Breaking Point

Breaking Point
POV: Aria

"Hello, brother," the thing that looks like Kael says, and my blood turns to ice.
I'm still tied to this chair with silver rope burning my skin, but suddenly that pain feels like nothing compared to the fear filling my chest. There are two Kaels standing in this building, and I don't know which one is real.
"You're not my brother," Kael says, his voice shaking with anger. "My twin died when we were born."
"Did I?" the copy asks, tilting his head in a way that's almost like Kael but wrong. "Or did dear old grandfather just tell everyone I was dead while he fed me to the shadow realm?"
Aldric laughs like this is the funniest joke he's ever heard. "Kael always was the weak twin. Crying, needing his mother, refusing to kill small animals. But Kieran here," he gestures to the copy, "Kieran understood power from the moment he took his first breath. "
The fake Kael - Kieran - steps closer to me, and I can smell something rotten coming off him. Like meat that's been left out too long.
"She's pretty," Kieran says, reaching out to touch my face with fingers that feel like ice. "I can see why you love her, brother. But love makes you weak."
"Don't touch her!" Kael roars, and I can see his wolf trying to break free. His eyes are glowing gold, and his hands are beginning to grow claws.
"Or what?" Kieran asks. "You'll fight me? You couldn't even save her from getting caught."
The silver rope is burning deeper into my wrists, but I force myself to think. There has to be a way out of this. There has to be something I can do.
That's when I feel it - a strange warm feeling in my chest, like someone lit a fire inside my heart. The First Witch power that everyone keeps talking about. I don't understand it, but it's there, waiting.
"Aria," Aldric says, noticing my face change. "I can see you're starting to feel your true nature. Good. That will make this easier."
"Make what easier?" I ask.
"The binding ritual," he says simply. "You're going to use your Luna-Moon witch power to open a lasting doorway between our worlds. My shadow army will pour through, and we'll rule both worlds."
"And if I refuse?"
Kieran grabs Kael by the throat and pulls him off the ground. Even though they look the same, Kieran is stronger - much stronger.
"Then I slowly kill your mate while you watch," Kieran says happily. "I'll start with his fingers. Then his toes. Then maybe his eyes."
"Aria, don't do it," Kael gasps, trying to break free. "Whatever happens to me doesn't matter. You can't let them loose on the world."
But looking at the man I love being hurt by this monster wearing his face, I know I'll do anything to save him.
"Fine," I say. "I'll do it. Just let him go."
"Aria, no!" Kael shouts.
Aldric smiles like he just won the cash. "Excellent. Kieran, bring her to the rite circle."
Kieran drops Kael and cuts my ropes with claws that are sharper than any knife. The silver burns have left red marks around my wrists, but the warm feeling in my chest is getting stronger.
As Kieran drags me toward the center of the building, I see symbols painted on the floor in what looks like dried blood. They hurt my eyes to look at, like they're made of darkness itself.
"This is a summoning circle," Aldric says. "Built with dark magic and werewolf blood. When you add your Luna-Moon power to it, it will tear a hole between worlds that can never be closed."
"How do I know you'll keep your word about Kael?" I ask desperately.
"You don't," Aldric says with a shrug. "But what choice do you have?"
That's when Kael does something that makes my heart stop. He looks right at me and lips three words: "Trust me, princess."
Then he does the most scary thing I've ever seen. He stops fighting.
"You're right," Kael tells his grandpa. "I can't save her. I'm too weak."
Kieran laughs. "Finally admitting the truth, brother?"
"Yes," Kael says quietly. "I admit it. I'm weak."
But as he says it, I catch something in his voice. A tone I've heard before when he's planning something dangerous.
"However," Kael adds, "there's one thing you forgot about weak people."
"What's that?" Aldric asks.
Kael's smile is sharp as his fangs. "We're really good at surprising you."
That's when the warehouse bursts.
Not with bombs or fire, but with werewolves. Vincent's men pour through every door and window, shooting guns loaded with silver bullets. Behind them come Marcus and the Ravencrest pack, their wolf forms huge and angry.
"You called for backup," I say to Kael, stunned.
"I texted Vincent and my father before I came in," he says, fighting off two shadow dogs at once. "I told them where to find us."
But the rescue isn't going like anyone planned. The shadow dogs are too strong, too fast. They can't be killed by standard weapons, and there are too many of them.
"This changes nothing!" Aldric screams over the battle. "The ritual will still happen!"
Kieran grabs me again and drags me toward the circle. "Time to open that doorway, witch girl."
The warm feeling in my chest is burning now, begging to be released. I can feel power running through my blood like electricity.
"I don't know how to do a ritual!" I shout.
"Just put your hands on the circle and let your power flow," Kieran orders. "The symbols will do the rest."
I look around at the fight raging through the warehouse. People I care about are fighting and dying. Kael is bleeding from a dozen cuts as he fights shadow things that keep multiplying.
Maybe if I do what they want, I can find a way to control the power. Maybe I can turn it against them somehow.
I put my hands on the bloody marks.
The moment my skin hits the circle, pain shoots through my entire body like lightning. The symbols start glowing with red light, and I can feel something terrible answering from the other side of reality.
But then something goes wrong - or right, depending on how you look at it.
Instead of opening a doorway for the shadow troops, my Luna-Moon power does something else entirely. It reaches into the spirit world and calls for help.
And help answers.
The air above the circle shimmers, and a figure steps through that makes everyone stop fighting.
It's me.
But not me. This version of me is shining with silver light and wearing clothes that look like they're made of moonbeams. Her eyes are completely white, and when she talks, her voice echoes like she's talking from inside a cave.
"Hello, Aria," the spirit version of me says. "We need to talk."