Page 90 of Blood Vows
“Put the dagger down and we can talk about this, right, brothers?”
Vas growled low, his tone rough and commanding.
“Drop the fucking dagger now, Nessa!” I met his glare and shook my head.
“If the threat of my life is the only thing that will save yours, then no, I am not dropping this dagger.” I said fiercely, giving them enough cause to step away from each other, now placing all their attention solely on me.
As for my attention, my free hand slipped into my pocket, my fingers brushing against it. Suddenly I knew what it was calling to me once more.
The necklace.
I pulled it out slowly, my breath catching as the brothers’ gazes followed the motion. The crimson stone gleamed in my palm, its glow faint but alive, like a heart beating under glass. Victor’s expression darkened, disbelief cutting through his anger.
“Where did you get that?” he demanded, his voice low and sharp. Talon’s face went pale.
“That was our mother’s,” he whispered.
“We… we buried it with her ashes.” I stared at the pendant, unable to look away. The whisper came again, stronger this time, a voice curling around the edges of my mind like a serpent.
“It’s not as it seems.”The words left my lips in a whisper before I even realized I was speaking.The necklace slipped from my hand. It fell, slow and deliberate, striking the floor with a sound far too heavy for something so small. The stone flared red, brighter, pulsing faster, like it was waking up.
“Vanessa,”Vas breathed, his voice laced with warning. He took a careful step forward, his hand outstretched.
“Don’t move.”
But I couldn’t stop. Something inside me had already shifted. My fingers curled tighter around the dagger still slick with my blood, and my vision blurred at the edges. It was like someone else was moving me, guiding my hand with intent that wasn’t mine.
The whispers grew louder. They weren’t words anymore but sounds, dark and ancient, a demonic language that made the air thrum. The light in the room dimmed until only the stone glowed, its surface swirling like liquid fire.
“Nessa!” Victor shouted, but it was already too late.
My arm moved on its own, the dagger flashing downward in a single, sharp motion. The blade met the gemstone with a sound that split the air.
A crack.
Then a scream.
Not mine. Not human. Something vast and furious burst free from the shattered stone. Darkness erupted from it like smoke and flame combined, swallowing the floor, climbing the walls, twisting the air until it tore. And then it struck me.
The force hurled through my body, searing every nerve as light and shadow collided behind my eyes. I gasped, but the breath never came. My knees hit the floor, and suddenly I wasn’t in the room anymore.
I was falling.
Through flame. Through memory. Through truth.
Images came, flashing like lightning through my mind, each one burning brighter than the last.
Vas just before it happened, a man grown into strength, the weight of responsibility already carved into his shoulders. His father’s estate was alive with candlelight that night, the air tense with the kind of silence that always comes before ruin. From the doorway, Vas stood watching his parents, unaware that these would be among their final days together.
His mother sat at her vanity, her reflection gleaming pale and flawless in the mirror’s glow. The years had barely touched her beauty, though the edges of it had grown sharp, honed by pride and desire. She turned her head slightly when she saw her husband enter, her expression softening with a practiced grace that no longer reached her eyes.
“Sebastian,” she purred, her tone silk draped over iron,
“You’ve been distant again.” Her husband’s shoulders sagged beneath the invisible weight of her words.
“There is much to prepare for, the elders meet soon. There are matters that need tending.” he said tiredly. She rose, gliding toward him like a wraith in satin.
“And yet you never have time for me anymore,” she murmured, pressing her hand to his chest.
