Demon's Vengeance The Complete - Jocelynn Drake Page 0,138
city, murdering people until all the unicorns were returned to the living.
I shook my head as I turned back to Vincent. He was smiling as he brushed his hair back to reveal the onyx stone winking in the middle of his forehead. The stories I’d heard while living in the Towers said that in human form the unicorn’s horn was replaced by a priceless gem of remarkable size. Supposedly the only way to get the gem and the core of the unicorn’s power was to kill it while it was in human form. But then, the gem wasn’t nearly as valuable as the horn.
“I don’t get it. What could killing Trixie get you? Killing an elf isn’t going to raise all the dead.”
“No, you idiot!” Vincent screamed, stomping his foot like a three-year-old preparing for a massive tantrum. “It’s not her. It’s what she’s carrying.”
I tried not to react, but I felt myself grow sick and pale at his words. He knew about our child. Trixie wasn’t showing and we had told very few people, but somehow he knew.
The wicked grin returned to Vincent’s face as soon as he realized that he had me.
“How did you know?” I demanded in a rough voice over the lump in my throat.
Vincent giggled with glee. “How could I not? I am a unicorn. We are the keepers of life and innocence, guardians of the pure. I would have been able to sense the growth of your child from across the globe. I have spent a lifetime preserving the remains of my people and when I sensed your child spring to life, I knew it was time to finally act.”
“There’s no point in this,” I said in a low, even voice, while inwardly I was fighting the urge to rip this fucker’s face off. “One child, one life, won’t give you the years needed to bring back all of these unicorns.”
Rushing back over to Trixie’s side, Vincent knelt beside her and lightly patted her on the top of her head. She tried to jerk away from him, but her struggles only amused him. “You see, that’s what I thought was the key to Death Magic, too,” he admitted, sounding excited with the idea of talking a little shop with a fellow spell weaver. “And humans are all the same. You’re lucky if you can squeeze about seventy years out of them before they’re wrung dry.”
Giving Trixie one last affectionate look, he pushed back to his feet and turned toward me. “But then I made the most brilliant accident while in Charlotte. I grabbed a child who had been destined to be one of you,” he said with a sneer as he pointed at me. “The poor thing just didn’t know it yet.” He paused, giving me this faux sad face before loudly clapping his hands together. “But I saved her from that nasty fate. She did give one last burst of magic energy to save herself, created out of the stress of the situation. Surprised the heck out of both of us!”
“And because of her, you were able to raise all the vampires you murdered,” I finished, grinding the words between my teeth as I spoke.
Vincent danced around in a little circle as he giggled with manic glee. “The power from that little girl alone raised all those blood suckers and I still had plenty left over!” When he stopped, he looked disappointed by the fact that I wasn’t celebrating with him. “Don’t you see? I figured it out! It wasn’t just a matter of lifespan and years. Even a witch doesn’t have that long of a life; a few centuries at best. But it’s also about potential! A witch will pull in and use magic in multiple ways throughout her lifetime. It’s the potential to change and affect lives; the potential to change the world around her in so many ways. That’s the real power of Death Magic. You harness the years and the potential!”
And in my child, Vincent saw an enormous lifespan and amazing potential because the child would have the ability to tap magic through its elvish heritage and my warlock genes. In the end, it was enough to bring back the unicorns from the dead.
My stomach twisted as I watched Vincent celebrate his breakthrough, my mind blank as to what I could do to get out of this mess. No, that was wrong. I needed to get Trixie out of this mess and permanently away from this bastard. But knowing