Darkness Avenged (Guardians of Eternity #10)(109)

“My son . . . wait.”

Santiago hid a grimace, knowing his former sire had only minutes left. “What do you want?”

Shaking from the effort, he grabbed the medallion and with the last of his strength, he broke the chain that held it around his neck. “Here.”

Santiago flinched from the medallion that had been tainted by the Dark Lord. The small piece of metal had caused untold misery. “Keep it,” he growled.

“No . . .” Gaius grimaced, his rotting face a gruesome mockery of the handsome, vital vampire he’d been just weeks ago. “You must destroy it.”

He was right.

Even if the Dark Lord was dead and they managed to destroy the spirit that was their latest threat, the medallion symbolized evil.

It couldn’t be allowed to remain in the world.

Santiago reluctantly took the medallion. “I’ll make sure it’s destroyed.”

“Thank you. I—”

“Don’t,” Santiago interrupted. He would never be able to fully forgive this man for his betrayals. Not when he’d nearly destroyed the world with his selfish needs. But a part of him now at least understood what would drive a man to such extremes. “I will remember my sire as the man who took me into his lair and gave me a home,” he said in a low voice. “The man who taught me the meaning of family.”

“Son . . . my son . . .” A shattered moan of relief hissed past Gaius’s lips before the light died from his eyes and he was allowed to escape the slow, painful decay.

Rising to his feet as Gaius turned to ash, Santiago slipped the medallion into his pocket, determined to honor his sire’s last request.

Then he turned just in time to witness Nefri sending a blast of power toward Styx.

The very air sizzled before the power smacked into Styx with enough force to send him flying into the far wall. The entire building shook from the impact, broken plaster cascading down on their heads.

“You truly can’t think you can beat me,” Nefri said in genuine incredulity. “I created you.”

Styx pulled himself from the rubble, dusting the clinging bits of cement from his leather pants. “What makes you think I need to beat you?”

“Why else would Santiago so cleverly force me back here?” With a sharp thrust of her hand, Nefri’s power again sent Styx crashing into the wall.

Santiago cursed, knowing that the violent collision with the wall had to be cracking bones and puncturing inner organs. The Anasso, however, refused to betray the slightest hint of vulnerability as he surged upright, allowing his own powers to knock Nefri backward.

“Because we have a gift for you,” Styx drawled. “We’ve removed the protective spells around the book.”

“No.” Nefri hissed, her body growing rigid as the spirit belatedly realized the danger. “I won’t be trapped. Not again.”

Styx smiled. “Not your choice.”

“Fool.”

With a screech that nearly busted Santiago’s eardrum, Nefri launched herself toward Styx, her power exploding through the room to send them tumbling to the floor.

Fighting against pulses of frigid energy that threatened to crush him, Santiago forced himself back to his feet. Step by painful step he inched forward, his heart clenched with fear as Styx struggled to hold off the vampire lost in her bloodlust.

Nefri went for his neck, her fangs instead sinking into the Anasso’s forearm, which he raised to block her. His other hand shot out, gripping her lower face as he prepared to crush her jaws.

“Styx,” Santiago called. “Don’t hurt her.”

The king turned his head to regard him with a furious disbelief. “Are you kidding me?”

“If you damage Nefri the creature will simply take control of you, then we’ll never stop it,” he warned.

Nefri’s power was off the charts.

Styx, however, had gained a connection to thousands of vampires who called him their Anasso. If the spirit’s infection could be transferred through his bond to his people . . . mierda.

Perhaps following his line of reasoning, Styx strained to contain the rabid vampire trying to chew her way through his arm, shifting his attention to Roke and the witch, who were kneeling next to the safe.

“Sally,” he commanded.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.”

The pretty witch wrinkled her nose as she rose to her feet, reaching into the safe to pull out a book.

Or at least, he thought it was a book.

There was a hazy, insubstantial quality to it, as if it weren’t entirely solid.

Typical.

Was anything what it seemed to be anymore?

Carefully she walked forward, an anxious Roke hovering next to her.

It was only as the witch neared Nefri that Santiago realized the fierce power that had been pulsing through the room had abruptly diminished.

Was Nefri so consumed by her bloodlust that the spirit had lost control of her?

Or was the approaching book draining its powers?

He had his answer when Nefri abruptly turned, her mouth bloody and her eyes glowing.

“No,” she snarled, headed straight for the witch.

With a roar, Roke was shoving Sally behind him and meeting Nefri’s charge.

“Dammit,” Styx muttered, diving forward to grab Nefri with his one good arm. His other was a mangled mess. “Santiago, help me.”