She snapped her fingers, and Georgie let out a small yelp.
Seconds later, shapes emerged from the darkness behind Trinity.
Shifters. Hybrids. The same awful monsters we’d fought in the crypts.
“Georgie!” I shouted. “Get back!” I had no idea whether she could fight, but something told me Trinity hadn’t trained her to defend herself.
Haley, Addie, and I sprang into action, meeting the monsters in the center of the chamber. I blurred out of their reach, drawing upon my magic and the power of my staff to take down two in a single shot.
“Gray! Help!” Haley shouted, and I was by her side in an instant, launching myself at the beast, knocking him to the floor just before he sank his fangs into her throat. I dropped my staff and grabbed the sword at my back, taking his head clean off before he could even get to his feet.
There were about a dozen of them, but there was no way they were touching my sisters. No way they were touching Darius again. Clearly my mother preferred not to fight her own battles. She preferred to use her vampire power on teenaged girls.
The thought of Reva brought tears to my eyes, but no. I wouldn’t go down that road. Not yet.
Fueled by rage and adrenaline and magic and hatred, I whirled through the chamber, decimating my birthmother’s army in a bloody, chaotic battle that left me exhausted, but ultimately, victorious.
When the last hybrid dropped to his knees, I cut off his head, sending an arc of blood splattering across my mother’s face.
“I gave birth to you!” she shouted, as if that had any meaning to me now. I raised my staff, ready for whatever she decided to throw at me next.
Movement in the shadow of the first chamber, and from the corner of my eye, I saw four figures charge forth from the darkness.
Not hybrids. Not rogue vamps. Not fae soldiers.
Just rebels.
Liam.
Emilio.
Asher.
Sunshine and Sparkle.
And then, bringing up the rear, with demon-black eyes and a seriously pissed off scowl, Ronan.
He was alive. He was okay.
And they were all here.
Hope surged anew.
I glared at Trinity, the magic inside me so desperate for a target, it singed my fingertips. “In case you haven’t noticed,bitch, I’ve been reborn.”
Without another thought, I unleashed my magic through the staff, slamming a bolt of energy into the column closest to her, bringing down a pile of blasted concrete. It barely missed her head, but her lower body was completely pinned.
“Georgie!” she shouted. “Do something!”
But Georgie was looking at me. At Addie. At Haley. After a beat, she finally smiled, her eyes glazing with tears. She knew us. Shefeltus.
Cutting her gaze back to Trinity, she shook her head, finding her voice. “You’re on your own now, you crazy bitch.”
“You can’t mean that!” Trinity shouted.
Saying nothing, Georgie came and stood beside me, her arms folded over her chest. As far as Trinity was concerned, Georgie wasn’t budging.
Relief washed over me in waves. “Sunshine,” I called, gesturing at the pile of rubble. “Sparkle.”
