am shaking, absolutely terrified of his answer. I know I need to hear it, but I worry his response will break me.
Will shakes his head. “I didn’t. I promise I didn’t.”
“Then…how?” I ask.
Will smiles at me, and although he looks weaker than he ever has before, he also looks happy. In fact, I have never seen him look so peaceful, so…elated. I don’t have to ask him to know he is comfortable with his decision, with his sacrifice. I just need to know what that is exactly. What did he give up in order for me to live again?
“What did you do?” I hiss.
“There needed to be a sacrifice, Ava,” Will explains. “Black magic is meant to be irreversible, so reversing its effects comes at a cost.”
“I don’t understand,” I say. While I am processing his words, I don’t fully understand their meaning.
“The only way to complete the spell was for you to harness more magic. You needed to overpower the coven that cursed you, and there was only one way to do that,” Will says.
“How?” I whisper.
“I spent a lot of time searching for answers to your problem,” Will says. “When I finally found a spell that would work, I didn’t stop there. I searched for something else—something that was meant for me but would also help you. And I found it, Ava. I finally found it.”
“What did you find?” I ask. My pulse is racing as I wait for him to answer.
“Peace,” he says simply.
“What does this mean, Will? What are you saying?”
“One part of the spell required a sacrifice,” Will admits. “The still-beating heart of a mortal victim was your only path to immortality. But not just any mortal. You needed a witch, and we only knew of one.”
I suck in a sharp breath, glancing over at Holland, who still drinks from Jeremiah. So far, he seems okay. His heart did stop, but he was brought back by chest compressions. That was a natural, human save, so he should be okay to drink. And now he is being healed.
Again, I remind myself that he should be okay. Because he has to be okay.
“Holland agreed to this spell,” Will explains. “He wanted to do it.”
Finally, Jeremiah looks up at me, and I do not mistake the anger there. He is seething, furious that his boyfriend would risk so much for me. I tear my gaze away, not wanting to see the hatred there. Jeremiah might care for me as he does any other familial bond, but he loves Holland. And if he dies, Jeremiah will never forgive me.
“And what about you?” I ask, glancing back at Will. “What was your part in this?”
“You needed a power source, and not just the strength of a single vampire. You needed something more.”
“A hybrid,” I whisper.
Will nods. “The spell was surprisingly specific. The blood of neither mortal nor immortal. My guess is a black magic curse was never meant to be broken. The reversal was supposed to be impossible. But eventually, such a creature came into existence.”
“What does this mean for you?” I ask, swallowing the knot in my throat.
“It means I am finally free,” Will says, smiling.
I notice Will is shivering. He wraps his arms around his chest, trying to keep the cold from claiming his life—his mortal life. I frown and shimmy out of my cloak. I hand it to him, and gratefully, he accepts it. I am wearing nothing but a sports bra and shorts, yet I feel fine. The cold does not bother me.
“You needed the blood of a hybrid, because that’s where our magic comes from,” Will says. “Our blood is that of both a vampire and a witch, and it makes us what we are. You were created by combining the two and being strong enough to fight both. You needed that strength to become stronger than those who cursed you.”
“But what does that make you?” I ask.
“Human,” Will says softly.
“And that’s what you always wanted.”
“It is. I’m not like you, Ava. I have no family, no friends. My sire killed everyone I ever cared about. After I escaped him, I spent far too many years searching for someone like me, someone who would understand. Do you know what it is like to be alone for that long? It’s crippling, and I am tired.” Will sighs loudly, sinking even further into himself.
He looks weaker than ever before, yet he looks content with his decision. He does not regret his actions or his sacrifice.
“But you have