"I needed a pure soul. Someone to bait my trap for me. Nina has one." Morgause spoke simply. Giving the explanation without regard. "I also needed Nina's consent to cast my spell. I can't control someone without their consent." A faint line appeared between her eyes as if this might bother her. The line smoothed out. "Once I had Nina's sister, I had what I needed."

  Morgause glanced at Morgan then back to me. Her expression didn't change when she looked at her sister. "My trap worked." She might as well have been reading aloud from a book about the periodic tables. She simply outlined the facts as they were: The symbol for iron is Fe. I caught you in my trap.

  “I’m so sorry, Kate,” Nina whispered. “I did so many bad things. I tried to ruin your business. I trashed your offices.”

  I couldn’t blame Nina. She’d been under a spell.

  “I kidnapped Al.” Nina actually didn’t sound sorry about that. In fact, she gave Al another kiss on his head as she said it.

  Ash turned his body, set me behind him and stepped forward. "It's time to end this Morgause."

  He lifted his sword.

  Morgause lifted her hand.

  Ash slammed into the wall beside me. His arm, the one with his moving sin, pinned flat to the drywall.

  Ash tensed his muscles and tried to jerk forward to no avail. He was caught tight.

  I started towards him when I heard another slam.

  Drake was pushed up against the wall near Morgan with his arms pressed to his sides. He was caught and held as if tightly wrapped in a cocoon of shrink-wrap.

  Morgan gasped.

  "Do not touch them," Morgause said.

  I didn't realize she was talking to Morgan and myself until Ash gasped. The skin at his shoulder turned white.

  I heard a matching gasp from Drake.

  Morgause was using her magic to constrict the invisible bonds with which she held them.

  I forced myself to stop. "I'm not moving." I stared into Ash's furious amber eyes. He continued to struggle. Tensing and flexing his powerful muscles as he tried to break free of the unseen shackles.

  "Neither am I." There was something very bitter in Morgan's voice. "Don't hurt him, sister."

  I expected some knee jerk reaction to Morgan. They had been sisters all that time ago. They were still sisters.

  Didn’t that matter to her? Family was everything to me.

  "Do not call me sister." Morgause said it in the same calm uninvolved tone.

  She probably had the same blank look in her eyes as well. I didn't know. I didn't care to look. I was too busy staring at Ash.

  Our gazes locked together. His blazing with fury and love and the promise of all hell once he was free. I wasn't sure what my look said.

  The moment Morgause had walked through the door, I had shut down. Sealed shut the majority of my emotions. I couldn't function otherwise.

  My nightmare was no longer hidden away.

  The bell over my front door jingled. My Aunt Tabitha and Lucifer stepped inside.

  "Perfect," Morgause said. "Now we can begin."

  31. My Biggest Battle.

  No. Nonononono.

  "Aunt Tabs, why are you here?"

  "I got your message." Aunt Tabitha took in the tableau playing out in front of her. "Not your message," she said slowly. Her eyes latched onto Morgause, looking at her as she would a coiled viper. "Morgause."

  Morgause beckoned them forward. "Come in. Close the door."

  Once my aunt and Lucifer had moved further into the room and closed the door, Morgause clasped her hands together in front of her. "Finally." If it had been anyone else, I would have said she sounded satisfied. Pleased in some regard that her plan, the revenge she'd started so many centuries ago, was at long last coming together.

  "All the players in one place."

  I didn't hear any of that in her voice. She spoke in the same toneless manner she had used so far.

  Sweet Spirits, we were nothing to her. Tokens on a game board.

  She didn't care. She didn't feel.

  I don't know if it was a side effect of using black magic. Or, if after so much time spent in pursuit of her revenge, she had simply lost sight of everything else, blinding her to everything except her goal until even the goal itself became an object. Something she could see and almost touch, but had no value. No benefit beyond being the place marker on her course.

  "Asmodeus and Lucifer, I will deal with you after. I expect bargains to be upheld."

  My hands started to shake.

  After.

  After we were killed, Morgause intended to kill Ash. And Lucifer.

  The amulets weren’t working. I didn’t know why and it didn’t matter.

  My magic was gone. I had nothing left to fight with. Except my bare hands.

  I blew a kiss towards Ash. I couldn't touch him. Morgause had taken that away from me as well. "I love you." I looked at his face one last time, trying to sear his image into my brain.

  "Kate, don't!" Ash shouted. The wall behind his body was dented, drywall falling in large chunks. Blood dripped behind him where he'd scraped and cut his skin in his determination to save me.

  "I love you, Aunt Tabs." I didn't have to memorize her face. I knew it by heart.

  "How sweet. You're saying your goodbyes," Morgause said.

  "I love you, Al" My voice almost broke.

  Nina held his frantically wiggling body against her chest. I could only hope Morgause spared him.

  "Doll!"

  I stepped farther away from Ash and closer to Morgause. My legs moved slowly, walking against a swift current instead of through it. I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. Most of my body shook.

  The lid on my seal had been blown wide open. Every one of my fears were now exposed and surging through me. I couldn't control them.

  Half-bred. Cursed. Mortal.

  I'd always been less.

  My magic had deserted me.

  And now I was less than that. Reduced to whatever I had left inside of me.

  I didn't look at Morgan. Didn't say my goodbyes to her.

  I knew she knew. We were UDBFs.

  I stepped in front of Al, keeping my back to him. He was the smallest. The most vulnerable of all of us.

  I wanted to rail at Morgause. Yell at her. Plead with her. Beg her to spare the lives of my family and friends.

  Looking into her eyes, I knew there was no point.

  Lifeless brown gazed back.

  She didn't care.

  Just before I started to raise my hands, I felt a bump against my shoulder.

  Morgan stood next to me. Shoulder to shoulder.

  "Together," she said. Her eyes a pale glimmer of green. Her shoulders slumped, not in full defeat, but in acknowledgment that the slope was near.

  Despite all of our efforts, Morgause had caught us. So damn effortlessly I wanted to scream at the fates. The unfairness and injustice of it all.

  In one wave of her hand, she damned Ash and Drake if we tried to help them and damned us no matter what.

  Her vengeance was complete.

  "Together," I told Morgan.

  We raised our hands, fisted into useless balls. Our skin and flesh against her black magic. Morgan's vampire strength. My all too human strength.

  It was all we had left.

  Morgause raised her hands.

  I tensed for the blow.

  And chaos reigned.

  ****

  Nina screamed, "Al!"

  Aunt Tabs cried out.

  "Kate, NO!" Ash roared.

  Bolts of black lightening shot forth from Morgause's finger tips.

  I lifted my arms automatically.

  And felt nothing.

  "No!"

  It was Al.

  I turned at his anguished cry.

  He stood over Nina's body. She lay slumped on her side on the floor. Her white blonde hair spread like a veil behind her.

  "Nina?" I dropped to my knees beside her, across from Al.

  I thought she was dead. Her eyes fluttered open. Sorrow in her violet eyes. "I'm so sorry."

  She had nothing to apologize for. Morgause had orchestrated all the events leading up to tonight. We were all puppets on her strings.

  "I tried to stop him," she whispered.

  Oh, shit.

  Al had managed to escape from her hold and launched himself at Morgause. The hitman resolved to protect me to the bitter end. And Nina had thrown herself in front of him. Sacrificing herself for Al.

  "My sweet. Don't go," Al pleaded, nudging her with his nose. His little body trembled with the force of his emotions.

  "Al." She breathed his name. One word fraught with so many emotions I couldn't name them all. But I could name one. The one that counted. Love.

  Nina loved Al.

  She lifted her hand. It fell before she could touch him.

  "Nina?" He nudged her again.

  And there, between the hitman and the nymph, I saw it. Orange sparkles rose into the air.

  True Love.

  Al had found his match.

  "Goodbye, Nina," Morgause said. Black lightening hit Nina's chest. Nina lifted her hand. White light exploded.

  I heard Morgause scream.

  Nina's hand fell again. She didn't move. I picked up her wrist and pressed my fingers over her soft skin, searching for her pulse. Anything.

  Nothing. She was gone.

  "Doll?"

  I looked into Al's bulging brown eyes and saw the plea, his desperation.

  I shook my head.

  Al threw back his head and howled. A long mournful wail.

  "Enough," Morgause said. I looked up to see her lift her hands. My scream merged with Ash's and Morgan's yell. I tensed to throw myself on top of Al.

  Nothing happened.

  Morgause frowned down at her hands. The first show of any emotion I'd seen.

  She flicked her fingers out, but again nothing happened.

  Her black magic was gone.

  Sweet Glinda. We had a chance now.

  Before I could process it, before I could allow a tiny bit of hope to surface, Morgause took a step forward and kicked Al.

  Punted him straight across the room.

  His tiny body barely made a thud when he hit the wall.

  If I screamed, I didn't hear it.

  A loud roaring flooded my ears. Growing in tempo and magnitude until I couldn't think or feel anything. I was consumed with the roaring.

  "Kate!" Morgan shook me. I think she'd been shaking me for a long time. "Kate, Aunt Tabs has him."

  Across the room, kneeling on the floor, my aunt cradled Al's tiny body in her arms. His tongue lolling out of his mouth.

  "Is he . . .?" I couldn't say the word.

  "No." Aunt Tabitha shook her head. Tears ran down her cheeks. "It's faint, but I can feel his heart. I can heal him." She crossed her legs, gently placed Al in her lap and laid her hands over his body. Lucifer stood over her. His hands on her shoulder. Watching over my aunt while she worked her magic.

  The roaring receded slightly. Enough for me to be able to see and think again.

  Morgause stood just behind me. She twisted and flicked her hands and fingers. The slight frown gone. Emotionless again as she tried to find her black magic.

  Ash and Drake were still trapped. Ash was now attacking the wall around his arm with his sword. That magic held in place. And more than likely it would stay in place until Morgause cast it away. Or until she was dead.

  Nina's slain body lay in front of me.

  "Kate?"

  Morgan held my shoulders. Her green eyes brighter now. And growing ever more so as her anger built.

  I understood.

  My fear had disappeared. Vanished beneath a molten flow of fury unlike anything I'd ever felt.

  I'd faced enemies with Morgan before. Stood side by side with her and looked death in the eye. Knowing we might not make it. But willing to take the chance.

  Willing to fall with her. Hating it, but accepting it because we'd stood our ground and faced our adversary.

  Always hoping for a chance.

  This wasn't like that.

  Al never stood a chance.

  He might be a hitman at heart, but he was a very small Chihuahua. Unable to defend himself. Willing to give his life, but unable to fight.

  He didn't stand a chance against a small cat. He hadn't stood a chance against Morgause's foot.

  And she didn't care.

  She didn't pay any attention to us, her pawns, while she studied her hands. We were nothing to her. Al was nothing to her.

  But he was something very important to me.

  They all were.

  I'd been willing to fight before.

  Now I wanted to tear her intestines out and dance on her grave.

  I squeezed Morgan's hands with my own. "Let's get that witch."

  Morgan smiled and flicked her fangs.

  She'd been a witch before Morgause started her course of revenge. Morgan had turned into a vampire to try and stop her. It hadn't worked and I'd often wondered if she regretted her decision.

  Looking into her emerald eyes now, I knew Morgan had no regrets.

  She was one helluva vampire.

  We rose together as one. And turned to face Morgause.

  Morgause looked up. She lowered her hands, reached into her back pockets and lifted two knives. A witch who believed in back up.

  I had mine beside me.

  The knives looked old. The edges jagged and wicked sharp.

  Morgause twirled them. Quickly. Forward and then back. She was quite skilled.

  I could have cared less.

  I looked at Morgan. Morgan smiled widely, displaying both fangs.

  Right. "Bring it on." I motioned to Morgause.

  She attacked.

  Ash and Drake both bellowed in rage. I tuned them out. I had to.

  Morgause was lethal with her knives.

  She slashed out, stepped to the side and slashed again. Wicked fast. Faster than I could follow.

  Morgan used her vampire speed to dodge and pull me out of the way.

  I tried to kick her, trip her, punch her. Anything I could do.

  Which wasn't much.

  Morgause knew what she was doing.

  I was afraid we were on the losing end of things again as Morgause whirled and slashed all around us.

  But I refused to stop. Refused to give in.

  Where I had wanted to beg and plead with her before, now I simply wanted to scream and rage at her.

  Al's tiny body hit the wall over and over in my mind. Thud. Thud. Thud.

  A knife blade slid over my forearm. Blood welled and started to fall.

  Fury fed fury and I swung my arm.

  Morgause slashed the inside of my arm.

  I started to swing wildly. Every jab and punch I threw met one of her blades.

  I didn't care.

  I heard Ash's anguished cries, but I couldn't stop.

  Morgause was so quick, I couldn't judge where I was hitting. It still didn't matter.

  I punched and kicked and struck out at her. At Morgause. The evil witch. The one who had cursed my entire family. Who had killed off as many of my relatives as she could. Who had pursued us, determined to kill us, the very last of our line, as well. Who had attacked Ash with black magic.

  The witch who tried to kill Al.

  My long lost aunt who wanted to destroy everything I held dear.

  I fought her.

  At some point, I realized the blood wasn't all mine. Morgan's blood was falling as well.

  My skin and clothes drenched in red.

  My arms struck out a little slower. My kicks not quite as strong.

  And my blood started to burn.

  At first, I thought it was part of my rage. My very blood starting to burn along with the wrath inside of me.

  Soon it started to sting everywhere. Wherever my blood fell, my skin burned like acid.

  "I see the poison is beginning to work," Morgause said. She'd taken a step back. Her knives, dripping crimson, held in front of her.

  Morgan caught me around the waist as I started to fall. She was covered in red also. But many of her cuts had already begun to heal. Vampire. Morgan could heal herself. The poison wouldn't affect her.

  "Kate?"

  Fear is not an emotion I associate with Morgan. She's many things, but fearful is not one.

  Right now I couldn't see anything else on her face. Morgan was afraid. Terrified for me.

  I was dying.

  I could feel it.

  My skin nearly flayed from my arms. I couldn't see my legs, Morgan held me clutched to her chest, but I knew Morgause had sliced me there too.

  "Kate!" I had to wipe blood out of my eyes in order to see Ash.

  He had demolished most of the wall behind him. He was covered in drywall, blood and sweat. His chest heaved. Every muscle flexed and ridged in veins. His sin writhed over his arm and shoulder. His scars pulled taunt over his skin.

  My Demon King.

  The love of my life.

  The curse and Morgause were going to take me and I'd never get my chance at happily-ever-after.

  Half-bred. Cursed. Mortal.

  Very, very mortal.

  I tried to smile, but gasped instead. The poison ran all through my body now, setting my insides on fire.

  "Kate. No." Love, raw and stark and urgent, shone brightly in his amber eyes.

  "Don't worry, Demon. You won't suffer as long as Kate," Morgause said.

  I kicked her.

  I absolutely hated Morgause with every fiber of my dying body.

  To my shock, my foot connected.

  Morgause cried out.

  I twisted my head slowly, the pain practically a living thing, to look at her.

  Morgause was holding her leg where my boot left a bloody print.

  For the very first time, I saw something in her eyes.

  Pain.

  "That hurt." Morgause sounded confused.

  My aunt gasped. "She's mortal."

  "What?" I couldn't turn my head to look at her. I was in too much pain. And I didn't want Al's way too still body to be the last thing I saw.

  "Morgause is mortal," Aunt Tabitha stated loudly.

  "Ridiculous." Morgause shook her head. But there was fear in her eyes now as well.

  "She said she needed a pure soul to volunteer in order to control her." Aunt Tabitha spoke rapidly. "You can't force black magic on a pure soul. That's why Nina had to volunteer. When Morgause hit Nina with black magic it backfired. It made her mortal."

 

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