21
The Witch

 

 

 

What else could she do?

I should not have let her enter the fray with me. I’d relied on her too much and had a slip in judgment. Now I’d doomed her and separated her from her mate.

As for me, no matter what, I’d still come for my mate.

The gray wolf outside howled in rage, wanting his mate. If he came in, he would be trapped as well. 

Gabriel stayed near me on high alert, his eyes darting wildly, in case Desdemona phased out of the walls to hurt us.

“The walls have eyes,” he said. “He’s watching us. The bloodsucker is now laughing viciously at us.”

As if he could hear the Dark Prince’s dark laughter echoed around.

I eyed the paranoid Angel, thinking how I’d missed him and how much I wanted to throw myself into his arms to seek his comfort and heat, and to touch him and let his male scent wrap around me.

“We’ll wait until the Furies visit again,” Gabriel said. “The three Furies are actually one naked woman. She wants my help. She’ll have to do my bidding and teleport us out of here.”

He was so worried for us he seemed to be losing it. While I tried to figure a way out, I also needed to keep him sane. I probably should keep him occupied with some tasks.

“Gabriel, can you sing?” I asked.

He blinked. “What?”

“Do you know how to sing?” I asked.  

He frowned. “Of course! I’m an Angel.”

“I know what to do, Fia,” Kaara said, opening her violet eyes.

“Trust me, I’ve tried everything,” Gabriel said.

“Breaking the dark magic in the tower will require a blood sacrifice,” Kaara said.

“How?” Gabriel and I both asked at the same time, but with a different tone. Mine was open-minded; his was full of suspicion.

“I came in with you for this,” Kaara said. “Blood is the price, and I need to pay it for us all. I need to offer the last drop of my blood to the tower, so the three of us can be free.”

“No!” I snapped.

“She’s losing it faster than I,” Gabriel murmured. “I should be proud of myself for having sustained so long.”

“I can reveal the First Seer’s prophecy now, because the magic binding my tongue doesn’t work inside the tower,” Kaara said. “The magical fire guarding the secret in my mind is also weakening. Before I set out to come to Pandemonium for you, the Seer said I’d have to sacrifice every last drop of my blood to get you out of a situation. Now’s the situation.”

“Absolutely not,” I hissed. “I won’t sacrifice you, no matter what. If we go down, we go down together.”

“You must let me do it. I want out of this, too,” Kaara said. “I won’t die, Fia. I have your blood in me.”

Was that why I’d always felt a tug toward her? No, it was more than that. Kaara Nightshades meant way more than that to me.

“I took a blood oath using your reserved blood sample kept in the Lithuaria royal house’s most sacred vault. That was the only way I could trace you on this planet. Your witch blood is firestorm. After I pay the price with the last drop of my blood for all of us, your powerful blood will stay in me and keep me alive.”

Our gazes met. An inherent knowledge deep inside me confirmed Kaara’s truth.

I knew what I had to do. “My blood magic will preserve you until I bring you home and revive you.”

Only in our native land would she awaken again.

Tears formed in my eyes. “Oh, Kaara Nightshades.”

She’d done too much for me, and I could never pay back the life debt.

“Let’s get it done, my queen,” said Kaara.

“No!” Desdemona screamed, and the tower shook with his rage. “Kill them all, but leave the witch!”

He’d never believed we could find a solution. He’d thought I was a fly caught in his black net.

The doors burst open, and vampires poured in.

“Take it,” Kaara said, tossing her angelblade at Gabriel.

With a roar, Gabriel flung himself at the horde to prevent them from reaching us. His massive wings spread to full length, sparks of fire lighting his black feathers.

Where his sword went, vampires’ black blood spilled.

My mate was glorious and ferocious.

I’d consumed too much fire magic helping Gabriel burn the venom in him. The rest had to be used to save Kaara.

So, I depended on my mate’s sword and wings to keep us safe. 

“Quick, Fia!” Kaara urged.

“Defender,” I called, and my ice spear appeared in my hand.

I turned the sharp spearhead and cut open Kaara’s veins. 

She didn’t wince, but I knew how much it hurt.

It hurt me, too, more than I knew.

“I’m shedding the last drop of my blood,” Kaara recited, “to purchase a free path for the exiled Queen Athena Fiammetta Faya of Lithuaria Empire, her mate Archangel Gabriel, and her Captain of Guards Kaara Nightshades.”

The vampires went into a frenzy at the scent of Kaara’s blood, but Gabriel bellowed like thunder as he cut them down mercilessly. The leeches swarmed him, like they’d done to him in the jungle. My heart contracted in raw fear for him, but I couldn’t go to him.

I had my captain bleeding profusely in my arms.

“Tell Marrok I love him,” she said, her violet eyes starting to lose the warmth and light she’d always carried, as no one else had in Pandemonium. No, I wouldn’t allow the last light to fade in her eyes, not under my watch. And I vowed it with my own life.

“I’ll tell him, but you’ll tell him all about it yourself,” I said.

Her hand grabbed my arm. “I don’t regret coming for you, my queen, and wouldn’t even if I hadn’t met Marrok.”

“I know,” I said, brushing a strand of her light violet hair behind her ear.

My captain was a beautiful woman and a worthy warrior.

“Tell him I’d do anything for him,” Kaara said. “Tell him not to be mad at me, because this is necessary. This is what I came here for. I also came for him, though I didn’t know that at the time. Tell him—Stars, I have so much I want to tell him, and I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Right from the start,” I said, as she trembled in my arms, her skin turning cold. “You always know the right things to say. You’re Kaara Nightshades.”

“Stay with me, Athena.”

“Always.”

Gabriel had pushed back the vampire horde, their bodies piling all around. He turned to me with a savage grin.

The tower rocked violently, its black fury whipping the air.

The walls started closing in on us.

The Dark Prince no longer cared to preserve me. In his insane fury, he ordered the living tower that had been immersed in the foulest otherworldly power to murder us all.

Gabriel lunged back to us, spreading his wings to shield Kaara and me in a circle. His wings were harder than steel, but the tower’s walls were empowered by dark magic. The Angel clenched his teeth as he held off the increased pressure of the walls ramming into him.

He wouldn’t hold for too long, even with his Archangel’s strength.

The walls pushed harder, trying to fracture my mate’s broken wings.

“Use your fire to speed up the flow of my blood,” Kaara said.

“It’ll burn you.”

“It won’t. I have your blood in me. Your fire will recognize it, just as your darkness recognized me. Plus, anything is better than being squashed to death.”

My fire appeared on my palm and stretched toward Kaara, inducing her blood. It spurted out like fountains, until the last drop spilled on the tower’s ground.

Kaara slumped in my arms, her eyes closed. She was barely breathing, but my blood—the few drops of blood she’d taken for her vow to me—remained in her. The firestorm would keep her alive for now.

As soon as Kaara sacrificed her last drop of blood, the dark curse clinging to us fell away.

The walls withdrew.

My fire sealed Kaara’s wounds and formed a null space around her. I needed to take her back to my tower now, so I could perform a blood ritual to conserve her.

Gabriel carefully scooped Kaara into his arms, and I shrugged off my red cloak and wrapped it around her to keep her warm. With a kiss on her cold forehead, I willed the life force of my blood in her to sustain her.

“Thank you, Kaara Nightshades,” Gabriel said. “We’ll keep you safe.”

He propelled his wings forward and shattered the window.

“Hop on, mate,” the Angel called. 

I leaped onto his back, my arms around his neck and my legs wrapped around his waist.

Carrying us, Gabriel jumped out of the window, his massive, black wings extending to their glorious full length.

Beneath us, the battle continued to rage. The wolves fought to clear a path for us. Marrok tore through the vampires’ ranks toward us, reaching for his mate.

Above us, from the ballroom, Jasmine screamed, “Kill him! Kill them, brother! Pierce her whore heart all the way into his treacherous one!”

How poetic.

Desdemona materialized beside his sister and threw Gabriel’s angelblade—the only sword capable of killing an Angel—at us with full force. Gabriel roared a warning and ducked, but my icy storm had already blasted out.

My wind caught the blade, and my darkness shielded us while my fire was spent.

“Fuck you, Angel,” Jasmine shrieked.  

“Not a chance,” Gabriel shouted back, laughing.

Could he, for once, not be mouthy?

We didn’t land as we supposed to.

Again, we jerked up.

Seeing that, Marrok roared in anguish, horror distorting his face.

My heart sank, and my blood iced over.  

No, no, no! Not again.

Kaara wouldn’t survive the time-looping nightmare. Neither would Gabriel and I.

All was lost.

Kaara had sacrificed for nothing.

I closed my eyes, as pain filled me.

“You need to have more confidence in your mate, baby,” Gabriel said, and sailed forward.