Zodiac Academy 8: Sorrow and Starlight
Sorrow and Starlight: Chapter 48

I yanked against the shadow restraints holding me back with all the force I could muster, using every ounce of Vampire strength I had to get to Tory.

“Blue!” I bellowed, my voice ripping out of my lungs and echoing around the entire throne room. But she was gone, no glimmer of her in that rabid beast which was tearing into her twin’s flesh.

She would be destroyed by this, she’d never come back from it if she killed her other half, and beyond that, Tory had become like kin to me. I couldn’t see her die. I’d sworn to Darius that I’d protect her and wherever my friend was now, I knew he could see his moment, that he was roaring my name in the sky and demanding I save her.

But I couldn’t get free of the fucking shadows. Each bind I snapped through was only replaced by another, hauling me back whenever I gained a single step.

The Shadow Beast tossed Tory toward me like a broken doll, and she lay limp and bloody just beyond the cage. So close and yet so fucking far. Her face was pale, lifeless, and I had the most dreadful fear that the beast had killed her.

That bear-like creature stalked close, muzzle bloody and a hunger in its eyes for more death. And its gaze was set on me.

“Darcy Vega, fight your way back to us!” I commanded, but those eyes were pitch black and held no sign of my mate in them. All I could see was Lavinia’s influence, a cold, wicked thing that held no love for anything in this world. Least of all us.

The Shadow Beast roared, leaping forward and tearing the cage to ribbons as it came for me. The shadows yanked me back against the wall, a fresh kill ready and waiting.

My eyes fell on Tory again, the blood rushing from her wounds and life steadily pouring out of her.

No. I won’t let this happen. I refuse this fate.

Panic welled, followed by a fury so acidic that it burst from my chest in the form of a roar, my fangs extending and my blood pounding with some foreign feeling I’d never experienced. My Order was more present than it had ever been, my mind on overdrive, my vision heightened so much that I could physically see the pulse points on the Shadow Beast and Tory. Red curtained my vision and the animal in me called out for its brother, my sanguis frater.

With a feeling like being jerked awake, my vision suddenly doubled, and I could somehow see a whole different location. I felt my mind merging with another, and knew without having to ask that it was my coven brother I was connected to through this impossible magic.

I was in a dark corridor, hurrying along with the speed of my Order, carrying someone on my back while Seth was tucked under my arm. As I turned to look over my shoulder, I took in lines of Nymphs all rushing away in the opposite direction, calling out to Lionel in a promise to come to his aid. I shot towards a tapestry, pulling it aside and opening a hidden door in the wall, placing them down once we were within the safety of the Savage King’s passages.

“Caleb?!” I blurted, speaking it aloud but it echoed into his head, and I could feel the moment he jolted back a step in surprise.

“Orion?” he gasped. “What am I seeing? Is that Tory?”

“Get to the throne room – now!” I bellowed, not questioning this any further as Caleb shot off in a blur of speed.

The tunnels shot past him, followed by the extravagant hallways of The Palace of Souls, turn after turn, all of it leading him closer to me, my fangs prickling with bloodlust as he drew closer, the desire to fight at his side consuming me.

I saw the moment he reached the throne room, viewing myself through his eyes while watching him arrive at the same moment, and somehow my mind was capable of keeping up with those two realities. The Shadow Beast bent the twisted bars of the cage further apart to get closer to me and its paw slashed across my chest, claws tearing into my skin. Pain burst through me and the connection between Caleb and I snapped, our minds wrenching apart.

Caleb raced forward, launching himself onto the Shadow Beast’s back and yanking its fur hard enough to make it yelp and turn away from me.

“Free me!” I shouted as the Shadow Beast tried to unseat him and he worked to keep hold of it.

He swung down around its throat, using his Vampire strength to flip the beast off of its feet and slam it down onto its side, casting a dome of earth over it to keep it there. But it wouldn’t last long.

He shot towards me in a blur, unsheathing one of his flaming daggers and severing the shadows binding me in a furious action that had me free in moments.

I staggered into his arms, my blood soaking between us as I shoved him towards Tory.

“Get her out of here,” I growled, our coven bond buzzing keenly and begging us to stay together, hunt together. But that wasn’t our fate today.

“Fucking hell,” he cursed as he lurched towards the girl who was bleeding out on the floor, the savage wounds carved into her body and the sallow tone of her skin. Only the faintly flickering pulse at her throat confirmed to me that she was alive, and I had no fucking idea how that was even the case.

Caleb scooped her into his arms and released healing magic into her body, his brow pinching in concentration as he fought to work on the shadow wounds.

“Run, Caleb,” I urged. “Please, you can’t stay. And I won’t leave Darcy.” I looked to the dome of earth surrounding my mate as is shuddered and cracked, her power almost breaking through it already.

“I’m not leaving you,” he said anxiously, a stubborn refusal rising in his gaze even as he fought to heal the wounds on the girl in his arms. “You’re my sanguis frater. I can’t walk away from you now that I’ve found you.”

“I made a Death bond with Lavinia, Caleb,” I revealed in a low voice and he immediately shook his head, trying to defy the honesty he could see in my eyes. But then our bond sang like a tune in my mind, an understanding passing between us, like for just a moment, we could see the world through each other’s eyes.

“No,” he begged, like he could make it not true by pure will alone, but he was giving in, because he had felt the reality of my situation and there was no refuting it.

“I’m sorry. You have to go,” I urged. “Get Tory out of here, and don’t wake her up until you’re away from the palace. Trust me.”

Caleb rose to his feet, Tory’s wounds healed enough to at least staunch the bleeding. He gazed at me in confliction, but finally relented. “Alright. I trust you, brother.”

He held Tory against him with one arm, reaching out and taking hold of the magic cuff on my right wrist, focusing on the metal and forcing the lock to melt. It dropped to the floor with a clatter before the heated metal could burn me and he quickly released the other, grabbing my hand and sending a flow of healing magic into my body in a wave.

Our eyes locked, an unspoken promise between us that we’d replace each other again soon. We didn’t need to say anything. No goodbyes. Because whether in this life or the next, we would always replace each other now.

He was gone in a flash of speed, my last hope to save Darcy from this place speeding away with him and in the same moment, the Shadow Beast tore through the dome of earth which had been caging it and came charging toward me.

I raised my hands, the rush of magic in them making me heady from how rarely I’d been allowed to wield it. Just as the Shadow Beast lunged, I threw myself skyward with a blast of air magic, avoiding another vicious swipe of its claws. I turned my gaze to the door, sealing it shut with ice around the handles, holding it with a fierce magic, my decision solidifying with it.

I’d remain here until Blue came back to me. However long it took.