Chapter 64 A Trap

Chapter 64 A Trap
“I’ve got you,” Rayne promised, “No matter what comes next, Brea… I’m not letting go.”

We both watched as the bright lines under the broken road sucked in every last scrap of energy left from my Anchor blast. 

The light thickened and spread, wrapping around the possessed fighters still lying in the dirt. Their eyes rolled back. An invisible force jerked their bodies toward the center of Seraphine’s burning circle.

“She’s… feeding on them,” I stammered, fingers digging into the cold dirt.

I shoved myself up, reaching with whatever broken energy I still had left, trying to sever the lines holding those soldiers. 

Rayne’s hand closed around my wrist for a second, trying to pull me back, but I met his eyes and he saw I wasn’t stopping. 

He let go and rose with me, golden power flickering weakly around his bloodied hands, ready to fight with whatever he had left.

A spark shot from my palm and struck the nearest line of light. It snapped with a sharp crack. 

The closest vampires slammed onto the road, gasping. Three new glowing lines immediately split open in its place, brighter than before.

Seraphine’s cold smile never wavered.

“You bitch,” I whispered, the words scraping out of my throat.

She had built the entire ritual around my Anchor. The soldiers weren’t simply dying. They were being extracted. Their bodies dissolved into swirling black smoke that poured straight through the central portal to somewhere else.

My throat locked. Seraphine’s dark eyes left the portal and locked onto Rayne standing beside me. A cruel curve touched her mouth as she raised one hand toward his chest.

“He’s your weakness, isn’t he, little Anchor?” Her voice layered over itself, two tones speaking at once. “Every time he bleeds, your power breaks.”

“You might be right,” I snarled, stepping half in front of him, “but you’ll find out what happens when you touch what’s mine, Isadora.”

Her eyes flashed.

“We’ll see.”

Dark energy exploded from her palm, aimed straight at my heart.

Rayne moved first. He threw his battered body between the spell and me. I grabbed the back of his torn shirt and yanked him sideways with everything I had left.

“No!” I screamed, shoving myself into the path instead. “Not again!”

Seraphine’s hand dropped. The magic circle reversed direction with a violent lurch.

“You’re too late anyway.”

The ground heaved under our feet. My Anchor tore open like someone had hooked a wire straight into my soul. The battlefield vanished.

I dropped into a pitch-black space that smelled of blood and wet stone. A massive shadow rose in front of my face. 

Freezing hands closed around my throat as Isadora’s mind poured into my head, trying to shove me out and take my body.

“At last,” a cold voice rasped inside my skull.

“Get out!” I screamed, every piece of my soul slamming back against the shadow with pure hatred.

At the same instant the warm, unbroken bond with Rayne flared open inside my chest. It anchored me, yanked me hard, and ripped me out of the void.

I slammed back into my body with a raw gasp, collapsing against Rayne’s chest as dirt rained down around us. I was back—but a thin, terrible cold stayed lodged behind my left eye, like a needle that wouldn’t leave.

Seraphine hissed with her dark hair whipping around her face as the glowing runes began to flicker and die. Thirty yards away Adrian’s silver suit sparked and stuttered. The surviving vampire troops were already closing in fast.

She knew she couldn’t take my body today without losing the rest of her forces.

“Extract the rest of them!” she ordered, voice sharp.

The remaining possessed soldiers were dragged screaming into the portal. I crawled forward on hands and knees, desperate to stop the tear from closing.

Just before the hole collapsed, the gray smoke cleared for two heartbeats.

A woman stood in the shadows on the other side...sad, tired eyes, dark hair.

“Mom?” The word tore out of me. My hand reached toward the light.

She stared straight at me. Her lips moved, forming my name, but the portal snapped shut with a heavy boom before any sound reached me.

“No!”

Seraphine stepped toward the dying portal, one last look thrown over her shoulder. 

Her layered voice cut through the chaos, “Keep him close, little Anchor. The next time I open a door… I’ll be coming for both of you.”

Then she walked straight into the collapsing light and vanished with it.

Adrian stepped backward into the smoke near the human tree line. Through the cracked visor of his mask he didn’t look defeated at all.

Adrian spoke from his broken speaker rasped. “We only needed the portal open. And you just gave us exactly what we came for. Thank you lovely.” Then he was gone.

I sat in the dirt, numb. Rayne’s arms slid around my waist from behind. He pulled me tight against his chest, warm breath against my neck, checking my face for new injuries.

“They’re gone,” he whispered.

I leaned my head back against him and held onto his arms, but I couldn’t answer. My mother’s face stayed burned behind my eyes.

“Why do I suddenly feel like I’m being watched?” I murmured.