free, Veritas! Every bit of you!”
I could feel the cracks on the walls widening. Soon, they would come down, and Dagon would come at us with everything he had. He didn’t even need to get close to Ian to kill him, either. A shot through the heart with a silver bullet would be enough, and Ian had left automatic weapons filled with silver rounds at the bottom of his circle.
Ereshki might be magically and physically depleted from her part in Dagon’s spells, but she could also take Ian out with one of those guns, and if Ian was in as bad shape as he implied, he might not be able to stop her, either.
But would summoning the darkest part of my power be worse? Tenoch had believed that so much, he’d created not one, but two assassins to take me out, if I brought it forth again. My other nature hadn’t hurt Ian before, but if I let the worst of it out, would it stop at killing Dagon? Or would it kill Ian, too?
It didn’t kill Tenoch.
The thought seared me, bringing another blast of hope. When I’d let the darkest aspect of my power free so long ago, I’d only killed the vampires who’d kidnapped me. Not the sire I loved. At the height of everything Tenoch had feared until his dying day, I’d still protected him.
Did that mean Ian was right? Was my power only as evil as I allowed it to be?
“Veritas, now!” Ian shouted.
How could I pick between over four thousand years of Tenoch’s conditioning versus Ian’s claim that he was wrong this instant? But not picking was its own choice. The walls were crashing down. Who should I believe? The sire who’d known me most of my life? Or the man I loved, yet had only known months?
Dammit, why should it be a choice between the two of them? Didn’t I have control over me, even the most frightening parts of me? Even demons had free will! Why should I be any different?
My father had chosen to “stray where it was forbidden” by impregnating Ashael’s mother and then, later, mine. He’d also chosen to lose his position as Warden of the Gateway to the Netherworld to bring Ian back after I begged him to. If the most fearsome otherworldly creature I’d met could choose despite the inclinations of his nature, then so could I!
And I chose not to let Ian get hurt by Dagon or Ereshki when I had the power to stop them. No matter what terrifying form that power took, or what I’d have to do to bring it forth, because there hadn’t been two aspects to my nature back then. There’d been only one.
“Ian,” I rasped. “When you get free, take Ereshki and get as far away from me as the pentagram allows.”
“The hell you say?” he snapped, but then I felt a resounding boom! that overwhelmed even the pain. He’d broken through the wall. Dagon’s howl of rage confirmed it.
“What I’m going to do could swallow everything in its immediate vicinity!” I said, the falling wall giving me strength to shout. “You can’t be near it, so take Ereshki and go!”
Then I reached down, feeling for the cage that housed my other half. But this time, I didn’t merely open the door or pull her out of it. No more partial measures.
I smashed the cage completely.
Chapter 42
Blackness rolled over my vision as I felt my other half rise, but for the first time in over four thousand years, I didn’t draw away to keep her separate. I embraced her, feeling a shocking surge of ice and heat as both halves began to merge into one. More shocking was how, almost instantly, she wasn’t “she” anymore. It was just me, with so much more to me than there had ever been before.
“Ian,” I managed to say between blasts that made me feel as if I’d detonate at any moment, but not with pain. With the kind of power I’d never felt before. “If you love me, trust me and go.”
I thought I heard him mutter, “Five minutes. That’s all you get,” but I wasn’t sure. I did feel him leave in a whoosh, though, a cut-off scream indicating he’d grabbed Ereshki, too.
Vow not to kill Ereshki myself fulfilled.
As for Dagon . . .
I opened my eyes. Dagon’s icy blue gaze met mine. Just as I’d guessed, the demon had one of Ian’s guns, and he didn’t hesitate. Silver rounds slammed into me,