****Trigger warning!****

This chapter contains violence and strong language.  

Elle felt her heart take flight as her eyes landed on the cloaked figure leaping from their saddle; wresting an enormous blade from its scabbard as they breached the dark of the forest, bellowing her name.

She would recognize that deep timbre anywhere.

For a suspended, heart-stopping moment, she could neither blink nor breathe, the unbearable pain and the threat of death melting away as all of her focus locked in wide-eyed disbelief on the towering man with a hooded cowl for a face.

"Don ..." she rasped his name as if her lungs were bereft of clean, crisp air, her cry faint as she could hardly believe the image rendered before her watering eyes.

He had come for her.

Seraphine lowered her dagger as a look of unadulterated fury swept over her stolen, youthful features. With a deepening scowl, she wasted no time in arming her men.

Raising her free hand, Elle watched in horror as her palm curled inward and then flexed, her powers expanding, molding various weapons of steel to appear from thin air. "If you cannot slow him down," she informed her small horde of brigands while seizing Elle's lame arm, "Then kill him."

"No!" Fresh, hot tears pricked her eyes as white-hot pain fired through her limp appendage. Bile welled in her throat, and she nearly lapsed into unconsciousness, her one hand fumbling in the dirt as she strained to break free of the witch's ruthless grasp.

Now fitted with weaponry of their own, the men hoisted their instruments of steel and grinned maliciously as they slowly fanned out.

Don was horribly outmanned, four against one, and what little hope that sparked within her chest fleetly ebbed.

Solomon shoved past his companions; his mangled face mottled with rage as he adopted a plow stance. "We are not through, ye and I."

"Indeed," Don's voice rumbled low from the shrouded cowl, deadly but eerily calm. "Let us see who is the better man."

"That's an impressive broadsword ye have there," one of the men uttered with a snicker as he stepped to his left, flaunting an axe. "How does a beast come into the possession of such a magnificent piece? No matter, we need only to disarm ye once and yer as good as dead."

"Assuming you can take it." Don challenged.

"Aye, and here I thought we had bonded over a tipple or two," another quipped, prompting all but a seething Solomon to laugh.

"How about ye show us that mug now, eh?" the third baited, stepping to his right, swinging a smaller blade back and forth with a cheeky grin. "Let us see the face of the monster we intend to bury."

Elle watched helplessly as the men edged closer, widening their stances, and fencing Don in, but for all their deliberate goading and flashy steel, their shifty glances belied their bravado, exposing their unease, whereas the Rossetti Beast was composed, showing no emotion.

Whatever they muttered next was abruptly drowned out by a resounding clap of thunder as rapid bolts of forked lightning cut across the night sky. Startled, she flinched and shrank from the sharp, fleeting light, unnerved by the sudden volatile heavens that livened before her eyes, darkening with thick storm clouds that half-masked the full moon when moments ago there had been none and all was still.

Her frightened gaze vaulted across the dizzying air, desperate for the sight of him, terrified that he was just an illusion her aching, enfeebled mind had rallied merely to soften the terror of her fast-approaching death.

But Don was now one of many roaming shadows in the overriding dark.

Just as Elle drew in a tremulous breath to calm her raging heartbeat, her thoughts racing furiously on how to escape, another figure, this one discernibly smaller, emerged from the depths of the trees. She blanched, her stomach tightening in knots, convinced that her tired eyes were deceiving her a second time.

A woman – the woman from her mysterious dreams had materialized in the flesh, her unmistakable, colorless features embellished with the fast-moving light.

I want you dead.

Those chilling words cleaved through her panic-stricken mind, and she scrambled to her knees, frantic, but Seraphine's grip tightened, immobilizing her with another wave of agonizing pain.

With her arm as badly injured as it was, her chances of escaping this nightmare alive were slim and none but she had to try.

"You can invoke the rain all you like," Sera snarled angrily, her filched eyes aglow with untold power. "The ritual will happen whether you steal the moon or not, sister."

Sister. Elle exhaled a sharp breath, her eyes fastening in astonishment on the woman with white, pristine eyes – the familiar ice-blue irises nowhere to be found in that fathomless, otherworldly gaze.

This was Veda – the woman from her dreams was Seraphine's sister?

Slender arms extended above her, white hair thrashing in the wind, pale hands splayed wide as a palpable disturbance rocked the air, fueling the storm and sea alike, both churning restlessly in direct response to the ethereal one's presence.

Of course, how could she have not known? She was shocked that she hadn't figured it out sooner, but the last few days had been nothing if not a whirlwind of conflicting emotions, and one bizarre happening to the next, that it simply had not occurred to her.

Veda has the gift of prophetic sight. She can see what lies ahead and can predict certain outcomes. You were revealed to her in a vision. She knew what you were and sought to conceal you with a cloaking spell.

Everything was coming to her at the heels of a blooming headache.

Her lucid, isolated dreams were in fact not dreams – but visions, Veda's visions. The uncanny things she had felt and experienced in her sleep that went unexplained all her life – her baffling affinity for the sea, her extraordinary accuracy to detail and color despite being blind, the profound need to be near the water – to bend the element to her will, were all a staggering extension of Veda and the cloaking spell she had cast, the latter somehow linking them together because of what she was.

Magic adheres to your body like a second skin, and it prevails.

Even after the cloaking spell had been broken and her sight granted, the images of the shore and the abutting ocean continued to pervade her slumber, as vivid and transparent as ever because either her body had absorbed some of Veda's powers or the connection between them had allowed the witch to invade her dreams.

Any lingering doubts she had about Sera's outlandish claims disintegrated with the gale-forced winds.

She was the Elemental Host. There were no other explanations for the strangeness of it all. Although she felt no different aside from her perfect, unimpaired vision, she was horrified.

Nausea stirred in her belly and the urge to vomit was overwhelming.

Had Veda been trying to help her all this time? Since she was a young girl, she had always dreamt of the sea, but only up until recently did the woman with the long white hair start to appear in her dreams. Had Veda been trying to warn her all along what was coming? Had she been trying to save her from Seraphine?

I want you dead.

No. That couldn't be right, as the witch's haunting declaration welled to memory. It only solidified her belief that the sisters were intent on killing her for their own personal gain, that she was this rare and remarkable vessel that enhanced preternatural powers and had supernatural beings competing for her death. If she, somehow, miraculously survived this, would others come for her? Would she ever be safe? But none of it explained why Don would be with Veda. Had he known all along what she was?

The older de Ceville tilted her head, milky-white eyes clashing with jet-black as she found the younger in the somber, winking light. "Without the moon, you cannot harvest its energy."

Sera smirked, "Then I will take it from your lightning." The darker witch loosened her grip. "You don't look so good, kin of mine. Do you really think you have the power to fight me? You haven't the strength and you lack gumption, always have."

Veda gently shook her head, pale wisps of hair shifting loosely in the lurching light as a cold, salty wind whisked around them, their damp clothes whipping madly. "I'm trying to save you."

"Save me?" her captor hissed, releasing Elle altogether and she crumpled to the ground, clutching her arm. "Is that what we're calling betrayal these days? You brought me back from the dead only to desert me. You knew all along where the vessel was but chose to conceal it from me all these years. And then you resurface here, of all places, abreast of my beast. Your loyalty is fickle, much like your worthless insight. You couldn't save Mother and now you hope to save me?"

Veda took a step towards them, her white eyes flicking briefly to Elle. "You haven't seen what I have ... what will become of you if you insist on going down this dark path. It is not too late to stop what you are doing."

Seraphine sniggered, a sardonic smile shaping her mouth. "Have you seen my death, sister? Is that it? Or have you seen my victory? Pray tell, which of the two frightens you more? Or is there something else you're not telling me? Do you hope to reap the power I seek? You never truly mastered your gifts. You were always envious of me. I was the strongest and most revered next to Mother. Look at you ..." she scoffed, "you can hardly stand as you command the clouds."

"You are running on borrowed magic and bones, Sera. Do you honestly think you are the first to attempt the unprecedented? For centuries, there have been countless others who have failed in merging the fourfold into a singular being. We both know that combined energy like that is not meant to be contained nor harnessed, it is why nature saw fit to bestow the elements to the far-reaching, to maintain order in the world. If you persist, you will disrupt that order. You will create unimaginable calamity and ruin. You are not equipped to handle such power. It will consume you."

"I could almost mistake you for Mother. 'Tis a shame she's not alive to see how far I have come and how much you have regressed into a spineless, incompetent seer."

"You will die, Sera."

Her grin slipped, her eyes darkening with a flicker of doubt. "Aye, well, you resurrected me once."

"I cannot bring you back from this, not this time," Veda stated, her eyes brightening as another peal of thunder boomed overhead. "This is my final warning to you."

The blood began to pound in Elle's ears as a physical static crawled across her skin and prickled in warning at her nape.

"I will take immense pleasure in killing you and stealing your element," Sera snarled, her fingers tightening around the hilt of her dagger.

"We both know that was the plan all along," Veda replied, her expression cold.

Elle's eyes flit despairingly to Don, her heart sinking to find him so far beyond her reach, but she had to try.

Slowly, she inched to her knees, her vision swimming as she supported her arm, every subtle movement exacerbating all the aches and pains in her body, especially her dislocated shoulder.

Just when she braced to take flight on her feet ... the sky opened up and unleashed an onslaught of hard, pelting rain, and the angry sea exploded simultaneously against the face of the cliff, the precipice shuddering as ice-cold seawater doused their feet.

Sera laughed raucously, tucking her dagger at her hip. "I will wield your powers in a way that you never could!"

Her deadpan stare bled even darker as her powers reared to the surface, swift and frightening, that formidable energy dispersing everywhere all at once, creating a low-pitched hum as red-hot flames ignited in her open palms.

Just like the sea, a raging fire erupted around them, sweeping wide in blinding, leaping flames, mirroring her dream, the intense heat licking dangerously near, sealing her, and the sisters, in the fiery core of it.

A scream broke free from her throat.

************************

Every muscle in Don's body tensed and his blood turned ice-cold as a devastating wall of fire skyrocketed before his eyes, the flames hurtling in a deafening loop around Elle and the sisters, snatching them from his sight.

Her ear-splitting scream ruptured the night, but was swiftly swallowed up in the rising inferno, the horrific sound veering directly to his heart and gripping it with unmitigated terror.

He stiffened against the immediate visceral reflex to plunge into the flames, a surge of hysteria knifing through his chest. Inwardly, her name clamored through his mind – a desperate, agonizing plea, as the overwhelming sensation of fear carved through his gut – the need to save her a living, breathing, driving force that had all of his animalistic instincts roaring to the surface.

As much as Don wanted to react on that impulse – to leap blindly into the flames, he knew he had to temper the panic clawing at his sternum, knowing that if he didn't, Elle was lost to him forever.

The unruly sea crashed against the cliff-side, the impact jarring as it chipped away at the rocky edge, reaching dangerous, unparalleled heights as seawater rushed beneath his boots.

But for all the flowing water and sheeting rain, Sera's fire continued to burn.

Lightning flashed and arced across the hostile sky as sharp, biting rain pelted his hand – his fingers tightening to the point of pain around his Claymore as he focused all of his burning attention on Sera's men hedging in, taking quick stock of their positions and magic-derived weapons.

One crept from his left armed with a one-handed sword, the blade noticeably thin. Another inched to his right, wielding an axe. The large bastard he beat to a bloody pulp stood exactly across from him, brandishing the only weapon that equated in size to his own with the fourth man standing just beyond his shoulder, hoisting two daggers.

"I should have tasted her when I had the chance." Solomon hurled at him, his mouth splitting into a lewd grin. "She begs so pretty."

White-hot rage burned through his rigid tendons, searing and explosive. His fingers flexed around the hilt, his nostrils flaring.

I'll rip his fucking tongue out.

With a chilling calmness, Don reached up and shoved the cowl from his face. Almost instantly, it garnered the reaction he had hoped for. The men recoiled with muttered expletives and retreated a few paces, their eyes widening with a fraction of alarm.

"Ye are as gruesome as they say." Solomon sneered and then motioned to his badly beaten face. "I owe ye for this."

Killing the other three would have no sway on his conscience – in fact, they were merely in the way, but his monstrous half relished at the thrilling prospect of subjecting Elle's attacker to a slow, brutal death for thinking he could ever have what belonged to him. For every bruise on her perfect skin, he would respond in kind tenfold.

"You thought you could have what's mine." A misshapen grin twisted Don's mouth, promising unspeakable pain. "Your mistake will cost you your head."

The corners of Solomon's lips curled scathingly, his mangled face pleated ugly shades of blue and purple as the fire fanned at his back.

Despite their earlier show of mockery and smug grins, his allies now appeared, for all intents and purposes, as if they wanted to shrink into the shadows. They eyed each other askance, seeing who of the three would be the first to turn tail and flee.

Don raised his sword, his lacerated back stinging as he gestured with his other hand. "Let's see if you have what it takes to kill a beast."

He fully expected the men to run so when they charged him instead, he was pleasantly surprised.

Unlike Sera's smoke-molded creatures, he made quick work of her human hounds, starting with the pudgier of the four, his portly size making him slow on his feet as he swung his light sword in a breadthwise motion. Their steel clashed, but the man's blade was far too small to withstand the blunt force of his Claymore, and it promptly snapped – the remainder of the weapon knocked deftly from his clammy grip to clatter to the ground.

A shout from his right and Don spun around, his wet cloak flapping as he barely deflected the blow of the axe, the sharp bit just narrowly missing his shoulder.

In his peripheral, Solomon slinked near with the fourth man hanging back.

With that, he brought his leg up and shoved his boot into his opponent's gut, pitching the shorter man backward with a grunt of pain, his axe sailing into the air.

Solomon bellowed as he rushed him and the two of them collided, their sleek blades shuddering as they crossed, the collision rattling his bones. He planted his boots firmly on the slick rock, his heels slipping and his biceps bulging as he shouldered the attack, their faces inches apart.

"I'll fuck her," the bastard hissed, spittle flying as he thrust back. "And I'll make ye watch!"

Aggression surged in Don's throat and was expelled in a violent roar as he slammed his forehead against Solomon's nose. The ruffian howled with instant pain as cartilage broke and blood spurted, and he dropped his sword and stumbled back, grasping his damaged bridge.

The cliff shook beneath his feet and Don staggered as his eyes shot to where Veda and Sera engaged in a heated battle. Relief flooded his chest to find that the fire had been extinguished, but it was short-lived for the sisters were now grappling for control, the precipice rocking beneath the force of their clashing powers – with Elle in the heart of it.

I'm coming, my love! Hang on for me!

Adjusting his grip on his Claymore, he turned back to the melee, his eyes narrowing on the first man he had effortlessly disarmed.

"Tavis!" his target shouted with panic to the fourth man standing idly aside, unsure of what to do, holding the two daggers. "Throw me one!"

The other man tossed one of his weapons, but Don intercepted it in midair. "It won't do you any good." He snarled, advancing on the paunchy man, and directly ramming his sword through his fleshy stomach. The man grunted in pain as blood gushed, his red-rimmed eyes going wide in his horror-stricken face.

Don wrenched his blade free and pivoted on his feet just as the man with the axe launched at him anew, swinging his weapon frenetically and slicing his arm. He hissed in pain as he leaped back with every aimless swing, very much aware of Solomon running up behind him, drawing his weapon. And just as the bastard thrust his sword, Don twisted sharply to his right – the blade whisking past him and cutting clean through his axe-wielding mate.

Solomon thundered with rage as he yanked his sword free and rounded on him, but Don was ready.

As Sera's hound raised his weapon and lunged, he dropped to his knees and swiped his long blade seamlessly across the bastard's abdomen. Red splattered the air streaking warm across his face as his entrails and body toppled to the ground. A small knife slipped free of Solomon's cloak and skidded across the trembling rock, coming to a rotating halt just short of the grappling sisters.

Among the many, it was one Don hadn't seen before, but quickly dismissed, thinking nothing of it as he lunged to his feet and moved to loom above Elle's attacker who shockingly enough, was still alive given that he was split wide open, blood welling in a dark puddle beneath him.

Don remembered her broken cries. Her battered skin. The terror in her soft, brown eyes. Death would never be enough to rectify what was done to her, but he would guarantee that no hand would harm her ever again.

With a vengeful snarl, he jerked Solomon's head back and slashed his throat. The bastard heaved a breath and blood spewed, before dropping prone at his feet.

Don's only regret was that it was quick.

His head came up, eyes searching for the last man only to discover the coward had fled.

The ground trembled beneath him and he teetered, his eyes careening to Elle ... and his heart stopped dead in his chest.

Veda lay sprawled at the edge of the precipice, blood trickling from her nose.

Seraphine towered above Elle – her eyes as black as sin as she drew her knife.

"Sera!" He thundered and launched towards them.

And that is when Elle reared up, the knife he hadn't seen before clutched in her hand as she plunged it directly above the witch's heart – but her other arm lay lax and she was unable to stop Sera's blade as his enemy drove it deep into Elle's side.

"NO!!" Don roared as his world shattered.

Stunned, Sera staggered back and gaped at the hilt protruding from her chest. She shrieked with rage as her black eyes churned a scalding red – dark, unnatural power unfurling from her hands and then blasting across the steep cliff.

Don fell to his knees and gathered Elle into his arms, her head lolling against his chest as the precipice lurched.

He swiped wet hair from her face, his heart in his throat as he pleaded, "Stay with me, sweetheart! Stay with me!"

"I'll kill you all!" Sera shrilled as she jerked the knife from her chest. She made a move to lunge at them and suddenly Veda appeared, seizing her sister around the middle as the ground crumbled beneath them and the two were hurled into the raging sea.