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"I'll kill you, you slimy son of a—"
"Just calm down," he says, sounding closer.
A gust of air rushes by me, but nothing is visible in this endless pit of nothingness. It's like a starless pocket in outer space has just swallowed us up. Where are we?
"This is limbo—the place between purgatory and hell," Gage says, now standing behind me, answering my inner questions.
I swing my hand out, but no power follows. "What the hell?"
"It won't work here. Only those who've aligned themselves with the dark can use their powers here," he says, still invisible under the blanket of pitch-black. "Now calm the hell down."
A small burn of candlelight finds the space, offering a flicker of light. But I see no flame and no candle.
Slowly, I feel my anger filtering out, my high dissipating as quickly as it came. I gasp as the last of it runs out, and then I nearly convulse from the sudden abandonment.
Gage grabs me, wraps me against him as he holds me steady, helping me through the unexpected withdrawal jerks.
"How did it happen?" I whimper, falling against him and letting him support all my weight. "I didn't use any of my dark power."
"You're getting closer. Something has triggered your secret powers, and now they're starting to creep out. Drackus made you feel threatened, and your animal instincts took over. It's the same way—were, lycans, night stalkers—all of them react."
"Kane didn't," I object, sniffling as I wipe away my escaped tears.
"Kane's had centuries to get it under control. You didn't even know you needed to prepare."
"This can't...be...happening," I choke out through sobs, letting myself go so limp that he's forced to scoop me up.
He cradles me to his chest and sways me in a rocking motion. I sob in the darkness, pretending that faint glow isn't shedding a glimmer of light on me. This is real. I'm a monster.
"Where the hell did you take her?" Kane yells, his fury coming out as soon as Gage materializes us back in Drackus's home.
Drackus, who's now sober and guilt-ridden, rips me free from Gage's grasp and pulls me to him, stumbling out an apology over and over as he hugs me. This still feels awkward, and right now I'm anything but responsive. My world just fell apart.
Mom joins
us, stroking my hair affectionately and kissing my head through my hair, letting her sigh trickle down the back of my neck as she rests her head against mine.
"I had to let her cool down," Gage says finally to answer my night stalker, sounding unimpressed with Kane's venomous tone. "The planes offer a quicker cool-down option. Get over it. I kept her from losing it—which is why I know I'm not going to walk her down a path of destruction. The prophecy is incomplete. I know I'm meant to keep her from losing it. I just proved it."
"Any witch or warlock can vaporize someone else," Kane scoffs.
"Not when they're mortal. I'm the only one who can do it without killing them. She doesn't even get dizzy anymore. She's adjusted to it, even without her immortality. I'm designed for her."
"Stop!" I whimper, my voice cracking on the end. "Just stop," I continue in almost a whisper. "I can't do this right now."
I withdraw from my parents and walk over to Kane, ready to be held by only him. He willingly pulls me to him, and I cling to him like he's my lifeline on this sinking Titanic.
"Take me somewhere. Anywhere. I can't do this today."
He tilts my chin up, gently strokes my lips with his, and nods. "I'll get us a hotel somewhere."
I can actually hear Drackus's and Gage's jaws clench, but I ignore them both. Kane loves me. They can both get the hell over it. I'm not going to listen to my estranged father who stayed absent for a huge chunk of my life, and I'm not going to listen to the dark user who kept me out of the loop for his own twisted purposes. I'm tired of being a pawn.
"Alyssa, please stay here. Where it's safe," Mom says, sounding almost desperate.
"No. I just want to be alone right now."
Kane sighs. "I guess that means you want me to get my own room," he mumbles.
