Weakness took hold of me and darkness curtained my vision as I knelt beside Orion and his sister. We had to move, had to make some plan to get her somewhere safe. We needed to replenish our magic and find a place she could rest.
“You need to feed,” Orion said gently, tilting Clara’s chin up. Her fangs were bared and she was breathing heavily, her pupils dilated. “I haven’t got any magic left to give you.” His brows knitted together like he’d failed her.
“Lance,” she said with a ghost of a smile. “You were always so good to me.”
“You’re my sister,” he said as if that was the only answer he needed to give and I understood that entirely.
“Let’s get her up,” I said gently, moving to my feet and swaying as my limbs weighed heavily at my sides. An emptiness resounded through my body unlike anything I’d ever felt before. I tried to call on my Phoenix, but the power of building that bridge had taken everything from me. It was like the shadows still had a hold of me, chaining my Order form down and keeping it subdued.
Orion cradled Clara in his arms, getting up and blinking heavily as exhaustion took hold of him too.
“Let me down,” Clara urged and Orion reluctantly placed her on her feet, steadying her as her toes curled against the icy floor.
She took a couple of steps backwards, tilting her head to gaze up at the high cave roof then dropping her eyes to her hands. She turned them over and over, admiring them, her expression written with disbelief.
“I’m really here,” she sighed, a small and hopeful laugh escaping her. It brought a smile to my own lips as relief danced through me and filled me up.
“You’ll have to stay hidden,” Orion said firmly. “You can stay with me tonight then tomorrow I’ll take you somewhere safe.” He shook his head in awe. “I can’t believe you’re actually here. It really worked.”
Clara pivoted on her bare heels, her cloak of shadows swirling around her like a sheen of midnight silk. “No, Lance.” Her voice echoed off of the roof and for a second her body seemed almost transparent. “I have to complete the spell. The shadows are keeping me here for now, but it won’t last.”
“How do you know?” Orion questioned and my heart beat harder as I glanced between them.
“They talk to me, tell me things,” she said, her eyes glittering with the darkness that had taken root within her.
Orion shot me a look, silently communicating that we needed to get her out of here. He’d have to replenish his magic and try to take hold of the shadows living in her because it was clear they still had a grip.
“It took everything from me when I went into them,” Clara whispered, her expression suddenly cold and fearful as she became lost to some memory.
Clara’s eyes locked on her brother with accusation and I took a wary step toward him.
“Every drop of blood from my veins was sacrificed to the dark, to transport me across the worlds and leave me in the Shadow Realm to rot,” Clara said in an icy tone. Her upper lip peeled back to bare her fangs and my hackles rose on instinct. “I thought you’d come for me but you never did.”
“I thought you were dead,” Orion said in dismay. “There was nothing left of you.”
“Because I wasn’t there,” she choked out. “I went into the stardust, how could you never have thought to look for me?”
“I didn’t know,” Orion gasped, looking horrified at the idea of letting her down so deeply.
“All that blood I lost…it’s still gone,” she whispered, dropping down and scooping the draining dagger from the ground. Fear spiked through me and I raised my hands on instinct despite the fact that my veins were void of magic.
Clara ran the edge of the dagger across her arm and her skin peeled open, but no blood flowed. “I’m nothing but a vessel for the shadows,” she rasped as darkness bled into her eyes and took all the light with them.
“Lance,” I whispered in warning as the hairs on the back of my neck prickled to attention.
“Your veins are full with our blood and I want it back!” she cried, launching herself at him in a blur of Vampire speed.
“No!” I screamed as her teeth sank into his neck.
“Stop!” He tried to fight, but he was too weak and they fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. “Clara, stop!” he begged as she dug her nails into his arms and ripped at his flesh like a starving animal.
I screamed in alarm, throwing myself onto her and tugging at her shoulders, begging my magic to aid me. She caught me by the back of the neck then threw me with her Vampire strength, the force she used launching me across the cave. My back impacted with the stone wall and I cried out as I hit the ground, my jeans tearing and my knees splitting open.
“Lance!” I shouted in desperation, scrambling to my feet and racing back towards them as fast as I possibly could.
“Stay back, Darcy!” Orion choked out, but I’d do no such thing.
Clara held him down, her back hunched like a beast as she drank and drank from him. He was horribly pale already, pushing at her shoulders but he was disarmed by her bite as the shadows fuelled her muscles and gave her power.
Panic tore through me as I ran at her, my Phoenix stirring but not nearly enough. I called on the shadows but it was like all of them were under her command, refusing to obey me.
I leapt onto her once more, throwing wild punches and tearing at her hair. She caught my arm, slamming me down onto the hard rocks beside Orion and clutching my throat with sharp nails to hold me there. I thrashed wildly, clawing at her hand as she continued to drain Orion mouthful by mouthful.
“STOP!” I screamed, terror carving a hole through my chest as he fell painfully still beneath her.
She stood suddenly, releasing us both and staring down at me with blood pouring over her chin. The draining dagger was clutched in her hand, soaked in blood which dripped down onto my shoes.
“No,” I rasped out, rolling over and frantically pawing at Orion. Dread poured over me as my fingers came away hot and sticky and I undid his coat with desperate movements.
Tears blurred my vision as I clasped my hands to the gaping wound on his stomach and pressed down hard. His eyes fell shut and my heart hit a terrifying beat as reality sank deep into my bones. She stabbed him. She fucking stabbed him!
Before I could even try and fight her, Clara hissed like a snake and shot out of the cave with her Vampire speed. The darkness seemed to cloud around her as she disappeared into the storm like a wraith.
Panic dashed my heart to pieces as I reared over Orion, cupping his cheek with bloody fingers and shaking him.
“Wake up, we have to get help,” I demanded, my voice trembling so violently I could barely get the words out.
His eyes flickered open and I pressed down harder on the wound on his stomach. “Get up,” I begged, tears coating my cheeks.
He groaned in pain and I released him, shaking from head to foot. “I have to go and find someone,” I said, trying to sound brave for him, though I felt anything but that right then as my heart cleaved in two.
“Stay,” he grunted, his hand closing around my wrist to keep me there. “Blue…”
“No,” I stopped him, shaking my head, knowing what he was going to say. “Don’t you dare give up. I’m getting you help.” I tried to move again but he held on tighter, squeezing my arm with need.
“Please,” he rasped. “I need you to be the last thing I see.”
“Don’t say that,” I sobbed as his blood rushed through my fingers. “You’re going to walk out of here, Lance Orion. You don’t die like this in some dark cave. I need you.”
A sob racked through me as he brought his other hand to my face, brushing a lock of blue hair behind my ear. The acceptance in his eyes was heartbreaking and I rejected it with everything I was.
“You’ve got to face Lionel,” he wheezed. “You have to work with the Heirs.” He winced as pain racked through him and I dropped my forehead against his, wishing I could pour my strength into him. “I know you can do it, Blue.”
“Please stop,” I begged. “You’re not going to die.”
“You made the last few months the happiest of my life, Darcy Vega. I’m sorry for being an asshole when we first met – biggest regret of my life.” He coughed heavily and blood slid out of his mouth, making my heart nearly collapse.
Panic juddered through me and I quickly wiped the blood away from his lips, refusing to believe this was it. That I had to give him up, that the stars would really take him from me.
“Shh, don’t, please don’t,” I sobbed, pressing my mouth to his and tasting nothing but blood and cinnamon.
“I needed you so badly, you have no idea,” he said, his voice fading as he pressed me back and searched my face like he was committing it to memory. “Now Solaria needs you…as their Queen. Promise you’ll claim the throne. Share it with Darius, he’s not his father.” His hand fell from my face like he wasn’t able to hold it there anymore. “Promise,” he whispered and the look in his eyes made me give in.
“I promise. But you’ll be there too. Darius needs you. I need you.”
“You don’t need me, beautiful. I was always a shitty teacher,” he said, taking a rattling breath that chilled me to my core.
I shook my head, wiping my tears away as I clutched onto him, rejecting the possibility that I was really going to lose him.
“I love you,” I sobbed and I hated myself for saying it because it sounded like goodbye.
His mouth pulled up at the corner then he fell still, his eyes closing and shaking the foundations of my soul.
I shook him in desperation, my tears washing over him as I pleaded with the stars, tried to bargain with anything and everything I was to bring him back to me. We were supposed to be forever. I’d sworn an oath to fight for him, no matter what it took to be with each other.
I lay a shaky kiss to his forehead, squeezing his hand and vowing not to give up. I’d never, ever give up on him. On us. We were meant to be together no matter what anyone said. And death wouldn’t get a say in it.
I shed my jacket, pushing it beneath him and tying the arms around his waist as tightly as I could to try and stem the bleeding. Then I ran from the cave, screaming to the sky as his blood dripped from my hands and soaked into my clothes, branding my skin with the scent of metal and death.
“Help!” I screamed until my throat was hoarse. “Help me!”
My Phoenix stirred and I forced her to get up, dragging her power into my veins as the shadows shifted enough to set her free.
I raised my hands toward the sky and cast fire at the heavens, a huge line of crimson and sapphire igniting the entire cliff in the urgent and magnificent light.
“I need help!”
