Page 29 of Vampire Sins
The girl in her arms likewise changed, bucking and crying out as if in pain, but then slumped and her arms hung limply.
Silvia gave the witches a nod. “Now, please seal this door. This room has been enchanted with holy water and Angelstone. With my presence, Lilith won’t be able to lose herself to her demonic side. I’ll find a way to help her through it, but we need time.” She straightened. “Seal the door so that she can’t get out. She’s going to try once she wakes up.”
Freya didn’t budge. “But, My Lady, that means—”
“You will not question me,” Silvia snapped and hugged the demonspawn girl closer to her chest. “I brought her into this world and she is my responsibility. I will see to it that she is not lost to us forever.” Silver flashed in her eyes. “I can’t keep her under for much longer. Do it now!”
Freya flinched and I had the feeling that Silvia didn’t often raise her voice. Moving to me, Freya gave me a grimace. “I’m sorry, Sonya, but I’ll need one more boost to create the seal. If you don’t mind.”
I nodded and tugged away the edges of my shirt, exposing my chest. A bruise spread out where they’d extracted power from me once already, but if Silvia was going to lock herself in a room with our daughter, the least I could do was give her the power she needed to see this through. “Take what you need. Don’t hold back.”
Freya nodded and glanced at my guys. They grabbed my hands before I could protest.
Xavier bared his teeth. “You’re going to need us for this,” he insisted.
I didn’t have time to struggle. The witches placed their hands over my chest again and began a new chant, this time one that made the previous encounter seem like it’d just been practice. Red hot waves swept through me and sweat broke out at my neckline. My veins illuminated with the red, molten power, and then it burst through my chest and into the witches.
All of it.
My vision blurred as a cold so final filled me that I was sure I was going to black out. I swayed on my feet, glad for the grips of my men holding onto me to keep me upright. What little heat they could offer bled through their fingers and into my body, only for it to be swept away in an instant as the spell sucked all power out of me.
“Don’t take too much!” Luke cried. “You’re going to kill her!”
“Almost there,” Freya said through gritted teeth. “And… done.”
The witches unlatched from me, their skin detaching with a softpop. I fell to my knees and my guys came tumbling down with me. None of us were able to keep our heads up.
I watched through blurred vision as the witches raised molten hands to the room, sealing it with streaks of red power. They didn’t need a doorway to enchant. The opening shimmered and solidified, perfectly translucent but thick like glass.
Lilith finally stirred, as if sensing her entrapment, and snarled. She shook her head, seeming dazed, but everything about her was human. Green eyes. Black hair. Normal teeth which she bared at us like an animal. She clawed her short, pink nails against the barrier and screamed.
I’d never seen Silvia look so forlorn as she sank to her knees. Her wings crumpled into ash and her skin went impossible pale and I realized she’d reached the extent of her magic to imprison her daughter. “Please, sweet child. Do not blame yourself for what’s to come. This was the only way.”
Lilith blinked at her angelic mother, opening her mouth to say something, but then Silvia closed her eyes and slumped onto her side. I had a feeling that she would not be getting up again.
I succumbedto unconsciousness shortly after watching Silvia’s sacrifice. I think she always knew that she’d have to give her life to save her demonspawn daughter, but it still wasn’t fair.
“I was wrong about her,” I said mournfully into my hands. I’d recovered, finding myself in our bedroom again. The first thing I did was crawl into one of the chairs at the edge of the room and cry my eyes out. I’d never felt like more of a failure in my life.
Luke squeezed my knee. Xavier was down in the sitting room discussing our terms with the loyal members of the Blood Coven. Now that Silvia was dead, it would be up to Xavier to make sure they kept their end of the bargain. If anyone could negotiate on my behalf, it would be the ancient vampire who shared the Blood Coven’s source of power.
“You were right to be skeptical,” Luke said, his words low and soft. “After everything you’ve been through, it’s smart to question someone you don’t know.” He drew my face out of my hands and gave me a sweet kiss. “I’m glad you were wrong about her, though. We were able to help your daughter.”
“But did we, really?” I asked, my cheeks still hot from tears. “She’s trapped in that room with her dead mother and she probably blames me for it.” I clenched my fingers into fists. “Sheshouldblame me. I’m the reason she’s in there.”
“That’s right,” Luke said, sinking to his knees and running his hands up my waist. I teetered on the edge of the chair, wanting to be close to him, but feeling as if I didn’t deserve any source of comfort just now. “You are the reason she’s there,” he confirmed, “and the reason she’s not trapped in a dark dungeon where she would have gone mad.”
Tears brimmed again and I brushed them away.
That’s when pain stabbed through my lowest rune that connected me to Xavier and I jolted upright. “Xavier,” I whispered, and then rushed out of the room.
Luke followed hot on my heels, shouting at me to stop, but blind panic took over. Something was wrong. Xavier was about to be taken from me and I couldn’t let that happen. I scurried down the stairs, my feet fumbling over themselves and I gripped on the rail to keep from falling. Once I reached the ground floor, I saw what had made me panic.
Fucking portals.
The red swirling portal bore a gaping hole in this reality and my stomach dropped because I knew what was on the other side. Xavier’s form blurred, having already been sucked into it and he staggered to his knees on the dusty, red hot sands from where he’d been thrown. A lake of molten lava rushed far too close to him, threatening to set him on fire and his skin was already smoking from the heat.
From the power of Hell.
