Page 24 of Blood Match

“Liar!” I cut him off. My voice breaks, and I hate the weakness in it. “You’re all liars and killers. Kidnappers! And now you’re ruining her vigil. How much more are you going to take from us?”

Something flashes in his eyes – is it pity? The thought makes me want to scream.

“Look, I don’t know—”

“I said shut up!” I yell, my voice raw with emotion. I try to summon more magic, anything to drive him away, but nothing happens. My power is spent, leaving me feeling hollow and useless.

He opens his mouth to speak again, but before he can, a shout rings out across the clearing.

“Darick! We need you over here!”

Darick? So…evil has a name.

Not that I give a damn either way. He’s the enemy. He needs to pay.

Darick’s head snaps around, his attention drawn to the ongoing chaos around us. For a moment, I’d almost forgotten about the battle raging in our sacred grove.

He looks back at me, conflict clear on his face. “This isn’t over,” he says, his voice low and intense. “We need to figure this out.” He gestures between us, presumably referring to our mental connection.

“Figure this out?” I’m pretty sure my mouth hangs open. We’re in the middle of a battle, and he wants to figure this out? “You can’t be serious!? Your bloodsucking friends are attacking my family!”

Before Darick can respond, a blast of energy ripples through the clearing. The air crackles with power, and I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I know this magic. I’ve felt it my whole life.

Gran.

I spin around to see my grandmother standing tall and regal a few feet away from me. Her hair whips around her face like a silver halo, and her eyes blaze with an otherworldly light. She raises her hands, and suddenly, the earth seems to tremble. I feel like an idiot for thinking she needed me to protect her.

“Enough!” Her voice booms, echoing through the trees. A wave of pure magical force erupts from her fingertips, sweeping across the clearing like a tidal wave.

Vampires are thrown back, tumbling through the air like rag dolls. Some crash into trees with sickening thuds, while others scramble to regain their footing. I catch a glimpse of Darick’s face – a mixture of awe and alarm – before he disappears into the chaos of the battle.

A perverse part of me wants to chase after him, to demand answers, but that would be madness. What I should want is to see his lifeless body lying on the ground. If nothing else, it would put an end to the maddening voice in my head.

The fighting intensifies around us, and I feel hands grabbing me, pulling me back.

“Rowan!” It’s Kara, her face streaked with dirt and what looks like blood. “Stay close!” As she says it, I see my father emerge from the shimmering magical light, my mother beside him.

“She’s here!” my mother gasps. Within moments, my family forms a tight circle around me, their backs facing me. They know I’m defenseless. Mom and Dad stand together, their hands raised as they cast spells in rapid succession. Kara’s fingers fly through the air, weaving intricate patterns of magic that shimmer and spark.

And me? I stand in the middle, useless as always.

The air is thick with magic now. Spells crisscross the clearing like fireworks, lighting up the night sky. Vampires snarl and lunge, their fangs glinting. Witches chant and gesture, their voices rising in a crescendo of power.

But I can’t focus on any of it. My mind keeps replaying that moment with Darick. His voice, so familiar in my head, now matched to a face that’s infuriatingly handsome. The shock in his eyes when he saw me. The strange recognition.

What the hell is going on?

A vampire lunges at us, and I flinch back instinctively. But Kara’s there in an instant, her spell hitting the attacker square in the chest. He flies backward, howling in pain.

“Rowan, snap out of it!” Kara shouts, her eyes wild. “We need you!”

Need me? For what? To accidentally turn someone’s hair blue? To summon a swarm of butterflies instead of fireballs?

But I try anyway. I close my eyes, reaching deep inside myself for that elusive well of power. I feel it there, just out of reach, like always. Frustration bubbles up inside me, hot and bitter.

Come on. Just this once. Please.

I open my eyes and thrust my hands forward, willing something, anything, to happen. For a moment, nothing does. Then, to my utter shock, a burst of blue energy shoots from my fingertips. It’s not much – barely more than the sparks I managed earlier – but it’s something.

---