Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

OTF Chapter 19 - A Poisonous Kiss

Chapter 19

VIVIENNE BACKED away from Blake as he approached her with cold, glowing eyes. She rolled over onto her feet and tried to make a desperate scramble for the stake but another gust of wind blew her off her feet and into the steps of the throne. Blake appeared before her, talons slowly appearing in his hands. Vivienne screamed as he sliced open her shoulder, narrowly missing taking off her head.

Vivienne realized as he raised his talons again, she finally understood the man she had been in love with. Julian was right. Behind all his masks, Blake was a monster. Countless victims had been where she was at that moment, ready to meet their deaths. Vivienne felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she came to realize what Allison had been trying to protect her from. The Segais blood was coursing through her veins, pumped by her racing heart. It called out for the stake that had been in her hands.

Vivienne closed her eyes and saw once again the willow trees in River Way. The entire night was lit up in threads of gold. Vivienne could hear the laughter of children in the distance, their younger selves. The Segais stake flew into her mangled hand. Vivienne jumped up to her feet. Blake's talon came down again and Vivienne knew it was too late.

"Stop!" Allison yelled. Blake hesitated and Vivienne took that opportunity to stick the Segais stake into Blake's chest, all the way through, impaling him on it. Blake fell to his knees, talons digging at the stake. Allison ran to Vivienne's side and placed the cameo necklace in her hand. Vivienne tearfully looked at her friend. "Thank you," Vivienne whispered.

Vivienne knelt down beside Blake and placed her hand on his cheek. She leaned into his face and kissed his lips. Her lips were burning with the all-consuming power of the Segais. She could feel her power pass into him, heal him. Slowly, the feathers and talons faded. He ripped the stake out of his chest and handed it to her. Vivienne understood what he meant.

She took the stake from his bloody hand. She stood up and slowly walked to Maglania. Around Maglania, the Segais throne extended its own woody vines and wrapped around her and embraced her in a fatal hold. Now, without Allison, she couldn't even speak. Vivienne heard each weary breath on the respirator. She walked up the corpse and slowly, surely, sank the stake into the woman's chest, feeling her heartbeat fade with each inch.

It was done. Maglania died. Vivienne fell to her knees beside the throne and tried to catch her breath. As her eyes closed, she still saw the willow trees in the wind. Their lights were brighter than ever. Her power was at a climax.

"What's going on here?" Julian yelled from the door. "Oh my lord," he gasped. "Blake!"

Julian rushed to Blake's side and placed both his hand over the bleeding wound on his friend's chest. Vivienne crawled over to Blake's side and placed her wrist in front of her beloved. Her mind was still reeling. She didn't understand Julian's panic. "Drink," she ordered desperately.

Blake turned away from her wrist and met her eyes with his sea-green ones, no longer glowing emerald. Vivienne's eyes went to the blood seeping out between Julian's fingers as he tried to stop the bleeding. Red blood, human blood, not demon blood. Blake gasped for air as his lips slowly turned blue. He lifted his hand to her and brushed it weakly by her cheek "Thank you," he mouthed and then his eyes slowly closed. Vivienne didn't understand. Even then, she marveled at how warm his fingers were in her vice-like grasp. They were slowly growing cold but still not as cold as a vampire's.

Vivienne found her mind reeling as she looked at the crimson blood on her hands. It wasn't black blood. It was warm, bright red, mortal. The wound in his chest continued to bleed a red river around where they were sitting. Vivienne squeezed the cameo necklace in her fist. She noticed the chain slowly becoming tarnished as Calbert's had after he died. "Blake!" She begged. "Wake up! I command you, I command you."