I look up to find particles of black ash falling from the sky. It settles over the white of my skin, covering me, covering us all.

“BROTHER!” Queen Adrielle screams. The ground shakes with her anger. We all jump to our feet but it is hard to see, there is so much ash raining down on us. It feels hot, the tiny particles burn my skin. Lissandra helps Nostra to his feet.

“What the fuck is that?” Rhain asks, echoing Devin’s thoughts and my own.

The ground shakes again, and we are almost thrown off our feet once more.

“GO THROUGH THE PORTAL,” Nostra shouts over the din.

“BROTHER, I AM GOING TO ENJOY KILLING YOU!” The air reverberates with the sound of windows shattering, and buildings falling to the ground. I hear a loud meow. My head snaps around to the sound. Through the collapsing buildings I see Mr Tickle running towards me. He leaps up into my arms and I press my face into his fur. His claws dig into my skin. “Shh, boy,” I say.

Nostra motions to us. “Go now, I will hold her off.” Behind Nostra, the portal is wide open. I can see the faint outline of a house, behind it dawn is rising.

The angels are the first to move towards the portal. Gabe enters first, followed by Mihr. Ether stops at the entrance to the portal. “We must leave you now, we have our own clan daughter to locate,” he says, concerned, it would seem, for us all.

“Go. There is no need to explain, we know only too well the importance of such a task,” Ezra says, his eyes flicking to me.

Ether dips his head. “Take care, Accacia. Take care of these men, they will need you on the other side.” And with that he passes through the portal.

“Well, well, well. So, this is where you’ve all been hiding.”

I twist on my feet. Queen Adrielle is fierce in her hate. She stands on the other side of the open space behind Nostra’s house. None of the ash falls on her and with one flick of her wrist Nostra’s cottage collapses. Vampires from Clan Lux scramble over the rubble.

“Get out of here,” Nostra hisses, sending a flash of purple light towards the nearest vampire. Lissandra pulls on his shoulder. “You’re coming too,” she says, panic littering her voice.

He shakes his head, not for one moment taking his eyes off his sister.

She laughs cruelly. “Oh, he hasn’t told you. My brother can no more leave Ever Vale than I can. He is bound to this world. Aren’t you, dear brother?”

“No!” Lissandra shouts, her eyes wild. “I will not lose him as well.”

“It’s okay, Lissa. Everything will be okay, trust me,” Nostra says to her. A look passes between them, one which I do not understand.

“Oh, don’t tell me you love him too? Well, aren’t you just perfect for one another? It’s a pity you’re all going to die!”

Oh God, Devin. Is there nothing we can do? If he stays, she will kill him. You know this as well as I do.

Ezra grabs my hand. “We go now.” He pulls me back against his body. Rhain and Devin are both watching the hoard of vampires move closer. My men gather around me once more, but not fast enough. Queen Adrielle’s gaze lands on me.

“What is this? You should be dead!”

“If you had your way she would have died a long, long time ago,” Nostra mutters.

“Using dark magic now, are we, brother?”

Nostra shakes his head. “You do not know everything, sister. Your arrogance and your inability to see the truth of magic, pure magic, the right kind, makes you weak.”

“Don’t talk such rubbish, brother. Your refusal to tap into your full potential makes me the winner here. We could have ruled Ever Vale together.”

Nostra stumbles slightly, but Lissandra holds him upright. “Never,” he manages to spit out.

“Foolish man. You will die today because of these people you choose to protect. You will never get to love this girl,” she says, her voice tight with malice and hate. I watch as black flames ripple over her skin once more, and for the briefest of moments I see her true face beneath the beautiful mask she wears. She takes a step forward, her magic building. “I should have killed you all those years ago. I will not make the same mistake twice.” Queen Adrielle raises her hand and fires a bolt of black lightning directly at Nostra. He counters it with magic of his own. It barely deflects it.

“There is still time to change, sister. You don’t have to be this way.”

“Change? Why would I want to do that? I am powerful, I have everything I need right here. These people worship me.”

“They are afraid of you, it is not the same. Do the right thing, sister. You have the power to change this,” Nostra says, his knees giving way. Lissandra wraps her free hand around his waist, helping him to stand upright once again.

“We are running out of time,” Rhain whispers in my ear. “Why are we still here?”

I glare at him. “Nostra saved us all. We don’t abandon him now.”

“You heard what Queen Adrielle said. He cannot leave, and we cannot stay.”

“You go, you have to survive. We are not important,” Lissandra says urgently.

“Yes, you are,” I say vehemently. “You are my friends. I won’t leave you behind.”

Rhain and Ezra step backwards, forcing me to do the same.

Devin, please. We can’t abandon them.

Nostra fires another bolt of purple flame at a handful of vampires who are creeping closer. It knocks a few off their feet, but it is clear it is nowhere near as strong as it needs to be to hold them off.

“You can kill me now, sister. You can make your soul even blacker, but you will never win. I would give it all up. All of this power that is haemorrhaging from me now for the one magic even you cannot control,” he says, looking directly at Lissandra. Understanding dawns on her face.

Queen Adrielle throws her hand up in the air and the vampires hang back. “What are you talking about? I know every magic there is. You, dear brother, are a fool.”

Nostra is shaking violently now, sweat sliding down his face from the effort of all the magic he has cast. The colour of his skin has turned a light shade of grey, but still he fights. The little magic he has left is holding off his sister. I can see now that she has been prevented from moving forward because of the final barrier he has erected around us all. Lissandra is holding onto Nostra tightly. I can see something shimmering around her, around them both. A strange grey mist appears to be coming through the portal behind us. Then I realise it isn’t coming from the portal at all, but from Lissandra.

Devin, do you see that?

Devin looks at Lissandra, a frown creasing his brow. Is that what I think it is?

Magic… We both say in unison.

From Lissandra?

Yes, I believe so.

But she is of Clan Lux, she is a vampire.

I remember what Nostra told me. She is far more than that, I say.

Queen Adrielle is too distracted by her brother to notice what is plain to see.

“Adrielle. There is one magic left that even you cannot control, no matter how powerful you become. That is what will defeat you in the end.”

Queen Adrielle sneers. “Pray tell me, brother, what is this magic you speak of?” She laughs hysterically, so too do her loyal followers. “For there is nothing that I cannot bend to my will.”

“You have experienced it only once in your lifetime. You know what it is, and you have been running from it ever since. It is why you are so dark hearted, why you hate to see it between others and why you annihilate it whenever you have the chance.”

“What rubbish is this you speak of?”

“When you held your stillborn daughter in your arms you felt it, I know you did. Love, Adrielle. Love is the magic you’ll never be able to defeat,” he says simply. Then he sends one last almighty blast of magic towards the Queen, before collapsing into Lissandra’s arms.

“Take him,” Lissandra says.

Rhain is the first to react. He runs to Lissandra, takes Nostra from her arms and they both sprint towards the portal. Ezra follows them. “We go now!” he shouts.

Devin presses his hand to my back and we both run after Rhain, who has already passed through the shimmering gap in the air with Nostra.

I thought he couldn’t leave here.

So did I.

We don’t have time to question it further as another flaming black arrow whizzes by my head, missing me narrowly. Swerving out of the way, Devin and I speed towards the portal. The gap is closing now that Nostra is no longer awake to keep it open. At least I hope he’s just asleep, the alternative is too awful to even consider.

Ruuuuunnnn, Devin roars inside my head. So I run. I run as fast as I can towards Ezra and Rhain on the other side of the portal, towards the men I love. For the first time since changing I am glad of my newly acquired vampire gift of speed. Beside me, Devin reaches for my hand and pulls me along with him. We both launch ourselves towards the closing gap. I feel my feet lift off the ground, and the sting of magic as the closing portal grazes my arm. Mr Tickle is holding on for dear life. We land in a muddy puddle on the other side. Mr Tickle leaps out of my hands and into Ezra’s arms. When I look back around the last slither of the portal is closing back together, silencing Queen Adrielle’s screams of rage.