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Chapter Twenty-Six
Blake
My voice hangs in the air where Tamsin stood a half moment before, along with a swirl of shadows and a faintly shimmering dust that looks like something out of a black hole in outer space.
She’s gone.
That woman took her. That creature. Darkness.
I’ve never felt anyone or anything so powerful in my entire life. Dark magic is not unfamiliar to me, being a warlock. And in my line of work, I’ve come across even more of it. But Darkness is something entirely different than anything I’ve known before. Undefinable. Ancient. And with enough energy burning inside her to rival the sun.
It feels like my soul is ripping in two. The look on Tamsin’s face… she didn’t even try to escape. I don’t know what Darkness said to her, but I can only guess it was a threat to Luciana. I can still see the determined resignation in Tamsin’s eyes, but then the flicker of terror as the shadows wrapped around her. It’s an image that will haunt me for the rest of my days if I don’t get her back.
But I will get her back. I will do anything, anything at all, to find the woman I love.
My mind immediately begins turning with a plan, but a shuddering sob from the woman on the hospital table before me draws my attention back to the room. Tamsin had done it—found a cure. Luciana looks completely normal, except for the lack of hair. But she’s naked and shaking like a frightened animal. Her eyes are wide, and she’s staring at the spot where Tamsin disappeared as if she might start screaming.
“Luciana?” I call softly.
Her blue eyes whip to mine. It’s as if she didn’t know I was there before.
“Do you recognize me?”
She nods slowly. “B-Blake,” she stutters after a moment.
“That’s right. I’m going to go into that closet and get you a robe, okay?” I move slowly so as not to startle her, one foot after the other, and make my way over to the closet. I pull out a robe, hand it to her, and turn around so she can cover herself.
“What’s happening?” she whimpers.
I speak toward the door since I’m turned away from her. “You were abducted by an organization called the Night Guild. Tamsin rescued you and has been working for the last few weeks to heal you.”
“Heal me,” she says, her voice flat. Dead. She draws in a shaky breath. Silence falls for several long moments. “I had awful dreams,” she whispers at last. “I dreamt that…that I was a monster. I dreamt of Hell.”
I close my eyes a moment to calm the rage that moves through my veins. This shouldn’t have happened to an innocent person. And I’m not the one she needs here by her side while she processes this. She needs her sister.
But a dire wolf warlock is going to have to make do.
She’s had enough time to pull on the robe, so I turn around slowly to face her again. “I’m so sorry for what happened to you, Luciana. You’re safe now. It’s going to be okay.”
“But Tamsin is….” Luciana’s voice gets high, and she starts hyperventilating. “She’s gone. She was taken.”
I approach her slowly and rest a hand on her shoulder. “And I promise you, Luciana, as long as there is breath in my body, I will get your sister back.”
I meet her eyes and take in a deep breath, and she does the same. Then I let it out, and she again mimics me. Her panic calms.
Footsteps ring in the hall and Devon comes bursting through the door. His eyes widen when he sees Luciana. “Is everything okay in here? One of my fae guards was incapacitated. And Luciana—you’re awake!”
“Tamsin was taken,” I say, my voice a low growl.
Devon’s eyes scan the room. “It seems she did not go down without a fight.”
I follow his gaze and notice for the first time the piles of silvery ash all over the floor. Six piles. I’d been so occupied with the sight of Darkness that I hadn’t even seen them. Which explains the sharp scent of sulfur on the air. I had assumed it was Darkness, but now I realize it was the demons that Tamsin fought singlehandedly.
“She used the ghost spear,” Luciana says, her voice still hoarse from lack of use these last weeks. “It would have worked if she hadn’t arrived.”
“She?” Devon asks, brow crinkled.
“Darkness,” I say. “She’s some kind of ancient being…”
