“Winter,” I breathe out when Atti bring us near her, but there’s a massive, blue barrier between us. She is standing next to the huge crystal that keeps the witches’ island protected from the world. There are dozens of little cracks in the crystal that shouldn’t be there, and the shaking ground is making more sense now. He is trying to drop the ward on the city, but why? It makes no sense as his demons can clearly walk straight through wards. I guess it would make the witches vulnerable, but we were right, he has her.

The demon king is standing next to her, his hand on her shoulder. I don’t look at him for more than a second as Winter ignores us. I’ve never seen her look like this, the way she looks at me. Her eyes are silver, completely silver, as she rests her hands on the crystal, and she is glowing blue, the way she does when she uses her power, but it’s darker. The blue almost looks unnatural compared to the light colour it usually is. The way she looks at us all, makes me wonder if she recognises us at all.

“Winter,” Atti shouts, moving forward and banging his hands on the blue barrier which is stopping us getting to her. Atti’s hands glow white as he tries to break the barrier, but it doesn’t work. I can tell that nothing happens after a minute. If Atti could break this, he would have by now.

“She is mine, now,” the demon king laughs as the crystal cracks in half. Both pieces fall to the ground, and the cave shakes. The screams from the city get louder, just as I hear a loud roar. What the hell is that? Winter lowers her hands almost robotically, still staring at us with an empty look.  A witch appears next to the demon king, placing her hand on his shoulder, and he smiles down at her.

“You betraying, little bitch, I will kill you for this!” Atti shouts at the witch, and she shrugs a shoulder.

“You let my daughter die. Taliana should have lived and been your queen!” the witch shouts back, and everything makes a little more sense.

“Trust me; when I get my hands on you, you will beg for the same death as your daughter,” Atti promises, and the witch pales a little.

“Winter, Winter snap out of it,” Jaxson shouts, banging on the barrier, and he growls loudly. Winter doesn’t move, she doesn’t even blink as she stares at us. For a second, I think I see a flicker of blue in her eyes, but it’s gone the moment the demon king steps next to her. We need to get him away from her as he must have some way of controlling her. I’m surprised we didn’t think of it before. She is his blood.

“You are no kings, you can’t even protect your queen,” the demon king laughs, and Jaxson growls as I step forward.

“You will die, and I will kill you,” I say the words slowly, and the demon looks at me with a smirk that reminds me of my father. I know it’s not my father, but it’s his body still, it’s him still.

“I enjoyed killing your ancestor, he was always the best fighter. Vampires have speed but rarely brains, I believe you have neither. Ah, but children do dream, don’t they?” He laughs.

“Things have changed in the years you were locked away,” Dabriel says in a clipped tone, his eyes never leaving Winter.

“And, your ancestor. I liked him . . . but he was stupid as well. He tried to kill me and save Elissa,” the demon king tells Dabriel.

“You killed your mate, how could you do that?”

“She stole my child, my child!” the demon king spits out. “But, it doesn’t matter. I have Winter, my grandchild, which is even better,” he says with a dark laugh and nods at the dark witch. I watch as he disappears, taking Winter and the witch with him. 

“Winter!” Atti shouts, but it’s no use. The barrier falls, and the city shakes harder as the ward falls. Screams fill the night as I look at my friends, my brothers.

“We need to save our people and then Winter. She will never forgive us if she comes back to everyone dead or if we kill ourselves trying to get her, now,” Dabriel tells us all, and we nod, not liking the idea but knowing he is right as we listen to more screams.

“He won’t hurt her, he needs her,” I tell Jaxson who looks close to shifting. Jaxson looks over at me and nods. “Let’s save the city,” I say and walk out of the cave, with my brothers. Each one of us are broken but willing to fight. First, the city, and then, we will save our mate.