Page 78 of The Vampire King's Victory

“Yes, yes, I know! But itisfun!” Balthazar insisted.

The Ashyr Vampires tried to toss around people to use as missiles. Arcius was lifted from his feet. He called out to Balthazar for “a little help”.

“Oh, you big baby, you’re always wanted to fly!’ Balthazar laughed, but Arcius was gently placed back upon his feet.

The Helm Vampires tried to play hide and seek by turning invisible. But while humans might not be able to see them, other Vampires easily could simply by listening for heart, breath and the faintest scrape of feet.

The Wyvern Vampire Kaly slices appeared to be the hardest as they teleported away as soon as they were teleported in. The Wyvern Vampires on their side went after them and brought them back again. They popped in and out of existence. It took Balthazar a bunch of times before he could grab them mentally and keep them pinned in Nightvallen like butterflies to a board.

With every transfer, Caemorn’s sadness seemed to drop away. Julian could feel what he felt. He leaned forward on the throne as if getting physically closer to Caemorn would give him more insight.

The Kaly slices were happy to return to their core. Caemorn felt that happiness. It did not feel fake, buttrue. They had been living terrible existences, plagued by madness, anguished by insane thoughts, overwhelmed by out of control emotions. Balthazar freed them of such pains and he brought them peace.

Finally, there were no more Kaly slices being brought in. Instead, the throne room was littered with empty Vampires.

“Something’s wrong,” Julian realized before Caemorn spoke, confirming it.

“We are missing one,” Caemorn stated.

“Fiona is not here,” Arcius stated. “She was going after--”

“Roan.” Balthazar’s hands fisted at his sides. “Roan has her.”

Everyone looked at Seeyr. She didn’t look alarmed. “It will all work out.”

But she didn’t sayhowit would,Julian realized.

EDGE

“Roan,” Balthazar said his Master’s name softly, but it still had a bitter taste. “It would be him. Of course, it would be him.”

“Fiona… Kaly has got her, Balthazar!” Arcius said and his lips writhed back from his teeth, the old Berserker rage coming to the front at the danger to his love.

“We don’t know that. Do we?” Christian asked, his gaze snapping between Arcius and Balthazar. “Maybe she’s just having problems locating him!”

“Only one way to find out,” Balthazar said.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on Fiona’s mind. She wasn’t justnotin Nightvallen, she alsowasn’ton Earth, but in another part of the Ever Dark entirely so reaching her would be difficult. His brain wanted to say that this was too much distance! That it would be impossible to reach her when she was so very far away. But there really was no physical distance at all between one mind and another.

He thought of theclickandclackof the beads in Fiona’s hair. He imagined her turning her head to look at him and how the beads wouldclickandclack. He pictured it again and again. The sounds filled his ears. Finally, he saw her silver eyes. He picturedthem meeting his own. Her head turned. Theclickandclack. Her eyes would fix on his. Her lips would then form the location of where she was and if she was in danger. Head turned.Click.Clack. Silver eyes. Lips moving. Balthazar’s eyelids flew open.

“Destiny,” Balthazar breathed. “Kaly has her in Destiny.”

“The Eyros city in the Ever Dark,” Caemorn stated, informing those there that didn’t know.

The hair on the back of Balthazar’s neck lifted. He thought of the arrogance of naming his own cityDestiny. And yet, here they were, in the endgame anddestinywas calling them.

Could it really have ended any other way?

“But any gate to Destiny has been lost since the War!” Arcius cried, his eyes sparking. “How did Kaly get there?”

“It was not lost to the Immortals, Arcius, only to Vampires who were not born at that time,” Seeyr reminded him, but then her head turned towards Balthazar, “at least not those whose minds were fully their own with memories intact.”

“How is he keeping her there?” Julian asked, eyes shadowed. “She should just be able to teleport away from him, shouldn’t she?”

“This final form is another Eyros Vampire,” Balthazar said as he felt the brief touch of Roan-Kaly’s mind. It was as familiar to him as his own. He suddenly swallowed metallic tasting saliva.

“Who did Kaly take over?” Arcius looked ready to chew through rocks. “I can’t believe that we wouldn’t know them! Do we?”

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