September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)

Whoever he was speaking to, it wasn’t Shya. There was a flash of bright, white light. It struck Willow in the chest, holding him frozen in place. It happened so fast.

An anguished cry tore from Willow. I watched in horror as the darkness meant for me filled him. One by one the feathers of his wings turned as black as sin.

“No,” I screamed, reaching for Willow as if I could stop what had already begun.

My name was a whisper on his lips when he looked at me with gold-flecked red eyes. Before I could touch him, he was gone, leaving behind only the stench of sulfur.

Tears streamed down my face. I shook with sobs. Not Willow. Dear God, not him. He didn’t deserve such a fate.

I didn’t feel like I’d been saved. Instead I felt very much condemned. Willow had sacrificed himself for me, and I didn’t even have the strength to finish what I’d come to do. I had failed him.

Shya reached for me, and I cringed. Anticipating his vile touch, I prayed it would all happen fast.

A sword burst through Shya’s chest, having been shoved through from behind. Falon stood behind the demon, holding tight to the hilt. Smoke rose from the silver blade.

Shya’s mouth dropped open, but no sound came out. He blinked several times as realization set in.

“Alexa, please,” he pleaded. “We can negotiate. Give me the scroll, and I’ll make you my queen. Anything you want, it’s yours.”

“Go to hell,” I said.

Gaping down at the blade protruding from his middle, Shya pitched forward, nearly crashing into me as he went down on his face.

In a sudden fluid motion, Falon jerked the sword free and swung. The blade whistled through the air before slicing through Shya’s neck, effectively severing his head. Before my very eyes, Shya’s body faded away, disappearing completely. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.

Without so much as a word to me, Falon targeted Gabriel next. He slashed at the young vampire, driving him and Arys apart.

“Finish this now,” Falon shouted at Arys. “Shya will regroup fast on the other side. You don’t have much time.”

Arys wore several cuts and gashes, but otherwise he was all right. He caught me as I fell forward.

“Do it,” I said, my voice thin and shrill.

He shoved away from me, muttering something inaudible beneath his breath. Arys was battling with himself. It was a fight he would not win. “I don’t want to.”

In direct contrast to his words, he grabbed me again and shook me.

I fought him, hoping to slap some sanity back into him. My hand cracked across his face, and he bared fangs at me. Fear clawed its way up my throat, and I choked on it. This was really happening.

Arys froze, staring into me and seeing something that freed the hunger he had carried for over a century.

“You know you have to do it,” I murmured. “It’s ok. I’m ready.”

Bloodlust burned in Arys. He jerked me closer, and with no hesitation, plunged fangs deep into my neck. Targeting my artery, he bit with the intent to kill. Blood gushed from the wound. Arys was ravenous, biting a second time.

The power of our bond soared between us, much like it had the night we had first slept together, when our twin flame union had united us. We were inside each other. Random thoughts and feelings flitted through my mind, all of them Arys’s.

As he consumed my blood and the power within it, I very clearly saw how much he loved it. Finally, after waiting for so long, after craving my death for decades, it was his at last.

There wasn’t a single piece of him that didn’t find absolute pleasure in this moment. He held me close, lovingly stroking a hand through my hair as he stole my life. Arys exuded genuine emotion. He loved me. I felt it. However, that didn’t change the elation he felt at making me his in every way.

Something buried deep within me began to writhe and squirm. Lilah’s key responded to my fading life, resisting the pull as I took it with me.

My surroundings began to fade. No longer could I smell the acrid odor of burnt flesh. The sound of Jez’s shouts were muffled and far away. There was a sharp pain in my abdomen, which echoed throughout my mind. The dark, twin-flame forged key shuddered and seized before shattering like a burst bubble. I felt cold and then, only numb.

The last thing I saw was Falon standing over Gabriel’s prone form. He watched us with a disaffected stare. Then my vision grew dark, and I succumbed to death.

* * * *

Everything was so white. I found myself in a plain room with no door, no windows, only a table with two chairs. A man sat in one of the chairs. His back was to me, but I knew who it was.

“Veryl? What are you doing here?”

Feeling strange and loaded with questions, I rounded the table and slid into the chair opposite him. A long off-white robe clothed me. Veryl wore a suit and tie in the same color. The absence of sound and smell bothered me, but I paid it little attention once I sat across from the vampire I’d killed not so long ago.