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Blood Freed (Vampire-Cursed #4) 24. Chapter 24 77%
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24. Chapter 24

24

Chapter 24

Mia

I have to get out of here!

The rush of blood in my ears drowns out the sounds around me. There’s nothing to listen to here, anyway. Nothing they try to do now is going to change anything.

I can feel him. In brief flashes of consciousness, I can feel him being led to his death.

Time! There’s no time!

The magic burns through me, darker and more potent than anything I’ve felt before. The room dissolves into crimson shadows around me.

I feel it changing me, twisting something deep inside. The price of dark magic whispers through my bones, but I don’t care. Nothing matters except reaching him.

“Sorry, I…I…” I fumble for words as I push myself to my feet. “I need to do something,” I say, aware of my family’s eyes on my back as I rush from the room.

My blood feels hot in my veins as I sprint through the house, not sure what I’m looking for until I reach the kitchen. There’s a block on the counter that holds several cooking knives. Without thinking, I grab one, wielding the sharp tip over my palm and pressing down deep. Pain sears through my flesh, but I’m barely aware of it, my eyes fixed on the blood that pulses from the deep gash.

Footsteps pound in the hallway.

“Mia!” Gran’s voice is strident as she appears in the doorway, her eyes wild with concern. “No! Mia, don’t!”

But it’s too late. My lips are already moving as I chant incantations I barely recognize that seem to come to me from beyond.

As the last word swirls into silence, my consciousness fragments, scattering like drops of blood in water. The transportation spell tears reality apart, reconstructing it in flashes of red and black. Pain lances through every nerve as the magic reshapes space itself.

I have no idea where I’m going. I’m just following the pull of the bond that feels like it’s always been part of me. I don’t question it. I know that wherever this leads me, I’ll find him.

The air feels like it’s sucked into a vacuum as the red and black lights stop abruptly. I’ve materialized in a vast room. Ancient stone walls rise up, carved with runes that pulse with contained power. Vampires in formal black attire stand in tiered rows, their faces turned toward the eastern wall where…

My heart stops.

Soren stands in chains, head held high as the first rays of dawn pierce through the wall that’s opening in front of him. Opening to the daybreak beyond. Sunlight touches his skin, and my heart stops.

“Soren!” I scream. The sound echoes off the stone, raw and desperate.

The gathered vampires turn toward me in shock. Lucien’s face contorts with rage.

But I’m not looking at them. I’m hurtling toward my vampire lover, who’s bathed in sunlight.

Something breaks loose inside me. The fragile threads of control I’ve been clinging to snap, and the dark magic surges forward like a tidal wave. My vision turns red, blood-tinged, and pulsing with power that feels ancient and terrible.

There’s a rush of footsteps as guards swarm in front of the doorway that leads to where they’ve tethered him.

“Move! Now!” The words tear from my throat, but it’s not my voice anymore. The sound seems to resonate with otherworldly power that makes the air vibrate. A sweep of my hand has guards tumbling like skittles.

The assembled vampires recoil en masse, their faces contorting with fear. Several try to flee, but my magic lashes out, tendrils of crimson energy wrapping around throats and limbs. I fling them aside like dolls, their bodies crashing into the stone walls.

“Get out of my way!” I scream as more guards rush toward me with weapons drawn. The magic responds to my rage, exploding outward in a wave of devastating force. Their bodies explode, showering the room with blood; fragments of flesh and bone shower down like macabre rain.

“Impossible,” someone whispers in horror. “No witch has this much power.”

But I do. I can feel it coursing through me, wild and uncontrollable, feeding on my desperation to reach Soren.

I fling myself forward toward the protective barrier that keeps the sunlight at bay. My feet splash through pools of blood as I race across the chamber. Vampires scatter before me, their faces masks of terror as they flee. Some slip in the gruesome carnage I created, stumbling over each other in their desperation to escape.

None of that matters. All I can see is Soren.

And the sunlight.

Bursting through the doorway, I cover the distance between us so quickly that I’m certain my feet don’t touch the ground.

Too late…I’m too late.

I swallow down sobs, my heart shattering at the unfairness of it all. Because now he’s completely surrounded by light.

“No!” The word is torn from me, my throat raw, my breathing ragged. I throw myself onto him, trying to shield his body from the deadly rays with my own. “No, no, please no…” The words tumble from my lips as I press against him, expecting to feel him crumbling to ash beneath me.

But his body is solid. Warm. Alive.

I pull back slightly, confused. The sunlight bathes us both, and Soren…he’s glowing. A soft, golden radiance seems to emanate from within him, making his skin luminous in the dawn light. I stare into eyes that are unnaturally blue as we stand together. They’re filled with the same wonder I feel.

“How?” I whisper, touching his face with trembling fingers. The chains that bound him lie broken on the ground, shattered by my magical onslaught.

He shakes his head. He looks as stunned as I feel. The sunlight plays across his features, highlighting the impossible truth – he isn’t burning. He isn’t dying. The dawn’s rays seem to strengthen him instead of destroying him.

Oh, my God. Thank you…thank you!

Around us, the remaining vampires press against the far walls, as far from the light as possible. Their shocked murmurs fill the enclosed chamber as they witness something that should be impossible – a vampire not just surviving in sunlight but thriving in it.

The rush of relief makes me dizzy as I touch Soren’s face again, hardly daring to believe he’s real, that he’s alive. The sunlight continues to pour through the opening, bathing us both in its warmth. His skin glows with an otherworldly radiance that takes my breath away.

But even as my heart soars with joy, I feel something dark and dangerous stirring inside me. The magic I unleashed to get here pulses through my veins like liquid fire. My hands start to tremble as the full weight of what I’ve done crashes over me. The chamber floor is slick with blood, the walls splattered with evidence of my rampage. Bodies – or what’s left of them – litter the ground.

I did that. Me. The magic responds to my horror, coiling tighter, hungry for more.

My vision blurs, tinged with red. The power I’ve tapped into doesn’t want to be contained again. It wants to consume everything, starting with the vampires still cowering in the shadows. I can feel their terror, smell their fear, and some primitive part of me revels in it.

“Mia.” Soren’s voice cuts through the haze of bloodlust. His hands cup my face, forcing me to meet his gaze. Those impossible blue eyes ground me, but I can see his own shock at what I’ve become. “Are you okay?”

It’s ironic that he should be the one asking me this, but before I can answer, slow clapping echoes through the chamber. Lucien steps forward from the shadows, his face a mask of cruel delight.

“Oh, this is perfect,” he purrs, eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “The Conclave will be very interested to see what their precious Blackwood witch is capable of. Tell me, my dear, how many did you kill to save him? Shall we count the bodies?”

The magic surges again, responding to his taunt. Red mist swirls around my feet as darkness floods my vision. I feel Soren tense beside me, but it’s too late.

This monster hurt the man I love. And now he’s threatening me.

There’s hell to pay…and Lucien Marlowe is going to pay it.

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