Rebecca, true to her character, gave him no satisfaction from the words he had thrown at her to shake her. Her lips tugged into a devilish grin, and she met his gaze forcefully.

  “I think it’s you who will learn what it means to be on the wrong side of me, Mathias.” She spat out his name like a sour taste in her mouth.

  Mathias let out a ringing laugh that echoed in the office. Kellan, who had been hanging back during Mathias’ appraisal of our small group, inched forward, smiling but not joining his leader’s chuckle.

  “You think your small army is a match for mine? You’re nothing.” Mathias’ eyes burned with a blood-red color, and the moonlight coming through the window to my right, caught the crimson glow, creating an even deadlier vision against his pale skin.

  “Even now, your soldiers are falling to mine.”

  “You’re wrong,” I hissed, stepping forward.

  Mathias set his sights on me once again, and the glee on his face looked eerie. “Take a look.” He waved his hand toward the window.

  I looked to the others before tentatively taking a few steps.

  His office overlooked the front entrance where Luther and the wolves had gone. I frowned as I walked out onto the balcony.

  The scene below me was brutal. There were bodies strewn everywhere. Some must have been vampires, other hunters I could recognize, and then the wolves. It was impossible to tell who was winning, but one thing that was clear was, that it was a warzone down there, and the bloodshed would haunt both sides.

  As I glanced back at Mathias, I corrected myself. It would haunt our side. Mathias was broken, cold, and unyielding. The loss of his men meant nothing. We had to act now, do something that would end the fight below and save as many of our soldiers as we could.

  “I see a fairly even fight,” I said, walking back in the room.

  Mathias grinned again. “That just goes to show how inexperienced you are, my dear.”

  “Enough,” Seeley barked. “Let’s get on with this.”

  “Get on with what, exactly?” Mathias sped over and stopped directly in front of Seeley’s face. “Do you think I fear any of you? Do you believe you can beat me?” He laughed, throwing his head back as he did. “If I was worried, I’d have more backup than Kellan. As you can see, I was not only expecting you, but I know that you’re nothing.”

  Seeley was unstoppable after that. He lunged, attacked Mathias, who held that maniacally gleeful expression on his face as they began a dance of death.

  Gabriel and Rebecca charged Kellan together, and the three of them were locked in their own fight. I remembered Gabriel saying that Kellan had been stronger, like he was enchanted with some sort of strength and I wasn’t sure if he still had it or not.

  My musings would have to wait. I knew I was with Seeley in this. It would be us against Mathias.

  I whipped out my stakes and charged toward the two of them. I slid on the ground, hoping to catch Mathias off guard as he was preoccupied with Seeley, but instead he managed to grab my legs and swing me to the side like I was nothing.

  I crashed into his desk and gasped at the pain that shot through my side. I turned my head back to him, feeling the fury wage within me.

  His eyes met mine, even through the quick motions of the two vampires battling before me I could see his taunting stare.

  I shook my head and put on a mask of my own, one that I hoped displayed my resolve.

  I joined Seeley and we fought side by side. Mathias was older and stronger than both of us, but we remained diligent none the less.

  I felt a power inside of me, and I assumed it was Henry’s strength, pouring through my body since he had so willingly given me his life. I let the thought of Henry make me stronger and began attacking Mathias more determined than ever.

  I could vaguely hear the doors to the office opening and was suddenly pulled back by a force stronger than any I’d ever experienced before. Seeley and I were still side by side, only this time we slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

  The hit knocked the wind out of me, and Seeley grasped my arm to help me stand quickly.

  Through the doors, I saw another face I recognized from my dreams.

  One I thought we’d never have to see again.

  Lucian.

  My wild eyes met Seeley’s, and his look must have matched mine; we both had the same dread creep through us. I felt his emotion as strongly as I knew he could feel mine.

  If Lucian was here, Nadia was in trouble.

  Mathias looked even more confident as his ally stalked into the room after pulling us away from our battle.

  “I trust your problem is taken care of?” Mathias addressed the man who strode in the room as if nothing was happening to be concerned with.

  Kellan and the others had stopped fighting as well, watching him enter and waiting to hear what he said.

  “Of course. She was but a toy. Just like her mother.”

  His words caused something inside of me to break. The loss of Henry was unbearable, and I had banked on being able to at least tell Nadia his last wish was for her to know he loved her. The fact that this man stood in front of us like she was nothing, like this was some sort of game or irrelevant incident, brought about a rage inside of me that I’d never imagined existed within me.

  Every moment of death and pain that I’d had the last few weeks led me here, to this very breaking point. I ran across the room, drawing my blade as I went forth to do everything in my power to destroy the two men before me.

  Mathias glanced at me like I was an annoyance and the fighting broke out again. Lucian began chanting, but Seeley raced toward him to try to distract and stop him from whatever magic he was weaving.

  “Enough,” Mathias shouted, holding his hands out at Lucian from one side and Seeley from the other. I stood positioned with my blade to launch at him, but his eyes danced as he smiled mockingly at my attempts. Kellan, Gabriel, and Rebecca hadn’t moved since their last fight. We were all in some strange limbo at Mathias’ command.

  “You are too young to understand. You don’t know our way of life, our world.” Mathias spoke to me directly. His eyes flicked over to Seeley.

  “But you,” he said forcefully. “Aren’t you tired of being the superior being confined to the shadows? You may walk in the sun, my boy, but you can’t pretend you don’t feel the chains this world has put on your ability to truly live. We could be strong. Out in the open. Either with more vampires at our control or controlling the humans. Millions could research a cure for all of us to walk in the sun. The freedom and possibilities are endless. What does it matter if a few humans die in the process? How could you not want that?”

  I was horrified listening to him speak. It was evident, that in his mind, he was justified in all the actions he took to get where he was now. A few lives didn’t matter when it was the lives of all vampires he thought he was changing. He thought power and control would bring him the opportunity to help himself first and foremost, but clearly the vampire race as a whole.

  “If we treat the gift of life so poorly, we are nothing but the monster’s they’d fear us to be. We live forever, Mathias. Forever,” Seeley’s voice was firm and unyielding. “Humans live mere seconds in comparison. What right do we have to diminish that small amount of light they have in this world?”

  “You give them their freedom at the cost of your own?” Mathias was dumbfounded.

  “Every time,” Seeley admitted, lowering his weapon.

  Mathias’ face froze over in a cold and calculating snarl. “Then you deserve to die like they do.”

  Everything happened so quickly, I could barely comprehend what was playing out before me. Mathias let his hands down and moved toward Seeley in a powerful motion with a blade I hadn’t seen him concealing before.

  Seeley’s blade met his in a loud clash.

  The fighting resumed and growls and snarling echoed in the office where we had made our final battleground.

  As I rushed toward the fight with Mathias, a powerful force stopped me in my tracks, holding me back. I was stuck in a running motion, with nowhere to go. I turned my head, the one part of my body I could move and saw Lucian with his hands up in my direction, smiling like a maniac.

  “This isn’t your fight, hunter.”

  “It’s always my fight where vampires are concerned,” I snarled.

  The smile on Lucian’s face grew even larger, a feat that I would have guessed impossible.

  I heard a shout from my right and saw Seeley with a blade through his stomach and screamed, “No!”

  “Lucian, leave her,” Mathias ordered brusquely.

  Lucian’s hands dropped as he made his way to Seeley. Mathias had him caught with the blade as Seeley struggled to get out. It wasn’t in his heart, not that I could see. But Lucian was not touching the blade and still had a wicked grin on his face.

  Suddenly, Mathias pushed Seeley back and he stumbled, falling against the floor a few feet from Mathias.

  I hurried over to him, hoping to simply make sure he was okay before going to attack Mathias again. It was beginning to feel futile, and I was growing weaker the longer we did this dance.

  I put my hands on Seeley’s abdomen the moment I arrived by his side. There was a dark substance flowing out of him that made no sense. Seeley’s blood was red, I’d had it before. This didn’t look right.

  Mathias cackled. “There are many other ways to kill you besides a stake to the chest or beheading.” He made his way closer. “Are you feeling ill? I’m sure you’ve never experienced these reactions before, but you are dying, Seeley Ronan.”

  I picked up my blade as Mathias continued to make his way toward him. “Leave him alone!” I shouted, holding my weapon straight out at the king making his way toward us.

  “There’s nothing you can do. Lucian will finish him, and your vampire will be gone,” he hissed.

  I looked back and forth between Seeley, Mathias, and Lucian and gripped my sword. “Then I guess it’s just up to me to end this then,” I muttered under my breath.

  Mathias tilted his head back and let out a barbaric laugh. “You have no power over me.”

  A tingling sensation started in my gut. For a moment I thought Henry’s soul must be strengthening inside me, encouraging me. But as I took in a breath and focused on the response in my body to this new spark, I realized it was something else. Something stronger than anything I’d ever felt.

  My body trembled but not from weakness, fear or failure. It wasn’t from pain or sadness. It was like the trembling before a large earthquake. The slight tremble before the storm so great that nothing could stand before it. The energy inside me built faster and swirled with a force that I knew. A force I recognized without ever having felt it before.

  I was a Van Helsing.

  My time was now.

  As the energy coursed through me and flowed to my legs and arms, I rose from my knees where I held my blade out before me. I continued to point it at Mathias. My hand seemed to glow, so did my arm. It was faint, but it looked like—magic.

  “I am born of two hunters. The power in me is unmatched by anyone.” My voice boomed throughout the room as I made my way toward Mathias. His eyes flipped to a figure behind me, I could only assume was Lucian, and for a brief moment, I felt his fear. He didn’t know what was happening and surely had never seen it before.

  “You have no control here, and your powerful reign has come to an end, Mathias Morgenstern. You can surrender, or you can die, but you will face me. My blood is Van Helsing and McNealy, and you will wish you never came across me when I’m done with you.”

  Mathias narrowed his eyes as if I was all talk, and I felt my own small smirk play over my lips. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I said under hushed breath before rushing at him.

  My blade moved faster than it ever had before, and it didn’t take more than a few strokes to realize that this was what Lars and Andrew had meant. My power, my lineage, it was all coming together and unleashing itself within me. I had the ability that had always been locked inside, and now it was free, coursing through my veins and letting me claim the power that had always been there.

  Mathias grunted as we fought, and he grew angrier with every clash of our blades. “Lucian,” he growled out.

  The doors to the office burst open. Standing, no hovering at its entrance was Nadia. She radiated a powerful magic that halted me as I shielded my eyes.

  “It cannot be,” Lucian yelled, racing toward her.

  “You have underestimated me for the last time.” Nadia commanded the room, and she and Lucian began their own battle among themselves. I refocused, knowing Nadia would control her fight, and her resolve wouldn’t fail. I glanced quickly at a cowering Kellan before Gabriel and Rebecca, and knew the time was now.

  Seeley gasped in his own breaths now that Lucian wasn’t working his magic on him anymore.

  I brought my attention back to the monster in front of me.

  “Any final words?” I seethed.

  A fury had lit behind Mathias’ eyes and he stood cornered. I couldn’t help the smirk that overtook my face as I charged once more toward the soon-to-be dead king.

  I yelled as our swords connected again and, with a renewed strength and energy, I fought. A figure came beside me, hitting at Mathias, and I recognized Seeley’s presence.

  Mathias let out a painful hiss, and it seemed that time slowed down, at least compared to the speed in which we were fighting. A stake was in his chest, seeming a narrow sliver away from his heart, based on his stance and pained expression.

  “No,” he bellowed out angrily.

  Seeley stood unmoving, his hand clenched around the stake.

  I whipped my sword around, and everything was frozen in time. My eyes flicked to Nadia who was single handedly serving Lucian the worst day of his life, which by the looks of it wouldn't last much longer. I glanced toward Rebecca and saw her with her arm raised, stake in hand, as Gabriel held back his arms and Kellan squirmed.

  My attention turned back toward my own fight, and I made eye contact with Seeley.

  He pursed his lips.

  “Admit defeat and announce your surrender to all your warriors, or we’ll take your life and do it for you,” I commanded.

  Mathias smirked at me. “You don’t have it in you to kill, Jules Van Helsing. You are nothing like your ancestors. We can work something out.”

  Seeley twisted the stake, and Mathias choked again and snarled.

  “Last chance,” I barked.

  He shook his head and tried to turn and catch Seeley off guard. But Seeley was a better fighter than Mathias. What Mathias had in age and years on Seeley, was no matter. He twisted the stake and shoved it in further, then held him away from his body as my mind took control of my actions.

  I lifted the sword and brought it down with all my might against Mathias’ neck, not stopping even as the blade met his skin.

  In an instant, it was over.

  Mathias was gone. His body collapsed on the floor next to Seeley.

  Kellan roared, and Rebecca plunged her stake into his heart. The shocked expression on Kellan’s face was the last thing it held before he began slowly disintegrating.

  “It cannot be.” Lucian’s voice sounded.

  Nadia had him bound somehow with magic. She waved her hand and the mighty, villainous serpent’s head snapped to the side, and he fell to the ground with a resounding thud.

  We looked at each other in silence and awe as we stood around the room. We had taken our final stand and defeated evil—together.

  I grabbed Mathias’ head and swallowed the bile that rose in my throat as I walked out onto the balcony. The fighting below hadn’t stopped.

  “Enough,” I shouted from the top. My voice echoed but didn’t raise over the clashing beneath us. Nadia approached and touched her hand gently to my throat before nodding at me.

  “Again,” she said.

  “Warriors!” I shouted. This time, my voice rang throughout the castle, the courtyard, and the woods beyond as if it was the only thing that anyone in existence would hear for miles.

  “It is finished,” I exclaimed. I turned to Seeley and he knew I was struggling. The gruesomeness of war was not something I had been prepared for, and I knew I had to have proof or Mathias’ men wouldn’t stop. I raised his head above the balcony.

  “Mathias is finished. There will be peace again. Those of you who fought alongside him will have a chance to renounce his ways. We claim victory here, for peace, for prosperity, for the future.”

  A cheer rang out among our hunters. I heard howling that gradually faded as the wolves with us transformed back into their human form. I could make out a few I recognized in the crowd below and let out a small sigh of relief as I made eye contact with Luther Warwick, battered but standing with his arm raised and cheering. I smiled and nodded his way as he did the same.

  I could feel his joy, his sorrow at the loss, the conflicting emotions raging within him as he realized it was over. We all realized it was over. And the overwhelming nature of those emotions overtook me in the moment as a tear slipped and fell down my cheek.

  21

  My arm fell to my side as I dropped the head where I stood and backed away. I crumbled onto the floor inside the office.

  “Jules.” Nadia came and knelt in front of me. “Where’s Henry?”

  I stared at the floor, unable to look up as I tried to gather what little strength I had left to meet her gaze.

  “He saved me by sacrificing himself. His last words were to tell you he loves you.”

  Nadia dropped and reached for my hand. Tears ran down my cheeks, and I could feel her body next to mine, silently shaking. I squeezed her hand, not sure how to be there for her, but finding comfort in her presence.

  “And Andrew?” she asked.

  “He said their role in this war was finished. He’s gone,” I answered.

  Seeley approached us, holding out his hand. “Let’s go home.”

 

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