Page 58 of Claimed

Nix realises what’s happening and lurches for me but I have formed a shield of shadows around me and the book, and he cannot get to me.

As soon as it’s done, I will have no protection. My power will be gone and I’ll be standing alone in a room full of vampires and werewolves.

Why would you destroy yourself for them? For the people who’ve hurt you. For the humans who betrayed you?

Insidious, viper like voices bite at my thoughts.

I roar louder, raise my arms, then slam my palms down on the book. The entire crypt shakes. The ceiling starts to crumble, and I force the shadows back inside their cage.

I pour them in and in and in and in and watch them consume themselves.

The book blackens at the edges. And as it dissolves, so does the shield around me. By the time it is gone, and I fall to the floor, the shield is gone too.

And Nix is on me.

Except, he is not hurting me, he’s throwing me aside, scrambling for the book, running his hands over the floor as though he might be able to pick up the pieces of it.

I crawl away, but someone grabs me by the hair. A werewolf. Then a vampire. But then they are gone.

There is a blur of movement. Cerberus howls, then goes silent. I look up and see Kim standing over him, dagger dripping with blood.

Nix’s vampires hurl themselves at Lucien, who roars at Kim to get me out of the crypt. But the werewolves run; their allegience is to whoever has the most power and as they can’t decide right now who that is, they’re not going to risk their lives fighting.

The ceiling is crumbling. As Kim scrapes me up, Lucien roars, “Renfield?!” then rips the heart out of a vampire’s chest.

Nix stands, shaking, stumbling toward Cerberus.

“Kim, we can’t leave Lucien…” I batter his shoulders with my fists. “We need to get him out of here.”

Kim doesn’t answer, he carries me out, and across the street, and bundles me into the back of a car. “To the airfield,” he barks.

I am slipping in and out of consciousness. “A plane?” I mutter. “Why are we getting on a plane? Kim?”

“Because it’s time to leave Cambridge,” he says.

31

Lucien

Icannot end them all, but I end enough to allow me to escape. Nix doesn’t come after me. When I leave, he is crouched over Cerberus’ body weeping bloody tears.

The sight of it makes my heart throb, and part of me wants to stop. Comfort him. Offer him solace and a different kind of future.

But I’ve done that before. Nix is irredeemable. That much, I am certain of.

So, I leave him with the church crumbling around him.

I race across the city, and I don’t look back until I reach the airfield.

In my pocket, my phone rings. “Mack?” I pick it up and take a moment to let myself feel the pain in my arms and torso from the bites I took.

“You sound like shit.” A smooth-as-fuck American accent. “I take it you need the getaway vehicle?”

“You mean your plane?” I look at my arm, willing it to heal faster. “Yeah, we need it. We’re boarding now.”

“Well, I’m sorry you had to use it. But I’m glad I could be of help.”

I inhale sharply. “We might be bringing trouble to your door.”