Page 176 of To Ashes and Dust
My heart stopped.
Cassie lay on the ground before Cole, her head tilted away from me, and the scent of blood reached my nose. That sickness I’d felt crawled over my skin, an icy sweat breaking out across my brow, and I burst from the tree line, eyes locked on Cole.
Every image of what Cassie had shared with me resurfaced, every moment he’d put his hands on her, every time he’d aided in Marcus’ torture.
I couldn’t look at Melantha, fury burning in my blood as I launched for Cole hovering over her. Cole’s head jerked to me as I slammed into him, pinning him to the ground. His hands flew up, his eyes wide.
“Damie—” I slammed my hand over his mouth, raising my dagger to slam it into his chest.
“For what you fucking did to her,” I ground out, flipping the dagger, prepared to end him. His eyes flashed, and he tried to speak against my palm, but I gripped tighter.
Thalia appeared at my side, her jaw clamping down on my arm before I could strike, and I froze as I looked at her. She didn’t speak, her pale moon-lit eyes staring up at me as she held me back. Gods, the sight of her tore something apart in me, the utter look of brokenness and exhaustion in her eyes.
I looked back at Cole, his onyx eyes filled with terror, and my grip on his face relaxed.
He gasped, chest heaving under me as he panted. “Cas, she—she freed me.”
Gods. It had been true. I jerked my gaze to Melantha, the monster watching us with an amusement that made my skin crawl. He’d been corrupted, just as Marcus had, as Cassie had nearly been. I turned to look back at Cassie, sprawled out on the ground. Time stopped at the sight of the blood that soaked through her sweater, seeping into the dirt and leaves beneath her. She was so pale, black veins crawling beneath her skin.
“No.”
I pushed off Cole and rushed to Cassie’s side just as Zephyr crouched beside her. He whimpered, nuzzling against her cheek, but she didn’t respond, didn’t stir. My eyes roamed over her as Cole hurried to my side, his hand quickly pressing on the wound in her stomach. She’d been stabbed.
“You’re too late, Lord of Shadows,” Melantha crooned.
Thalia growled low, teeth bared as Zephyr joined her and Vincent to guard our backs.
Melantha looked over our group before she glanced back to… My heart lurched. Cody lay on the ground nearby.
The dark tendrils at Melantha’s back stretched out and slipped under Cody’s body to lift him. She looked back to us, those hollow black eyes locking on me and I barred my teeth, my fangs unsheathing, dagger drawn and ready.
“Enjoy her while you can,” she mused, turning from us. Cody’s body sagged as she lifted him, his limbs limp. “She’ll come for me when she awakens.”
Darkness flickered at her feet, writhing, coiling up and around her until she and Cody vanished. I looked around. What the hell had happened? Where was Kat?
“I’m so sorry,” Cole muttered, holding onto Cassie’s wound, his hands and clothes coated in her blood.
I hurried to Cassie’s other side. “You couldn’t help it.”
“It was Kat.”
I halted, air rushing from my lungs. “What?”
“Kat was Melantha,” Cole clarified, and Zephyr and Vincent both whipped around to us.
“Son of a bitch!” I shoved down the rage as the nausea tore through me again, and I checked over Cassie for any other wounds. I halted when I found the shredded, bloodied fabric at her shoulder.
Gods, no.
I reached out, my hand shaking as I pulled back the ripped fabric of her sweater, exposing the torn flesh, the black veins already creeping out beneath her skin. She’d been bitten. Zephyr and Thalia stopped at Cassie’s feet, rubbing their heads against one another. Their whimpers tore at me.
“She did something to her,” Cole said, his dark skin pale and shallow.
“What do you mean?” I asked, pulling my coat off to make a pillow under her head.
“She didn’t just bite her; she forced her to drink her blood.”
Vincent tensed. “The fuck?”
