned wicked. “You will be mine.”

“What?” The word came out as a strangled yelp.

“Don’t look so scandalized, my dear.” He leaned against the window frame, completely at ease. “I don’t do anything by force. That’s too easy, too boring. I prefer…persuasion.”

I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come, come, didn’t your precious Angelo teach you anything about supernatural creatures?” His voice dropped to a velvet purr. “We’re hunters by nature. And you, my forbidden little Nephilim, are the most tempting prey I’ve seen in centuries.” His eyes glittered. “Your power calls to mine. It’s only a matter of time before you will want to know more—about who you are, what you can do. What you could become.”

I shrank back against the headboard. The last thing I wanted was to turn into a demon. “I don’t want to become evil.”

He shrugged, that devastating smile still playing on his lips. “Never said you would. It all depends on you.” His words dripped with dark promise, each one designed to make me forget about Angelo, about myself, about everything except the answers he dangled before me like delicious bait.

Still… There had to be another way. One that didn’t entail me losing myself.

The door banged open, and I jumped. Gage stormed in with murder in his eyes, making the room feel suddenly smaller. My fear skyrocketed. Balthazar’s dangerous charm was infinitely preferable to Gage’s raw aggression.

“Did Balthazar tell you yet what you’re going to do?” Gage’s voice was a growl.

I glanced nervously at Balthazar, seeking the lesser evil. “You mean him training me?”

Gage slowly approached me. “You will do everything he asks.”

“Don’t touch her,” Balthazar warned, his demonic energy crackling in the air like static electricity before a storm.

Surprisingly, Gage obeyed, but his eyes flared like hot brass, pupils contracting to predatory slits. His lips curled, revealing fangs sharp enough to tear through flesh. “You will heal the Luparion Crystal.” His voice dropped to a guttural growl. He gestured toward Balthazar, power rolling off him in waves that made the air thick and heavy. “If you don’t, he’ll kill your precious vampire king…right after I tear out Angelo’s heart.”

My own heart thundered against my ribs, but I lifted my chin, channeling every ounce of defiance I could muster. “You’re not strong enough to take down Angelo. He’ll drain you dry.” Even saying his name made my voice waver—not from fear, but from the ache of wanting him here, needing him to burst through the doors and end this nightmare.

“Oh, but I am.” Gage stalked closer, his boots silent against the floor. The scent of pine and wilderness clung to him, with something metallic under it. Blood. “There’s more than one way to rip out a vampire’s heart.”

A deadly silence filled the room like a poisonous fog. My magic flickered weakly beneath my skin, exhausted from fighting. I tried to think of all the ways to kill a vampire, but none of them seemed lethal enough to kill Angelo. He was ancient, powerful—untouchable. Wasn’t he?

I clenched my fists until my nails bit crescents into my palms, using the pain to ground myself. “You’ll regret taking me. Angelo will find me?—”

“You still don’t get it.” Gage’s cruel laugh echoed off the walls as he leaned in close enough for me to see the madness dancing in his golden eyes. It punched me in the gut, knocking the breath out of me. “I want him to find us.” His voice dropped to a whisper that chilled me more than any shout could have. “I want him to watch you die, just like he made me watch when he killed my mate. That’s the precise moment when I’ll rip out his cold, dead heart.”

The pure anguish in his words made me take a step back. This wasn’t just about power or territory; it was about vengeance born from love twisted into hatred. And I was caught in the middle.

God, what had Angelo done? He’d created a monster. The realization settled in my stomach like lead. Every terrible possibility of how Angelo might have killed Gage’s mate flashed through my mind.

“In other news, Nephilim…” Gage’s lips twisted as he prowled closer, satisfaction rolling off him in waves. “I’m meeting with your precious vampire mafia king.” A dark chuckle rumbled from his chest. “My plan is beginning to come together. He thinks Trystan kidnapped you, and I’m going to lay breadcrumbs leading your dumb bat right to you.”

The casual way he spoke about manipulating Angelo made my blood run cold. Gage wasn’t just acting on blind rage—this was cool, calculated revenge, planned and perfected over who knew how long. And he was using me as bait in his twisted trap.

He laughed, the sound almost a howl as he left the room, echoing off the walls like a wolf’s victory cry.

I stood there, as numb as if I’d fallen through ice, my bones heavy with dread. Even breathing felt like an effort. Balthazar looked at me steadily, his dark eyes holding ancient secrets and unspoken promises. “You have a choice, Nephilim.” Each word was honeyed venom. “The only way to save your vampire is to develop your powers. I can teach you”…he paused, letting the words sink in…“but you’ll have to pledge yourself to me.”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t force me.” Each word fell soft as a shadow.

“Oh, I won’t have to, beautiful.” A knowing smile curved his lips, demonic energy crackling around him like a dark halo. “You’ll come to me willingly.”