Page 59 of Bitten By Chaos

Elsa took advantage of my distraction and tackled me, sinking her teeth into my unprotected throat. The pain blinded me as I tore at her back and arms, opening wounds that seemed to bother her as much as a fly on an elephant. With one hand she reached up to grasp my head by the hair and veil, and I knew she meant to rip off my head even as a sensation like warm molasses slowed my mind and movements. She was flooding me with the feeling of happiness and drowsiness, much like I’d learned to push the idea not to feel pain on those I drank from.

I managed to grasp the wrist of the hand gripping my head and fought with all my strength to keep it from moving. The world before me turned fuzzy at the edges as Julian’s face melted into one of pure agony when he caught sight of me. Time seemed to slow as my father snapped my lover’s neck from behind, sending Julian into a heap on the ground.

My heart pounded harder, flooding more of my own precious blood into Elsa’s waiting mouth, and I had to force myself to remember that Julian would recover. He hadn’t lost his head, unlike what was about to happen to me.

Rushing toward us, my father reached forward, and I couldn’t quite make sense of the fear on his face. Maybe it was the effects of the blood loss. But the next moment, Elsa was ripped off me and thrown to the sand, where my father wasted no time ripping into her throat.

I stumbled forward, tripping to my hands and knees as everything around me faded in and out of view. In moments, I lay on my back, unable to support myself as I bled onto the beach, wound closing too slowly. Blinking, I watched as Elsa grabbed hold of my father’s head, and in a swirl of purple and pink and gold energy, ripped it from his shoulders and tossed it where the surf lapped at the shore. She kicked what was left of him to the side, and crawled awkwardly to her feet, growling and pressing a palm over her own gushing wound.

My father was dead.

He’d saved me. Or at least tried to in the end. What had changed his mind? I couldn’t wrap my mind around it.

Bathed in blood as she had in the seventeenth century, Elizabeth Bathory dragged herself toward where I lay at the alter I was supposed to be married at. The roses above me matched the crimson soaked into my once ivory dress.

Instead of fear, or anger, or pain, I felt numb—almost peaceful as the rush of the water washed out all other sound. No matter what happened to me or anyone else, the ocean would still be there, and so would the sun.

Elsa dropped to the ground over me, a wicked smile on her face. “Love killed you,” she said.

“No,” I whispered, not sure the word was audible.

“Oh, yes. If you hadn’t been distracted with worry or paused to prolong your lover’s life, you would have been the victor here.” She leaned in my face. “Proof that love is weakness. I wanted you to know that before I killed you.”

It was the same thing Merlin had said he’d learned over the centuries. To act first and not hesitate. Well, he was dead now. And I wasn’t. Yet.

Smiling back, delirious, I shook my head slightly. “I don’t have to be the one to do it as long as Julian is safe,” I said louder, though the words hurt.

Elsa’s victorious expression loomed above me, but in the next moment confusion replaced it, frozen forever in place as Julian’s hand punched through her chest and out the front of her, gripping her heart. With one more twist, she was relieved of her head and Julian tossed her aside, replacing my view with his beautiful face.

Without a word, he tore into his wrist and tipped the blood to my lips so I could drink, speeding up my recovery. Then he helped me to my feet, clutching me against him as the others, no longer frozen in time, rushed to our sides.

“All that power, and in the end, it was your vampire nature that took her down,” I said, giving him my weight.

Julian kissed my head. “Instinct. I think it’s rather poetic that her undoing came down to not fighting who I was. My only thought was desperation to stop her from killing you, no matter what that meant. She was wrong, Charlotte. Love isn’t weakness. Love saved us.”

Someone cleared their throat loudly from behind us, and we turned to find Hazel beneath the arch of roses.

“Do you have the rings?” she asked, as though nothing had interrupted the ceremony.

“Are you kidding?” I asked, holding out my arms to indicate the gore covering both Julian and me.

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” she retorted.

Rummaging in his jacket pocket, Julian’s focus sharpened. In a moment he held up a ring triumphantly. I gaped. My father had died. Elsa had died. We almost died. And…

And as I’d said earlier, I was tired of putting off my life because of the interference of others.

I held out my left hand, and he snugged the intricate golden band next to my engagement ring.

“Char?” Hazel asked.

Zoe hurried to my side and stuffed Julian’s ring into my hand. With a deep breath, I reached for him and slid it over his finger. He beamed down at it, looking almost like a child, he was so filled with joy.

“I now pronounce you partners for life. You may kiss.”

Julian swept me into a dip as his mouth met mine. Neither of us could stop smiling even as we connected.

Cheers rose all around us along with a whinny and a roar.

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