Perhaps I’d lost all sense, but I forced her to continue.
Another futile smack against me as she continued to drink.
Blackness crept in the edges of my vision.
The golden chain forged between us exploded into fragments.
Vivien’s palms slammed into my chest as she broke free from me. Sea-glass eyes wide, she stared at me in utter panic. Not only did her crystallized soul sparkle, her skin glowed a golden color like mine. She was magnificent.
“What did you do?” she asked. Her hand drifted down to her heart, touching the spot where the wound had closed. Disbelief shone in her eyes.
A new pulse of energy throbbed.
“I couldn’t let you die.” I swallowed hard.
Thump.
“What did you do?” she demanded, nearly shouting, reminding me of when she first drank my blood. She was just as scared, just as unsure as she was now.
Thump. Thump.
The pulse wasn’t mine or ours. It was Vivien’s. And it was the sound of her heart beating again.
She consumed all the unstable energy I carried from the cradle. I felt weakened, as though I’d been battling for months.
If I’d not just emerged from the well of power, I would have died under her fangs.
Horror etched in her eyes as she stared up at me. She asked a third time, as I gently wiped at her cheek. “What did you do?”
Unable to look her in the eye, I turned away. With only a slight stagger, I grabbed Apep’s fang off the ground. “I set you free. You’ll never bond with anyone again.”
25
Vivien
Thump. Thump.
My heart beat in my chest.
What the ever holy-loving fuck nuggets?
This was impossible.
My time for reflection was interrupted as the monster cat version of Galina clawed her way back up into the bar. Though once she landed on her feet, she melted into her human form. Clothes decimated from the change, she was naked now.
A blur sped past me as Sekhmet hit Grim like a furious rocket.
I grabbed the fang and ran toward Galina. I’d send her to the cradle, and Grim and I could handle the rest.
Something slammed into me, and I felt the fang wrenched away from me.
Idris lay on top of me now. “I’m afraid I can’t let you stop the nice cat lady.”
He tossed it to Galina. As the tooth fell, she stretched out her hands in glowing green light. When she clapped them together on the fang, it disintegrated on impact.
As did my hope for defeating her and Sekhmet.
A gasp caught in my throat like a gang of razorblades.
