vampires halt their attacks, many losing their lives to the witches in the process. Something flashes behind their eyes, like the quick snap of a trigger releasing. Something—maybe a thought, maybe a feeling—crashes into their minds, and they know.
I might have been the only witness up until this point, but no longer am I the only one who knows what has just happened.
Four seconds pass.
Every vampire in the manor save for me falls to the ground. The sharp smack of knees slamming against the hardwood floor sends vibrations through the wood. The sensation tingles, shimmying through my muscles and shaking my innards awake.
By the fifth second, Amicia is lit aflame, and in the very same second, she combusts, bursting into ash and showering down over me. The vampires on the floor scream in agony, as though her death physically pains them as well.
I scan the others until I find him. Jasik is clutching his chest, but he is looking at me. His eyes are burning a bright, neon crimson red. Then he screams, but before he released the heart-wrenching bellow that is preventing me from hearing any other cry, a wave of anguish crosses his face. I see the exact instant it happens. His look of agony punctuates this time and place, marking us in this moment.
Amicia is dead. The reality of her death hits me just as Jasik looks away.
My grandmother falls to the ground, lifeless beside Will. As she exhales her final breath, my mother—mere feet away the entire time her high priestess was attempting to murder me—sucks in a sharp, staggering breath.
In less than five seconds, Amicia died. Abuela died. My mother became the new high priestess of her coven. Abuela’s natural abilities are transferring to Mamá—her power, her access to the full coven’s magic, and her burdens, like the darkness that consumed her. The evil embodying my grandmother will consume my mother’s soul too. And when Mamá looks at me, I know she understands.
I shake, struggling to breathe. The weight of Will’s corpse before me and the dusting of Amicia’s ash coating my skin is too much to bear. Now, I watch as Jasik falls, physically pained by the death of his sire. Unable to contain the emotions rising in my chest, I allow them to spill from my mouth, and I scream.
As if summoned by my regret, the elements come alive. The air is hot and sticky, causing condensation to drip down my skin, streaking my body with long gashes when it mixes with ash. Outside the manor, the animals react. Birds screech, and I hear the flapping of their wings as they dart into the sky as one massive flock.
The earth moves. The house rumbles, shaking, creaking, jutting from side to side as I release bellow after bellow of hatred and frustration and agony. Pictures hanging on the walls fall to the floor. Windows shatter. Doors slam shut. Books fall from shelves. Furniture topples over. Walls crack.
One by one, the vampires regain their composure, all setting their sights on me, but I refuse to release the earth. One way or another, I will stop the witches from wreaking greater havoc on this town, even if I must sacrifice all of Darkhaven to do it.
“Ava,” someone shouts, voice pained.
Jasik is lying on the floor, and he tries to crawl to me. He grips the hardwood with only his fingertips. The scraping sound that follows, as he drags his hands against the grain, desperately trying to pull himself closer to me, is enough to pierce my heart.
My sire, my lover, my savior, is losing this battle. The vampires around him are few in number. All are weakened by Amicia’s demise, and they look to me for answers. Already, so many have died. Our numbers have dwindled. One thing is certain. I must save them. Amicia’s sacrifice will be meaningful, and I will make her proud.
Grunting, muscles stiff, I tumble over, releasing Will’s body from my clutches. He rolls onto the floor, lying beside my grandmother’s remains. Now that the darkness has fled, she looks like the woman I once knew, and my heart sinks. It should not have come to this, but she gave us no other choice.
On my hands and knees, I stare at the floor, which splinters. Shards of wood stick up, threatening to end my life if I make just one wrong move. I grab on to one, squeezing it so tightly, I begin to bleed. The stinging pain in my hand overwhelms