Page 43 of Until the Heart Stops
I lifted my elbow, catching the female in the chin and sending a jolt of magic out through the impact like a shock. She fell back, eyes wide as she scrambled on theground in a gown much too opulent for this affair. But I could see clearly now what they were.
Vampires. The Covenant.
A third appeared like a lightning flash, hand twisting through my hair before I could shove them off. The first took advantage, grabbing my waist where my generous skirts shielded him from my skin. But I pushed outward, blowing against his face as flames appeared between my lips, scalding his skin and bubbling it into ash. He screamed, letting go as he clutched his cheeks.
“Enough,” the one behind me rasped, but he sounded uncertain.
They had not planned on me fighting, or more accurately: they had not planned on me winning. I couldn’t help my laugh echoing through the alley, even as the female found her footing and rushed forward. My magic was waning, even with its newfound strengthening. But I pushed through as she appeared in front of me, beautiful face pinched with rage, hands raised with needle-sharp nails.
“What is it like to be nothing but a dog?” I was wheezed out another laugh. “I’ll never understand why you were willing to give up everything for an immortal I hear is half mad and claims to speak with the gods.”
Rage hardened the woman’s features and a glittering, deadly smile pulled back her lips until her fangs flashed. But there was a brittleness behind her rage, as if it was only a mask. “I would rather bark at the feet of a master than beg in the streets for my dinner.”
Her hands cupped my face surprisingly gently and, though I sent all the magic I had left, her power cut through it like a knife through fat. I screamed, pain ripping through my skin, down into my muscle, into my soul. The vampire behind me released my hair and though they werespeaking and the female had hefted me into her arms, all I knew was the acid tearing apart my body. The flesh melted from my bones. There was no more air. No more time. And the bond linking me to Callum screamed in tandem as the dawn rose behind my lids before blackness blotted out the light.
Chapter 24
Iwoke in such complete darkness for a moment I questioned whether or not I was truly awake.
My body screamed in protest as I shifted, reaching out blindly to see what was near me. All too quickly my knuckles scraped against rough wall. But when I moved my hand, I only encountered stone. The breath in my lungs vanished as I felt along the sides and above me. Sweat broke out on the back of my neck and in the crooks of my elbows. Tiny whimpers echoed back far too close.
A coffin.
I pressed my palms flat on the lid but it didn’t give. It was as if they’d built a stone wall on top of me. Reaching for my magic, I groaned in realization that the reserves I had were gone. My eyes widened.Goddess, there beneath my own magic was Callum’s. Last night as I’d fought, I’d forgotten our connection as my survival instincts had overtaken me. But I wondered, if the female hadn’t gotten her hands on me so quickly, if I would have been able to take her.
The unfamiliar power was there, but dormant. It musthave still been day. Another flare of adrenaline twisted my stomach. Would I be trapped for hours? Days? Would I die here? I took a deep breath, wondering if the air was thinning. But no, it was only my fear, there was plenty of air. I would not be trapped here, not with the bond flowing between me and Callum. If I could not get myself free, he would find me.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed there in the dark, counting my breaths and occasionally succumbing to small bursts of panic only to force my breathing to slow. But just as my eyes drooped and exhaustion overtook me, the lid was wrenched away. Brightness burned across my face and I lifted an arm to shield myself from it. But a hand wrapped around my elbow, jerking me from the coffin so forcefully something in my shoulder snapped.
My cry of pain cut off in a gurgle as I came face to face with a vampire I’d seen only a few times in my life, mostly within Callum’s mind.
Mael Auguste’s face was unearthly pale and smooth. His white hair streamed down his shoulders and over his red robe, swinging in a sheet as he all but dragged me across the floor. The hand wrapped around my arm was powerful, so much so that when he twisted his wrist to adjust his grip another bone snapped in my arm. I bit back my scream. He watched me with fascination and it was clear the movement had been intentional after all.
“I do not see the appeal,” he mused coldly while appraising me.
Nausea roiled through my gut and I swallowed thickly. “Well, that’s a relief for b-both of us.”
His index finger pressed casually against my forearm. Another snap and black spots bloomed across my vision. He dragged me farther across the smooth stone floor andout of the alcove the coffin had been hidden within. “Theon told me you fought unnervingly well.”
I couldn’t hold my tongue. “Or perhaps they fought unnervingly poorly.”
Mael paused as if I’d meant the jab. “Perhaps.”
With another jerk, he strode forward. The room was large with tall, vaulted ceilings. Windows were cut into the ornate stonework and the sky blazed overhead with the fire of the sunset. But when Mael stepped into a ray of dying sunlight, he didn’t so much as smoke—goddess, how old was he to withstand such a thing?
A wide table sat in the center of the room, the stones beneath it a strange mottled brown. Grooves flowed throughout the table, like the roots of a tree, and those, too, were the same color. The pain in my arm flared, but faded, and the numbness I’d had in my fingers paled into a tingling awareness.
As if I weighed nothing, Mael tossed me toward the table. I skidded across the stones, hitting the base with acrackthat left the air whooshing from my lungs. My hands splayed across the floor and I coughed, desperately trying to find my next breath. I’d expected him to laugh or perhaps revel in my pain, but he watched with a dispassionate sort of interest.
“Raya,” he called.
The female from before flitted into the room and there it was again, a small flash of something behind her eyes before it hardened into stone—an approximation of the expression Mael wore. Her hair was loose, black waves rippling down her back and shoulders as she came to a stop beside him, curtsying so low she was in danger of kissing the floor.
“Master.”
He snapped his fingers, gesturing toward anotheralcove. The female, Raya, hesitated a moment before jumping to her feet and disappearing for a beat. She returned with a heavy glass bottle in her grip. With another lazy gesture, he took a step backward.
Raya looked me over before kneeling in a pool of black robes. The hands that had been like claws last night were unexpectedly tender as she brushed my hair from my mouth before uncorking the bottle. She lifted it to my lips. My eyes widened and I tried to scramble back, but the table prevented me.
