Chapter 38

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

A ngelo

My feet might as well have been encased in concrete—I couldn’t move, couldn’t even twitch my toes against the filthy church floor. The pentagram blazed around me like living fire, its light pulsing in time with Valentin’s heartbeat. Stupid, stupid, stupid. We’d walked right into his trap.

Serenity was sprawled across Valentin until Balthazar dragged her off, throwing her down within the pentagram. She landed hard on her hands and knees ten feet away from me, her eyes wide with fear as the symbols pulsed beneath her. Every instinct screamed at me to reach her, to tear apart anything between us, but I couldn’t move. I, the vampire king of New Orleans, couldn’t even cross this corrupted ground to protect what was mine.

My gaze swept to where Rose, Gianna, and Enzo were pinned against the wall like insects in a collection, held by invisible chains that reeked of dark magic. Enzo met my eyes with a look that carried years of shared violence. He knew what would happen when I got free. We both did. The last time someone had dared chain my people like this, I’d spent a month teaching New Orleans exactly why you didn’t cross Angelo Santi.

But this time was different. This time they had Serenity. And the rage that filled me wasn’t just the cold fury of a mafia king—it was something ancient and terrible that made even the shadows around me grow darker.

The black smoke writhed overhead like a nest of serpents, and my stomach lurched as understanding hit me. Our plan had been so simple: grab the dybbuk box, rescue Valentin, break Balthazar’s power. Keir had been certain that Valentin’s blood was the key—the catalyst that made the whole spell work. In a flash, I understood why.

Balthazar’s eyes gleamed with triumph as he looked toward where Keir and Trystan were hiding. Of course he’d want Valentin’s blood—he was part Dark Demon, something that made him rare and lethal even among vampires. His blood was unique—an accelerant that could amplify Balthazar’s darkest spells. Valentin’s father had been one of the deadliest Dark Demons in existence, a creature that could shift into any form and whose very blood was pure poison.

That’s what Balthazar was really after—that inherited venom running through Valentin’s veins. Keir had figured it out too late: break the pentagram, stop Valentin’s blood from feeding the spell, and Balthazar’s whole plan would crumble.

But now we were trapped, and that toxic demon blood was about to give Balthazar exactly what he wanted. The black smoke—writhing with faces of the damned, their silent screams visible in its churning depths—raced over my head and shot toward Keir and Trystan’s hiding place like a heat-seeking missile of pure malevolence.

Release me,” Keir demanded, his voice carrying all the authority of the Unseelie throne. “Or I’ll show you what true power—“ But before he could finish, the smoke wrapped around his throat. His jaw snapped shut as if gripped by an invisible hand, and he thrashed his head back and forth, fighting for words that wouldn’t come.

Trystan, still in his massive wolf form, snarled and lunged—but the smoke was faster. It seized him like a living chain, slamming him against the wall and holding him there like a muzzled beast. His claws scraped uselessly against stone as he fought the bindings.

The smoke wasn’t done. It coiled around them both with terrible purpose, crushing them against the wall. Bones cracked as the dark force pinned them in place beside Enzo, Rose, and Gianna. They all hung there together, faces twisted in silent agony as the supernatural chains slowly tightened, promising a long and agonizing death.

The evil in the church twisted around me, making it hard to breathe, to think. The very air felt tainted by whatever ancient horror the Nightshade witches had locked away in that dybbuk box. No wonder they’d bound it—this wasn’t just dark magic, this was something older, something that had existed before light itself.

Balthazar stalked toward Serenity, and the shadows crawled after him like eager pets. “I told you I’d get you back.” His voice echoed with something ancient and evil, like fingernails scraping against my soul.

“Stay away from her, Balthazar,” I growled, but even my rage felt small against the primal, perfect darkness filling the church.

His laugh was the sound of cemetery dirt hitting a coffin. “Or what? You’re in no position to do anything.” He reached for Serenity’s face with fingers that were too long, too sharp, like they were struggling to maintain human form.

“I’ll send you back to Hell in a matchbox,” I growled, my voice rough with suppressed rage. My fangs ached with the need to tear his throat out, to make him suffer for every second he kept us trapped here.

“I think not.” His smile made my blood recoil in ancient horror.

“Balthazar, don’t hurt them.” Serenity’s voice cracked as she looked around the church frantically, taking in each imprisoned face. Her eyes lingered on Enzo’s twisted form, on Rose’s silent scream. “Please.” The single word held all her desperation, all her fear.

“That depends on you.” He lifted her chin with fingers that left frost on her skin. The sight of him touching her made my vision bleed red.

Hatred and anger swirled in me like a hurricane of razors, each second of helplessness adding to the storm. When I got free, there wouldn’t be enough left of him to fill a thimble.

“Don’t listen to him, Serenity!” My voice echoed off the corrupted church walls, carrying all the authority of New Orleans’ king.

Balthazar’s lips curved into a serpentine smile as he looked from me to the hooded figure. “Time to meet our mystery guest.”

The figure reached up with trembling hands and lowered his hood. Recognition slammed into me as he lowered his trembling hands. Costin Tarus, headmaster of Red Rose Academy, here in this unholy circle.

Rose stood there, frozen in place, her eyes the only thing that could move—wide with betrayal as they fixed on the man she’d trusted for so many years.

“I had no choice.” His words were those of a man who had lost everything. “He has Julienne.”

“Remove your glamour, Headmaster ,” Balthazar purred, drawing out the title like poison. The air around me grew heavy with anticipation.

Costin’s shoulders slumped in defeat. He began to chant in an ancient language that made my ears ring and my teeth ache—words that seemed to suspend through the chamber like venomous spiders on invisible threads. “ Velamen cado, forma vera emergo, essentia mea revelatur. ”

The air around him rippled like heat waves, and his human form began to dissolve. The glamour that had hidden his true nature for so long peeled away like scorching paper, revealing what had lurked beneath that carefully maintained mask of humanity.

Oh, fuck.

He was Vlad Tepes—Dracula. My maker. My hand twitched at my side as the blood drained from my face. The vampire who’d spent centuries trying to end me for daring to defy his new vision of what our kind should be.

Love had changed him—Julienne, as he called her, had changed him. I knew her true name, knew how her kindness and wisdom had transformed the most brutal vampire in history into someone who vowed to protect rather than destroy.

No wonder she taught at Red Rose Academy—she’d always had a gift for guiding young supernatural beings. But she too kept her true identity hidden behind glamour and a borrowed name, and for good reason. There were those who would do anything to find her, to use her power for their own ends.

Like Balthazar.

Vlad had transformed from the most brutal vampire in history to preaching that vampires shouldn’t drain and kill humans. According to him, it made vampires too powerful. He wanted us to have willing victims or drink from blood banks.

But that’s exactly how I’d built my empire—by taking power from those too weak to keep it. And I wasn’t ready to give it up just because my maker had found his mate. Only the Aeternum Stone had prevented him from tearing apart everything I’d built in New Orleans. And now he was standing before me.

Serenity gave me a questioning look. I could read her mind, but she couldn’t read mine. I didn’t even want to utter his name.

Balthazar looked between us. “Ah, let me do the introductions. Serenity, I take it you two haven’t met.” He gestured toward Vlad. “This is Vlad Tepes. Or in your cultural vernacular…Dracula.”

Terror flared in Serenity’s eyes as she gasped, and my chest tightened. She knew exactly who Vlad was—knew that he wanted to kill me, knew that the Aeternum Stone was all that kept him at bay. But to find out now he’d been here in New Orleans this whole time, running that damn school, watching me, biding his time... Rage burned through me, cold and lethal. If I got free of this pentagram, I’d tear him apart for daring to terrify her like this.

Balthazar raised his arms, and the temperature in the church plummeted. When he spoke, his voice echoed with other voices, ancient and terrible, the words crawling through the air like venomous spiders: “ Tenebris antiquis, potentia daemonum, animae damnatae, mergemus in carne mortali. ”

The black smoke writhed and split into two serpentine streams, each pulsing with faces of the damned as they shot toward Vlad and Petar. Unlike Keir and Trystan, they didn’t resist—they opened their mouths in perfect sync, eagerly letting the smoke pour into them.

Their bodies contorted, backs arching at impossible angles as the smoke disappeared into them. Their eyes turned completely black, then blazed red like fresh blood. Power rolled off them in waves that made my skin crawl, each pulse stronger than the last. Whatever Balthazar had just done, he hadn’t just made them stronger—he’d turned them into vessels for something ancient and unspeakable.

Balthazar rubbed his hands together, power crackling between his fingers like black lightning. “My plan is finally coming together.”

I glared, tasting copper as Valentin’s blood-magic pressed down on us. “Your plan? What plan?”

“The one to tear down Serenity’s father.” His smile split wider, showing too many teeth. “He’s the one that corrupted Dracula’s deal. Not something I will forget. His punishment will be his daughter hunting him down.”

“I’d never do that.” Serenity’s voice shook, but she squared her shoulders, trying to look braver than we both knew she felt.

“Ah, but you will.” Balthazar’s eyes gleamed with ancient malice. “Vlad, my friend…you may proceed.”

Vlad moved with terrible purpose, his eyes blazing blood-red as he approached. When his mouth opened, his fangs weren’t just extended—they dripped with something black that smoked where it hit the floor. His hand locked around my throat like a steel trap, and when those corrupted fangs sank into my flesh, agony exploded through every nerve. This wasn’t just feeding—he was pumping something toxic into my veins. I fought against his grip, but whatever dark power Balthazar had given him made him impossible to budge.

“No!” Serenity’s desperate scream shattered the air in the church. “Stop!”

The world crystallized. The pain vanished, but so did everything else. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. But I could hear. I could see. I would witness everything that was about to happen, helpless to stop it.

Even Vlad was frozen in place. His chin dripping with my blood and his red eyes focusing on me, his mouth pulled back in a sneer, revealing his sharp fangs, stained red.

“If you want to save your precious vampire, you must come with me, Serenity.” Balthazar’s voice was full of mock sympathy.

No! No! No! I screamed in my mind, but the words couldn’t reach her. She could send me her thoughts, but I couldn’t do the same. I was trapped in my own head, forced to watch as she sacrificed herself for me.

“Let him go.” Her voice cracked. “Don’t let Dracula hurt him. I beg you. I’ll do anything.”

“Tell you what I’m willing to do.” Balthazar circled her like a wolf stalking wounded prey. “I’ll unfreeze your lover boy and allow him time to get away from Dracula. But then you have to promise me you’ll come with me willingly. Otherwise—he’s dead.”

The lie in his words was obvious to everyone but Serenity. He hadn’t specified how much time—could be seconds, could be minutes. Just long enough to make her watch as Dracula tore me apart. The perfect torture for us both.

“I want to say goodbye to him.”

“By all means, please do.” Balthazar’s smile promised horrors to come.

“Unfreeze him.”

The ice melted from my limbs, but Vlad’s poison still burned in my veins. I tried to warn her, to tell her not to do this, but no words could escape my throat.

Serenity pressed her palms against my chest, and her power blazed through her skin, turning her ethereal blue. The throbbing pain vanished under her touch, her gift burning away Vlad’s toxin. Even now, she was trying to protect me.

She slipped her hand around my neck and pulled me down. Though my arms remained frozen at my sides, I could feel every inch where her body pressed against mine. When she kissed me, hard and desperate, her power surged between us like lightning, like she was trying to pour every ounce of herself into me.

“Time to go.” Balthazar’s voice cut through the moment like a blade.

Her lips brushed my ear, her voice breaking. “I can’t watch you die, Angelo. Stay alive. Come find me. You have my heart…always.”

Then she was gone, leaving me stunned, her sweetness still on my lips, her power humming beneath my skin. Whatever she’d done, whatever she’d given me in that kiss—it felt ancient, felt like more than just healing.

Balthazar stretched out his hand to her. The moment Serenity’s fingers touched his, they vanished like smoke in the wind.

Dracula’s paralysis broke instantly. He slammed into me with centuries of hatred, dragging me from the church into the night. “I’ve waited a long time for this, Angelo. Don’t worry. You won’t die right away.”

He would do to me what I’d done to countless victims over the centuries. But nothing he could inflict would compare to this—watching Serenity sacrifice herself to Balthazar while I stood helpless, knowing that the devil himself now had the only thing that had ever truly mattered to me.

Do you want to find out what happens with Serenity and Angelo?

Snippet to The Crown of Blood and Vengeance ?—

The church doors burst open, and we stumbled out into the night air, finally free of whatever dark magic had held us frozen. I flexed my fingers, trying to shake off the lingering numbness.

“Enzo.” Keir’s voice was rough. “What do we do now?”

I stared at the blood staining the marble steps—Angelo’s blood. My friend. My brother. The vampire I'd sworn to protect.

“We hunt,” I said, my fangs lengthening. “And we remind Balthazar why New Orleans has always feared its Enforcer.”