"You know what the best part is?" he asks, circling me now, looking for weakness. "You fell for her exactly like I planned. The great Maximus, who hasn't cared about anything in centuries, brought low by a fledgling I designed specifically to destroy him."
"You didn't design her. You just turned her."
"Oh, I did much more than that." His eyes gleam in the darkness. "Rome was only the beginning. The turning, the memory blocks, the gifts lying dormant in her blood, that was all me. Valentina was just the instrument. A very eager instrument, I might add. She enjoyed her work."
Behind us, I hear Celeste cry out. Not in pain, in rage. The sound of impact, of bodies hitting concrete. I don't turn to look. Can't turn to look. Konstantin would use the distraction to kill me.
But I hear her. I hear her fighting. And I know, Iknow, she's going to win.
"What did you do to her?" I demand, pressing my attack. "In Rome?"
"Curious?" Konstantin parries my strike, dances back. "You should be. She's going to be extraordinary, Maximus. More than you can possibly imagine. The sunlight is just the beginning."
"The sunlight is a myth."
"Is it?" He grins. "Ask yourself why she adapted so quickly. Why she's stronger than she should be, faster than she should be." He spreads his arms wide, leaving himself open. Deliberately. Tauntingly. "She's evolving. And when she's done, when she's fully awakened…"
I take the opening. Drive forward with everything I have, my hand aimed at his chest, at his heart.
He sidesteps. Catches my arm. Uses my momentum against me.
I hit the ground hard, rolling to my feet immediately, but he's already there. His foot catches me in the ribs, sends me crashing into a concrete pillar. The impact cracks the structure. Dust rains down around us.
"Still so predictable," Konstantin says, advancing slowly.
I spit blood onto the concrete. Push myself upright. "And yet you're the one who keeps running."
His smile flickers. "Strategic withdrawal. There's a difference."
"Is that what tonight is? Strategy?" I step toward him. "You went to all this trouble, Rome, the memory blocks, Valentina, this entire war, because you're terrified of what Celeste might become without your control."
He stills. "I'm not afraid of anything."
"You're afraid of her. And you're afraid of us together." I step toward him, and for the first time, he doesn't immediately counter-advance. "That's why you need to separate us. That's why you couldn't just kill me and take her. You needed her to choose to leave. Needed to break what we have before you could use her."
"An interesting theory."
"It's not a theory. It's the truth." Another step. "You've spent a thousand years building power, accumulating strength, crushing anyone who might threaten you. And then a fledgling, a vampire less than a year old, became the one thing you couldn't control. The one variable you couldn't predict."
"She's a weapon. My weapon."
"She's not yours. She never was." I'm close enough to strike now. Close enough to see the uncertainty flickering behind his eyes. "And whatever you did to her in Rome, it's not going to work the way you planned. Because she's not fighting for you. She's fightingagainstyou. With everything she has."
As if to punctuate my words, a scream echoes through the parking structure.
Valentina's scream.
Konstantin's head snaps toward the sound, and I see it, the first crack in his composure. The first moment of genuine concern.
Because Valentina isn't just his instrument. She's been with him for centuries. His most loyal servant. His most reliable tool.
And from the sound of that scream, she's losing.
I don't waste the opportunity. I drive forward, catching Konstantin with a strike to the throat that staggers him backward. Follow it with an elbow to the temple. A knee to the ribs. Every blow landing with satisfying impact.
He recovers, of course he recovers, but now there's something different in his eyes. Calculation. Reassessment.
He glances toward where Celeste and Valentina are fighting. Back at me. Weighing his options.
