Chapter 30: The Hostage

While waiting for the others to return, Vance engraved some symbols onto the silver locket. "The binding vessel will hold him for a few days," he said without lifting his eyes from his work. "Maybe a week if the symbols work."

Jenna polished the tips of iron rods on a whetstone, making an awful scratching noise with her efforts. Passing the rods into Dorian and Zoe's hands, she warned, "You won't need air for as long as you'll need those."

Zoe stuffed one rod into her jacket sleeve. "I'll save it, don't worry."

As for Dorian, he felt uneasy with the rod in his hand. It was too heavy, considering how shaky his fingers were. Still, he decided to give it a try. "It'll do the trick," he muttered.

I stretched my legs to sit on the floor, my palms upturned. My bandages were off, but the blisters on my palms were still healing. They burned slightly when I moved my hands, but not too much, and I could control the pain well enough. Concentrating hard, I summoned the blue flame. Holding it between my fingers for several seconds, I released the fire.

Dorian watched me from the corner of the room. Today he seemed a bit more energized than yesterday, yet his jaw was still tensed and he continued changing his position almost every minute due to pain in his legs.

—

Jenna untied Mira and left her with her back to me. However, one of her hands remained on her arm while another slipped into her pocket and grasped the rod. Mira sat on the floor near the window, where the snow was beginning to fall again. I leaned against the cold wall behind her.

"You don't have to do it," I said softly. "There must be another way for us to get close enough to Cross, and using you as bait is not necessary."

She shook her head, tears filling her dark, exhausted eyes. "I'm tired, Arya. I've grown so tired of this run for my life. And tired of being used. If I die tomorrow, it's going to be my own choice for once."

Her eyes looked pitiful, but she was not begging any longer. "I forgive you a long time ago," I said. "Whatever you've done to the coven, to Raze. Whatever happened that day. It's all behind me."

Tears fell on her cheeks now and she hurriedly tried to wipe them off. "You shouldn't have forgiven me, Arya. I don't deserve it."

I lifted my chin. "No, it was for myself. Hating that much almost drove me crazy, and I needed to forgive you to move on and stay sane."

"Even so, I can never hope to forgive myself," Mira whispered. "I was always better than you, even when we were children."

I didn't have anything to say to that, so I kept silent.

—

While Mira was eating, Raze took control of her body and smiled widely. Black eyes and a wide grin that did not fit him at all replaced her features. "It's all over tomorrow," he said calmly. "Cross is going to kill you all and I will finally be freed from this feeble human body. I have seen it in my dreams and I always know what happens during my sleep."

Jenna slapped him in the face and he smiled even wider, revealing his fangs to her horror. "This hasn't hurt me. Mira's already dying. All you do is just beat a dead body. Go ahead, Warden, it's not going to change anything."

Vance pressed the silver locket to Mira's chest, causing a brief flash of blue. For a second her eyes were brown once again.

"Try it again," he commanded harshly, "and I'll bind you right here and now, in this locket. You will spend the next hundred years in this piece of jewelry unable to see anything."

His threat worked; Raze growled angrily, but kept his brown eyes open for the rest of the time.

—

By midnight, everyone else fell asleep. Jenna had dozed off in the chair, her head tilted back and mouth opened. Zoe lay on the floor, with her jacket used as a pillow, while Vance had fallen asleep in front of the book with his face pressed against its pages. As for Mira, she was still tied up and sleeping peacefully with her eyes closed.

Outside it was snowing lightly; soft, almost transparent flakes were floating gently in the moonlight, but disappeared as soon as they touched the windows. Dorian sat quietly next to me with his back to me. I could feel the chilly air from his body as his shoulder touched mine.

"I think you should sleep now," he suggested.

"No," I answered. "Not tonight."

Silence reigned in the room again, disturbed only by a howling wind. Finally, Dorian leaned to my ear, so his face was close to mine. Dark rings under his gray eyes were visible now and his skin seemed to have aged several decades overnight. "If we don't make it tomorrow..."

Before he could complete the thought, I pressed my finger to his lips. "Don't say it now. We'll make it through tomorrow, we'll destroy Cross and Raze, and only then decide what's next."

Dorian released my finger, but took my hand in his cold grasp and held tight. "I need to say it anyway, just in case."

Something tightened in my chest and I couldn't breathe properly. "Say it after you win, after killing Cross and sending Raze into Hell. After watching the sunrise together from the roof."

For a while he only stared at me silently, not moving a muscle. Finally, however, he nodded and released my hand from his cold grasp. "After we win."

We didn't say anything else to each other and sat in silence, observing the falling snow until dawn started coloring the sky.

—

Then there was a crash from the first floor.

Shattering glass, a scream – muffled but very real.

Jenna sprang up and ran towards the window, pressing her face to it and looking down into the parking lot below. "He's here," she whispered anxiously. "Cross has arrived, and he has brought more vampires with him."

"He wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow night!" exclaimed Dorian. "What is happening!"

"He must have known our plans," Vance interrupted abruptly, rubbing his hand across his face. "Someone must have betrayed us, or Cross has another spy working with us."

Another crash and sound of approaching footsteps.

Raze talked through Mira's sleeping form, speaking quietly but clearly enough for me to hear every single word. "I told you, he knows everything and isn't willing to wait."

Looking towards the door, I saw that it was not secured properly anymore; wood had cracked and a lock was broken easily enough, which meant that they would break the door in no time.

"We don't have any other choice," I decided aloud. "We fight him now."

Grabbing the iron rod from her pocket, Jenna joined Dorian and Zoe who were already standing next to the door and holding their weapons. "Cross is waiting for you, little witch," said the vampire's voice from the hallway. "I know you're here, I can smell your magic, which tastes of burning sugar and old blood."

Mira's brown eyes opened wide with terror. "Please, don't leave me alone. Don't let him take me."

Vance placed the silver locket in my palm. "When you approach him, press it to the place of the scar on his chest. It will paralyze him for a few moments."

My fingers closed around the warm metal object.

"I know you're hiding somewhere in this cursed building, witch," Cross said in his silky voice. "Don't make me burn it all down with you alive inside. I'll do it if I have to."

"Do you have a plan, Dorian?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah," he replied just as quietly. "But... I can't do this. Not without you."

I put my hand onto his. "We've been ready for this for several days."

Nodding slowly, he stepped aside and opened the door.

Cross waited for us in the hallway, accompanied by a dozen vampires. Glowing red eyes of his looked directly into mine and the blood covering his hands looked particularly repul

sive.

"It's nice that I've caught you finally," he smirked cruelly. "Now we can finish this, shall we?”