“He’s coming,” Ariana said, and I doubted that she meant Lysander.
More wolves joined the howling chain. Soon, they were all singing their warning song. Nicholas stood. Ian and Zuri appeared at our sides. The four of us created a vampire shield around Ariana.
“Where is it, Brady?” I asked.
“It’s all around us.” Brady said nervously. “Everywhere.”
“We need it in the circle,” Ariana said urgently. “Do whatever it takes.”
I grabbed the knife from Nicholas and sliced my wrist open, dripping blood in front of me. “You want your blood back, you bastard. Come and get it, Aniketos!” I waved my arm in the air.
It might not have been the most well thought out move, but that certainly got its attention. The wind raged around us. I watched the wolves all turning in circles, tracking its movement.
“It’s mad,” I said.
Nicholas snatched the dagger out of my hand and held it at the ready.
Lysander entered the circle, panting and out of breath. He set the two halves of the box down on the ground.
I ran to him and threw my arms around him. “Thank the gods you’re okay!”
“Now, we use Nicholas’s blood to call it to the ashes,” Ariana said.
Nicholas took the knife again, slashed his hand, and dripped blood into the box.
“It’s a vampire!” Lysander bellowed. “Don’t give it—”
Before he could finish the sentence the whirling wind intensified and became a dust devil before our eyes. It sucked up the blood-soaked ashes into the air. The cyclone began to morph, taking on a new shape, a human shape.
“Attack it,” Brady called out, and the wolves left their post.
In a matter of seconds, the ash had become solid. Still gray and decaying, Aniketos began to look like a horror movie zombie.
Ariana began to chant softly. She held her hands palms facing out toward the vampire form of Aniketos.
The wolves circled him, baring their fangs and snarling. One lunged at him. He caught the massive wolf in midair and sank his newly solidified fangs into the furry hide.
The wolf yelped and struggled in Aniketos’s claw-like grip. The others sprang to action.
With a swipe of his hand, he sent three of them crashing back to the ground.
Wolf after wolf, each one that lunged at Aniketos was taken down with little effort. I panicked, feeling for a moment that we were doomed; and then I remembered Nicholas’s lessons and rules of attack.
“Attacking him head on won’t work,” I shouted. “He’s too strong. He needs to be distracted.”
I searched around frantically for something we could use to attack him long range. If we could draw his attention away from the wolves, they might have a better chance against him.
On Brady’s command, the wolves abandoned their direct attack and retreated a bit to circle around Aniketos.
With a fresh source of blood running through his old veins, he continued to regenerate. In the firelight, his sallow complexion looked almost human.
An idea struck me just then. I remembered the legend referring to fire being used to release his spirit from his body.
“Hold him there. I’ve got an idea,” I said as I took off running for the main building.
“Alyssa, wait,” Lysander pleaded.
I ran into the building and located the kitchen. This had been a weekend for partying, barbequing, and celebrating the new recruits. If they were barbequing, they would have to have lighter fluid. I rummaged through drawers and cabinets until… bingo! I found the thin yellow bottle.
I took off in a sprint back to the bonfire. As I reached the circle, I yelled to Ian and Zuri, “Keep him off of me,” and popped the top on the bottle. Using all of my speed, I circled Aniketos, dousing him in the pungent liquid. The other two vampires ran interference while trying to avoid getting doused or hit.
When I had exhausted the bottle, I tossed it aside and ran to the fire. “Want to play catch?” I grabbed a large log that had been burning at the bottom of the pile and tossed it straight at Aniketos.
The log hit him and ignited the lighter fluid. Flames sprang to life all over his body. He howled and screamed as his newly grown flesh began to burn.
“Now!” I yelled, waving my hands frantically in the air to get everyone’s attention. “Bring him towards the bonfire. Knock him in.”
The wolves pushed, bit, and nipped at him, trying to knock him towards the fire while avoiding his wild swinging hands.
I returned to Lysander and Nicholas, who were still keeping close watch over Ariana while she was busy chanting.
Lysander sat with the scroll in hand, mumbling to himself while shaking his head.
“Quick thinking with the fire,” Nicholas smiled, though it looked forced.
“And you thought I wasn’t paying attention to your lessons,” I said, hoping to show him before he died that I appreciated his teaching me to fight. “Rule number two: Be creative and use everything at your disposal as a weapon.”
Ariana was still chanting on the ground where she had been sitting.
“How are the spells holding up?” I asked.
She broke from her chant to answer me. “According to Lysander, we don’t have the ingredients necessary for the original spells. So, there is no way to predict how things will work. I’m hoping my own improvisation will have similar effects.” She immediately returned to chanting, as if she had never stopped to talk.
Nicholas grabbed the box and brought it closer to the fire. “It’s time. We’ll only have a few minutes to get this right. Let’s do this.”
Lysander took the knife and walked with me toward the bonfire.
Aniketos’ cries had stopped, and now the flames of the bonfire were beginning to reshape into a new form.
“Ariana,” I yelled. “What’s happening?”
She stopped chanting and blinked a few times as if only now actually seeing what was happening. “Uh…” She quickly looked down to her book and flipped through the pages. “I don’t know. Let me try something else.”
“Alyssa, watch out!” Nicholas called.
Before I could turn around, Nicholas tackled me, knocking me to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blazing shape of an arm swipe over the top of us.
We rolled away just in time to avoid another swing of the long, flaming arm. I jumped to my feet and saw Lysander lunging toward the flaming figure of Aniketos.
“No!” I screamed and lurched forward.
Nicholas pulled me back. “It’s too late.” He caged me in his arms and held me back.
I struggled with all my might. “Let me go,” I screamed and thrashed trying to break free, but Nicholas wouldn’t let go. He locked me tightly in his arms.
I saw Lysander’s body being consumed by the flames. Painful screams and shouts emanated from the blaze as the flaming forms of Aniketos and Lysander wrestled to the ground.
Ariana appeared at our sides, book in hand. She was chanting again and held a clear crystal, the size of a water bottle, in her hand.
Ariana threw the crystal at them and yelled an indistinguishable word.
A bright burst of light flashed, blinding me. I covered my eyes with my arm and turned away. The light was so intense it felt like sunlight. The warmth heated my skin.
Just as it became almost painful, it was over, and all was dark. The bonfire had gone out, the flames had disappeared. The only light came from the moon above.
In the silvery glow I saw the tiny wooden box, lying in the grass. It was closed. Strangely enough, the box hadn’t been damaged or even singed by the fire. It was as if nothing had touched it.
An odd peaceful silence surrounded us. I hoped that meant that Aniketos had been locked safe in the box. If so, we’d accomplished our goal. But I couldn’t find the strength to feel happy about it at that moment.
Next to the box lay the charred body of my mate.
“Lysander.” I choked out his name.
Nicholas finally let me go and I crawled over to my mate on hands and knees. In his hand was the crystal. But it had changed. It was no longer clear. The crystal had turned a deep, blood red. Lysander’s body looked more charcoal than flesh.
Tears burned in my eyes. “Please, don’t be dead. You can heal. You just need blood.” I tore open my arm with my fangs and let my blood pour over his face. He’d healed once before from burns—he could do it again.
When my wound healed over itself, I tore it open again, not caring about the pain. Lysander needed blood, and I’d give him all I could if it would bring him back to me.
“C’mon, Lysander. Drink, baby, just drink.” Though his body lay immobile, I still felt the faint hint of warmth, the connection we shared. Like a whispering echo, it was there, somewhere, hanging by a tiny thread of life.
I felt a hand on my shoulder but didn’t want to turn away from Lysander. Blood was the only way to make him heal.
“He’s gone,” Nicholas said somberly.
“No! I won’t let him die. He can’t leave me.” I shook his hand from my shoulder. “You hear me, Lysander? You can’t leave me.”
Nicholas hauled me up off of the charred body and turned me to face him. “I know your pain.” He pulled me into his arms and held on tight.
I struggled under his cage-like grip. Lysander needed me. If there was any chance at all to save him, I had to try, now.
“Let his spirit move on,” Nicholas said.
How could he say that? How could he be so dismissive of the chance to help save his friend and maker? Rage tore through me, lending strength to my struggle. I broke his hold and slammed a fist into his chest. “He wasn’t supposed to die.”
Tears ran in streams down my cheeks.
Nicholas reached out to grab me again and I swatted his arm away. “It was supposed to be you, not him.”
I landed a few more punches into his chest before I collapsed to my knees sobbing uncontrollably.
Nicholas knelt down beside me, and pulled me again into his arms. “I know. It should have been me. For that, I’m sorry.” There was no arrogance in his voice, nor malice for the way I had spoken to him. He sounded almost longing.
I wanted to rage again. I needed an outlet for the raw emotions burning through me. My chest ached as if someone had reached into it and was slowly ripping my heart out. Lysander was more than just my mate. He was my savior. He’d saved me from the jaws of death so many times. He’d taught me how to embrace immortality and gave me the family I’d never had before. He was everything to me.
Nicholas rubbed my back and rested his head on my shoulder. He breathed heavily into my hair, and even though I was overwhelmed by my own emotions, I could feel his pain too.
“I’m sorry. I should have never said that about you. No one should have died.”
“I’d have gladly gone to be with my mate. At least now, she will have company. Rozaline and Lysander will be waiting for us both on the other side.”
“But I can still feel him here. Don’t you? He’s not gone yet.”
“I feel the connection too, but his body is too damaged. I can only imagine the pain he must be feeling. It would be kinder to put him to rest.”
I pulled back sharply. “No!”
Ariana walked up next to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “It is done. You all fought bravely.”
“But at what price? Lysander is fading,” I sobbed.
She eyed the corpse curiously. “Strange.” She bent over and pried the crystal from Lysander’s crispy hands. “I’ve never seen this happen before.”
I wiped away the tears still trickling down my face and reached for the box. “Whatever you did, it seemed to work.” I held it in my hands. It felt just as light as it had before. There was no indication of any extra weight inside, but I felt a sense of security seeing it closed in my hands. At least Aniketos’s spirit was back where it belonged.
“No, that’s not what I’m referring to. This crystal. It has a life force inside.”
My head shot up hearing her words.
Could it be?
“Look here.” She bent down and held the crystal out. “It is filled with blood, and there is an energy emanating from it.”
Gingerly, I took the crystal from her. The warmth, the connection I felt to Lysander intensified. It was as if he were standing right in front of me. My jaw dropped. “It’s him.”
“Who?” Nicholas said with alarm.
“Lysander. He’s here. In the crystal!” Hope renewed my spirit. He wasn’t dead. He was … well … protected.
Nicholas took the crystal from me and held it up eye level. “He
is
here. But how?”
“I told you I was winging it,” Ariana said sheepishly. “I pulled out every trapping spell I had in the grimoire. He must have gotten caught in the crossfire and the crystal took him in.”
“Can we get him out? Put him back in his body?” I looked over to the charred remains of my mate and cringed.
Ariana bit her lip. “I’m not sure. And even if I could, his body may be too damaged to hold his spirit inside.”
My momentary hope faded. Either way, it still looked as if Lysander was lost forever.