“You do not make demands here. Do whatever you intend to do.”
Fear flashed across her face.
Then she focused upon Cole.
Her lips moved around words none of the brothers understood.
Elementa terra, succede venenum. Tolle dolorem… capta ab eo.
The air shifted.
There was no burst of light or dramatic eruption. Pressure changed inside the room as though something had sealed every door and window at once.
Energy gathered between the witch’s hands and Cole’s chest.
The storm inside him resisted.
His body arched, and the power bucked beneath his skin before beginning to move toward her hands.
The moment it entered her, she convulsed.
A strangled cry tore from her throat as pain struck through her body. Her shoulders jerked, and every muscle tightened as though a live current had entered her veins.
She was not a vampire. Her body lacked their capacity to regenerate through extensive damage, yet she held the connection open.
Her voice broke but continued.
Elementa… capta venenum… vinci ab eo…
Dax looked toward Rhen.
“What is she doing?”
Rhen gave no answer.
He watched every movement of her hands and every change in Cole’s condition, prepared to kill her the moment the spell turned against his brother.
The woman cried out when the storm surged again. Tears moved down her face, but her palms remained pressed against Cole’s chest.
Malakai stepped into Dax’s line of sight and signed.
She is drawing all of it into herself.
The brothers exchanged a look.
Witches did not sacrifice themselves for vampires. Not for strangers and not while trapped inside a hostile stronghold.
The woman’s cries echoed through the hall.
Her arms shook violently, and her face had become pale beneath the sweat. She was approaching the limit of what her body could contain.
Cole’s tremors began to ease.
His breathing became more even as the trapped energy withdrew from him.
Every trace leaving Cole entered her.
The witch whimpered as the pain overwhelmed whatever composure she had left. Her entire body shook, but she refused to break the connection.
