Page 55 of Blood Currents
“All of us,” I agreed.
One by one, we stepped through the doorway.Keane came last, maintaining the passage until the final moment before it sealed behind us.
We stood in a place that existed between worlds, face to face with the Last Witness who might hold the key to saving everyone we loved.
Levon looked up from his papers, his face ancient but his eyes sharp.“I was beginning to wonder if anyone would ever ring the bell again,” he said.“Welcome, young heirs.We have much to discuss.”
The books around us whispered with secrets waiting to be revealed.And somewhere far below, I could feel the corruption spreading through the world’s magic like poison.
But for the first time in weeks, I wasn’t worried about whether we could stop it.
Our magic had just proved that some bonds ran deeper than hurt feelings or confused hearts.Whatever else we couldn’t figure out, we could figure out together.
25
Cyrus
The library made my skincrawl.Not because of the impossible architecture or the books that whispered in dead languages but because everything here reeked of vampire magic.Old, powerful, and completely alien to everything I knew about how magic should feel.
And at the center of it sat the vampire himself.
Levon looked younger than I’d expected—maybe thirty, with pale skin and dark hair that hadn’t seen sunlight in decades.When he glanced up from his papers, I caught the flash of fangs, and my fire flared involuntarily.Ember shrieked softly on my shoulder, his feathers flashing warning colors.
Every instinct I had screamed at me to attack.
“Where is she?”Levon demanded before we’d even fully materialized.No greeting, no acknowledgment that we’d just performed impossible magic to reach him.“Diana.Where is Diana?”
The desperate edge in his voice caught me off guard.I’d expected vampire composure, calculated charm.Instead, he looked like a man barely holding himself together.
“Diana Parker’s been arrested,” Marigold said gently.“Three nights ago.We’re sorry—”
Levon was on his feet before she finished speaking, moving with inhuman speed that made my flames spike higher.Books slammed shut on their shelves, and the temperature dropped ten degrees.
“Arrested?”His voice carried undertones that made my teeth ache.“By whom?Where?”
“Shroud Guard,” Elio said quickly.“They took her from the tunnels beneath the academy.”
The snarl that escaped Levon wasn’t remotely human.I found myself stepping in front of Marigold without thinking, my fire forming defensive barriers around our group.
“Cyrus,” Marigold said quietly.“It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t okay.This creature was losing control, and vampires who lost control killed people.It was what they did.
Levon seemed to realize he was being threatening because he stopped pacing abruptly, though his hands still shook with barely restrained violence.
“You don’t understand,” he said, his voice rough.“Diana isn’t just… she’s… they’ll torture her.They have methods, tools designed specifically for breaking people who know too much.”
The pain in his voice was so raw it was almost embarrassing to witness.Like watching someone bleed in public.
“You care about her,” Keane said, not a question.
“Care?”Levon laughed, the sound bitter.“I’ve been alone in this place for twenty years.Diana is the only person who…” He stopped, seeming to realize he was revealing too much.“Yes.I care.”
A vampire in love with a witch.The irony would have been funny if it weren’t so obviously destroying him.
“We want to get her back too,” Marigold said.“But we need to understand what we’re fighting first.That’s why we’re here.”
Levon fixed his ancient eyes on her, and I saw him make a visible effort to control himself.“James Grimley’s daughter.Yes.You look like him.”He moved to one of the shelves, pulling down a volume.“He spoke of you often.Worried about what would happen when you came into your power.”
