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I push off from the bottom step and we circle each other like predators.
Rune and Summer are going head-to-head in the front room and the house seems to groan beneath the weight of conflict, its ancient timbers creaking and the air swirling with the power of witches against vamps.
I dart forward, a blur of motion aimed directly at Lilian as she raises her hands, chanting quickly. I’m ready for her this time. I feint to the left and then attack from the right, bypassing her defenses.
My hands find her neck once more, my fingers pressing into her flesh with lethal intent. Lilian grabs my wrists, her own strength surprising, her magical aura flaring up to protect her.
We are locked in a deadly embrace, each pushing against the other’s will, a battle of physical and mental might. As our struggle intensifies, Lilian’s eyes suddenly flicker with a sinister gleam.
Her focus shifts, her chant morphing into something darker, more visceral. I feel a cold shiver trail down my spine as her words slip into the crevices of my mind, pulling at the fragile threads of my sanity.
“Sebastian,” she whispers, her voice echoing in the hollows of my thoughts. “What’s this, lurking in the shadows of your soul? A curse?”
I try to tighten my grip, to maintain control, but her magic, subtle and insidious, invades. Shadows swarm at the edge of my vision, shapes and whispers from my past converging into a chorus of chaos.
“One of my sisters left her mark here,” Lilian says, amusement in her tone. “Let me help you with that.”
The images Celine tortured me with over decades of long-forgotten fears, betrayals, and the darker urges I’ve harbored, flicker before me, each one more disturbing than the last.
“That’s right, Sebastian. The darkness is here to greet you. Let it show you what you truly are.” Her voice is a serpent in my ear, weaving madness and doubt into my consciousness.
I stagger back, releasing her neck as I clutch at my head, trying to silence the cacophony inside.
The room spins, the once solid forms of Rune and Summer melting into the walls. Lilian stands before me, her eyes piercing through the chaos of my mind, unhinging all the safeties I’ve put in place.
“Stop,” I gasp out, my voice ragged.
But Lilian does not stop. Her hands are raised, her power enveloping me, driving me deeper into the maelstrom of my unraveling sanity.
I am losing myself, piece by piece, to the darkness. In a desperate attempt to regain some semblance of control, I reach for the anger and ruthlessness that have always anchored me.
They slip through my fingers like sand, overshadowed by the relentless assault on my psyche.
“Embrace your true nature, Sebastian,” she calls out, her voice both a taunt and a verdict. “Acknowledge the monster you’ve hidden, even from yourself.”
I collapse to my knees, the fight draining out of me as madness wraps its cold arms around my consciousness.
“Sebastian. Fight her!” Rune’s anger stirs something in me, but I’m too lost to recognize what it is.
The fear that I had never allowed myself to acknowledge now claws its way through my defenses, overwhelming me with its intensity.
I hear laughter, but I’m not sure if it’s mine or emanating from the phantoms that crowd around me. My own mind turns against me, each thought splintering into fragments of paranoia and terror.
“Bas! Fight, dammit!”
The last thing I see is Manon standing before me, her arms open wide. I go to her, and the darkness envelops me. I’m drifting in weightless, black nothingness.
It’s comforting, and for the first time in decades, I let myself go.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
JOSIE
Ididn’t know where I was going when I jumped in a cab, but I knew it was close to my family home, so I had him drive me there.
I’m coming, Phi. As fast as I can. Is Summer there?
She and Rune are redecorating the living room of her family home.
