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I screamed as anger burst through me and I shot fire at the three remaining vampires. They were unable to dodge these fireballs and burned as quickly as Val had in pillars of bright flames until nothing but smoke and ash remained.
Fuck.I stood there, my chest heaving with deep breaths.Gods.
Smoke continued to billow. In the distance, I heard the sirens of firetrucks. Someone must have smelled the smoke and called 9-1-1.
Leif would be there. If he’d heard anything on police scanners, he’d probably hurry this way just to see if I’d killed more people or something.
I staggered toward the door to the studio apartment, still bleeding from my collarbone as blood dried on my chin. I grabbed only my now-destroyed messenger bag full of clothes, Mrak’s book, and the runic sword diagram Leif had left here at Mrak’s request when he’d taken over me. This bag was all I’d need now that the remnants of Lazarus’s community were not only aware of my continued existence, but also were apparently interested in me becoming a part of it.
Never. I’d never fucking go back or become a part of something as cruel and awful as what Lazarus had created. What all vampires who had feeding communities had created, no matter how much bullshit they spouted about how it “made streets safer because vampires didn’t need to attack.”
Fuck them. All vampires. Lazarus. Val. Cassius. Hunter.
I stumbled out of the back door ready to escape my rebuilt life’s work. But something made me turn back. Something had me walking back inside to grab a pen. To pull out Leif’s diagram. To finish the runes on it that referred to Mrak by drawing a line through them.
Magic flashed along the design—the ward had been made.
If Mrak knew what had transpired, he’d go after every last vampire in that coven. I knew he’d take over my body and see it done. And gods, I wanted that too. I wanted to kill them with my own hands if it meant not a single other innocent human would fall victim to a feeding community.
But I needed two seconds to think clearly before Mrak’s need for vengeance and to protect me overtook all logic in this situation.
Both demon hunters and vampires seemed to know about Mrak’s presence. That he was tied to me. And they all feared him. Leif had tried to even help me.
If I let Mrak kill them all for what had just transpired, we’d never know more. If they feared Mrak, they must know exactly how he could open a portal to Kithonia. For him to get home. And that was something Mrak seemed to also know but insist would take a while.
Their fear spoke something different. That the portal was sooner to being completed than Mrak had thought. Andthatwas worth investigating because maybe they knew something Mrak didn’t.
With me injured, with vampires having attacked, I knew he’d never not see only one side.
I tucked the design page, now ward, into my pocket, fled down the alleyway behind Dark Iron and my apartment, and ran in the direction of Willa’s apartment.
