Page 68 of Stalked

I looked over at Lily and back at him. A soft smile curved my lips. “You can’t kill me, can you?” I asked. “Because something is not allowing you to do it. And you can’t possess me, either, because I’m wearing this necklace.” I ran a finger over the jet stone dangling from my neck, and Kylan hissed through his fangs. “That’s why you used Cami … because you can’t do it. You can’t kill any of us. You need a human to kill on your command.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Let me guess. Cami fought back against you and forced you out. So then, you possessed someone else near that ally to knock her out before she told us what was happening? She called us that night to warn me of you.”

This may be easier than I thought.

“Why can’t you, though?” I asked. “Why are you not able to kill me?”

His eyes narrowed at me like a serpent ready to strike, but then shrugged a shoulder, indifferent. “After I ripped my father’s head off—” He rolled his eyes as I gasped before he finished his sentence, “?—my angelic mother put a curse on me. She rendered me unable to take human lives, so I had to resort to other means.”

The sadistic bastard killed his father. But then again, his father was a demon.

“I don’t understand. You created vampires. Don’t humans have to die to transition?”

“I only turnedoneinto a vampire. Her name was Valentina. She went paralyzed with fear of what she’d become after I fed her my blood. That fear led her to take her own life. She didn’t realize that was the final step in her transition. Once you die, you’re reborn as an undead. It’s a delightfully ironic thing.” A sinister smile played on his lips.

God, he was sick.

He loved seeing people in pain … he thrived on it.

“Her bloodlust was stronger than mine,” he continued. “She began to turn humans into vampires, and her creations then turned others, and a vampire race had begun, just like the devil wanted. It was like a plague that would never stop spreading. It was the perfect solution to end the humans and claim the Earth as my own.” He laughed again so hard he flung his head back and balled his fists. When he lowered his head again, the red in his eyes had turned black. This inhumanthingwas pure evil. He had to die, and now.

CHAPTER 20

“I DON’T KNOWhow long you’ve been following me and preparing for this moment,” I said to Kylan. “But what a waste of time.” I raised my head, looking him dead in the eye. “Every life is valued in this world. I’ll nevertakemine, no matter what threat you hold over me. I’ll continue to fight by my coven’s side until each and every last one of you becomes a pile of ash. Starting with you, the pathetic monster who can’t even harm a fly.”

Kylan’s face twisted in pure rage—his facial features contorted into something much more sinister and grotesque. His sneer was absolutely demonic, and I turned away briefly, feeling violated by the evil look he sent me. What human features he had melted away into something unspeakable.

When I slowly glanced back up, Kylan spoke again with a deep, growling voice. “That necklace may keep you from being controlled by me, but all I need to do is wake Lily or Joel. I’ll possess them like I did Caleb and make one of them overpower and kill you with this dagger. Then I’ll force them to drown themselves in the cove.” He gestured to the weapon. “Push this through your heart, you little abomination, and I will spare their lives.”

I wanted to wipe that cocky smirk from his face. He thought he had won, that this fight was over.

It is far from over.

My nostrils flared with rage. “No, you’re not going to touch them. You will never touch any of them, ever again.” His smirk faltered, and I took that moment to grab and chuck the dagger toward the water as far as I could.

As he dashed for it, I lifted my hands, focused my thoughts, and created a barrier around Caleb, Joel, and Lily. The shield encircled them in a bubble Kylan couldn’t penetrate.

Through shaky breath, I chanted, “Power from my hands, create this flame—make him feel every ounce of pain. Send this demon straight to Hell; for all I have, I create this spell.”

Kylan stopped running and screeched when the magic flames encircled him. He tried to walk through, but the power repelled him, trapping him within the ring. When he raised a hand to use his own magic, Kylan paused, held in place by my power.

“What is this?” He looked down at his body in horror. “What the hell did you do to me?”

Oh, my God. It worked.

His body was melting, but he didn’t scream in pain. The look he gave me was not that of agony but pure loathing. I felt the surrounding power willingly bend under my hands—the chaotic fire hummed gently between my fingers.

I kept my eyes on Kylan, his flesh melting from his face to the point where he was no longer recognizable.

“Stop this, you fucking witch! You think I can die?” he barely cried out before the sound was cut off as his mouth melted, and his jaw fell to the ground like warm wax dripping down a candle. Underneath the melted flesh, I could see his demonic form writhing and burning with the unholy countenance. I had seen the face of the angel, and now I saw the heart of the demon. I had to end this.

I spotted a fallen branch near where Caleb was frozen, yanked it free from the ground, and split it in half with my knee. It was slightly damp, but it was sturdy enough. I ran toward Kylan with the sharpest end pointed at him. I entered the fire, untouched by its searing heat, and grabbed Kylan by his melted shoulder. Kylan looked too weak to fight back; there was hardly anything left of his muscles to defend himself. He couldn’t even shield his heart with his hands, but he did backhand my cheek the moment the wood broke through his skin. The force of the impact caused me to fall to the ground. With the branch now embedded deep into his blackened heart, I met his cold-stone gaze and smiled. The ear-splitting screech he let out at the sight of my smirk was pure satisfaction. As he screamed, Lily, Caleb, and Joel were released from the spell and fell to their knees. They all looked up just in time to see Kylan explode into ash.

I let out a sigh of relief, broke the fire spell I had made, and bolted toward the water’s edge to retrieve the dagger. The moonlight hit the metal and gave off a slight red glimmer. The weight of the blade felt heavy in my hand. It felt surreal to hold something that came so close to ending the existence of myself and my coven. I dropped the dagger as Lily ran to me, wrapping me up in her arms. The tension from the fight faded away as I held my aunt tight.

My family is safe.

Caleb clambered to his feet. “We need to hide the dagger,” he said, picking up the blade carefully. “As soon as we can.”

“I know of a place,” Joel mentioned as he lifted both hands in the air and created a portal. “I’ll teleport it there now.”

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