Two of them.
Fuck.
My odds of winning this battle are low.
Searching, I find Tatiana is still unable to move. When I look back at Valefar, he seems to be enjoying watching me struggle and wondering what I’m going to do next. The asshole is taking great pleasure in watching this play out in front of him.
“Use your power, Wings. Don’t be silly.”
“I’ll kill them,” I whisper as the vampire reaches me.
The vampire is not fazed by my words.
I hear the demon laughing, but I can’t say anything back because the vampire is practically on me and those sharp teeth come dangerously close to my neck. I just manage to pull him back off me, but he is fast, and within a blink, I feel his teeth touch my skin and everything in me goes cold like ice. The world seems to slow, and my hands, that were at my sides, reach up and touch the vampire. His teeth don’t move to bite and the rest of him is still.
I feel the power flow through me as the other vampire reaches me. I feel his indecision on whether or not to attack me, but he thinks with blood rather than logic. He comes up, and the minute he touches me, I freeze him too. Every part of me comes alive, and it’s nothing like I have experienced before. I have played with my powers, but never to this extent. I only learned the basics, like every other witch. But this stuff? This stuff is all brand-new and coming to me so easily.
I take a deep breath, my hands, which are now on each of the vampires’ shoulders, press harder into them before I feel the power leave them. Their life force they hold so dear, the force that keeps them alive, flows from their bodies and makes its way into mine. It’s like snakes slithering up my arms until the strength reaches my chest. My eyes fly open, and my head drops back. I feel my eyes change, and somehow I know it’s the color. How I know? I have no clue, but I am positive they are no longer my usual emerald-green color that matches my sisters’.
I have no idea what they look like now.
I feel the vampires’ bodies drop to the ground before they turn to ash. I’m not sure how I did it, or what I even did to cause their destruction. It’s not like how I borrow power, it was more like me stealing it to end them.
Hands clap to the left of me. When my eyes land on the person clapping, I have the urge to reach out and do the same thing to him that I just did to the vamps.
“Look how powerful you are. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.” He smirks, then disappears.
“Talia.” I turn to see my sister behind me, her eyes firmly set on the pile of ashes at my feet. When her gaze makes its way to my face, her eyes widen in surprise and she blinks a few times. “Your eyes, they are ice blue.”
I blink, again, then again until I feel them change back.
“How… h-how is that possible?”
“I didn’t mean to…” I reply. It was something that had to be done—them or me. And I do not want to die tonight and especially not with my blood being drained by them, that’s for sure.
“We don’t have time to waste,” Patrick says. “Can we discuss this later? Maybe when I don’t hear plenty of running footsteps coming straight for us?” Patrick shakes and shifts into his wolf form. I look back to my sister to see her watching me carefully.
“You would wake up sometimes with those eyes. You would also make me float from my bed while I was asleep.”
She’s never told me this before.
“It’s the wolves,” I say, taking a deep breath. Patrick looks back at me before he sniffs the air and runs ahead. “Tatiana, am I a…” I don’t know how to say it, “…a monster?”
She shakes her head while her warm hands touch my arm. “Never, ever. It’s impossible for you to be that way. If any of us were, it would be me, for sure.” She offers me a smile but the sadness in her eyes gives it away.
As John reaches her, he grabs hold, making sure she is still intact. She doesn’t protest, and I can tell she’s exhausted. Not so much physically, but emotionally spent. I don’t blame her. We never asked for this life, yet we are forced to live it.
“You can put me down now.” I watch their interaction. John looks back to me and smiles before he locks eyes again with Tatiana. He has her off the ground, his hands around her, and as he slowly places her back down, he always makes sure to keep touching her, even when she turns to look around.