A Gate of Night (A Shade of Vampire #6)(60)

“You’re not in a position to be giving out commands here, king. I’m the ruler of this island now.”

In retaliation over my audacity, he spun Vivienne around and kissed her. I could only imagine what all this was doing to both Xavier and Vivienne. My friend’s affections toward my sister weren’t lost on me, but Vivienne had seemed to be quite oblivious after all the centuries that Xavier had stood by her side.

What does Vivienne think of him now?

There was no way for me to find out, because as my stomach turned, my mind warring over the idea of ending Xavier’s life, Xavier snapped his fingers and two firm pairs of hands gripped me. I would’ve fought back, but I was too stunned by what happened next.

Ashley pierced through Sam’s flesh and pulled his heart out.

The shout that ricocheted across the cave walls was a chilling sound that seemed to come straight from hell.

Xavier pulled his lips away from my sister. His eyes began to burn a bright red-orange—almost as if flames had taken over his pupils. “Now, look what you’ve done. You made me miss out on all the fun.”

I felt the blood drain from my face as Sam’s body fell to the ground. I watched Ashley for a flicker of emotion—any indication that she was still in there, that she was torn over what she had just done. Nothing. She stood over Sam’s dead body, gripping his heart in her hand, blood dripping from her fingers. Her eyes were pitch black, an indication of the darkness that had taken over her. As if that weren’t blood-chilling enough, she grinned. Maniacally.

Vivienne crumbled in Xavier’s arms. I knew she had just reached her breaking point. When Ashley sneered, I couldn’t take it anymore.

Gathering up all the strength I could muster, I hit both men holding me with my elbows, grabbed their necks and the fire just went out of control. With one loud scream, my palms burst into flames, evaporating my own tears as the two men who were holding me got incinerated into ashes.

Xavier’s eyes widened, taking on the shade of red before turning into a midnight blue. I wondered what each shade meant. His shoulders were trembling.

“How did you do that?” The hoarseness of his voice betrayed his terror. “There’s no way you could’ve… You can’t kill an Elder.”

Realization washed over me like a flood as I watched the piles of ashes that accumulated on either side of me. The Elders are dead. I swallowed hard, realizing that I didn’t even know which of my men they had possessed.

I turned toward Vivienne. When her eyes moistened with tears, my knees almost buckled beneath me.

What have I done?

If Xavier was encouraged at all by my momentary weakness, it didn’t show. He was still staring at me, white as a sheet. “It can’t be. Our kind is immortal. How is it…” His eyes slowly turned into pitch-black night.

Winds started to move all around me.

Chills ran down my spine as all the vampires possessed by Elders set their sights on me.

Before I said the word that would signal Corrine to use her powers to retrieve as many of our comrades as she could, Xavier screamed, “He has to turn back into a vampire! Turn him now!”

He threw my sister to the ground. That was when I said it. One word. “Now!”

The moment the word came out of my lips, chaos followed.

My vision blurred as the strong winds carried all the Elders right toward me in one quick swoop. It was a full-on massive attack and I had no idea how to get out of it. All I knew was that I couldn’t allow them to turn me back into one of them, because the moment they possessed me, whatever power I had would immediately belong to an Elder.

When I pictured my young wife’s face, an overpowering desire to live came over me, but should it come to it, I had no choice other than to die.

Chapter 35: Vivienne

The sight that unfolded before me was one of the most awful, breathtaking sights I’d ever seen.

Derek Novak had always been powerful. He was my brother and I knew him better than anyone else in the world, but at that moment, he was almost unrecognizable. His face took on a determination I’d never seen before.

I watched in horror as one of the vampires possessed by an Elder—Landis, Xavier’s brother—bit into Derek’s neck. When Derek pressed his hand against the man’s chest, I was sure that I was about to see one of us die—just like those two guards’ lives had ended just a couple of minutes ago.

However, as the mysterious fire once again flowed from my brother’s palms, touching Landis just as he was about to turn Derek into a vampire once again, the man simply collapsed to the ground.

Derek’s fire formed a flaming tornado. Screams of invisible—and supposedly immortal—Elders filled the air. As the lives of one Elder after another ended, Xavier, Liana, Yuri and Ashley moved away from the pack. Xavier took one look at the other three before they all disappeared. My heart sank. The Elders had taken them away from us. Hostages—people they would use against us.

I was so focused on Derek that I hadn’t noticed Corrine standing in the middle of the bloody arena, mumbling words that made no sense to me. Her eyes were as lightning, her long brown hair being blown away by invisible winds.

By the time I looked back at my brother, a dozen of the recently possessed vampires lay all around him. The flames—along with the Elders’ shrieks—subsided.

I had no idea what had just happened, but Derek, now covered in soot, looked completely exhausted. My heart dropped when he collapsed to the ground.