Page 23 of Fallen Star

"Please, don't do this," she begs. "You don't know what you're doing. Who you're angering. Just… give me the shard and tell me where to find the last piece. I promise you won't be hurt."

I laugh, but there is no humor in it. "Do you think I'm worried about myself right now? Are you serious? What happened to every lesson you ever taught me as a child? To the difference between right and wrong? To self-sacrifice? To choosing the moral high ground even when it hurts? Where did the woman who taught me those lessons go? Do you really think Dad would want to be brought back if he knew the cost?"

Her eyes flick to something behind me, giving me only a moment to react before I realize we're not alone.

A figure appears as if from smoke, standing in the corner of my living room across from us. He is draped in a black robe and wears a black leather mask over half his face. The other half is sheer perfection. Blue eyes, pale white hair. And filled with cruelty. Around his waist is a chain with the two Star shards hanging from it.

He smiles maliciously, but only half his face responds.

Dean gasps, and I look at him as he stares at the man.

"Levi?" the prince says, clearly stunned. "What? How?"

The man, Levi, takes a step forward. "It's been a long time, brother."

"You're dead," Dean says, and it's a total Deja Vu. How many dead family member reunions are we going to have today, I wonder morbidly.

"You should know we Vane brothers aren't so easy to kill." Levi takes off his mask and reveals the other side of his face. It's as if someone melted off half his face. I cringe in disgust.

"I found a way to live, but not fully. I need the Fallen Star of Nirandel to complete my transformation, and your new girlfriend is going to help with that. If she doesn't, both you and her precious mommy will die."

Dean Vane, Prince Of War

Icannot process what I'm seeing. My brother has been alive all these years? He died over 100 years ago during the war. How can this be? And yet, it is true. He stands here, in the flesh, taunting me.

And he wants to use Alex for his own gain. The power he already possesses is too great, especially for his warped mind.

"Don't help him," I tell her. "No matter what he does, do not give him access to the Star."

Levi flicks his wrist, and I am sent flying into the living room wall, crashing into the drywall. With a power he shouldn't have, he pins me in place, paralyzing me, squeezing my internal organs until I can't help but scream out in pain. I feel my life force being drained slowly from me, siphoned off by the power of the Star shards.

"Stop!" Alex rushes him, stupid, brave woman that she is, and with another flick of his wrist she's frozen in place, her face pained, her eyes wide.

"You promised you wouldn't hurt her," Alex's mother says.

"I'm not hurting her, just inspiring her to do what's in her best interest. And yours." Levi's eyes pierce through Sandra Stone. "Or have you forgotten our deal?" he asks.

And then it all clicks into place. Or most of it. "You turned Alex's mother, didn't you? After sending a vampire to retrieve their Star shard?"

"I needed her help to locate the others. I had no idea her daughter had the real power until much later."

Alex's eyes widen at this news, and she glares at her mother, who looks away, ashamed.

"You're helping the man who had my father killed?" Alex asks, as she struggles with the paralysis keeping her in place.

"It's more complicated than that," Sandra says. "Just do what he says. He won't hesitate to hurt you or those you love to get what he wants."

"Is that how he keeps control over you?" I ask Sandra. "By threatening Alex if you don't help and promising you your husband back if you do?"

Again she looks away, and I know I've hit in on the nose. My self-congratulation doesn't last long as Levi's limited patience wears thin. "This is a charming family reunion, but I'm not getting any younger," he says with some irony.

He walks over to Alex, and when he's a few inches from her, he grabs her hand and forces it onto the two Star shards he carries on the chain around his waist. "Tell me where yours is and where I can find the fourth one."

Alex squeezes her eyes shut, and I can see the internal struggle as she tries to resist Levi's control, but it's no use. He's stronger than us all at this point.

"Don't tell him!"

Alex shakes her head, pressing her mouth shut.

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