And that, I think, will be his downfall.
“I regret only the moments I ever denied who I truly am,” I say. The magic hums inside me, building, rising. “And now, after lifetimes of feasting on them for your own power, you will finally know the revenge of a Witch’s Heart.”
His eyes flash, hard and unyielding.
My magic surges. I raise my hands and the energy inside me shoots from my palms. It’s white, hot, and blinding, but when I look again, Cutter isn’t there. Nor is he on the ground, bleeding out from the damage I intended.
I look around and Logan twists to scan the parking lot.
Something moves on my right.
“Look out,” Logan calls just as Dean begins to growl.
But Cutter is faster than I anticipated. Faster even than Logan.
Something slams into me from behind and I go sprawling against the asphalt. My skin burns where the pavement rips it away.
I cry out as my cheek scrapes against gravel.
The wolves howl, snarling and ripping at the body that’s landed on top of mine.
Cutter’s hand closes over my throat before he is quickly ripped away. He spins out of the hold Logan has on him and they fall into a deadly-fast battle of nails that rip like claws and fangs seeking to tear one another’s flesh.
Declan and Dean both move to assist Logan, to attack, but Cutter pauses long enough to point his finger at them and whisper a handful of words under his breath. In an instant, both wolves go completely still.
Their bodies strain and a desperate whine rises into their closed mouths, but whatever he’s done has effectively restrained them.
“No!”
My own scream rips from my throat and I jump to my feet, hurling myself at the monster-turned-man. But I don’t get far before Cutter whispers something else and a blast of magic slams into me too. I’m driven back into the hood of a car and the wind is knocked from my lungs. When I try to renew my attack, my feet stick to the street beneath me.
I stare at my legs in horror as I realize what has happened.
Cutter has magic.
He’s not only a vampire. Somehow, he’s also a witch.
“How?” I choke out, but Cutter’s gone back to his deadly dance with Logan. The two of them spin and leap like they’re both principals in some sort of murderous ballet. I hold my breath, terrified Cutter will use his magic to freeze Logan too, but he doesn’t. And I realize when I catch sight of his maniacal smirk, he wants this fight. He wants to destroy Logan using brute strength--like Logan did to his men inside.
I struggle to break free, calling up my magic to cut through his, but nothing works. How is it possible that Cutter has magic? I think back over all I know, but there was never any hint before.
A heavy grunt sounds and I jerk my attention back to the fight. Logan stands with Cutter behind him. Cutter’s arm is around his neck, a single finger pointed at Logan’s throat. Cutter’s nail is elongated, tipped sharply like a claw. He presses it into Logan’s skin until my breath catches and I yell, “Stop.”
Cutter’s eyes dance. “Here we are again, little witch. Same place we were before. You have something I need.”
“Let him go,” I say.
“Give me back my wolves.”
Declan and Dean both growl through closed lips.
“How do you have magic?” I ask, trying to understand.
We escaped Le Rêve only to end up here. It’s heartbreaking in the most macabre and ironic kind of way.
“You gave me a parting gift during our last moments at Le Rêve. Don’t you remember?”
His smile is smug, infuriatingly so. My heart hammers in my chest because it’s clear he thinks he’s won. Maybe he has. So far, my magic has yet to eat through whatever spell he’s cast to hold me here.
“My blood,” I say. “The experiments.”
He nods, expression lit and I know he’s enjoying this moment. The slow dawning and the pleasure he takes out of watching it hurt me.
“You were my greatest prize. Daughter of the new moon coven. Genevieve’s blood. Her heart could only sustain me so much longer but with your blood, infused with the blood of your toys, here, it made me so much stronger than I ever dreamed. You helped me figure out the last piece of the puzzle.”
His gaze flicks to Declan and Dean.
“And now, with your blood, I can finish this.”
“What makes you think I would ever help you again?”
He smiles. “Love is a weakness, little witch. And here you’ve gone and fallen for all three of these vessels. Now,” he respositions himself, pressing his sharpened claw harder against Logan’s throat, “If you want to save this one, give me the wolves.”
Fear burns in my gut. I look at Logan who’s standing perfectly still, not because of magic, but because one wrong move would tear his artery wide open. He meets my eyes and there’s so much sadness and longing in him.
“Don’t do it,” he says quietly. “Just let me go.”
“You know I can’t do that,” I say.
A tear slips down my cheek, but I can’t lift my hand to wipe it away. Dean and Declan whine as if they know it’s there without even looking.
As if they, too, feel the pain about this choice I must make.
“I don’t understand,” I say. “If I gave you this magic, how is yours stronger than mine?”
“Yours isn’t the only witch blood I’ve consumed, darling.” He winks. “But don’t worry. You’re still number one in my heart.” His voice lilts on the last word and he chuckles as if he’s told a joke.
Confusion cuts through my fear. “What does that--”
Then I remember. Maria’s heart.
He’d bitten into it, eaten it, right in front of us at that party at Le Rêve. Back then, I’d assumed he’d done it out of some need to assert dominance. Some vampire trick to intimidate. A disgusting enjoyment of the cruel and disgusting.
But now, I realize, it was more.
My magic glows brightly in my fingers, but I know, just like I knew who I really was when Logan bit me earlier, that the magic I’m using will not be enough.
Cutter is stronger.
He’s not just a vampire.
He’s a creature of his own making. A product of a vampire who’s consumed the blood of my ancestors. Magic and mysticism runs through his evil veins. If I want to have any hope of defeating him, it will take more than my witch heritage has to offer.
“You’re a hybrid,” I say and he grins victoriously. “Only one more to go.” he glances at Declan and Dean. “And now, because of you, I know just what to do with them.”
I square my shoulders, narrowing my eyes at the monster before me. A plan has formed but it’s risky and I have no idea if it will even produce the result I need.
“I will never give you what you want.”
Rip.
Cutter’s nails slash through Logan’s flesh. Logan hisses as a thin streak of blood pools along his cheek.
Fear punches a hole in my gut and I gasp, horrified at the sight of Logan’s punctured flesh.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flicker of movement. Maria and her ghostly army hover just out of reach, watching solemnly.
My desire to go to her fuels the magic humming inside me, straining against the leash Cutter has conjured. With all my strength, I strain against it and manage to turn my head toward her. It’s enough to give me hope, and I reach for more.