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The ward around the barn falls, and the rest of my vampire brothers rush outside. Malachi and Kasar are shouting about putting the fire out.
My mind is filled with... nothing. It’s impossible to think, to be horrified as the slaughter below us grows. As the scent of terror is quickly overwhelmed by the scent of blood and death.
I don’t resist as Ambrose moves me, sweeping me into his arms like I’ve fallen in battle. My king, never one to be tender, leaps from the loft to the ground filled with puddles of crimson red. He’s careful to angle me so I can’t see Cassandra and I’m not sure if I’m thankful for that kindness or furious.
He carries me from the scene, too tired to use the speed I know he’s capable of. Josephine meets us in the doorway, her gray dress speckled with blood and half of her silver hair falling around her shoulders in disarray.
I look away when her eyes meet mine. I can’t handle pity.
Ambrose sets me on a chaise lounge in the sitting room, while Josephine rights a table near me. He says something to his daughter and goes to leave. He hesitates and turns back to me.
I meet his eyes, my own senses dulling.
“She saved you,” Ambrose speaks, keeping his voice low. “She saved all of us with her sacrifice.”
I turn away from him, squeezing my eyes shut. He leaves me, Josephine following a moment later. I’m grateful. She doesn’t deserve my anger, even as I want to rage that she should have stopped her. I know she tried.
I’m left alone in the deafening silence, a part of my soul missing, cut off from me.
I weep until the black claims me.
Chapter Fourteen
CASSANDRA
The first time I rode along with Ashe to the Haven, intent on destroying Aeternaphiel’s soul, I was nervous. That was hours ago, but it felt like a lifetime.
Now, sitting in the back seat of a large SUV beside Eris with Ambrose sitting up front, I’m strangely serene as Kasar turns us towards the gated entrance to the Haven’s estate. Night has fallen and we’re the first of four vehicles. Lan and Josephine drive the two SUVs behind us and Malachi brings up the rear in the last. Each one is full of the street soldiers of the Nightshade vampires, vampires young and old who’ve found a place to belong in the Barrows under Ambrose’s rule.
I turn and look over my shoulder to the cramped third row. These are vampires who may not survive the upcoming fight to save my mate. It feels disingenuous to not even know their names, so I ask.
The one in the middle, a brunette woman who looks severe enough to be a governess, raises her brows but answers, “I’m Caroline. This one,” she inclines her head towards the male on the left, “is Jack and he—” inclining her head towards the other male— “Is Grant.”
I smile at each of them in turn. “Thank you for coming with us. It means a lot.”
Eris scoffs and looks back at them. I don’t miss Grant’s flinch, as much as he tries to hide it. He’s got such a boyish face, he couldn’t have been older than twenty when he was turned. Eris smirks, her face twisting in sheer arrogance, and I shove her shoulder in rebuke. I swear one of the vampires behind me gasps, but I’m too busy meeting Eris’s incredulous eyes with a glare.
“Stop it,” I say. “We need their help and there’s nothing wrong with thanking them, especially when this isn’t their usual duty.”
“We really don’t mind, ma’am—miss—uh,” Jack stumbles over a reply. He looks older than Grant, but not by much. “Any time we get to fight is a good night. This’ll be more fun than dealing with idiots high on Rapture or drunk and belligerent.”
Unlike Ambrose and the males he considers his inner circle, these vampires are wearing more casual clothing. They aren’t even wearing the suits I’m more familiar with, and they aren’t dressed in the same tactical gear as the inner circle. I was given more appropriate clothing, borrowing the gear from Kasar’s mate, Deidre. The woman is more slender than me, so the pants are a bit tight, which was awkward at first. I knew I couldn’t go in wearing my dress, and my preferred skirts would only get in my way.
Even Josephine has traded in her dress and arrived in steel gray wide-legged pants and a black long-sleeved shirt. I worry for the female, even knowing she will only fight if she must. Her primary role is to help those injured, if possible. I helped load the back of her SUV with insulated crates of blood and rudimentary medical supplies.
The bullet-proof vest Malachi had fitted me with gives me a sense of safety, but I know bullets may be the least of my worries. Fortunately, Darcelle was able to equip us with cantrips and a few other items from their magical armory. I’d had no time to prepare anything, so whatever magic I perform today will be as wild and uncontrolled as nature itself.
The SUV comes to a stop, all of us looking out the front window. Four men, each of them resting their hands on rifles slung across their chests, stand in front of the closed gate, illuminated by our headlights. I glance over my shoulder, trying to see where the other drivers are. I see one stop behind us and assume it’s Malachi. Josephine and Lan should have pulled off the road by now.
“Wards are up.” I keep my voice quiet, in case the guards at the gate are more than human. Aeternaphiel had warded the property against vampires when we’d breached the wards around his treasury.
Eris leans forward, peering at the wrought iron gate with disdain. “Hundreds of years on earth and he still has no goddamn taste. The wards are weaker than they should be.”
“Trap?” Ambrose asks as one of the guards steps forward, walking to Kasar’s side.
“Maybe,” Eris answers, her brow bent in thought. “I should be able to take them down, but then he’ll know we’re here.”
“If he doesn’t already,” Kasar says before rolling down his window.
