Page 50 of Fated Blood

“I should have killed her when I took her the first time!” Angelica cackles. “We all learn from our mistakes, right? You may have taken out my army, but I can still destroy your family!” Her cruel eyes turn to Fayla, and they stare at each other for a millisecond before Angelica roars and bites into Fayla’s neck and rips her flesh open.

“Die, you fucking bitch!” Dominique roars from behind me.

The blood spurting from Fayla’s neck turns into daggers and flies into Angelica’s eyes. Fayla is screaming, hell, I’m screaming, as they plunge from the air to the ground below. I rush forward, but I’m not as fast as Lilith, who crashes into the falling women and pulls Fayla from Angelica’s arms with a savage scream. Fayla and Lilith spiral to the ground, Lilith’s wings wrapped around them protectively. Angelica drops like dead weight, cracking the ground at impact.

Running, I slide in the mud and grass at the same time as Devion. Carefully, we peel back Lilith’s wings to see her licking Fayla’s neck.

“What the fuck?” I roar, lunging in to pull Fayla away.

But Devion’s arm slams into my chest and holds me back. “She’s healing her, you idiot! Not drinking from her!” he snarls.

I fall back on my ass and scrub my face with my hands. Of course she's healing her. I know that. I’m a vampire hunter, I know everything about them…

“It’s time this war was over, Mother,” I hear Kiera say, and I turn to look. She’s standing about ten feet away from Angelica, who’s crawling on the ground and screaming, completely blind.

“It will never be over, Kiera! There will always be someone to oppose you bastards! I was reborn in this life, I’ll be reborn again! Kill me now but know I’ll be back, and when I come back, I won’t lose!” Angelica sits up on her knees, facing the direction of Kiera’s voice.

I turn my attention back to Fayla, not caring about anything else, and I see she’s healed. Slowly, she climbs into my arms with tears in her eyes. She keeps one hand in Lilith’s as Devion enfolds her in his arms. Lilith and Kiera lock eyes, a meaningful glance passes between them.

“Finish it…” Lilith says, and Kiera nods.

My eyes scan the scene, each Cadell son with their woman. Zarius presides over them all in the threshold of his castle, holding Arria to his chest and staring down with condemning eyes at his enemy.

“Destroy her!” Zarius roars.

Thunder rolls above us. Kiera raises her hands and lightning cracks over the sky so brightly that for a moment it is as if we’re standing in broad daylight. Angelica is cackling, her laughter an eerie song to the macabre scene.

The lightning crashes down in one huge fork, hitting her.

Sparks fly, Angelica’s clothes burst into flame, and the laughter turns into a shriek of agony. Her screaming goes on and on, bubbling in her throat as the lightning hits the same spot over and over. Fayla sobs, hiding her face in my neck and squeezing Lilith’s hand. Lilith doesn’t look away, doesn’t even blink.

There's one final crack of lightning, one last echoing scream, and the body that was Angelica explodes into a plume of fire and smoke.

As the storm begins to relax, the rain comes. We all sit or stand in silence, watching, waiting to see what’s left when the smoke settles and the fire burns out. Soon, we’re all drenched with rain, and one by one we move to surround the place where Angelica once kneeled.

“This is the same spot where she revealed herself to us…” Kiera murmurs, squatting down and running her hand over the charred earth. The mark is all that remains of the last of the Monroe clan.

“We should have killed her then and there,” Zarius growls, but he puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“We should have…” Kiera sniffles, wiping tears away from her eyes.

“I would never have met any of you if you had,” Fayla says, her voice so small I almost don’t hear it. Every eye turns to us and Fayla lifts her head proudly. “I hated to go through everything I went through, but if I hadn’t?” She looks up at me, her sweet mouth curling into a tentative smile. She doesn’t need to say anything else. Everyone can feel what she means.

Slowly, I lower my mouth to hers and kiss her softly on the lips. So much horror, so much death, but this was the result. The reward.

“I’d do it all again a thousand times…” I murmur against her lips, and her eyes flutter closed in loving bliss.

One year later

FAYLA

Ilay curled up on the bed with my infant daughter asleep next to me. Lovingly, I stroke her downy black hair on her precious forehead. This is the first moment I’ve had alone with her since she was born last night. The French doors to my room are thrown open, the garden outside wafting the smell of flowers and herbs into the room.

“My beautiful Eden…” I murmur, kissing her forehead lightly. I named her after the most beautiful garden in all the books I’ve read, and Seb had agreed instantly. She’s amazing, the flower of his seed and my womb. She’s everything to us, the first child born into this family who doesn’t have to be afraid of anything or anyone. I sigh, closing my eyes and listening to my surroundings.

Out in the garden, I hear the Blood Knights making their rounds around the castle. Some have agreed to become vampires to be strong enough to protect the clan. Turns out, being able to turn anyone is a gift the family matriarch has. So only Angelica and Arria were ever capable. Now that Angelica’s gone, anyone she turned died with her. They were linked to her blood instead of the blood bond of a Forever Bound match.

As always, my mind returns to the moment Angelica died and Mara went limp in Brec’s arms. Even now, her body is in the room next to mine on life support. Her body has begun to heal, but she hasn’t woken. She wasn’t one of Angelica’s vampires, she’s blood bound to the Cadells, but still, she sleeps. Corbett explained to me that her body hadn’t decomposed enough to kill her, that because she was a vampire when changed into one of those monsters she has a fighting chance, but day by day my hope dwindled.

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