A Clash of Storms (A Shade of Vampire #50)(53)

Dread made my temples and my throat burn. Draven was losing this battle, but I wasn’t ready to give up yet. I’d never be ready to give up on him.

I reached out to touch his face again.

Draven snarled and backhanded me so hard, I twisted backward and landed on my side, my jaw and mouth throbbing.

“Serena!” Phoenix shouted as he moved toward me.

I immediately looked up at him and put my hand out to stop him.

“Don’t! Stay back!” I shouted. “All of you, stay back! I’m not done here! I’ll never be done here!”

“Serena, stop being so stubborn and kill me! I can’t hold on anymore!” Draven bellowed as he rose, adjusting to his new lower body.

His muscles twitched as he doubled over, fists tightened to the point where his knuckles turned white, skin so stretched it could burst open. Beads of sweat trickled down his face, and his eyes flickered indecisively between yellow and bright green. He was still fighting Asherak.

Was this it? Was I losing him for good?

It felt like it. Grief roared through me. My knees were weak, my arms were limp, and my chest hurt so badly. I couldn’t take it.

I was losing Draven, and I couldn’t take it.

For some reason, words my father had once said to me bubbled up to the surface in the back of my head. He’d said to me once, when I was still a child, that “love can be the most powerful weapon in the world, if two souls are truly connected”. He’d been referring to my mother and him. Their bond was strong and they were virtually undefeatable, and I’d always looked up to them, hoping I’d one day be in a relationship as beautiful, as intense, and as powerful as that.

It dawned on me then, as I looked at Draven, that I was already in one such relationship. It had been beautiful, despite the dangers and tragedies. It was intense to the point where we’d given ourselves to one another and our souls had become connected for an eternity. But was it powerful enough to stop Asherak from tearing us apart?

That was a question I had yet to answer, and this was my last chance to find out.

I stood and decided to try something.

I wiped the blood from my split lower lip and inhaled sharply as I stepped forward.

“Serena,” Viola said, her voices thundering across the platform. “I have to end this now.”

“Okay, just let me… Just let me say goodbye.” I looked at her.

She stilled, blinking a couple of times. She hadn’t expected me to agree. I wasn’t. I just needed them all to back down for a few seconds. Asherak included.

I wasn’t ready to accept failure, although I also had to think of my brother, my friends, our allies, and all the lives that depended on us. We’d come too far to let Asherak destroy everything. But Draven and I had also come too far, gone too deep into our relationship to let this bastard break it all down. I rejected the idea so vehemently that the fury coming out of me as a response was exactly what fueled me into regaining my composure.

“Asherak,” I spoke, while completely opening myself up to Phoenix.

I could feel my brother using his sentry powers on me, trying to read my emotions, trying to figure out what I was up to, so I gave him full access. He’d most likely guessed that I wasn’t actually ready to say goodbye to Draven, and he needed to know what I was going to do, so he’d keep Viola and the others away.

“Asherak, you win,” I rasped.

Gasps and whispers broke out around me, and I caught a glimpse of Phoenix moving next to Viola and whispering something in her ear. She nodded slowly, her palms glowing pink.

Draven’s eyes flared green as he straightened his back and looked down at me. A grin slit his face. I’d managed to get the dark Druid inside him to relax for a moment, while Draven was stunned by my words—I could feel his emotions clearly, ribbons seeping out of him and tickling my senses.

“Change of heart? Don’t worry, Serena, he will be well looked after,” Asherak spoke through him. “An eternity of greatness awaits us. He just needs to give in. I’m almost there…”

“I can feel him slipping away from me, no matter what I do… I just want one more minute with him, alone, before you take over,” I replied, my stomach churning. “Just one moment… Please...”

Draven cocked his head to one side, his fiery green gaze drilling into me. I held my ground. I wasn’t sure Asherak would buy into this. There was nothing other than Phoenix stopping Viola from killing Draven and ending this. But the dark Druid was busy fighting Draven on the inside, trying to take over his body.

He was confident, maybe a little too much. I could feel him, just like I could feel Draven. Because they were now sharing a body and Asherak was trying to consume the soul, too, I could sense all the emotions swirling in there.

I opened my mind to Phoenix and relayed everything I could pick up from him. I’d never thought I’d be able to communicate so well with my brother, but, given the circumstances, I had a feeling my sentry nature was expanding and developing. I knew he got the message, because when I glanced at him he gave me a brief nod.

“One moment,” Asherak said. “Bid your farewell…”

I’d been right. He was too sure of himself, as he felt Draven giving in, no longer able to resist Asherak’s darkness. It gave me the opening I needed to try one last thing.

Draven’s body shook and his eyes returned to yellow, flickering black with emotion as tears rolled down his cheeks.