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“She was,” Walter said. “Piers has reported she got to Gilbert. He attacked and killed several humans before Piers was able to dispatch him. Piers sounded upset, to say the least. He’s returning to Isla Lobo with Gilbert at once, but wants him to be in the chamber we’re holding Lyka in.” He paused. “Given what Piers told me, I suspect this is a reasonable suggestion.”
“Shit,” Fenris cursed.
“Dispatched him?” I squeaked. “Does that mean…?”
“Piers had to kill him, yes,” Fenris said, wrinkling his nose. “But not with a stake. He will rise…but we have no idea if Sabine will still be in his head. We’ll return at once. Walter, get the plane ready and we’ll meet you at the airport. Please have Val and Liana escort Lyka out of the holding chamber. If Val has the time to purge it, she should.”
“Understood,” Walter said before hanging up. I was now scrambling to find my clothing, not caring how wrinkled my dress looked or the fact that my hair was still soaking wet, not to mention plastered against my face. All I wanted to do was get home and help Gilbert.
The trip back to Isla Lobo felt like the longest six hours of my life. No matter how hard I tried to center myself, I was consumed over what had happened to the twins.
I hadn’t brought my mother’s grimoire with me, but I wished I had. Instead, I was forced to rely on messaging back and forth with Morgan. I was relieved she was awake, and more than happy to hurry to the library while we worked out what we’d be dealing with when the vampires returned. Her aunt was preparing the holding chamber for Gilbert, and I assumed Morgan, or even Liana, would speak up if Lyka reacted badly.
I felt like I was jittering straight out of my skin by the time we set foot on Isla Lobo. We hadn’t even made it halfway to Fenris’s mansion when Abi came racing out, her face red and blotchy.
“Celeste!” she cried, hurtling herself towards me. I pulled her into a hug as she clung to me like I was her only lifeline. “Please help him. You helped me and Cody. Please,please, help him.”
“I’ll do everything I can,” I promised, giving her a tight squeeze before urging her back towards the house. “Is he here?”
“Yes,” she said, sounding breathless. “He looks horrible. They got here less than an hour ago.”
“He is contained?” Fenris asked as he withheld a snarl. I could feel his anger just below the surface, albeit punctuated by our bond.
Abi didn’t seem to notice, just nodded helplessly as she allowed me to lead her inside. “Yes, but…well, you’ll see,” she said quietly.
My stomach clenched, and an uncomfortable silence fell over us on our walk to the magical confinement room. I certainly heard Gilbert before I saw him. Snarls and crashes kept interrupting the sound of Piers’s voice as the younger twin tried to calm him. Ifeltthe intensity of Gilbert’s thirst as I approached, and I knew Fenris did, too, as I sensed his proverbial hackles rise as we reached the room.
“I will calm him,” he growled, his eyes already glowing red.
I reached out and grabbed his hand. “Let me try,” I said softly. I turned to Abi. “I think I know what I want to do, butcould you please go grab my grimoire from my room? It’s on the nightstand next to the bed.”
She sniffled and nodded, all but sprinting down the hallway to get it. I turned to approach the cell, nearly cringing when Gilbert whirled, throwing himself against the window at me.
Fenris growled outright and bared his teeth. The vampire hissed and snarled right back, clearly not recognizing me as a friend or Fenris as Lunar Lord. He was a hollow shell, and as I reached out psychically, I struggled to even find his mind beneath the bloody haze Sabine had left him in.
This isn’t going to be easy.I wasn’t sure if I could pull Gilbert from this the same way I’d extracted Abi and Cody from Sabine’s thorns.
When my best friend returned with my spell book, I turned to her and Piers. “I need to concentrate on this…I know you two are worried, but could you please go elsewhere? I don’t mean to kick you out, but…”
“They’ll give you whatever space you need,” Fenris said firmly, “and I’ll remain to keep you from harm.”
Abi just nodded. For a moment, Piers looked like he might argue with me, but then his shoulders fell, and he grumbled in French before following her.
I took a deep breath, opened my book, and centered myself.
I’d no idea how many hours had passed by the time I untangled the dark magic Sabine had left inside Gilbert’s mind, but my hands trembled as I exhaled and looked him over. I was certain I’d freed him of the witch’s spell. If there was any upside, it was that she’d had to do this one fast, so her work wasn’t as thorough as the attacks on Cody and Abi.
Fenris remained in the back corner out of the vampire’s sight. It made him easier to work with, and when Gilbert lookedat me this time, I could see the sorrow in his hazel eyes. “It wasn’t a nightmare, was it?” he choked out, his accent far thicker than normal.
I pressed my lips together and sighed. “It wasn’t,” I said, wishing there was more I could do for him, wishing I could tell him he’d been dreaming—but that would dismiss the people who died, and neither of us could live with that. “But don’t beat yourself up, Gilbert. You wouldn’t have hurt anyone if it wasn’t for Sabine.”
The vampire sighed and shook his head, looking down at his hands, where the skin was still encrusted with blood. No one had been able to get close to him in his madness, not even Piers. His shoulders sagged, and I bit my lip. “I killed innocent people,” he said, turning away. “A witch’s curse or no, it wasmyhands that ended their life.”
“Gilbert…” I didn’t know what else tosay. He wasn’t wrong. At the end of the day, there was little I could do for the pain.
“I’d like to be alone if that’s alright,” he said while looking down at the floor. “Make sure there’s no lingering effect.”
I glanced over at Fenris as he approached. While I was confident Sabine’s influence was gone, I suspected Gilbert was reeling from guilt—and no magic spell was going to suddenly lift that away. “We will check on you tomorrow,” Fenris said simply, touching my shoulder as he nodded toward the door.
