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***

Evil comes in many different forms. At this moment I am staring one of them in the face. My patience is wearing thin and my desperation is doing the opposite. The temperature in the room has lowered to freezing and you can see frost form on the edges of every surface.

I'm the type of person that does not cower under immense pressure but this is making my blood boil. The amount of power in the room is quite thick, but it's a like a net full of holes - there are many points of weakness. It's also the kind of power that can be easily brought down to its knees. Oh, how I want to bring Datura down to her knees, begging for mercy, begging for life.

"Let her go," Valentine demands with a feral, angry growl. His eyes have turned pitch black and a darkness is quickly spreading all over his body and surroundings. I can feel his anger crawl over my skin like spiders.

"Why would I let her go? She betrayed me and led me to my death," Datura says as she gives her sister a deadly stare.

Without a flinch or even a single blink, Ari stands straight and returns her sisters look with a stare of her own. You can see her stress on her face but she remains upright and regal as if this is just a normal occurrence for her. Maybe, she has been preparing for this. I don't doubt it - Ari knows everything.

"You already have Lucius, why keep killing if you have what you want?" Valentine asks, wanting to know the same kind of information that has been floating in my mind.

Lucius' face twists into a scowl and he gives Valentine a dark and terrible stare. The tension between the two of them is definitely the kind that you want to get out of quickly.

"Because, brother," Lucius says. "Vampires are the most inconsiderate, murderous and vile creatures to live on Earth. The world is better off without those bloodsucking monsters."

I purse my lips at his comment and cross my arms over my chest. How long is this charade going to last? I can think of other things I could be doing that this moment besides this pointless debate over love lost and wars fought.

"You are no brother of mine, Lucius," Valentine snaps. "And you forget that you are a vampire yourself. Father and mother gave you everything yet you repay them with all this destruction."

"Father and mother denied me the thing i wanted most," he shouts, making the floors vibrate. "Let me remind you that you were the one that ended their lives along with the entire vampire monarchy!"

I grind my teeth and try not to overreact to his bullshit of an answer. The all too familiar feeling of dark energy zaps through my entire body, like race cars on a speedway. It rapidly courses through my body until it begins to pool in my chest and limbs.

With what looked like a lot of force, Lucius takes Aria and presses her against Valentine's invisible barrier.

I gasp loudly and scream, "No. Don't touch her." My hands start to shake and Valentine holds one of them to try and calm me down. It does little to help and now I am more stressed about him than anyone else in the room. I can kill everyone here, including him.

'We can do this, sweetheart.' My eyebrows knit together and I turn my head to face him. His magnificent, blue eyes are glowing and looking straight into mine. I hear his beautiful voice in my head. This is the first time I've ever heard him in my mind and I don't know if it's because of his abilities or our connection.

I breathe in and nod, acknowledging his comforting assurance. We can do this and we will. He squeezes my hand tightly and we both turn back our attention to the terrible couple.

"Datura, don't do this," I turn my attention to her. It wasn't much of a pleading but of a demand. The evil witch is much too despicable to even consider it anyway. My instincts tell me to take control of the situation instead of just cowering in defeat. We've already watched and waited, now it's time to handle it our way.

If my face didn't already show it, my eyes show a flash of horror as Lucius pulls out a long dagger from his side and points it at the base of Ari's neck. She whimpers against the invisible wall and scratches against it, pleading for mercy. Lucius' force on her is strong and it's obvious that it is painful.

Datura laughs and another cold chill runs down my spine. "Or what?"

"I'm going to kill you," I promise with conviction.

"You'll kill me?" She scoffs. "If you kill me, darling, you kill yourself and I don't think you or Valentine would let that happen."

I can die. It's better for a few of us to die rather than the entire world. If she wins everything and everyone will be subject to her reign, human or not.

"Watch me," I say through my teeth. Emotions stir within me like wandering spirits -- rattling cages and shaking chains. Burning tears well in my soul, begging for a moment of release. This has gone too far and I'm afraid of the harsh reality of death upon us all. We are all just really waiting for the moment we will drop dead and cease to exist.

I push myself forward with one step but I am halted as a steady hand grips my wrist. I know what he's feeling because I can feel strongly beat in my own chest. The tight squeeze of his hand alone tells me that he disagrees with my decision, that he is not willing to let me go. I don't look in his eyes because I know that they are burning in flames.

Datura's eyes fall to our hands and she gives Valentine a sinister smile. She knows that Valentine is not willing to let me go this easily. I contradict the feelings rising in my chest by pulling away from Valentine.

'Saphira, no,' he whispers in my mind. His voice is an agonizing tone that renders me speechless. 'I can't let you do this. There are other ways to defeat her.'

'How?' My inner voice sounds desperate.

'We turn her over to Rathmoor. He can keep her in Inferus - she'll be in a state between the living and the dead.'

'After all this time, we're going to keep her alive?' I look around the room to make sure I didn't actually say that out loud. If she knew of this conversation, she would have Lucius slit Ari's throat without hesitation.

'Just trust me, sweetheart, we'll get her. I promise,' he says in the smoothest and richest tone. It's the type of sound that is similar to a deep hum of a cello - one that always strikes a chord within me as it hits my eardrums and travels all the way down to my core. I do trust him.

"Oh, enough of this drama," Datura says, annoyed. "Kill her, darling."

"No, stop," I plead with a gulp. "I can give you what you want."

It's a risky move but it's the only thing we can give her at this time. She wants to take over the Underworld and the only to do that is to lead her to Lavare Immortalis –It's the only thing she's ever wanted besides her dead husband.

"And you know what I want?" She narrows her violet eyes at me.

"Yes. Let everyone live and I'll lead you to the Pool of Immortals," I say with a shaky voice. "That way no one will have to die but we will be under your reign."

Datura raises her brow at me and sneers. "Silly girl. Now that we have the Kingdoms on their toes I no longer need you to lead me there. The council will do that for me. I just want to see you all suffer before I do so."

"They'll never surrender to you," I argue.

"Not even when I take down all barriers between the Kingdoms?" She asks coyly as if we are just playing a game. She glides across the room like a ballerina in the spotlight. Her flowy, pure black attire drifts in the air like loose petals on the darkest flower. "I'm sorry, Lucius, where were we?"

I gasp and the veins on Valentine's neck throb in anger and anticipation. Lucius pushes the blade into Ari's neck and she screams at the top of her lungs. He's doing it slowly, so she can feel the pain. I wince as her face distorts as she tries to fight him off. He only pulls her closer to him and moves the blade until her blood coats it.

Just as Lucius was about to push it further, I find myself flying in the air with fragments of concrete and wood around me. Whatever happened, it wasn't something I did - I can still feel my deadly power within my palms. It's as if it is waiting for the precise moment to attack.

With a loud and uncomfortable sound, I land on the dusty ground along with everything that was in that small room. Valentine managed to explode the entire room and destroyed everything except for the five bodies that occupied it. Screams and shouts litter the air as they all come to assess the damage.

I stand and grimace as I feel something sharp poke into my leg. I look down and a large piece of wood has impaled my thigh causing blood to drip onto the ground. The explosion caused me to land in the castle under falling stone and it's a miracle I wasn't impaled with anything bigger. In a quick and sudden gesture, I pull the broken piece out and toss it to the side.

"Ari," I croak while taking myself to Ari's still figure just a few meters away from me. The wound in her neck is fatal but I know she's still alive - I can still hear her heartbeat.

I hear footsteps urgently make their way over to me and I prepare myself to attack. If it's Datura or her minions, they are not going to leave this place without at least getting injured.

"Saphira!" His voice was assuring to my ears and helped my own heartbeat slow in its rapid pace. I turn to face him and see Vladimir rush toward me with James right behind him.

Relaxing my shoulders, I nod at the two of them. "She's alive, but she's quickly losing blood. Be Careful with her neck."

"We'll take her of her, Saphira," James assures. "You need to go. Make sure the witch pays for what she's done."

"I will," I promise the two of them before I swiftly run out of the rubble. I don't look back as I run out and I didn't need to. I know the capacity of Valentine's powers, at least from what he has shown me.

A thick fog has filled the air and I am unable to see anything beyond the small area I can see. I can hear footsteps around me and scattered screams. I need to find Valentine and help him. I don't know what I will do if either of our enemies gets a hold of him. 

I am almost knocked to the ground as a small human runs into my side. Her eyes are frantically roaming her surroundings not even noticing that there is a body in front of her, whos very tangible. I can recall her face, it's the same girl who discovered Astor's mangled body earlier that day. 

"I-I can't -I can't do this anymore," she cries. "All this blood and fighting." 

"I'm sorry," I say with no emotion, which did not help her case at all. "What's your name?" 

"K-Kailey," she stutters. "They always tell me that everything is going to be fine, but it never get's better, not even a little."

I grab her shoulders and force her to look into my eyes. Her eyes hold many different emotions from horror to disgust. The poor girl is better off with her own kind. Either that or she gets turned which is not ideal at this time - she'll die. 

"Listen, Kailey, it's not going to get better. The barriers are down which means you can leave, go now before you get killed. The battle is starting and every living creature in Numidia will be annihilated. Go," I command in the strongest voice I could muster. My voice itself is shaking along with various limbs on my body. 

The fog dies down until it seeps back into the ground. I look beyond the fog and see a line of darkness at the edge of the field. My eyes are blurry from fatigue and I narrow my eyes to get a better look. 

At the edge of the field is a mass of fae's, nightshades and demons, waiting for the command of attack. Datura stands before them as their leader and Queen. Her evil eyes scan the surroundings until they land on me. 

"You never give up, do you?" She snickers. 

"I will never, as long as we both shall live," I vow. 

She flicks her hand as a gesture to command one of her Fae's to do or get something. The male fae stiffly nods and he disappears into the crowd of darkness behind her.

"You mean, as long as Valentine lives?" She threatens. 

My eyes flick to all places looking for his handsome face. I see nothing but Datura and her host of darkness. I don't see Valentine. I can't feel him. 

"Where is he?"

*** 

Guys, the book is almost over! *cries* 

Comment with what you'd like to see happen in the next book. 

Also, shoutout to the amazing @lost48 for creating this cover!