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With a flash of movement and the glint of metal, Sebastian is free from his binds, charging at Adelaide. She throws her hands in front of her, calling the vines to her and using them to block the sharp edge of the blade.
With Adelaide occupied, the vines loosen their hold, giving me enough space to wiggle out of their grasp. The thorns pierce my skin as I crawl free, but I ignore the pain and push myself to my feet.
Eager to help Sebastian, I struggle to hold off both Adelaide and Egan. Grand-Mère’s glowing figure flickers at me, trying to get my attention, and Mom steps up next to her.
They want to join the fight.
Okay then. Time for a Dumont family reunion.
I use my anger and grief and every bit of emotion swirling within me to fuel my power. Using everything I can muster, I funnel my magic and unleash it in a single gush of volatile energy.
The ground shakes, tremors vibrating as they had with Adelaide’s vines. A slab of marble encasing the caskets of Dumont ancestors cracks with a thunderous roar that puts a pause to the fighting.
Another shatters, pieces of polished marble falling to the floor. Then another.
“Uh, Josie?” Rune wriggles ever so slightly beneath the vine rope still holding him to the floor. “Are you trying to bury us all alive? Because living beneath a mound of rubble, trapped, forgotten, and unable to die, sounds way worse to me than dying by werewolf bite.”
The atmosphere grows heavy, and a chilling wind sweeps through the room. The air crackles with energy as the dead, stirred by my command, rise from their resting places.
What the hell?
One by one, skeletal hands break through the ground, followed by decaying bodies that emerge from the crypts, their empty eye sockets glowing with a spectral light as my army surrounds the alpha werewolf.
“You’re a fucking necromancer?” Rune shrieks. “Did you guys know she has necromancer magic?”
It’s news to me as well. With the power of the unity bond fueling my newfound ability, I know it.
The past few weeks, I looked at my connection to the vampires as a negative—a setback. In reality, our unity bond makes all four of us stronger.
“You made a huge mistake aligning yourself with the wolves, Adelaide.” A weary smile curves across my lips as I gaze back at her, my eyes shimmering with the remnants of my unleashed power. “But you were right when you said the unity bond is a powerful thing. Together, the four of us are unstoppable,” I say, my voice filled with unwavering conviction.
I was wrong. Mom and Dad didn’t die trying to destroy the vampires to end the unity bond. They died fighting for their love and family.
If I die today, I’ll have died fighting for the same thing.
“Josie!” Finn screams like he knows where my mind is going. “Josie, stop. Get yer magic under control.”
But I’m beyond reason, consumed by a potent mix of sorrow and fury as my magic rages inside the mausoleum. I don’t care if killing Egan starts a war. I don’t care about anything other than taking down the ones who killed my parents. Egan and Adelaide are equally responsible, and they will both pay the price.
Despite what Fintan thinks, I am in control.
I raise my hands and the ethereal figures respond to my command. They attack the werewolf Alpha with a vengeance, their ghostly hands clawing and tearing at his dark form.
The crypt becomes a battlefield, the clash of spiritual and physical power filling the air with an electric intensity. My magic guides the spirits’ fight, fueling their attack.
The amount of power I’m channeling is overwhelming. I feel each of the souls of my ancestors who have passed over. It’s too much, and I lose my hold.
It’s similar to when Grand-Mère’s spell would interfere with my magic. Except this time, it’s all me.
My vision flickers and blurs as my magic stutters and I struggle to hold myself upright. “Something’s wrong.”
Everything blinks from existence, and blackness crashes around me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
JOSIE
I come to with a pounding headache, disoriented and unable to see. I can’t even make out shadows in the darkness. There is only total blackness. Panic sets in as I try to move, and my efforts are met with resistance.
