Bloodcraft (39 page)

“You killed Lucian,” she snarled. “You
murdered
your brother.”

“No,” he said, the pain still raw.

“You wanted him to die.” She advanced on him. “Because you wanted this.” She pulled her shirt apart, exposing breasts as perfect as he remembered. Before he could utter his denial, she closed her mouth on his, her tongue sweeping in like a sweet, seductive devil.

Something shifted again and the body in his arms was once more Victoria. “I told you that you loved her more than me. You made her.”

“No, it’s only you,” he vowed.

Her face morphed into Lena’s again. “Tell her the truth. You wanted him to die.
Murderer
.”

And once more, Victoria’s, making his head swim. “You never loved me. You’re a liar.”

He shoved her away, clutching his head as the voices around him intensified into a cacophonous noise, and fell to his knees. “Stop,” he begged. His fingers dug into the sharp gravel at his feet. “You are not her,” he screamed. “Where is she?”

Victoria/Lena’s face transformed into a demon and he lurched forward, catching her about the throat. He squeezed, guilt driving him to madness.

Christian. It’s not real.

His heart stopped, his grip loosening. The landscape disappeared until it was nothing but a blank gray slate. A body flopped against him, unconscious. He stared at his fingers still wrapped around her throat in horror “Tori? Oh, god, Tori. Please. I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Please. Be alive. I’m begging.
Please
.”

A huff escaped her lips, her eyes fluttering open, and they were the brightest, most vivid green he could have ever imagined. He knew that green.

This time, he knew it was real.
She
was real.

“Hi.”

Christian brushed her cheek and she leaned into the caress. “I almost killed you.”

“I know, but you didn’t.”

“Are you okay?” he asked, his thumb stroking her jaw. “To face the blood?”

Victoria blinked and took his hands in hers. “I’m sorry about Lucian. I saw what he did.” Christian swallowed hard and nodded. She slid her fingers between his. “Let’s finish this.”

TWENTY-FIVE

The Final Stand

As Christian pulled away from her mind, Victoria gathered what was left of her magic. She was the wielder of the blood magic, not the other way around, and no matter what its endgame was, she would be the one in ultimate control. It had to bend to her will—not her father’s or whoever he was.

She reined herself in, taking sharp hold of her mind. The blood magic swirled hotly in her veins in protest, but eventually, she felt it capitulate. Pan’s toxin had weakened her willpower and dominion over the blood magic, which Leto had taken full advantage of and had so very nearly succeeded in spiriting them both away. But now she was back. Her mind was strong.
She
was strong.

And she had a demon to vanquish.

Her palm solidified in Christian’s very real one as everything around her came into sharp focus. Including the demon who had once been Leto. He growled at her, leashed violence shimmering in acid green bands along his limbs as if he could read her mind. She blinked, realizing that he probably could because of their connection. She frowned and blocked him from her.

Her eyes darted behind her. Almost three quarters of their number had been decimated and those who hadn’t fled remained behind them. Aliya was still alive, she noticed, focused on the spell keeping Leto—and her—transfixed. So was Freyja, the head of the warlocks, but her energies were directed toward the dimension portal. Three stunning vampires, a female and two males, stood to Christian’s right. They were Reii, she knew. She could sense the power emanating from them—they were old and powerful. They were the ones who had drained her blood without dying. And thank goodness they had, or who knew how many more she would have killed.

The woman turned to stare at her with dark impenetrable eyes, holding her gaze with an assessing, curious look, and Victoria felt an odd recognition in her gut. She inclined her head graciously and Victoria did the same.

That’s Sezja
, Christian said, noting the interaction.

Your maker
?

Yes
.

She came to your rescue.

Not just mine. Everyone’s.

Victoria squirmed inwardly at the thought that the Reii had been awakened from the self-imposed sleep because of her. She was the extinction level event that had roused them. She sucked in a deep breath. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t grateful for their intervention.

Her eyes narrowed as they shifted from the Reii to the ranks behind the warlocks and settled on Angie, who stood next to Lena. The vampire’s face was impassive, but oddly, Victoria didn’t feel any of her usual animosity toward her. Perhaps it was because of Lucian, or perhaps it was because of the way she stood next to Angie, almost like she was protecting her.

Angie made her way forward, and Victoria frowned. She would prefer that Angie be out of harm’s way, but she knew that Angie was going to do what Angie wanted to do. They’d always joked that her superpower was pigheadedness.

“Are you okay?” Victoria asked her.

“Yeah,” Angie said, hefting her crossbow. “Although I have to say that your dad has some serious issues.”

Victoria rolled her eyes at her friend’s dry humor. “Making new friends?” she tossed back as Lena edged toward them.

“She’s okay.” The quiet way Angie answered made Victoria quirk an eyebrow, but she didn’t push the matter. She had more crucial things to worry about, like a very pissed-off demon, as Angie had noted, standing not a stone’s throw from them.

The witches’ enduring immobility spell held him fast, but Victoria could sense their control waning. They were tethered and she, too, was bound by their magic, but it was weakening. She could feel it. Leto had gorged himself on the lives she’d taken and she could feel the power emanating from his form. She frowned. He wasn’t even trying to fight—he just stood there watching her with a heavy malevolent stare.

What was he
doing
? The answer to her question came in the next breath. He was waiting for the portal, she realized. It was his out. But Victoria knew that he wouldn’t leave without taking as many souls with him as he could. A desire for vengeance shone in those chartreuse eyes. It curled along the link between them, making her blood boil with anticipation.

No.
She steeled herself against her blood’s willful influence.
I am your master and you will yield.

Momentarily thwarted, the blood magic simmered beneath her veins. She felt its resistance keenly and now, without the power of the amulet, she was on her own. But Victoria knew that she was its ruler. She was the alpha. Not Leto and certainly not the blood itself. It was a matter of dominance and she had to assert her will or become the one subdued.

Her eyes slid to the shimmering sphere that was nearly fully formed. She had minutes before they were both pulled through it, which meant that Leto would be free and she would be trapped for an eternity.

Use my strength
, Christian told her as if sensing her agitation.

Her fingers brushed against his and she shot a sidelong glance at Leto.
Thanks, but I think I’ll take his. I’ve earned it.
Christian frowned at her and then his eyes widened as he took her meaning.

Victoria released him and focused her magic on the bond that stretched between her and Leto. “
devoro
,” she whispered. She sensed Leto freeze as the spell whispered along the space spanning between them. Her blood trilled in her veins. She latched on and extracted the power that they had both stolen, and with each passing second, she grew stronger and stronger. He would fight her, she knew, once he felt the drain.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before his eyes snapped to hers. With a snarl, his lips drew away from his teeth, his will pitting itself against hers and slamming into her with such force that it made her dizzy. Her fingers shook and she felt the warm slide of Christian’s grip. She didn’t take his strength, but she took comfort from his touch. He believed in her. He always had.

With an inhuman grunt, Leto tore free of his magical restraints and howled. The sound was full of wrath and power. With the exception of a few, nearly every single creature within the immediate vicinity—witch, warlock, and vampire—dropped to their knees and clapped their hands to their ears. Victoria felt something pop in her eardrums as she, too, was released from the witches’ broken spell.

Christian’s grip yanked on hers as his legs buckled. Her gaze fell to the vampire at her side, and with horror, she saw a thick trickle of blood seeping from his ears. Only the Reii remained erect, although they seemed visibly disoriented by Leto’s battle scream.

“Are you okay?” she asked Christian.

He nodded and swiped at the blood, shaking his head to settle himself. “Already healed.” His eyes narrowed, alarm brewing in them. “What is he doing?”

Victoria followed Christian’s gaze, watching as midnight blue energy dribbled from the open portal toward Leto. The demon manipulated it into a sphere around his hands, a globe that was growing bigger and bigger.

“That’s dark energy,” Victoria whispered. “I can feel it.”

“From the demon dimension?”

She nodded. “It’s not from here.”

Christian glanced over his shoulder. Scrambling to her feet, Freyja looked as afraid as they did, but still the warlocks kept the portal open.

“Close it!” he shouted.

“We can’t,” she yelled back. “Something has to go through it.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Victoria stared at him. “She means that it’s a reverse summoning. It won’t close unless something is
summoned
back. We have to get him in there.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. He is getting stronger. Whatever power he’s drawing from that dimension is not going to be easy.”

Just as the words escaped her lips, a blast of
something
spread outward, and Victoria felt a writhing sensation in her stomach. All around her, vampires and witches dropped like flies, clutching themselves.

“Oh my god,” Angie whispered, her eyes flying wide. She seemed unaffected, but perhaps it was because she was the only human there. Her eyes were unfocused as she used her second sight to see something that only she could. Victoria linked her mind to her friend’s and sucked in a sharp breath. Tentacles of dark energy reached outward from Leto’s body to encircle those closest to him. He wasn’t killing them. No, he was doing something else … something far worse via his dimension’s energy.

One by one, those who had fallen stood. But they weren’t the same. They were possessed by whatever dark matter Leto had summoned via the portal and were now his first line of defense. He controlled them like puppets. Spells flew toward her head and she ducked, taking Angie with her.

“Stay down.”

“But I can help,” she insisted.

“I don’t want you getting hurt or anywhere near that portal.” Victoria’s eyes slid to Lena and they exchanged a look.

“I’m right here,” Angie said with an eye roll, “and I don’t need a babysitter.”

But Victoria was already gone. She chanted under her breath, forcing her rogue magic into submission and spread a protection spell wide to the fighting few that remained uncontrolled by Leto’s darkness, including Angie, Lena by default, Christian, the Reii, Aliya, and Freyja. “
Protectum
!”

His army surrounded him like a sphere as vampire attacked vampire and witch attacked witch. He was using their own powers against them. Leto had blocked her, too, and cut off the lifeline of power between them.

Suddenly, across the field Aliya screamed as four witches swarmed her. Victoria recognized two of them from the temple earlier.

“Aliya!” Their eyes met over the distance and Aliya smiled, sorrow and acceptance written all over her face—as if she knew she was going to die. “No,” Victoria shouted, shaking her head in denial. But it was too late.

She blinked in shock as members of her own coven tore Aliya’s body in four different directions and the scream throttled to a choked gurgle in her throat. Her limbs popped with wet sounds, and the possessed witches pounced on the severed pieces with unrestrained glee. Bile rose in Victoria’s throat and she felt the ground start to sway.

Focus
, she growled to herself.

Victoria rolled her neck and set her jaw. She was part demon and the sooner she accepted that the better. Leto would kill everyone without conscience. She had to beat him at his own game.

She took several purposeful steps forward before a hand stalled her. “Tori, where are you going?”

Christian looked worried. His face and body were streaked in blood and her heart clenched before she realized the blood wasn’t his. Her eyes fell to the bodies he’d left in his wake. She sensed his misery lying like a shroud upon his shoulders. Because of Leto’s possession, it was either kill or be killed. But every time they were forced to kill one of their own, another took its place. Leto was doing what demons did—taking control of malleable hosts.