Chapter 43: forty-three

Cole

The task of change proved to be a more formidable challenge than I’d anticipated. I’d expected resistance, of course, but not until I’d unleashed the Damned into their cities.

The plan seemed simple enough on the surface. Shut everything down, liberate the humans. But they needed a place to go, a fresh start, which meant vampires relinquishing territories.

Territories that never fucking belonged to them in the first place.

Atticus proposed the idea of human villages, but that was a non-starter. It sounded too much like a damn petting zoo or a quarantine zone.

If we were to truly make things better, coexistence was the only option. I’d spent too many months under Marcus’s thumb, too many months away from Olivia, for things not to work out now.

Within a few days, we had the basics set up. The real nightmare was dealing with the vampire raids and riots. Samuel, that fucking Samuel, was stirring up trouble, orchestrating attacks wherever humans gathered.

He was a slippery bastard, too. Every time we got close to catching him, he’d vanish, like a specter. Eventually, we had no choice but to establish temporary human villages.

I ordered the Damned to guard and protect the humans until we could apprehend Samuel. And when I finally got my hands on him, he’d wish he’d never been turned.

“Do you think he’s given up?” Atticus asked.

“No, he’s biding his time. Probably thinks I’ll pull the Damned away soon,” I replied.

“You know, as well as everyone else, that they have to return to Helius soon. They’ve already been away too long.”

Helius was a prison buried deep beneath the earth. The Damned were created to guard its gates, and their absence posed a risk. But I couldn’t send them back until we’d dealt with Samuel.

I sighed deeply, glancing out the window. Rayna and Olivia were outside, laughing and basking in the bright sunshine. Olivia’s skin glowed, and she seemed more beautiful with each passing day.

“She grows stronger every day. It radiates from her,” Atticus murmured.

“Have you ever encountered a fae who could conjure a blue ball of light in their hands or display those blue markings she gets on her skin sometimes?”

He simply shook his head.

“Adelina couldn’t do those kinds of things. There was a rumor that Aldrich had dark fae blood, but it was just that—a rumor,” he said before walking away.

It had been decades since dark fae roamed the earth. There was no way Aldrich was even a fraction of dark fae.

A scream shattered my thoughts, and my gaze snapped back to the window, searching for them, for her. They were gone, nowhere in sight. Atticus was already on the move, and I was hot on his heels.

The scream wasn’t Olivia’s. I knew her scream all too well.

When we reached the forest, Rayna was crumpled on the ground. Her breaths were shallow, and deep red cuts marred her back where her wings used to be.

A small pile of iridescent dust lay inches from her. Atticus gently scooped her up, cradling her in his arms. His eyes turned black and cold.

He sat there in silence, clutching her as if his life depended on it. Olivia was motionless.

The blue markings on her hands and arms glowed a dark blue, anger and hatred radiating off her. Her fury was palpable, thickening the air until it was almost suffocating.

The moment we’d left the safety of the castle, Olivia and Rayna’s safety had been my only concern. Samuel had made his escape the moment I arrived, but I’d already ordered the Damned to pursue him.

This time, they would catch him.

“How the fuck does he keep getting away?” I growled.

Olivia sat next to Rayna, her fingers gently stroking her. The injured fairy’s rosy glow was fading fast, and without her wings, it was only a matter of time before she faded completely.