Page 8 of Sophie's Ruin
Still partly hidden behind Henry, I crouched down and bared my fangs, my claws gleaming, as the clan leaders dashed through the room with supernatural speed, converging on us.
“Celeste!” Henry roared, snatching Moreau by the throat out of thin air before he could get to me.
The next thing happened too fast, but also as if in slow motion. The magic at Celeste’s fingertips disappeared as if snuffed out by the wind. The witch grabbed my arm at the same time Waylon lunged at me, fisting the hem of my tunic.
“You are my heart,” Henry said with one quick glance in my direction.
His stormy blue eyes were the last thing I saw before everything went black.
HENRY
Just like that, she was gone, taking my heart with her. At least she was safe—as safe as she could be. When I’d yelled Celeste’s name, I hadn’t known what would happen. I knew the witch was powerful, and I’d wanted her to do something, anything, to get Sophie out of here. She had, and now it was time to fight.
The momentary distraction to say goodbye to Sophie had cost me, allowing Moreau to take a swipe at me, leaving deepgashes in my chest. I didn’t feel the pain, though, trusting my vampire body to patch itself up. With a roar, I tossed Moreau away from me, and he crashed into the nearby wall. In the blink of an eye, he was back on his feet, lunging at me. I retreated. We began to dart around the room, colliding to exchange blows in a blur of claws and fangs. We weren’t the only ones. The study had become a battlefield, much like the one depicted on the large canvas, which took up most of the wall behind my desk.
Six against two. Isabelle and I would not win this fight. I needed her out of here.
“Get out!” I shouted, finding her wild black eyes in the moving shadows.
“And miss all the fun?” She gave a savage smile as she jumped back from Yvonne, barely escaping the swipe of her claws. My heart twisted with dread as I took her in. Ragged wounds covered her body, blood seeping out of some, gushing out of others.
“Watch out!” I shouted a warning, but it was too late.
Lena rushed her, her mouth stretching wide before it clamped down around her neck. A strangled cry left Isabelle as she clawed at the vampire, shredding her flesh. She managed to fight her off, but not before Lena tore out a chunk of her throat.
“Isabelle!” I stepped toward her but didn’t make it far.
Moreau appeared before me, slashing at my chest again. With a roar of fury and pain, I went for his throat, but Emeric and Beatrice stopped me, grabbing my forearms. Moreau’s clawed hand balled into a fist a moment before he slammed it into my midsection. A grunt escaped as air whooshed out of my lungs.
The world flipped as Beatrice and Emeric brought me down on my back. The stone cracked under my weight and my eyes watered from the impact because it wasn’t just the floor that had cracked but also my ribs. Without wasting any time, Moreaujumped on top of me, looking deranged as he lifted his clawed hand high above his head, ready to deliver the fatal blow. The bastard was reveling in the moment, salivating at the thought that he was about kill me.
My long life didn’t flash before my eyes. Only the past few weeks did. The time Sophie had been in it. I had been ready to follow her into the void before when we had thought the Tear would destroy us. Now, I would slip into the nothingness without her. A smidgen of sorrow filled my heart, but I pushed it out. I should feel joy, not sorrow, because she would live, and I would wait for her in the void for as long as I had to. It might take millennia, but the wait would be worth it if I got to reunite with her in the end.
Moreau’s claws and fangs gleamed in the lamplight. I thrashed and bucked under him, trying to throw him off, but Emeric’s and Beatrice’s hold on me was strong, and I was weak because I’d lost too much blood. Isabelle couldn’t help me either—she was pinned to the wall by Yvonne and Lena. Any second now, Moreau would rip out my heart. No matter—my heart was not here; it was wherever Sophie had gone.
“Stop,” came Camilla’s husky voice.
Moreau stilled above me. I stilled, too, turning my head to look at the female.
“Stop?!” Moreau snarled.
“Yes.” Camilla’s lips curved upward. Somehow, her smile was more menacing than Moreau’s gleaming claws. “We can’t kill him. We need him,” she explained calmly.
My heart sank.
I bucked under Moreau again, throwing all the strength I could muster into it, but he didn’t budge. Emeric and Beatrice tightened their hold on my forearms, their claws digging into my flesh. I stopped thrashing and locked eyes with Isabelle.
Run,I implored her without saying a word.
Despair and heartbreak flashed in her eyes, but she gave a small nod. Using the distraction Camilla had inadvertently provided to her advantage, she twisted out of Yvonne’s and Lena’s hold and fled the room. The two females snarled in frustration, preparing to follow, but Camilla stopped them by blocking the study door.
“Let her go,” she ordered low. “We need her to escape and find Sophie so she can tell her.”
“Tell her what?” Yvonne growled.
Before Camilla could answer, Moreau shifted above me, snapping my attention to him. With a smirk that twisted my insides, he retracted his claws and curled his hand into a fist above his head.
“That we have him,” I heard Camilla say a moment before Moreau slammed his meaty fist into my face, plunging my world into darkness.
