Page 74 of Dark Master's Redemption

“Well, that didn’t work.” Curio rubs his wrists and chest, breathing hard as if he got shocked by a megawatt of pure electricity.

As Lucca and Alleno move forward now, Alleno pushes Lucca back, shaking his head. “No. You stay, Lucca. You’re an integral part of this, since you’re directly bound to Quinn and Ariana, forming the core of our magical strength. I’ll try next.”

But even as Alleno kneels down to peruse his magic over that nasty red Bloodsign on the floor, he gets little better. Though his zap is absorbed into his magic, he grunts and doubles over like he’s been punched, gasping as he goes white as a sheet. As Alleno stumbles up, Lucca shoves forward now to try. Alleno is too drained to stop him, as Lucca kneels down beside the Bloodsign in question.

It dissipates to his careful perusing—just like it disappeared to mine.

“Guess we know who this trap is for.” Lucca gives a dark growl as he rises, unsteady on his feet now as he wobbles. Though Alleno is still pale, he gets under Lucca’s arm. We all face each other.

Knowing how we have to move forward this day.

“We discharge them in shifts,” I say, as I hold Lucca with a deep look. “First me, then you… as many as we can do in a row and not pass out as we walk. That’ll give the other person a little time to recover. I’m already feeling better than when I touched the first one. But we’re not going to make it if we don’t have time to rest.”

“Wiser words were never spoken.” Lucca gives a dark chuckle as he regards me, then heaves a sigh as he gestures to the next sigil on the floor. It sits right at the exit of the underground hall, between two weeping statues. “Ladies first. But the moment you start to feel woozy and black out, you tell me, Ariana. Don’t be a hero. Heroes only wind up dead.”

“But you’re my hero,” I say lightly now as I step past him, cupping his cheek with my hand and giving him a brief kiss. “And you’re not dead.”

“I will be, if we’re not smart about this gauntlet the Gold Eyes has set up for us to maneuver through today,” Lucca says with warning, though he takes a moment to kiss me, deep. “Be safe.”

“I will be, but only if you are, too.” I give him one last chaste kiss, then move past to the entry foyer.

The doors to the hall are open now, thanks to the guards’ invasion. I don’t know if there were more wards on the doors; thankfully, I don’t have to touch them as I kneel right between two towering black marble columns here.

I whisper my aura over the Bloodsign at the doors now, as I feel myself fight to take our home back. The Music whispers out from me, as I focus on that righteous feeling—not just for myself, but for all of us who call this place home. As if all our power blossoms out straight from my heart now, I feel less drain as I touch that Bloodsign and it evaporates.

As a dark smoke wafts up from where that Vampire sigil once was, I feel the Music still singing inside me. It hasn’t raised to a crescendo, nor made any Ascendant Sigil in the air. But it acted as a barrier somehow, to the Gold Eyes’ ancient magic.

Helping me, as I ended his terrible works.

“Lucca,” I say as I turn, glancing at him.

“I know. I felt it.” Lucca’s eyebrows rise, impressed. “You were thinking about how much it meant to you and to everyone here, to take back your home, an emotion from your truest heart. It called the Music up inside you, bolstered by the Dark Haven’s might. Helping us… against the Gold Eyes’ poisonous intent.”

“Find something like that, that works for you,” I say now, as I slowly rise and get ready to move on to the next sigil as per our agreement, so Lucca can rest as long as he can. “I know the Hotel was never your home, but there’s a reason you’re helping us take it back now. Find that reason and hold it in your heart as you work.”

Lucca nods, as I see him become very sober now, thinking about it. He helps me to the next Bloodsign, just beyond in the outer hall.

That hall is quiet now, since we already killed all the guards stationed in it. As we let Curio and the Dark Fae hold a perimeter ahead of us as much as possible, alert for more guards and Council warriors, Lucca helps me kneel by the next scalding Bloodsign. Holding my truest love for this place in my heart, I deactivate it, then do the next, and the next. I’ve done five when my magic fades. I sway in Lucca’s arms and he catches me.

Helping me down to a seat on the floor.

“My turn,” he breathes, as he kisses my brow, then my lips. Rising, Lucca goes to the next Vampire Bloodsign as the Dark Fae scout a corner nearby for any invasion.

Curio comes back to invigorate me with his fresh, wintery magic, as Lucca kneels before the next Bloodsign. I feel Lucca not know what to focus on in his heart. But it comes to him then, as he thinks, I just want to be with Quinn—and a deep love for Quinn and everything he is comes blazing from Lucca’s truest heart.

Inundated by that magic, the Music rises in him, flowing on the tide of all the Dark Fae now with us who love Quinn also, and Lucca touches the Bloodsign. It dissipates like it did for me, again with far less draining than before.

Lucca rises, shaking out his hands and giving me a wink. We move on, making our way through the long hall. We turn corner after corner as Lucca and I trade off deactivating Bloodsigns with our magic, holding our truest intentions in our hearts.

But then we hit a patch of Florian’s guards and Council Vampires, stationed at the entrance of the underground fencing hall where I once sparred with Quinn.

Battle takes us again.

Draining Lucca and me, and all our allies, further of magic—that we don’t have enough left to give.

30

BLESSING

---