Chapter 99 The Awakening
NYX
Possessing fifty bodies at once from inside a mental vessel while also piloting my father's body was exactly as complicated as it sounded.
"This is going to hurt." I warned everyone in the collective. All fifty resistance fighters who'd been catatonic for days. "Really, catastrophically hurt. Your consciousness will slam back into bodies that have been empty. It's going to feel like dying and being born simultaneously."
"Worse than being trapped in here?" Rowan's mental form appeared beside me. "Worse than listening to Morvenna scheme?"
"Potentially yes."
"I'll take those odds."
One by one, the others agreed. Fifty minds ready to risk everything.
Father, I need you to lower the barriers between the vessel and reality. Just for a moment. Can you do that without the whole thing collapsing?
I can try. But Morvenna will use the opportunity.
Then we make it fast.
Isolde appeared. "I'll hold Morvenna back. Give you the seconds you need. But after that, you're on your own."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. This might kill all of you."
I gathered my power. Time magic mixed with blood magic. "Everyone ready?"
Fifty voices: "Ready."
"Then let's wake up the sleeping army."
I reached through the barrier. Felt fifty empty bodies three floors up. Felt the thin connection between consciousness and flesh.
And I yanked.
Hard.
ROWAN
The sensation of returning to my body was like being shoved through a keyhole made of broken glass.
Pain. Everywhere. Everything. Every nerve screaming. Every muscle cramping.
I screamed. Couldn't help it. Around me, forty-nine others did the same.
"Move!" Someone shouted. Might have been Theron. "Get up! Fight!"
Something hit the wall beside my head. I rolled. Barely. Body sluggish.
A figure moved through the chamber. Female. Made of shadows. Feeding on the guards protecting our comatose bodies.
Serath.
"Awake already?" Her voice was amused. "How delightful. Fresh prey that can run. That can fight back."
I grabbed the nearest weapon. A blade. Stood on legs that shook. "You want fun? Come get some."
She moved fast. I blocked. Barely. Her strength was absurd. Threw me backward into three other fighters still struggling to stand.
"Disappointing." Serath moved among us. Striking. Feeding. Killing. "Morvenna said you were dangerous. But you can't even defend yourselves."
"We're warming up." I attacked again. Joined by others. Ten blades striking as one.
They passed through her. Through shadow. Through nothing.
Her counterattack was real. Three fighters went down. Drained. Aged decades.
"You can't hurt me with steel." She laughed. "I am the Second Dark. The Shadow Queen—"
Thunder cracked. Not weather. Magic.
Arianna stood in the doorway. Hands blazing. "You're an arrogant thing that forgot humans learned magic specifically to fight creatures like you."
She unleashed hell.
Fire. Lightning. Force. Every element poured into the chamber. Serath dodged. Some attacks passed through. Others connected. Left marks.
"You dare strike at me?" Serath's amusement vanished.
"I dare a lot of things. Including this." Arianna pulled out a crystal. Pulsing with power. "Your sister Vesper made these. Three thousand years ago. Soul Cages. Designed to trap beings like you in physical form."
Understanding flashed across Serath's face. "Where did you get that? Those were destroyed—"
"Apparently not all of them." Arianna threw the crystal. It shattered against Serath's chest. Light exploded. The shadow-form solidified. Became flesh. Became vulnerable.
"Now!" Theron charged. We followed. Fifty fighters. Fifty blades. Against one ancient vampire who was suddenly mortal.
She fought brilliantly. Killed six of us in the first exchange. Wounded a dozen more. But she was outnumbered. And for the first time in three thousand years, she was scared.
"This isn't—you can't—" Her voice cracked. "I am eternal—"
"Dead." My blade found her heart. Joined by thirty others. Piercing. Destroying. Ending something that should have been unkillable.
Serath screamed. Dissolved. Became ash. Gone.
Silence fell. Broken only by heavy breathing and moans of the wounded.
"Well." Arianna lowered her hands. "That worked better than expected."
"You had a weapon that could trap them and you didn't mention it?"
"I had one weapon. Singular. Been carrying it for two hundred years." She looked at the ashes. "Vesper created three Soul Cages. I found Serath's in an old tomb."
"Two down. Two to go."
"Three." Theron corrected. "Morvenna's still in the vessel."
"Five if you count Cassian probably using this chaos to make another play for the throne." I closed my eyes. "We can't catch a break."
"Your Majesty!" A guard burst in. Bleeding. Terrified. "Malakor is in the great hall! He's slaughtering everyone! We can't stop him!"
"How many dead?"
"Twenty. Maybe thirty."
Theron looked at me. At the forty-four surviving resistance fighters. At Arianna who'd just used her trump card.
"We're all that's left."
"Then we're what we've got." I forced myself upright. "Everyone who can walk, grab weapons. We end this. Tonight."
"Rowan." One of the younger fighters. Barely twenty. "We just woke up. We just survived Serath. We're exhausted."
"I know. But Malakor won't wait for us to recover. So we fight now or we die later. Choose."
Forty-four people stood. Grabbed weapons. Followed me toward the great hall.
Toward another ancient vampire.
Toward death or victory.
KAEL
In the vessel, I felt it. Two siblings dead. Two remaining. Plus Morvenna still contained but plotting.
Nice work. I told Nyx. Waking the resistance gave us a fighting chance.
Yeah, but they're getting slaughtered. Serath killed six before Arianna stopped her. Malakor's killed dozens. We're losing people faster than we can save them.
Then we shift strategy. Stop reacting. Start attacking.
I pulled my consciousness fully into the vessel. Faced Morvenna directly. "You wanted your siblings free. Wanted them to destroy us. How's that working out? Two dead. Two running. Your grand reunion is going poorly."
"Temporary setbacks. Arcturus and Malakor will adapt." But her voice lacked confidence.
"Will they? Elena just sacrificed herself to kill Vesper. Arianna had a Soul Cage ready for Serath. We're fighting back. Adapting faster than your siblings." I moved closer.
"You forgot that we're not the same kingdom you terrorized three thousand years ago. We've had time to prepare. To create weapons specifically against creatures like you."
"Irrelevant. My siblings are eternal. You've gotten lucky twice."
"Have we? Or are you worried that maybe you picked the wrong kingdom to attack? Maybe you're trapped in a vessel built by descendants who learned from your mistakes?" I smiled. "How many more Soul Cages do you think exist? How many more weapons humans created specifically to fight the First Darkness?"
Fear flickered across her face. "You're bluffing."
"Maybe. Test it. Call Arcturus back. Order Malakor to press harder. See what other surprises we've got waiting." I turned away. "Or accept that your siblings are dying. That your plan failed. That revenge is costing you everything including family."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't I? I know what it's like to lose family to vengeance. To choose revenge over reason." I looked back. "Elena just died proving that. Died saving us because she finally understood that hate was eating her alive. Are you going to learn the same lesson? Or watch your last siblings die because you're too proud to surrender?"
Silence. Long. Heavy.
Then Morvenna laughed. "You almost had me. Almost convinced me to give up." She smiled. "But you made one mistake."
"What?"
"You assumed I care about my siblings. That I want them alive." Her eyes glowed. "I summoned them to create chaos. To destabilize your kingdom. To weaken you. Their survival is irrelevant. Their deaths? Even better. More trauma. More fear. More food for me to grow stronger."
Horror turned my blood to ice. "You used them. Your own family."
"Family is just another tool. Another weapon." She moved closer. "So yes. Please. Keep killing my siblings. Keep winning battles. Keep thinking you're making progress. Because every victory costs you people. Costs you strength. Costs you the stability I need shattered."
"You're insane."
"I'm practical. And I'm patient. And I'm winning even when it looks like I'm losing." She gestured to the vessel. "Speaking of which. Time to make another move. Time to remind you that this is still my game."
The construct shook. Power surged. Reality bent.
And somewhere in the physical world, I felt Nyx's real body—the one she'd left vulnerable—come under attack.
Arcturus had found it.
And Isolde couldn't hold him off alone.