Chapter 131 - Alana POV Part 2

Chapter 131 - Alana POV Part 2
"Alana..."
"Don't."
"This could kill you."
"Everything could kill me today."
I knelt and pressed the blade into the first rune.
Immediately...
Pain exploded through my arm.
I gritted my teeth, suppressing the pain.
The circle ignited.
Black flames raced across the symbols.
One by one, the runes disappeared from the floor.
And appeared on the blade.
My hand began to burn.
Skin split across my palm.
Blood ran down my wrist.
I tightened my grip.
"Come on..."
Another rune.
Then another.
The dagger trembled violently.
Trevor grabbed my shoulder.
"Enough!"
I threw him off.
"Don't touch me!"
The final symbol vanished.
Silence.
The ritual circle went dark.
The dagger didn't.
Black magic twisted around its blade like living smoke.
Trevor stared at it.
"What the hell did you just make?"
I smiled.
"Stephen's mortality."
Then I felt her.
Trinity.
The Goddess-born.
Her power erupted somewhere deeper in these tunnels.
Bright.
Ancient.
Impossible to mistake.
My head snapped toward the eastern tunnels.
Of course.
Stephen's presence followed seconds later.
Cold.
Corrupted.
Hungry.
I laughed.
Trevor frowned.
"What?"
"The arrogant bastard did exactly what I knew he would."
"Where is he?"
"With Trinity."
Trevor immediately moved.
I caught his arm.
"No."
"We need to help her."
"We need to finish this."
His eyes dropped to the dagger.
Then realization struck.
"You need Trinity."
"Her power."
I nodded.
"This blade can strip Stephen's wolf, but the ritual is incomplete."
"What does it need?"
"The Moon Goddess."
Trevor stared at me.
"You can't possibly expect Trinity to know how to complete a ritual she's never seen."
"She doesn't have to."
I slipped the dagger beneath my cloak.
"She just needs to be close."
"How close?"
I smiled.
"Close enough to watch me stab the bastard."
We moved.
Fast.
I memorized these tunnels with Dawn’s help.
Every hidden entrance.
Every dead end.
Every shortcut.
Because while he believed I'd been mapping Copper Mountain for his invasion...
I'd been mapping it for his death.
We reached the lower tunnels.
Blood covered the walls.
Bodies everywhere.
Stephen's hybrids.
My stomach twisted.
I kept moving.
Another pulse of power slammed into me.
Trinity.
Close.
Then Stephen.
Closer.
I stopped Trevor.
"You can't come farther."
"Like hell."
"He cannot see you."
"Alana."
"Stephen still believes you're running scared. That's useful."
His expression hardened.
"And if you fail?"
I looked at him.
"Then you make sure Trinity survives."
"What about you?"
I almost laughed.
There was nothing left to save.
"I stopped planning for my survival a long time ago."
His face softened.
I hated that.
Pity.
"Don't."
"Alana..."
"I said don't."
I stepped backward.
"If this works, Stephen loses his wolf."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then I'll improvise."
I turned away.
"You're fucking insane," Trevor muttered.
I smiled.
"That's why this might work."
The closer I came to the cellar, the stronger Trinity's power became.
Then I heard Stephen's voice.
"My beautiful wolf..."
I stopped.
Every muscle tightened.
That voice.
All this time and I still became seven years old for half a heartbeat.
My mother's blood.
Her screams.
Stephen smiling.
I closed my eyes.
Live, Alana.
My fear disappeared.
I stepped into the cellar.
Stephen stood with his back to me.
Trinity faced him in wolf form, golden fur stained with blood.
Bodies surrounded them.
Children watched from behind iron bars.
Stephen reached toward Trinity.
She snapped at his hand.
He laughed.
Of course he did.
Then Trinity's voice thundered through the room.
WE ARE NOT YOUR MATE!
Stephen smiled.
"Aren't you adorable?"
He spoke about stripping Irune's mark from her.
Killing him.
Claiming her.
Building his empire.
Every word made my fingers tighten around the dagger beneath my cloak.
Not yet.
I needed closer.
Trinity attacked.
Stephen blocked her effortlessly.
Again.
Again.
Again.
He was playing with her.
Good.
Keep playing.
Keep showing off.
Keep believing yourself untouchable.
I stepped forward.
"Alana."
Stephen smiled when he saw me.
"There you are."
I bowed my head slightly.
Years of practice made submission easy.
"Forgive me. The tunnels became... complicated."
His attention immediately returned to Trinity.
Of course it did.
"Are you ready?"
"Always."
"It's time to remove that disgusting mark from her."
I looked at Trinity.
Her eyes burned into mine.
She recognized me.
Worse...
She knew what I'd done to Kline.
Hatred radiated from her.
Good.
Let Stephen see it.
Let him believe she considered me an enemy.
I stepped closer.
Trinity backed away.
Closer.
Another step.
Almost.
I could feel her power reacting to the dagger.
The weapon became hot against my side.
Stephen noticed nothing.
His ego had blinded him exactly as I'd hoped.
One more step.
I flicked my wrist.
Magic wrapped around Trinity's paws, slamming them against the floor.
Her eyes widened.
Betrayal.
Fear.
Rage.
Perfect.
Stephen laughed behind me.
The dagger screamed beneath my cloak.
The Goddess's power had found the ritual.
Now.
I raised my hand.
The blade materialized in a cyclone of black magic.
Trinity closed her eyes.
She thought I was going to kill her.
Sorry, Goddess-born.
I turned.
Stephen's smile disappeared.
Too late.
I drove the dagger into his chest.
Magic exploded through the cellar.
Stephen's eyes went wide.
His hand wrapped around my wrist.
For the first time in centuries...
I saw fear.
"You..."
Blood spilled from his mouth.
"You bitch."
I leaned close enough that only he could hear me.
"No."
I twisted the blade.
His scream shook the tunnels.
"I'm the little girl whose mother you murdered."