I had enough of this bullshit, I wasn’t going to accept having my ass beat by the same vamp that destroyed half of the Van Helsing clan.
“You can fight all you want.”
Angelique leaned forward, and all I wanted to do was wipe that smug grin off her face and so I did the classic chick fight move, and pulled at her hair, yanking her down even more. As she braced herself, she released her foot and I wrapped my legs around her shoulders, pulling her into a headlock, flipping her over to her front as I placed all my weight onto her back.
“You can fight all you want.” I repeated her words mocking her as she struggled to get out of my lock, stretching and biting at my legs.
Turning to look at Serena, she was now at Darius and dropping some of his blood into the goblet, which meant I was next and the final piece. Letting go of Angelique, and running towards Serena, I could hear Angelique coughing and as Serena threw the dagger towards me, I caught it, slicing my own wrist and holding it out towards Serena and the goblet, three single drops fell into it.
Mist, and a bright red light exploded out of the goblet, as if in response to the blood. The light shot up into the air along with the smoke, and as it returned back down it landed on Angelique as she waited on bated breath to become the unstoppable. Unbeknown to her, she would become human.
Seconds later, she emerged from the smoke and stood a bit too proudly, more than anyone who had just lost their power should be. Looking at Serena who nodded and smiled at me, I turned my attention back to Angelique, and watched as the realisation came across her face.
“What – What did you do to me?” She asked breathlessly.
Her skin starting to fade from a pale shade of pink to ashen, and her hair greying quickly under the light, she was starting to look frail. Just like magic. She no longer had this presence about her, this sense of power and glow.
“I am fixing a mistake I made many centuries ago.”
“Centuries?” I turned suddenly to Serena, confused.
“I gave Angelique great power and I have now taken it away.”
Angelique fell to her knees as a scream erupted from her mouth, holding herself tightly as she rocked. Her once beautiful skin and rose red lips now chapped and dull, she didn’t look as frightening as she once did before.
Jackson shifted on his chains as he tried to pull them from the ceiling and with a wave of Serena’s hand, both Jackson and Eric’s body were released. I just managed to catch Jackson as I reached him, lifting one of his arms over my shoulder, and helping him towards Darius.
Angelique tried to stand but failed, Serena bent down in front of her, pushing a strand or two of frail thin hair from her face, and lifted Angelique’s head up.
“I told you; you break the rules I set, and this would be your punishment.”
Jacqueline was still hiding in the shadows behind one of the pillars, mostly every single one of Angelique’s followers had even been killed by me or escaped once the mist arrived but not her, she still waited, waited for her mistress.
“I didn’t – I swear.”
“You sired that one over there,” Serena pointed at Jacqueline, who was cowered even more behind a pillar. “You messed with the balance and therefore, you are no longer allowed to be in this world.”
“Messed with the balance?” I asked, standing away from the men.
“When she sired your mother, she awoke you which was not meant to happen for many more years to come. It’s why you have never felt like you fit into your role; you weren’t meant to have it yet.”
“I don’t understand, who are you?”
Serena looked at me, and then back at Angelique as she still held her face, watching as the light started to fade from her eyes, her human body failing, aging quicker than I ever thought possible. As the years caught up with her, her eyes shut, and as Serena let go, her body fell to the floor, slowly turning into dust and disappearing altogether.
“Well, she was a shitty bad guy.”
Darius muttered, and I almost flew into him as my arms wrapped around his neck, kissing him lightly on the lips.
“I will heal your wounds but then I must leave this place, I only came back to right my wrong.”
“I am very confused.” Jackson said as he wiped dried blood off his face.
“I guess I should tell you my name, huh?” She chuckled a little as if the thought was funny, “My true name is Elizabeth Grey.”
Jackson’s jaw almost dropped to the floor, and it took me a second to remember, and when the words clicked in my mind, I too was just as shocked as he was.
“How can that be? That would make you about five hundred years old.” Jackson was in disbelief, here stood his ancestor in the flesh.