Page 108 of Nearly Dead

“I’m going to kill everything you love,” she warns.“Starting with that human brat.This isn’t over.”

Then, with one last venomous glare, she turns to flee into the night.Costin steps into her path.For a second, I think he’s just blocking her exit.But then I feel the bond between sire and sibling breaking like glass.This wasn’t my mercy to give.It was his.

Costin’s hand dives into his sister’s chest.

Her eyes widen in surprise.

“I guess I can’t be as forgiving of your many sins,” he tells her as he pulls her against him.

Costin holds Elizabeth close, and they drop to the roof.I feel every emotion as it flows through him.Pain, regret, relief.It’s all there.

He lovingly touches her face.As if in slow motion, Elizabeth’s expression grays.I see pieces of ash floating in the air as she slowly dies.The wind picks up and carries her away.Costin lowers his head, remaining on his knees.

Elizabeth’s remaining followers hesitate, then scatter into the night.

The silence that follows is deafening.I stand in the center of the roof, still in my hybrid form.Around me, the wounded are being tended to.

Then Sully’s howl echoes in victory and my head snaps in his direction.

“Go,” Costin whispers, not looking up.

A howl erupts from deep inside and I let the moon take me.I fall to all fours and run blindly after my pack in celebration of our victory.

ChapterTwenty-Four

The night belongs to us.

Or maybe we belong to the night.

My claws scrape against concrete as I race with the pack across New York City’s rooftops.The urban jungle stretches below, a maze of lights and shadows that pulses with its own heartbeat.To anyone on the street, we’d be a blur in the night, some sense of déjà vu.

My new senses detect everything.I feel the rumble of subway trains beneath the streets, smell a cocktail of scents rising from restaurants and alleyways, and hear the electrical hum of power lines crisscrossing overhead.

I don’t know where we are going, but I trust my pack to take me there safely.We leap from building to building, supernatural strength making impossible distances manageable.I catch my reflection in passing windows.I’m not fully wolf, not like the others bounding beside me.My hybrid form is larger, more powerful, with a posture that shifts effortlessly between four legs and two.Black fur covers my body, interspersed with streaks of silver that gleam in the moonlight.My snout is shorter than a pure werewolf’s, and my teeth are more vampiric.

But the pack accepts me as I am.There’s no judgment in their golden eyes, no fear of my differences.To them, I’m just another wolf running under the same moon, sharing in the primal joy of freedom.

Sully leads us, his massive form easily distinguishable as he vaults across a narrow gap between buildings.He stops near a water holding tank and throws his head back, howling at the moon that hangs impossibly large over the city skyline.The others join in, their voices creating a haunting harmony that echoes between skyscrapers.

I add my voice to theirs, feeling the power of it rise from my chest.My howl sounds different from theirs, part wolf’s cry, part vampire’s shriek, but it blends with the chorus.For these precious moments, I belong.

Even as my body revels in this newfound freedom, my mind can’t fully surrender to it.Images from the battle flash through my thoughts.I killed my uncle.Mortimer dissolved into nothingness.I remember Elizabeth’s face as Costin’s hand plunged into her chest.The ash of her body carried away on the wind.

Costin.

I left him there, kneeling on that rooftop, surrounded by the aftermath of battle and the dust of his sister.I ran with the wolves without a backward glance, abandoning him in what might have been the most painful moment of his centuries-long existence.

The realization hits me like a physical blow.I stumble, nearly slipping off the edge of the roof.Sully notices immediately, padding over to nudge my flank with his muzzle.A question in his eyes.

I shake my massive head, trying to communicate without words.The guilt is a leaden weight in my chest, growing heavier with each passing moment.For the first time since I embraced the transformation, I feel the need to return to my human form, to process these emotions with words rather than instinct.

Sully seems to understand.He makes a soft whuffing sound and gestures with his head back toward the battle site.Permission.Understanding.The pack will continue without me.

I touch my muzzle to his in gratitude, then turn and sprint back the way we came.The city skyline blurs around me as I push my hybrid body to its limits, desperate to return to Costin.Buildings flash past, my powerful legs carrying me faster than I’ve ever moved before.Gradually, I find my bearings and know where I am.

Costin did what I couldn’t bring myself to do.He ended Elizabeth’s reign of terror once and for all.After centuries of being controlled by her, of being unable to break free from the sire bond’s compulsions, he finally stood up against her.For me.

And I left him.

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