The Ripple Effect (Rhiannon's Law #3)(63)

Thank you God and Christian Louboutin.

There was no way to aim with my eyes, so I arched my back and felt for Matthew’s face with my left hand. When I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to go, I brought my arm to the floor, tried to take a deep breath, and brought the heel around with as much strength as I could muster. The impact was odd, like pushing a spike into sand until reaching the hard earth beneath. Matthew immediately let me go, using the hand he’d had around my throat to keep his balance as he fell forward.

I scooted away from him, searched for and located my other shoe, and rushed for the high heel. After I had the fashionable weapon in hand, I turned toward Matthew. He’d pulled the heel from his ear, creating a fountain of blood that oozed from the shell and down his throat. He was wobbling, as though he’d lost balance. I hated what was coming next, but it had to be done.

Only one of us would walk away, and by God, it was going to be me.

Ripping the heel from the shoe, I started forward. Matthew lifted his head when I stopped in front of him, gazing up at me in disbelief. I didn’t give him time to ponder what was coming, lifting my hand, bringing it down and stabbing him in the left eye with the five-inch heel. I didn’t stop until my palm was flush against his face, despite the fact that the rough edge and nails that were once connected to my shoe cut into my palm.

When he collapsed in a heap at my feet, I remained standing over him. They’d asked for a battle. They wanted death. I refused to make what I’d done anything less. I wasn’t backing down from these pieces of shit. If they wanted to break me, they’d have to try harder. I wouldn’t cower before them. They could only take things from me if I allowed them to.

“Well done,” Revenald applauded. “Excellent.”

“Bitch!” Victoria screamed, coming out of her chair.

The world went into slow motion, but I wasn’t fast enough to avoid her, taken instantly to the ground. Wind left my lungs in a painful exhale, allowing her to drastically cut off my oxygen supply. The way she gripped my throat told me I’d lost; I’d won the fight but not the war. I was going to die, just as Disco and Paine feared. Remorse struck, knowing I was leaving them behind. But behind that sadness was anger. Killed off by Victoria—Victoria—of all f*cking people.

Oh, the irony.

Then, unexpectedly, Victoria was gone, leaving me staring at the ceiling. I gagged as I tried to breathe, heaving for air. I heard noises that only came from fighting. Turning on my side, I located the source of the sounds and gasped. Disco had engaged Revenald while Paine had taken on Anton. Victoria was all the way across the room in a heap on the floor, the plastered wall above her cracked from her body’s crash-landing impact.

“Do it,” Paine thundered, circling Anton. “Now!”

“Burn,” Disco whispered, watching Revenald. I felt my strength sap as they clashed in battle and he reversed our mark, taking from me as he yelled, “All of you. Burn.”

Red chaos erupted around me, flames reaching out. The fiery path spread, expanding in waves. I gasped, jumped away from harm, then realized I wasn’t on fire.


Everyone else was.

One by one, the vampires around me started turning in circles and screaming. In moments, they flopped their hands, patting areas of their body, hopping around like frogs. Their servants soon did the same, consumed by orange licks of flame, flailing their arms, wailing in horror, pain, and confusion. Disco said burn, they were on fire...except not. Even his own family wasn’t immune, screaming in agony and rotating in circles.

“Run, Rhiannon.” Disco’s voice sounded like a lion’s roar in my head. “I don’t know how long I can sustain the illusion. There are too many of them.”

I was a guppy: a pet fish tossed out of her bowl. Taken from safe waters and thrown into the fire. Oh, and it was fire. That much I did understand.

I just couldn’t believe it.

Disco was controlling the minds of all the vampires and their servants. Over forty people. Making them see and feel what he wanted them to. If the image he’d given me was one of peace, the one he shared with them was hell. They didn’t stop screaming, as though their skin was blistering and peeling from their bodies. So much pain for something that wasn’t even happening.

If he could make them believe fire was real, what else was he capable of?

The thought frightened me more than it should have.

I wobbled as I attempted to stand. The energy he was using to maintain the illusion was massive, so much so I felt him weakening. I tried to run but only managed to take a few steps, my breathing becoming heavy.

“You have to hurry.” I could hear the drain in him, the sapping of his strength. “I...can’t...hold...them.”

“I’m trying,” I thought back, wanting to do as he said.

My legs refused to work, the muscles exhausted from the strain of the mark between us. I knew why he kept it open, that he was calling on my reserves to buy me more time, but it had the opposite result.

I couldn’t run if I couldn’t walk.

In an instant, the mark was broken, and I nearly sobbed with the loss. Disco had severed it, to give me one last chance to escape. Scrambling, I tried to force myself upright, to gain my balance. The shock of having the connection wide open and then having it slammed closed was disorienting. The screams continued, stinging my ears like needles, as did the noises from the fight taking place.