Chapter 374: Vampire Magic
Ameline must have seen or felt the essence of the vampire wake inside me, because the draw on my power ended abruptly as her eyes flew very wide, mouth hanging open.
I have to admit I was more than a little shocked myself to find myself standing suddenly over her, even more that I didn't have anything to do with the movements of my body. I'd had my demon take me over before, but this was different.
Very, very different.
"Listen to me, witch child," the vampire said, reaching out with my hand to touch Ameline's forehead. The moment she did, the mist collapsed, pattering to the floor in a rain of blood, soaking everything. But at least I could breathe.
Ameline rocked back on her heels, face slack as the vampire went on.
"What you are creating, what you seek and desire, can never be. The maji knew it. I was formed in an effort to do what you are attempting. They failed. The greatest powers of their kind failed." She lashed out with white magic, knocking Ameline on her butt in the blood with a wet smack. "What makes you think you can do better?"
Ameline scrambled to her feet, a great effort on the slippery floor. But the vampire let her rise, watched her with a mix of anger and cold detachment, while I struggled to regain the power stolen from me.
But Ameline was still powerful, beyond me, and I could do nothing about it.
The vampire could.
I felt it, the draw of magic returning to me, the familiar feel I remembered from the night Ameline and the Dumont brothers attacked me, when the vampire essence stole her power and almost crippled her. This time the pull was much more powerful. Free of her prison, the vampire inside me had free rein. And she didn't hesitate to return what belonged to me.
Ameline wailed, back pedaled, her hands flapping in front of her as though that could sever the touch of the vampire. But she didn't need to touch my enemy, the initial contact was more than enough. I could almost see a huge rope stretching between us, like a power cable, feeding back from Ameline and into me.
Into us. Shaylee surged to full power, my demon roaring her joy and defiance while the vampire's displeasure drove Ameline back and back until she stood among the ruin of her new coven.
But the vampire wasn't done. She sent all the power out of Ameline, back into those she'd stolen from. The undead ones Ameline recruited quickly recovered, as did Darin and his witches, now shaking their heads and looking around as though she'd held them thrall.
Which she probably had. Even Simon slumped, head falling forward as if he'd been released.
Only then did I notice Jean Marc and Kristophe cowering in the corner, hidden all this time by vampires and other witches. They the vampire essence left empty.
Instead, she funneled their power to me. I resisted at first, the taint of their lavender magic almost too much. But once it reached me it purified, melding with the Hayle family magic until it was clean again.
"Your evil will not be allowed to continue." The vampire wasn't done. Ameline was now stripped again, to her core, but the vampire didn't stop. I watched the girl's face begin to whither and age, her hands shrinking and becoming lined and hollow. Ameline screamed as she touched her face, eyes full of terror and the most hate I'd ever seen.
I reached out to join the vampire in containing her. This had to end. But before I could complete the ward around her, Ameline spun, jerking a knife from her pocket, driving the blade into Darin's neck.
Fresh blood magic surged outward, so powerful even the vampire essence was knocked backward. Ameline's features were restored in a flash, but the hate remained as she shuddered and vanished in a cloud of red fire.
"My love!" Rupe's wail drove a blade of its own through me. "Don't leave me!"
There was no protecting him when the red power appeared again and carried him off.
"No!" Mia was finally aware, it seemed, falling forward, one hand in the blood, the other reaching for the vanished Rupe. She then collapsed, passed out, eyelids fluttering and I knew she'd never be the same.
The house upstairs was suddenly alive with thudding footsteps, shouting, witch magic. Distracted, I glanced away and back again, seeing Liam slump as he released the shield, catching one last flicker from a basement full of frightened witches and vampires.
To see Alison staring at her hands. Covered in blood. Lift them to her mouth.
Taste it.
Meet my gaze with her blacked out eyes. And laugh as her body flooded with life.
Only to disappear.
Oh crap.
That can't be good. I spoke directly to the essence. She sighed, sinking back inside me and returning to her quiet, calm state.
No, she agreed. Though now I know I have chosen well, Sydlynn Hayle. In you.
There was that, at least.
A wall of Enforcers pounded their way down toward us, Quaid among them. He met my eyes, his full of fear for me. I raised my weary hand and saluted him.
"Still think I went looking for trouble?"
***
