Page 53 of Blood & Bedlam

Cami begins to struggle harder, flames erupting and fizzling out over her body, but the hands on her are too great, and I’m in agony as flashes of that night batter against my brain. The man I ripped apart as he assaulted her …

“I’ll do it,” I croak instantly. No power is ever worth my daughters. Not my life … nothing. Alessandro smirks and crosses the floor, opening up a small glass bottle with swirling blue liquid.

“I thought you would see it my way, Dracul. I’m afraid the reaping is going to be quite painful for you, but, unlike Mina, it won’t be necessary for you to die to complete it. Think of it as giving back something you borrowed a long time ago. Now open, and drink,” he demands, pushing the bottle to my lips. I barely have time to open my mouth before he’s tipping it back, the taste bitter and cloying. My limbs start to burn instantly, like the very blood in my body is rising to my skin, an inferno raging. It’s agony, a thousand razor blades against me, shredding me apart. My vision darkens behind spots of black, and something wet trails down my cheeks and nose, out of my ears.

It takes me only seconds to realize it’s my own blood.

As quickly as it began, it ends, but it leaves me feeling drained in a way I’ve never experienced. My body sags, the chains suspended above me the only things keeping me upright. I feel it then, the loss of her.

My eyes find Reine, and I see her glowing, blue eyes alight. Alessandro inhales deeply, flexing his fingers as black veins trail up his arms, pulsing just beneath his tanned skin.

“Finally,” he whispers on an exhale. His power has returned, closing the circuit between Reine and her brother, and I feel something that is foreign to me, a distant memory through a dream. The weight of mortality.

If I’m killed, I’ll die a True Death.

“You can let them go, Brother. You have your power returned—he will give you the magic. There’s no need for more of this cruelty,” Reine pleads. Alessandro cocks his head to the side, and without warning, lashes out at her. His fingers grip her throat, lifting her off the ground, the flex of his power a shock wave that pulses around the room. Her skin around his touch begins to bloom black, the rot of him spreading over her as her feet kick and she fights for air.

“Little sister, the cruelty is the point. I want him to suffer, want you to suffer. I’m going to tear them apart, bone by bone, and I’m going to make you watch as I destroy the little family you’ve grown to love. I won’t kill you, because there are fates far worse than death, and I can’t wait to begin your education on the subject. Should we start now?”

He lowers her back to the ground and spins her body, his hands gripping her jaw so tight she cries out, gasping for breath.

“You taught me what eternal torment feels like, Sister. Allow me to return that favor in kind.”

Reine

CHAPTER 28

Alessandro was always ambitious, conniving, and powerful, but there is something irrevocably broken about the man wearing my brother’s face, with an iron grip on my chin. The hatred pulses from him like a heartbeat, a steady thrum of pain. I agonized over my decision to betray them for Vladimir for months, but I couldn’t have imagined the implications of soul tying to him, what it would do to them …

My mother’s eyes flash in front of my face, and I choke back a sob before it can break free. There will be time to mourn her, if we get out of this shit alive. Right now, I need to stop Alesso. Cami is pinned down with ultraviolet shackles, and Vladimir’s chains are laced with an Ouroboros Hex. They drain his own power as quickly as he replenishes, and the harder he fights, the more it feeds.

Alessandro’s power is necrotic against my skin, soaking up the magic from my bones, draining me like a battery to boost himself, using my own gift to shackle me to him. I see Camille pinned, Vladimir destroyed, and I know that there is no good left in my brother.

“Remember our accord.” The Italian vamp that Vladimir mutilated grunts, his tone low and lethal.

“I haven’t forgotten. New Orleans will be yours in the morning, but you may take your spoils now.” Alessandro tips his chin to him, his words ghosting over my cheek, leaving a chill in their wake. They’re hateful and cold as dread settles into my gut. I know how he lashes out when he feels he’s been wronged.

The Italian’s eyes darken to black pits as his lips tip up in a feral grin.

“There is a debt due, for the life of one of our own she took at her trial. There must be some sort of retribution.” I watch him take a few steps toward Camille, as his hand falls to his belt buckle, his intent clear. She fights hard as they attempt to manage her, and every step he takes echoes like the toll of a bell. My insides burn, from the choking I endured and the magic being ripped from me, but also with fury.

There are five women with the Italian delegation, and not one of them makes a move to stop this. Cami fights and growls, but they look away and say nothing, choosing to uphold the power afforded to them by these men who would do the same to them if they stepped out of line. Vladimir has lost control. The tearing fabric and Camille’s string of French curses mingling with the sounds of a hand striking her face send him over the edge. They lock eyes and I see her mouth the words “It’s okay” to him, choosing to comfort her papa in her moment of terror and horror. Her blue eyes are glassy as the guards manage to flip her body, and bile rises up in my throat when he shoves his hand between her shoulders, flattening her face to the ground with a crack.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” he hisses, reaching inside his pants. I can’t watch this, but I can’t look away either, and I’m all too aware that Alessandro’s eyes are on me. He wants to see this crush me, see my pain.

Vladimir’s chest rips apart as his beast tries to punch through, leaving him stuck in what I’m sure is a state of agony, half shifted. Blood and sinew stream from wounds, but the Ouroboros Hex eats his burst of strength. Rage builds, battening down the despair, battening down the fear.

I am a Renaldi witch, but I am also Bonded, muted as it may be right now. My fingernails lengthen to sharp points, and I’m relieved to feel the press of my fangs, the call of my Bondmate erupting inside of me. Vlad’s words press against my mind, of how we’re built to see to the needs of our Bonded. Blood rushes in my ears as my body responds to what he wants.

And right now, he wants me to kill.

Both Cami and Vlad are held hostage by Alessandro’s power. He isn’t worried about me attempting to hurt him with my magic; we both know his power is greater than mine, but I’m no longer just a witch. His eyes are on Vladimir, a sick, twisted look of maniacal satisfaction on what he’s about to make him witness. My vision narrows to the vein in his neck, open in an unwitting offering to me. I know what doing this will mean for me, but I don’t have time to mourn for this new life that’s about to be forfeit. I should have made Alessandro die with me in Wallachia.

I’ll make sure he does this time.

I lunge, jaws snapping savagely tight, ripping my fangs into the exposed flesh of his throat. My fingers claw and rake over his face as he roars, and a burst of pain so blinding rocks through me it whites out my vision. My body and magic protest having necrotic power touch me. I bite harder. Viciously. Blood gushes into my mouth and it’s fucking disgusting, tainted with rotting magic. I see him, see the scars, a Frankenstein’s monster, stitched together with stolen magic, the patchwork barbaric.

My body is on fire, the flesh peeling from my bones, but I tear, striking repeatedly until we’re both covered in blood, hoping against hope that I’m distracting him long enough to break his concentration. I jump, wrapping my legs around him to keep him locked in place, burning and decaying from the inside out.