64. Conon

**Conon**

I get out of the car as quietly as I can. Kitty Kat and Holgan follow me. I tried to convince Kitty Kat to stay in the pack with Sky, but as soon as she heard Sinn had taken Caleb and Rain, she was already out the door. I had to drag her back to Caleb’s office, where Tatiana was already working on a plan. While Tatiana, Kitty Kat, and the vampires worked on a map of the Palace, Jo-fucker, Kevin, Holgan, Elton, and I prepared the weapons and the cars. Jeremy stays behind with Sarah to take care of the pack until we can kill Tristan’s twisted mother and brother and bring Caleb and Rain home.

We leave as soon as possible, but a magical barrier around the vampires’ territory prevents us from getting near the Palace. Tatiana has been working on breaking the spell for many hours.

As soon as the barrier was down, we got as close as possible to the Palace without being spotted by the damn leeches.

I follow Kitty Kat in silence as she leads us to a secret entrance in an old mansion about a mile away from the Palace. A tunnel connects the Palace to the abandoned house.

“Are you sure this place is not teeming with vampires?” Jo-fucker asks when Kitty Kat opens the front door.

Kitty Kat grips the pommel of her ash wood Katana hard. “Want me to push you inside just to be sure?” she asks him in an annoyed tone. When he looks inside, sniffing the air, Kitty Kat adds, “Thought so!”

**‘Our Kitty Kat is badass!’** Taos says proudly.

My soulmate is the first to enter because she is not afraid and knows the mansion better than Tristan. The vampires and I follow her. The others are behind us.

Before I enter, I look behind me; it is almost morning.

We walk quietly, Kitty Kat leading us to the living room. She snaps her fingers at Tristan’s knights. “Move the couch to the side! There’s a trapdoor under it that leads to the tunnel.”

One by one, we enter the pitch-black tunnel and follow Kitty Kat, moving as fast as we can. Our eyes adjust quickly to the darkness, and soon we can see our surroundings.

At some point, the tunnel splits three ways, and Kitty Kat enters the one to the right. “This one takes us to where the dungeons are!”

When we get closer to the Palace, a strong smell of rot hits us, and we stop to see where it is coming from.

Elton gags so hard I am surprised he isn’t vomiting. “What is that awful smell?” he asks.

“Maybe someone died down here,” I suggest.

Holgan scans ahead of us. “Multiply that by twenty or thirty, and you have the number you are looking for,” he says, pointing with his trident.

I look where Holgan is pointing and see reanimated corpses heading toward us.

“I never thought I would see the day when zombies became a reality,” I say, thinking of ‘The Walking Dead’ while I get my Kalis daggers out. “Don’t let them bite you!” I say as I attack one of the undead.

A small crossbow appears in Tatiana’s hands. “Or scratch you! They smell of black magic, and I have no doubt they are Paige’s creation. It is not the first time the Queen of the Black Witches has experimented with forbidden magic.”

The tunnel limits our movements, but with the help of Tatiana’s magic, we send the undead back to Hades.

The tunnel leads us to a stockroom. Holgan tries to open the door, but it is locked. With a strong kick, he breaks the door down. We leave the tunnel behind and run inside the dungeons, killing a few vampires that dare to cross our paths when the Palace starts to vibrate. Tatiana falls to her knees and puts her palms around her head, breathing hard. “The portal has been opened!” she says in a tone full of pain. “Get to Caleb and Rain and get them out before something happens to them!”

“Elton, remain with Tatiana and Oana and release all the slaves you can find in the cells!” Tristan says before the Palace shakes so violently that we hear windows shattering and the floors cracking.

Screams of terror reach our ears, and suddenly, I feel afraid. What's happening?

**Caleb**

I should have guessed the fucking Leech Queen lied to me when she told me she would free Red. Instead of fighting harder, all I did was put Red and the baby at more risk. As Red is dragged away from me to be used in opening a portal for the Demon King, her eyes are puffy from crying from the pain she felt when I was forced to touch other females last night. Her eyes are filled with terror, and I know I have to do everything I can to save her. I block the pain I feel from everything that was done to me and fight harder, trying to get to her. Since yesterday, the vampires haven’t used the gas on me, but this damn silver collar keeps my Ice and Raven blocked from me. But it doesn’t matter; I will get Red out, even if it kills me.

When the Evil Witch starts working on a pentagram and vampires bring in four slaves that will be used in the opening of the portal, I get desperate because I am almost out of time to get Red out of the Palace before they harm her. Or worse.

Among the four slaves, there’s an Angel, and I hear his voice in my head before invisible hands start working on my collar. *‘As soon as your collar comes off, help your female send the Demon King back to his realm and destroy the portal!’*

I punch the closest knight in the jaw so hard I am amazed I didn’t break my knuckles. When I reach for the knight’s sword, Sinn throws Emma from his lap, rushes to me, pushing me hard, knocking me to the floor, and starts kicking me with his boots. Somehow, I manage to get up, and I fight Sinn hard, wanting to kill him for harming my soulmate. My collar comes off just as the Black Bitch kills the Angel. Raven and my magic are freed, and big icicles appear in front of me. I send them straight at Sinn and the knights with so much hate and power I impale them to the wall behind the thrones. My Ice won’t kill them, but it will keep them occupied while I get Red away from the portal.

Sinn screams and thrashes, using his claws to free himself from my magic, and I send more icicles in his direction, two going through his palms and another through his chest. To be sure he doesn’t escape, I drive two ice lances into his knees. Next, I send one through his opened mouth, not wanting to hear his shrieks anymore.

Next, I take care of the knights, preventing them from freeing themselves.

**‘Red and the baby!’** Raven roars inside my head before I rush to where the portal is.

I make it to her just in time, and I barely register when the Demon King cuts my arm with his sword. Red’s eyes turn the color of rubies for just a moment before her Fire goes wild. Suddenly an earthquake shakes the Palace. It stops after a few seconds.

As I look at Red, the color of her eyes makes me think of other things, but she is not like the vampires. I bury the memories deep inside me, and I focus on what’s happening.

The Demon King puts up a barrier between him and Red’s Fire, saving not only himself but also the Leech Bitch as well as half of the Vampire Court. Red’s magic easily burns the other half, taking out the slaves attending to the vampires. Their screams of terror and pain echo inside the Palace.

Red’s magic spreads like wildfire, and I rush to use my Ice to save Emma and the remaining slaves from being burned alive. Her Fire almost reaches Sinn and the knights. While I don’t care what happens to the knights, I don’t want Sinn to die. Not yet. I put a wall of ice in front of him, keeping him alive for now. I want to make him suffer, just like he tortured me for all those years.

**‘We will kill him slowly!’** Raven says, pacing inside my head, ready to exact revenge on Sinn. **‘For touching and hurting what’s ours, we will make him pay!’** He sends more icicles and ice lances in Sinn’s way because the current ones are melting.

While the knights slowly turn to ashes, I add more power to my magic before I turn my attention to the Demon King—he and the remaining vampires are disappearing down the stairs, fleeing from the inferno Red had created.

While I don’t want the Demon King and the Leech Bitch to escape, I have to concentrate on Red. Her magic is so strong I am afraid it will consume not only the Palace but her as well.

Down the stairs, a fight breaks out, but I only care about my soulmate.

“Leave!” I shout to the remaining slaves.

They obey, and with the help of my magic, they escape the fire. Emma rushes out of the court but stops on top of the stairs and stares at Red and me.

I get closer to Red, but she snarls at me, her ruby eyes staring at me with so much hate it breaks my heart. Oh, Goddess! She has turned feral. “Red,” I coo while I try to touch her, but she leaps out of my grasp. Her Fire whips around me, trying to reach me, but my Ice keeps me safe. “You have to come back to me! Sky needs you!” I say, and I try to get closer to her. A lump forms in my throat, but I swallow it. “I need you,” I whisper to her. Everything that has happened over this last day threatens to bury me deep in depression, but I need to save my Red. Everything else can wait. Even my pain. “I can’t do this without you. And if you die, I will follow you, Red. Do you want to leave our daughter, Sky, alone in this world?” She looks at me, tilting her head to her left. My fingers brush her cheek, and her skin feels like a furnace. She snarls again before trying to bite me, but I remove my hand in time. “Think of our baby!” I say to her. A flash of recognition appears in her eyes but disappears so fast I am afraid I imagined it.

I increase the power on the magic ice walls, preventing Red from killing Sinn or the flames from reaching Emma.

Raven starts to get impatient. **‘Use your Alpha voice!’**

“Female! Stop!” I say in a commanding tone. From the corner of my eye, I see Conon, Katherine, Tristan, and his knights arriving on the stairs, followed by the Fucker and his Beta. I block everything around me, focusing entirely on Red. “Stop!” I say again when Red keeps snarling at me. “Come back to me!” I command, using my Alpha voice. Red growls for a few more moments before stopping. Before she has time to react, I take her face between my palms, and I kiss her with everything I have.

My back feels like it’s burning, and the marks I received from the magic grove connect my mind to hers, and I grit my teeth when I sense the chaos inside her head; her thoughts feel like a sea of flames. “Red, you need to stop!” I push my command deep inside her mind. “Te iubesc!” (I love you) Something changes in her gaze.

**‘I love you, Red. You and Safia are my everything!’** says Raven.

“I love you,” I repeat, kissing her. “How do I help you?” I beg and hug her. Red’s Fire extinguishes, she wraps her arms around me, and my heart accelerates. I take a step back and put my palms around her face. Red blinks and her eyes slowly return to their natural color—green.

“Caleb?” she asks, her voice hoarse. I nod, and she buries her nose in my chest, and I put my arms around her. “What happened?”

I look around and see the ashes of all the vampires Red burned. Unfortunately, some slaves also died, but it wasn’t her fault. The palace walls are made from stone, and except for the wall of ice imprisoning Sinn, the rest are scorched black, and cracks have appeared all over the place.

“You saved me,” I say to her.

A heart-wrenching sob escapes her lips. “When the Demon King hurt you, I thought I lost you! I was so afraid! Don’t scare me like that ever again!”

I look at my arm. With everything that happened, I forgot about my injuries. Luckily, my magic has healed them. “I will be by your side as long as you need me!” I promise her. “Even if I don’t deserve you, I am too selfish to give up on you and the baby. Or Sky.” 

Conon, Katherine, and Holgan rush to us while Tristan wraps Emma in his coat before scooping her up and taking her away. His knights follow him. I hope Tristan will be patient with Emma and make her happy, giving her the life she deserves.

Katherine looks at me, and I can see in her eyes that she knows what has been done to me. I am sure the others have guessed by now as well. Katherine opens her mouth, but I speak before her. “I don’t want to talk about it!” She gives me a curt nod.

I look at Sinn—his red eyes are full of fear. “Take him with us! I want to make him pay for everything he has done!” I say, my tone full of hate, and Holgan hurries to do as I ask.