Violet Forsythe has finally found peace.
She successfully escaped a coven of malignant vampires, worked hard to get an education, and has actually managed to pull herself together.
But, as old acquaintances begin to resurface, the life that Violet w...
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Working quickly, I spit out my harebrained scheme. It was now or never.
"Felix and Demetri, you have your lighters, right?" I asked.
"Yes," Felix grunted, "Your point?"
"Hand them over. If two of us can find a way out of this room, we can split up, make our way through the halls and torch everything as we go," I said.
"I volunteer," Jane said quickly. She didn't seem to enjoy fighting as much as the guys did. "I'm the smallest and the fastest."
"I agree," I said, "I'll go, too."
"And what the hell do you expect us to do in the meantime?" Alec asked as he dodged another newborn before killing it.
"Hold these assholes off until Jane and I can get out, then you guys can make a break for it. Get out of the castle as fast as possible. Jane and I can meet you guys outside the village gates once we're done lighting everything up," I said.
"No, I'm not leaving you," Demetri argued.
"You don't have a choice," Jane snapped. "We're going with Violet's plan, now let's get this over with."
Without further ado, Felix and Demetri quickly passed their lighters to Jane and me before resuming the fight.
"Remember!" I called at the guys as Jane and I backed up closer to the wall, "As soon as Jane and I are out of the room, you guys get the hell out of here!"
"Right," Demetri said as Alec cast a look of deep concern at his sister.
I understood the weight of the consequences if my plan failed. If anything happened to Jane, Alec would lose his mind.
Alec and I certainly had our issues, but I never wanted to see him in pain. I couldn't imagine how far he would sink without his twin.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Jane implored, jostling me from my thoughts.
With adrenaline coursing through my veins, I looked at her and smiled. "We're going to jump."
Upon glancing out of the window, I realized that we were at least twenty five stories off of the ground. It made my stomach churn, but I threw myself out of the window anyway, crashing through the ancient glass.
Rocketing towards the ground made me want to puke, which I knew was ridiculous considering that I physically couldn't. Nonetheless, plummeting down the side of a massive castle was one of the most unnatural feelings I'd ever experienced - and I'd experienced a lot.
In my head, I'd planned to expertly maneuver my way through a window mid-fall and land smoothly inside another chamber about ten stories down, but since I'd mindlessly flung myself out of the window, I ended up just falling.
And falling.
And falling.
Until my body slammed to the ground at full force.
Goddamn. That certainly didn't feel good.
Jane, on the other hand, landed lithely on her feet a few yards away.
"Smooth moves," she mocked.
"Shut the hell up," I grumbled as I pulled myself to my feet. In the back of my mind, I knew there was no way she was going to let me live that down. It was a trivial concern, but the thought of the whole coven gossiping about me falling face first into the dirt instead of talking about how much of a badass I was pissed me off.
"Let's split up," Jane said with cool confidence.
I gave her a short nod before we rocketed in opposite directions, both of us circling the castle to find an entrance.
It didn't take me long, and within a matter of seconds I was speeding through the decrepit castle and torching everything in sight.
Couches, rugs, drapes, priceless antiques - and I'd be lying if I said I didn't thoroughly enjoy every second of it.
I wove through the castle, ascending the stairs, until I reached the corridor that led to Lady Moreau's room. Newborns still staggered out in the hall, but I torched them before they had the chance to see me coming.
Their screams of agony echoed throughout the castle as I pushed on, refusing to allow myself to slow down and enjoy the show.
I didn't want to go inside the room itself and risk getting torn to shreds by however many newborns that managed to survive before the guys escaped, so I torched the door thoroughly instead, before a break for it by tossing myself out of another window.
It wasn't the smartest move, and it still hurt like a bitch, but it was effective.
As much as I wanted to turn back and search for my team, I had to trust that they were able to fend for themselves and would make it out of the castle before the growing inferno ate them alive.
Instead, I kept pushing myself forward, running through the village and toward the front gates. I flipped the lighter as I went and torched as much as I could along the way: storefronts, carts, bodies, and homes.
By the time I made it through the front gates and was securely back in the woods, the village was well past the point of no return. When the fire inevitably died down, there would but little more than a field of rubble at the foot of a husk of what was once the grand, ancient castle.
Once I was safely out of the village, my first task was to locate the rest of my team. We agreed to meet outside of the gates, but I found myself alone. Concern began to eat at my stomach as I watched the village burn.
Had I gone overboard? Had I taken away my covenmate's ability to make it out alive?
The concern began to grow into malignant fear as I focused my senses, but detected nothing. I could see anyone, hear anyone, or even pick up a trace of someone's scent.
