Aria

“I’ll kill you!” Aria screamed as she looked to land any blow she could on the woman with her hands and feet.

The blood had already ceased flowing from Sabine’s broken nose. Her eyes were the color of rubies, but Aria barely saw her as the sight of Daniel’s limp body soaring through the air replayed in her mind and the scent of his blood hung heavily in the air.

Daniel!

At her side, William released a series of punches that would have shattered the bones of another vamp’s face, but Sabine was barely staggered by the blows. Sabine’s fingernails tore at Aria, slicing her flesh as she sought to get even with Braith for destroying Goran, but the more Sabine tore at her, the harder Aria and William fought against her.

Aria barely felt the pain or the blood spilling from the gashes in her arms. Tempest dashed to the side and swung her staff out, crashing it against the back of Sabine’s knees and knocking her legs out from under her. Max and Maeve leapt forward, beating against the woman who still refused to release her. Keegan circled around them, driving back anyone who dared to get too close.

Sabine briefly loosened her hold on Aria as she swung around, her arm flying out to smack all of those behind her. William bellowed when Tempest was flung backward, the staff knocked from her hand as she sprawled on the ground. Maeve bounced across the earth and landed near Daniel’s body. Like a cat, she bounded back to her feet, but Max remained unmoving in the middle of the road.

More of Sabine’s vampires surged forward, looking to protect their leader. Over Sabine’s shoulder, Aria spotted Braith battling his way through the dozen or so vampires between them. Blood splattered his face and his clothes were soaked in it. She scented his blood on the air, but most of the blood covering him came from those he ruthlessly carved out of his way.

Sabine’s fingers wrapped around her throat, lifting her off the ground. Aria’s feet kicked against the woman. She beat at the hand holding her throat and digging into her skin, but it was like pitting a lamb against a lion.

William punched Sabine in the stomach; she never flinched. Lifting her hand, Sabine swung it out to smack it against the back of William’s skull. He didn’t have a chance to get his hands out to break his fall before he slammed face first into the dirt road.

“I’m going to kill you!” Sabine spat at Aria and drew back her hand in preparation to tear her heart out.

Aria’s eyes widened. Her feet kicked against Sabine’s stomach and her fingers tore at the iron hold on her throat to no avail. She was going to die and there was nothing she could do to stop it as Sabine’s fist shot forward so fast she barely saw it move.

A hard punch crashed into her chest, cracking bone just as another hand shot out and encircled Sabine’s wrist before she could tear into Aria’s chest. Braith’s red eyes loomed over Sabine’s shoulder, his massive size dwarfing her slender frame. The power of them both rippled over Aria’s skin, causing the hair on her body to stand on end and her mouth to go dry. There was no denying they were the most powerful creatures on this earth, and they were going to destroy each other.

Pulling his other hand back, Braith drove his fist straight into Sabine’s face. As Sabine howled, her grip on Aria’s throat constricted and she staggered back a few steps. More blood burst from Sabine’s nose and now split lips.

Braith didn’t hesitate before unleashing a series of brutal punches on her that pushed her further and further backward. Aria’s fingers tore at the hand encircling her throat as Sabine’s fingers tore deeper into her flesh to spill more of her blood. Sabine’s grip didn’t ease as she pulled Aria along with her. Braith jerked the arm he was holding back, snapping bone at the elbow before he grabbed the hand encasing Aria’s throat and squeezed the wrist with enough force to shatter it.

Sabine wailed as her grip on Aria finally released and she fell to the road. Aria’s hand flew to her brutalized neck as blood continued to spill free. Seizing Sabine by the throat, Braith lifted her up and propelled her off the road and into the woods before smashing her into a tree. The tree shook from the impact but held firm, even as a jagged crack raced up the center of it toward the canopy.

Aria pushed herself back to her feet and took an unsteady step to the side as Braith lowered himself so he was eye level with Sabine. Aria’s gaze went to where Daniel remained unmoving against another tree, fifty feet away. Max already knelt at her brother’s side with Maeve, while William, Tempest, and Xavier, who had regained consciousness, sought to keep back the remaining vampires. They would all take care of Daniel and get him through this, but first she had to help make sure Sabine was destroyed.

“How?” Braith growled at Sabine when Aria approached them through the woods with Keegan at her heels. “How is it possible we can come back?”

Sabine wiggled in his grasp, her feet kicking against his shins, but with both of her arms useless, she could do little to fend him off. Sabine’s eyes narrowed on him. She didn’t respond as her gaze flicked between him and Aria.

“Did my father know about this?” Braith demanded.

“No,” Sabine finally replied. “I was killed before I could tell him.” Sabine’s gaze remained on Aria as she stopped behind Braith. “You pollute our blood with this creation,” she sneered at him.

Braith pulled Sabine off the tree then slammed her back into it. The crack in it grew, and the tree swayed ominously, but continued to hold. “Do not talk about my wife, your queen, that way.”

Sabine shook her head as if to clear it before she focused on Braith and fairly spit with fury. “Never would such a pollution of our line be my queen.”

“That’s why you’re doing this,” Aria said, causing Braith to glance back at her. “It’s not because Atticus was killed and you sought revenge for your eldest son’s death. It’s not because you want to rule. It’s because you see me as an abomination who will taint your line if we have children.”

“You have already tainted it!” Sabine spat. “Just by having our blood in your veins you have weakened us. Your children would be abominations of our pure blood.”

“Do you even care your sons are dead?” Aria inquired, and Sabine turned her nose up.

A sick feeling settled in Aria’s stomach as she realized how depraved and indifferent this woman was. She’d lost both of her children, yet all she cared about was the fact she had a turned human on her family tree.

“She’s made me strong enough to defeat you,” Braith replied, and the look Sabine gave him made it clear she would happily see him dead a thousand times over.

“Our line was created by Lucifer himself and you degrade us with a changed human. Let your brother pollute the line with such garbage, but not you.”

“So it is the first born of our line only then,” Braith said quietly, the muscles in his forearm flexing and bunching as his grip on Sabine’s throat tightened. “If I am to die again, would I rise once more?”

The fingers on the wrist Braith had broken flexed before Sabine launched a punch at his face that cracked his cheekbone with an audible thwack. Aria had seen her broken nose heal fast, but she hadn’t expected the woman to heal that fast.

Braith grabbed Sabine’s hand and bashed it into the trunk of the tree. The blood drained from Aria’s head, she took a step back when he spun Sabine’s hand around and tore it from her wrist.

Sabine screamed, her face turning red as her stumpy wrist flailed against Braith’s side and her blood sprayed him.

“I’ll tear you apart piece by piece,” Braith promised her. “Your next hand will be one finger at a time if you don’t tell me what I want to know. I can make your end quick, or it can last years, but you will not walk away from any of it with your head still attached to your body.”

A branch breaking behind Aria drew her attention to Jack as he stepped from the shadows of the forest with Hannah at his side. Their clothes were stained and torn; blood and dirt streaked their faces, but they appeared unharmed as they stepped beside her. Hannah visibly paled when she spotted Sabine’s missing hand. Jack took hold of Hannah’s shoulders and pressed her head against his chest.

Aria’s stomach twisted sickeningly when Braith grasped one of Sabine’s fingers. Unlike the vampire she’d caught with Xavier and Max, who had been unwilling to speak for hours, words tumbled from Sabine’s lips at the possibility of torture. “The only thing that can kill the first born of our line is beheading! Even fire, unless it reduces us completely to ash, is not enough to destroy us.”

“What?” Braith demanded and Aria’s mouth fell open at the revelation.

“It’s a trait that Lucifer gave to the first vampire he created. Each first born of that vampire’s line will be able to withstand that which no other vampire can,” Sabine said, her eyes darting to Braith’s hand when it tightened around her finger. “We will rise as often as it is necessary to do what must be done.”

“The phoenix was not a bird,” Braith murmured. “But one of our ancestors rising from a fire.”

“The legend was changed by an ancestor for our protection,” Sabine replied.

“Why do we rise stronger?”

“You have survived death, survived having fallen in your own way. You’re closer now to Lucifer than you ever were before.”

“Are there any other ancestors of ours out there?” Braith demanded.

Sabine’s lips skimmed back to reveal her fangs in a feral grimace. When Braith started bending her finger back, she blurted more words. “Many of our ancestors were beheaded in battle or by their attackers. Some were taken out by their own children after they were killed in order to keep the secret of our line buried, and any others have long since perished. We are the last of the first born children.”

With that, Sabine launched forward and sank her fangs into Braith’s throat. Braith placed his hand against her forehead as he tried to pry her off of him. The power of his blood caused the bones in Sabine’s arm to repair themselves almost immediately as Aria leapt forward to free Braith from the woman’s hungry grip. Sabine hadn’t been talking because she’d been defeated and concerned about losing her fingers; she’d been biding her time in order to lower their guard.

Aria punched Sabine as hard as she could, but the woman showed no sign she’d felt it as she continued to drain Braith’s blood.

“Get off!” Aria shouted. Blood spilled from her battered fists as she continued to beat at Sabine.

Sabine’s reddened eyes met hers over his shoulder while his blood spilled from her lips to soak his skin. Aria’s heart sank when she realized Sabine truly believed she would kill Braith now, if she was willing to drink his blood. Otherwise, he’d be able to track her anywhere she went.

Jack raced over to them and grasped Sabine’s hair. He tried to yank her head back, but she refused to release her hold. Braith drove his hand into Sabine’s chest. With a snarl, Sabine switched her tactics and her teeth bit at his neck as if she were chewing on him while his hand continued to work its way through her chest. Keegan growled as he waited for an opportunity to jump into the fight.

Braith yanked back, tearing the heart from Sabine’s chest, but she didn’t stop biting him. Disbelief swirled through Aria as she gazed at the heart within Braith’s hand. The loss of the organ had done nothing to slow Sabine’s feeding frenzy. Blood loss may not kill Braith, but if Sabine succeeded in taking him down by weakening him this way, they’d never stop her from doing whatever she sought to do here.

Realizing her attempts at dislodging Sabine from Braith with her hands were futile, Aria pulled an arrow from her quiver. The tip of the arrow was stained red, the scent of Braith’s blood drifting from it made her realize this was one of the arrows that had been used to kill her husband.

A cruel smile of satisfaction filled her as she turned the arrow in her hand and swung it forward. She drove it through Sabine’s right eye and straight into the tree. The woman howled, and finally released her hold on Braith as she clawed at the arrow pinning her to the tree.

Blood spilled down Braith’s neck. His fangs glistened in the fire as he grabbed Sabine’s head and wrenched it to the side. A wet cracking sound pierced the air as flesh and bone were severed. Aria stepped away from Sabine’s headless body when it slumped to the ground.

Braith’s shoulders heaved as he clutched Sabine’s hair in his hand. He handed Jack Sabine’s head before turning to Aria. His body moved with supple grace as he stalked toward her, lifted her up, and claimed her mouth in a bruising kiss that left Aria momentarily dazed by its intensity.

She sensed his barely controlled restraint behind the kiss and knew he needed her to calm him. Sensed how close he was to coming apart completely and giving himself over to the bloodlust shaking his muscles. Closer than he’d ever been to Lucifer, her husband was stronger, but violence and blood also beckoned him more than it had before.

His fangs scraped against her bottom lip, drawing blood. His hands clutched at her as his hard body enveloped hers. She gave herself over to him, and her own need to feel him against her. His tongue entangled wildly with hers as he licked away the drops of blood his fangs had created. His hand cupped the back of her head before his tongue slipped from her mouth.

An anguished groan escaped him as he lifted his head to look at her. His reddened eyes filled her vision when his forehead rested against hers. Beneath her hands, his body vibrated and beads of her blood glistened on his lips before his tongue slid out to lick them away. The red faded from his eyes and their beautiful gray color slid back into place. In that instant, she knew that no matter how close he’d become to Lucifer, he would never be anything like Atticus or Sabine, because he had her to calm him.

Reluctantly, he lifted his head and set her on her feet once more. “Are you okay?” he demanded as his fingers brushed over the gashes on her neck.

“Fine,” she croaked out, her voice hoarser than she’d expected.

A thunderous expression crossed his face before he held his wrist out to her. “Drink,” he commanded gruffly. She shook her head no. “You’re injured, Aria. Drink.”

“So are you,” she reasoned.

“I’m nearly healed.”

Knowing it was pointless to argue, she took hold of his arm and lifted his wrist to her mouth. She sighed when her fangs pierced his flesh and his blood filled her mouth. He drew her against his chest, cradling her there until she’d taken her fill and released him.

Pressing her head to his chest, he kissed her hair before turning to reclaim Sabine’s head from Jack. “Keep the body away from the head. I’m not taking any chances with this bitch until she’s nothing but a pile of ashes,” Braith commanded.

Jack grabbed Sabine’s arm and lifted her to toss her body over his shoulder. Aria glanced behind her, her brow furrowing when she realized the others were nowhere to be seen. If everything had been okay with Daniel, they would be here. She spun and fled through the trees with Keegan on her heels.

“Aria!” Braith shouted behind her, but she didn’t look back.

She burst out of the woods and onto the road. She spotted Max and Maeve still kneeling by the tree where Daniel had fallen. Behind them, Xavier, Timber, Tempest, and William continued to battle back the straggling remains of Sabine’s troops. Braith crashed out of the woods behind her. He reached for her shoulder, but she was already moving toward Daniel.

She crouched at his side, horror pooling through her when she spotted the blood coating his shirt, the pallor of his skin, and the awkward angle of his arm. His skin had been shredded open around his throat. His head lolled toward her. His glassy blue eyes met hers and he smiled at her.

“You’re alive,” he whispered.

“Because of you. You’re going to be fine,” she promised.

“Is she dead?”

“Yes.”

His heart gave a lumbering beat in his chest. Aria lifted her wrist and bit into it. “Drink,” she commanded when she held it before him.

Despite the growing weakness she sensed spreading through his body, Daniel’s voice was strong. “No.”

“Daniel, it will help you heal faster!”

“No, it won’t,” he replied. “It’s too late for that, Aria.”

“No, it’s not,” she insisted. “I won’t give you enough to change you, only enough to see you through this.”

His lips took on a bluish hue that caused her knees to give out on her.

“It’s too late, Aria,” he said again.

She knew he was right; it would be all or nothing for him now. He’d lost too much blood to reverse this. “You can be one of us,” she whispered as she brushed the blond hair from his forehead. “I know you said you didn’t want to be, but you could be.”

He’d said he didn’t want to be a vampire when he’d been healthy and far from death. Now, she could see death creeping through him, steadily taking him over. She opened her mouth to plead with him to change his mind, but the words died on her lips. If he’d changed his mind, he would have said yes to her blood.

Her hand stilled on his forehead as she leaned forward to kiss his cool cheek. There was so much he still had left to do, children to have, laughter to enjoy, plans to design, and life to live. She wasn’t ready to let him go, but he’d said he would accept his fate. No matter how badly she wanted to cling to her brother, to plead with him to say yes to trying to change into a vampire, she had to respect his wishes and let him go.

“Daniel…,” Max started as realization settled over his features and his lips parted. He closed his mouth against any further protest though.

Aria settled beside her brother and took hold of his limp hand. Tears burned her eyes when she rested her head on his shoulder and her chest squeezed with grief. She refused to shed those tears, not yet. Daniel would go peacefully, knowing they would be okay. There would be plenty of time for tears later.

“The world is a far better place because you were in it,” she told him. “We are all better for knowing you, for loving you, and for having you to love and protect us.”

Her gaze slid up to her twin as he came toward them. The last of the vampires were falling away before Xavier and Timber. William gazed at her, then her wrist before looking to Daniel again. He opened his mouth, then clamped it shut when he realized arguing would be pointless. William’s bow fell to the ground as he walked over to Daniel’s other side and knelt beside him to rest his hand on his shoulder.

“William and I never would have lived this long,” Aria continued.

Despite the increasing rattle of his breath and the slowing of his heart, Daniel gave a choking laugh. “Tr-true,” he stammered as his fingers twitched within her grasp.

“You’ll see Mom and Dad again,” William said.

“They need one of us there,” Daniel murmured and Aria bit back a sob. “Max will lead the humans now.”

“I will,” Max said and settled his hand on Daniel’s leg as tears slid down his cheeks. “Everyone will be safe now.”

“Safe, loved,” Daniel said and his heart stuttered again.

Aria lifted her head to kiss his cheek. “We all love you so much,” she whispered.

“Love you all too,” Daniel said, and this time his heart did not beat again.