A Clash of Storms (A Shade of Vampire #50)(43)

“He’s using a blood spell to control my moves,” I groaned, looking at Viola. “Can you help?”

She frowned, her hands moving up and down my body, glowing pink, then shook her head.

“I’m sorry, no,” she replied. “Whatever this is, it’s stronger than what I’ve learned to do so far. I can stop it at the source, though it will mean the end for everyone here…”

As she said that, we both glared at Azazel. He didn’t seem happy to see a Daughter here, and instantly brought the rectangular diamond up, tightening his fist around it.

An unbearable pain shot through my heart, as if a thousand knives had pierced it at once, twisting slowly as they drove deeper. I broke into a cold sweat and roared in agony.

It was too much. I wanted to pry my chest open and rip out my own heart, just to stop the pain.

I cried out as I rolled to the side, unable to keep my eyes open.

I heard Azazel laughing.

Whatever that blood spell was, it had deeper, more horrifying effects that went beyond body control. I could only guess how much dark power he must have used to conjure up such torture. I felt death, cold and silent, clutching my heart.

I thought I’d made it, but I was wrong. Viola couldn’t save me, either.

I felt my limbs cooling and losing vigor, and I struggled for each lungful of air. My body was caving in. I was dying again, but I couldn’t be saved this time.

My mind rushed to my sister. I peeled my eyes open, desperate to see her one last time, but my vision was foggy and gray. I heard the shouting, the screaming, and the cries for help. I wanted to get up and help my friends.

Field. Phoenix. Vita. Serena.

They were all there, fighting for their lives and mine.

Hansa. Jax. Even the shifters. The Druids.

Anjani.

The pain of never seeing her again was worse than what I was experiencing under Azazel’s spell. My stomach dropped as everything I would miss about her flashed through my mind. The feel of her skin against mine. The smell of her hair. Her voice when she said she loved me. I would never get to worship her the way she deserved.

Grief crashed over me as I felt my body surrender to the pain. My heart couldn’t last much longer, its beating frayed and broken. Darkness enveloped me, trying to seduce me, inviting me to just let go.

I just wanted to see Anjani one last time.

I heard Phoenix grunting and Destroyers’ bodies thudding on the stone slabs. He hadn’t fed since he’d lost Viola. Chances were he’d soon run out of energy. Aida was crying out my name as she and Field defended themselves from another attack.

Viola left my side. I felt a chill filling the void she left behind.

I was of no use anyway. I was dying.

We needed her to stop Azazel.

“Jovi, no!” Aida’s scream pierced through the muffled noise of battle, while my senses further delved into oblivion.

“Jovi, hold on,” Serena gasped out, struggling to breathe. I could hear her choking.

The sound of everything slowly began to die down. Silence trickled through.

My muscles went soft, my arms and legs paralyzed and my breathing shallow.

It would soon be over.

“Jovi!”

I knew that voice. Yet it sounded so distant. So far away.

“Jovi, no, no, no,” Anjani pleaded from beyond the blackness that had swallowed me. “Hold on!”

I felt my head move, but not of my own volition. Anjani was next to me.

“Jovi, listen to me! Open your eyes!”

It was what I’d wanted, after all. To see her one last time.

Screw death. Death could wait a few more seconds.

I found one last sliver of energy and used it to push my eyelids open and gaze at the most beautiful creature I’d ever been fortunate enough to behold. Her long, curly black hair was loose down one shoulder, the tips tickling my face. It made me smile.

“Jovi, stay with me,” she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Her silvery skin glowed. I was thankful that I could see her in her full, unapologetically succubus nature, before death took me away.

“You’re beautiful,” I managed to say.

Or at least I thought I said it. I wasn’t sure, since I couldn’t exactly feel my lips moving. Her emerald-gold eyes were wet and filled with grief. It broke my heart, worse than Azazel’s spell.

“Open your mouth, Jovi,” she urged me, then ripped the wolf’s head pendant from the delicate chain around her neck.

What are you doing?

It took me too long to respond, lost in her shimmering beauty as I felt life dissipating from my flesh. I wasn’t ready to let go of her yet. I held onto consciousness as my inner-wolf howled one last time, giving me the jolt I needed to hold out for a few more seconds with her, while my heart continued to break and burn like a hay bale on fire.

It was enough time for me to watch as she pried the diamond out of the silver wolf’s jaws and shoved it into my mouth.

“Swallow it, Jovi, please,” she said.

I felt the stone in my mouth, cold and sharp. I couldn’t do much, but I could move my tongue just a little bit, enough to let the diamond roll down into my throat.

A peculiar coolness spread from my chest through the rest of my body as the diamond’s edges dissolved. Whatever was in it, it was doing something to me.

“That’s it, Jovi. Hold on, it’s almost over.” Anjani kept her eyes on my face, watching with concern.