Bite the Bullet (Bitten Book 5) (27 page)

A
fter I shared
my plan with my friends, I urged them to the edge of the circle. With each passing moment, the air around us felt denser and heavier. Either that or I was getting weaker.

I shot a glance over to where the real Rhys was leaned against the wall. He’d barely moved since this all began. I was glad because two of him were enough to deal with. A third would have been too much.

I also wished my visions hadn’t been so damned spotty and choppy. There was no way to tell if I was doing the right thing.

I shook my head. I couldn’t allow myself to be distracted by thinking like that. Whatever happened between now and the end, I knew we would win.

Taking a deep breath, I holstered my gun and crouched in the far side of the circle.

“Ready?” I asked the other four.

Ricki answered for them all. “Just do it already!”

Using my entire strength, I leapt straight up into the air, extending my fists. My hands went through the sheetrock and I grabbed two handfuls of it and yanked as I fell.

I’d been partially right when I said I might pull the ceiling down on us. Powder and debris rained down as large chunks of sheetrock hit the ground, but only around me.

Just like that, the circle was broken.

When I landed on my feet, knees bent, I looked up to find Rhys One and Two staring at me with identical stunned expressions.

“Doesn’t seem so easy now, does it?” I asked. Without taking my eyes off them, I directed my next question at Kerry. “Ready?”

“Always,” she replied.

She stepped forward, standing next to me and reached into the pouch tucked inside her waistband. She pulled out a piece of chalk and clasped it between her hands, rolling it as she chanted.

A greyish white drawing appeared beneath the feet of the doppelgangers. Kerry began to walk forward, tugging a small baggie out of the pouch at the same time. She scooped out some of the powder inside.

I moved with her, prepared to fight them if they managed to escape her spell.

Kerry lifted her hand and blew the powder into the air around Rhys One and Two.

I watched as the grey dust cloud appeared to fill the circle, floating all around the two. Kerry began to chant again, but she was cut off by a wild cry.

“NO!”

Together, we turned to see Rhys rising to his feet, his black eyes sparking with flecks of red and his hair lifting and twisting in an invisible wind.

“They are mine to kill. I’ve waited centuries for vengeance and I won’t be denied.”

What was he talking about? He was on their side. I stepped in front of Donna, Ivie, and Kerry, intent on protecting them by any means necessary.

Cornelius used our distraction to his advantage.

I turned just in time to see him throw Rhys Two, who I’d realized was Frederick, through the barrier of the circle. After having brushed against one not long ago, I knew the pain had to be excruciating.

The warlock screamed, his body falling to the floor as smoke drifted upwards from his clothes and hair. Frederick twitched and groaned, his body twisting into unnatural angles. He made one final agonized sound before he went still. I knew without touching him that he was dead. As I stared in horror at his corpse, the glamour that made him look like Rhys collapsed, fading back into his body. He lay on the floor, his blonde hair singed and his grey eyes wide and unseeing. A trickle of blood moved across his forehead and clung to the corner of his eye like a tear.

Smiling victoriously, Cornelius stepped out of the now shattered circle. “I suppose he had his uses after all.” He crouched down next to Frederick’s body, placing his hand on the dead warlock’s chest. “Ah, his soul is still here.”

I suddenly comprehended what he was about to do and lunged toward him, unsure of my intentions since I couldn’t kill him with my bare hands. Without sparing me a glance he flicked his fingers lazily in my direction. It felt as though I’d hit an invisible stone wall. My entire body shuddered and I fell backwards.

I scrambled to my feet in time to see a black shadow gather around Cornelius’ hand where it touched Frederick’s chest. Thin tendrils wrapped around his fingers and crawled up his arms, disappearing beneath his skin.

I realized we were watching him consume the warlock’s soul.

“We have to do something,” I said to Kerry.

She turned to look at me. “I can’t stop him. I’ve been trying.”

I faced Rhys, the real Rhys. “Do something. Stop him!”

He shook his head and I wanted to scream.

“You treacherous bastard!” I cried. “I can’t believe you betrayed us!”

The real Rhys stared at me, shock plainly written on his features. “I didn’t betray you! I can’t stop him. His strength is at its peak when he’s feeding.”

Soon enough, the black disappeared and I knew Cornelius had finished. Since Rhys was no longer an ally, I knew it was up to the five of us to end this.

Desperate to buy some time, I drew my weapon and fired a shot right between his eyes.

His head snapped back, his body jolting violently. Then he straightened, his eyes pits of black and red fire, like molten lava. He came to his feet so quickly that he was a blur of motion.

He lunged forward and tore the gun from my grasp, even as I shot him three more times. Cornelius snarled, his face losing any vestiges of humanity. He looked just like the Rhys from my vision.

“Psychic cunt,” he growled.

He took a vicious swipe at me with his hand and I cried out as what felt like five razorblades tore through the flesh of my forearm. He moved faster than any vampire I’d ever seen and he was strong, even stronger than I’d expected.

I deflected another swipe. Then Cornelius was gone.

Rhys tackled him with a howl, the two of them going down in a tangle of limbs, fangs, and claws. In their struggle, they knocked Kerry and I to the ground.

Donna grabbed me beneath my arms and hauled me away and I saw Ricki had Kerry.

“Oh my God,” I muttered. “Rhys didn’t betray us. It was Cornelius I saw in my vision. Cornelius using a glamour to look like Rhys.”

“Does that mean that Rhys is going to help us after all?” Kerry asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. I thought I understood what my visions were showing me, but clearly I didn’t.” I’d had too much confidence in my abilities. Now we were all in danger and I had no idea what would happen next or if we would even come out of this alive.

Kerry grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Focus, Shannon. It isn’t the time for you to beat yourself up.”

She was right. I took a deep breath and focused. “We need to kill Cornelius. Then we can figure out what to do about Rhys.”

Kerry nodded.

“I can’t tell which is which,” Donna murmured to me.

“Me either,” Ricki added. “They even smell the same.”

I watched in horror as my vision began to play out before my very eyes.

The brothers broke apart, backing away from each other, each of them whispering and chanting. An invisible wind twisted between them, lifting the ends of their hair and tearing at their clothes.

“Back up,” Kerry whispered. “One stray incantation and we could be killed.”

Though I felt as if I was reliving a nightmare, we crept back from the brothers. I only hoped reality ended the same way my vision had.

“I should have killed you centuries ago,” one Rhys snarled, circling the other.

“I’ve often thought the same thing about you, brother,” the second Rhys replied, crouching lower and mirroring the other’s movements.

“As if you had the strength.”

“Can you tell which is which?” Kerry asked me softly. “Because I can’t.”

I hesitated. “I think so. Any moment now, Cornelius will say…”

“Time to die, little brother,” Rhys One sneered. “You were always the weak one.”

I pointed to him. “That’s Cornelius.”

Kerry tried to dump the powder out of the baggie she used before but it was empty. “Shit, I’m out.” She reached into the neckline of her shirt and pulled out a leather pouch.

Cornelius twisted toward us, his face more animal than human.

Kerry darted forward and blew the powder in his face while he was glaring at me. She backpedaled, chanting in Latin. Cornelius tried to take a step toward her, but Rhys lifted a hand, holding him back without touching him.

She repeated the incantation again, and the air in the room seemed to grow heavier, so heavy that I almost couldn’t breathe.

As she finished the spell, calling out, “As I will it, so shall it be!”

Rhys moved forward and put his hand on Cornelius’ heart, whispering rapidly in a language I didn’t understand. Still, I knew now what he was doing.

At the moment of Cornelius’ death, Rhys was consuming his soul.

“Never again will I be a slave, brother. I will finally be free of you,” he hissed.

In awe, I watched as black gathered around Rhys’ hand, but as it penetrated his skin, it began to glow an eerie blue. His skin began to emit the same light, filling the room with the azure glow.

The power of Kerry’s spell stretched taut until it finally snapped. Cornelius’ body fell limply to the floor, and Rhys stared at his palm in wonder.

“It’s finally been returned to me,” he murmured.

“What has?” I asked warily.

He lifted his eyes to look at us and I gasped. They were no longer pitch black. Though he was his brother’s twin in every other way, his eyes weren’t blue as Cornelius’ had been. They were jade green.

“My power, my free will. Never again will I be forced to do my brother’s bidding. I’ve fought him for centuries. Every time I thought I’d broken his hold, he’d find another way to enslave me using magic or manipulation.”

“You devoured his soul,” Kerry accused. “You betrayed us!”

“It was the only way to regain my powers completely,” Rhys explained. “But I didn’t betray you. I never willingly helped my brother. I’ve been his prisoner in one way or another my entire life. That’s how he’s increased his strength over the centuries, by taking from me.”

His gaze came to me.

“Thank you for helping me,” he offered, his green eyes shining with sincerity and….relief. “And believing in me. You’re the first one who ever has.”

Then he vanished into thin air.

A
s soon as
Rhys disappeared, something large hit the door to the basement with a crash. Through the thick steel, I could hear Calder’s frantic voice.

“Ricki’s in here. I can smell here.”

Donna ran to the door and threw it open. Calder, Conner, Finn, and Lex rushed inside. Asher was last to enter.

Our eyes met and I could see the relief in his. I nodded to him, letting him know I was all right. His gaze briefly dropped to my aching arm and I knew that he could see the bloody slashes in my shirtsleeve.

I glanced down and saw that the scratches were nearly healed, just four pink welts. My arm stung, but considering how deep the cuts had been, I was pleased with the healing rate.

Calder scooped Ricki up in his arms, holding her close. “Are you okay? When the ballroom exploded, I thought I might have lost you. If Finn hadn’t told me that you were still alive in the house, I would have gone insane.”

Ricki hugged him back tightly. “I’m fine. Not even a scratch.”

My eyes darted to Asher, who was moving across the room toward me.

“I’m okay,” I assured him. “It didn’t happen exactly like I thought it would, but it’s done.”

Looking up at him, it really hit me that it was all over. Cornelius was dead. I could start living a normal life again.

Well, as normal as it could be now that I was a vampire and I’d taken a vampire mate.

I reached up and wrapped my arms around Asher’s neck and gave a little hop so I could wrap my legs around his waist. I squeezed him as tightly as I could.

“It’s over. It’s actually over,” I repeated.

He planted his feet and held me close. “Almost.”

I lifted my head from his shoulder. “What do you mean almost?”

Asher ran the backs of his fingers over my cheek. “There will be some stragglers from the group. Then there are the vampire leaders in other states who allied themselves with Cornelius.”

“Like Alistair,” I said darkly.

Asher nodded.

“What about the order that Rhys told us about?”

“We’ll be looking into that as well, but the order hasn’t attempted anything like what Cornelius did. After this, I doubt they’ll be pushing their propaganda any time soon.”

Asher looked around. “Where is Rhys?”

I unwound my legs from around his hips and he let me slide down until my feet touched the floor.

“Gone,” I answered.

“Gone? Where did he go?”

I shrugged. “I have no clue. He literally vanished before our eyes.”

He scowled. “Really?”

I touched his cheek, tilting his face down to mine. “Without him, Cornelius would have killed me. It wasn’t in my visions, but the bastard would have done much worse than this to me,” I stated, gesturing to my arm.

“I still want to talk to him.”

“I do too,” Kerry interjected. “I have no idea what he did when I cast the spell or if he’s going to suffer side effects from being so close to Cornelius when I completed the ritual. He’s just lucky I didn’t have time to set a circle beforehand or he’d be dead too.” She paused. “Plus, I think I have a dampening amulet I can give him that will make it possible for him to drive a car or use a telephone.”