Page 55 of The Curse of Blood and Silenc

“Ah, you two might want to look at this. Balthazar sent has another secret coded message,” Dimitri said, his voice tight with tension.

I glanced at the bed, where fresh blood was seeping through the sheets. Balthazar never did play fair.

BRING HER OR JOY DIES

The words were like a death sentence, and I felt Serenity go rigid in my arms. Joy—Serenity’s best friend, whom we’d been hunting for weeks—was snared in Balthazar’s web.

“Fuck. Fuck.Fuck.” Enzo slammed his fist into the wall repeatedly, cracking it. Each impact echoed his failure to find her before the demon did.

The choice wasn’t really a choice at all. And Balthazar knew it.

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

Serenity

“No!!!”I screamed and arched my back as anger soared through me, hot and wild and uncontrollable. My power unleashed like a tsunami—the bed, dresser, television, and end table shot toward the ceiling as if gravity had reversed. The chandelier shattered, raining crystal daggers that suspended mid-air, catching the light like deadly stars.

Then everything crashed to the floor with devastating force. Wood splintered into thousands of pieces. The mattress caught fire, blue flames eating through the blood-stained sheets, devouring Balthazar’s threats.

Something screamed. No, shrieked—an inhuman sound that made the windows vibrate, that drove even the ancient vampires to their knees. The sound of something ancient and terrifying awakening.

Black smoke burst from my skin, writhing like living shadows. Electric blue flames crawled up the walls and across the ceiling, consuming everything in their path. The air crackled with power that tasted of defiance and destiny.

Then the flames imploded with a final thunderclap, disappearing into nothingness and leaving in their wake the scent of burnt feathers and lightning.

Pain sizzled through my veins like holy fire, a battle of light versus darkness that tore a scream from my throat. Every cell in my body felt like it was being purified and purged as good and evil warred beneath my skin. The scratches on my arm didn’t just fade—they burned away in agony, Balthazar’s dark magic fighting against whatever divine power coursed through me. Where his mark had been, my skin now glowed with a faint, pearl-like luminescence, the last evidence of a war between Heaven and Hell fought in my own flesh.

Angelo grabbed my arms, nearly lifting me off the floor, his expression savage with worry. His fingers dug into my skin with barely contained strength, as if he feared I’d vanish if he didn’t hold on tight enough. “Serenity. Damn it.” His muscular arms were like iron bands around me as I contorted, writhing as another wave of holy fire scorched through my blood. The pain was beyond screaming now—it was a white-hot supernova burning away everything dark and corrupt, threatening to consume me entirely. My skin blazed with a light that made the vampires hiss and shield their eyes, but Angelo wouldn’t let go, even as the divine power singed his body and smoke rose around us as if we were in the middle of a bonfire, thick and black and writhing with otherworldly power.

Enzo cried out. “Angelo, release her!”

“Never.” His face turned dark, as if he was burning from the inside. A roar of pure agony tore from his throat, a sound that ripped right through me.

This was my fault. I was burning him. I breathed deeply, trying to rein in my power.

Calm down Calm down Calm down

My heart thundered against my ribs as I fought for control. The power coursed through me like a rushing river, resisting every attempt to dam it. Angelo’s arms tightened around me even as his skin blackened, and I could feel him trembling with the effort to hold on.

“Please,” I whispered, tears streaming down my face. “Please stop.” I wasn’t sure if I was begging my power or Angelo. The smoke swirled faster, hungrily searching for something to consume. Divine energy crackled through the air like lightning, and I could taste Heaven’s fury sharp and bright on my tongue like the sharp bite of centuries-old whiskey.

Control it Control it Control it

A surge of energy exploded from deep within me, pure white light that cut through the black smoke. The windows shattered outward. Angelo’s grip finally broke as he was thrown across the room. My feet left the ground, suspended in air as wings of light unfurled from my back, casting shadows that danced like living things on the walls.

A voice that wasn’t mine tore from my throat, ancient and terrible: “ENOUGH!”

The room froze. Even the smoke seemed to pause mid-swirl.

Then everything imploded.

The light collapsed inward, a vacuum of power that sucked all the chaos back into my body like a black hole devouring stars. The energy that had been coursing through me vanished, leaving nothing but bone-deep exhaustion in its wake. The smoke dissipated, taking the last remnants of my strength with it. I dropped to the floor like a marionette released from its cross, my knees cracking painfully against the hardwood. Every breath I took felt like I was inhaling shards of glass, my lungs burning as if I’d been underwater for hours instead of minutes.

Silence fell, broken only by the sound of glass tinkling to the floor and my ragged breathing. My arms trembled as I tried topush myself up, but my muscles had the consistency of warm jelly. Sweat dripped from my temples, each drop carrying a piece of my remaining energy with it. Even my eyelids felt heavy, threatening to close despite the danger I knew still lurked.

“Angelo?” Fear clawed at my throat as I scanned the settling dust. My vision swam, but I forced my eyes to focus, to find him. The room was a war zone of my own making. Then—movement in the corner. Angelo. My heart lurched at the sight of his healing skin, the evidence of what my power had done to him. But his expression… I’d never seen him look at me quite like that before. Like I was something both magnificent and terrible.

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