Dark Promise (Darkhaven Saga #3) - Danielle Rose Page 0,55

led me here. I may have upset the vampires and made mistakes, but I can walk into the flames of death with a clear conscience. The witches never deserved my respect or my loyalty, but helping them in their times of need was the right thing to do. Sometimes we have to cast aside our differences for the greater good, even if that means our own downfall.

Mamá uses my distraction to her benefit, and with my arms held out before me, she finishes her spell, linking our souls by way of the sun’s strength. The great ball of fire in the sky is more powerful than even the moon, and I don’t need to understand their spell to know they are committing an irreversible act against Will and me.

“My will be done,” Mamá says.

A cold chill works its way down my spine as I slowly turn to look at my mother. I remember this moment. It has haunted me since the night I foresaw it. Even so, I am not prepared for the moment a sudden flash of silver radiates across my vision. The blade is brought down, slicing through my flesh, leaving a large crimson gash in its wake.

The moment the blade slashes my forearm, I jolt back to reality. I scream as Mamá digs her fingers into my deeper flesh. When I open my eyes, I watch through blurred vision as she squeezes her free hand into a tight grasp. Droplets of her blood drip into my open body, snaking its way into my veins.

I shriek, engulfed in pain so great it feels as though my soul is being ripped from my body.

I’m falling, yanking myself free from her grasp. I’m on my knees, my lungs burning, tears streaming down my cheeks. My throat is coarse as I howl at the sun, begging for the moon. Chest heaving, I’m not able to catch my breath.

I feel hollow inside, trapped within my own skin. I am sure this is death.

Mamá is crouching beside me. Her lips are moving, so I know she is chanting. But I can’t hear her words over the crashing beats of my overworked heart. My head is spinning, my gut churning, and my mind is numbing to the sensations around me.

The world is falling silent. The wind is growing harsh against my skin. My legs feel paralyzed beneath me, and my skin that touches the frozen ground is numbing. The pain in my arm dulls, but the agony of what remains spreads through my body like a rapid brush fire. It seeps into every crevice of my body. From toe to crown and from fingertips to my very core, I am losing my sensations and my will to survive.

Slowly, I begin to connect and awaken again, but the world is different. It feels…boring, bland, and lifeless. I don’t hear the creatures, I don’t smell the forest, but I do feel the cold. It aches from my skin deep into my bones. It settles within me, and I begin to shake. Lip quivering, I see my breath as bursts of lacy steam puffs.

“With the success of this spell, the abominations will have no access to their dark abilities. They become one with their links from now until the end,” Abuela says.

My grandmother’s words loop in my mind, but only when Mamá steps away and the witches break their binds do I fully understand their meaning.

The witches smile and celebrate all around me, but I cannot focus. I’m too distracted by the empty, hollow pit of despair that encompasses my entire essence. Inside, I remain in shadows. The darkness that was once my vampire half is still there, but it is severed from me. Forever out of reach but so close, I experience the pain of loss over and over again. The vampire within me steadily breaks away, and I mourn her again and again.

I do nothing to save her. I don’t reach out and grab on to her hand. I don’t try to pull her back to me. I don’t scream for her return or try to mold her with the witch, with the thing that remains inside me.

Even though I want to, I don’t do these things because I’m staring at the sky, shielding my eyes from the sun, which cascades over my entire body, brightening my pale, luminescent skin.

I blink and it’s still there, shining down on me.

This is not a dream or a nightmare or a vision.

This is real life.

The spell awakened the witch by smothering the vampire, and now, I live once again.

In sunlight.