Between Shadow & Ruin (Fangs & Fae Saga Book 2)

eighteen.

"Val?" I shook her shoulders. "Val!" I felt the tears overwhelm me. "Fuck!" I said as I punched a wall to her side. Cracks spiderwebbed out. "Fuck, what did I do? What the fuck did I just do!?" I threw a table across the room. Jason came stumbling in covered in blood.

"Hey, did you find her?" he asked. He looked down and saw Val's body sitting on the floor. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know! I think I fucked up... She said they took her blood! They did this stupid spell on her blood! It was draining her! I added my blood to it! I don't know what happened!"

"Liz, cálmate."

"I can't calm down! I just fucking killed my wife!" My voice cracked. I paced and thought about how I was going to explain to Chris and Zane what I'd just done. I thought about the looks on Odie's, Ava's, and Noah's faces when I had to tell them their mom was dead. It was hard to breathe as the tears fell.

"Liz!" He grabbed my arms and forced me to stand still. I looked over at her with tears blurring my vision.

"I can't – I can't ..." I felt myself hyperventilate and remembered what I did with Noah to calm him down. I started thinking of Zane's favorite color, gold, Ava's favorite food, strawberries, Noah's favorite animal, chipmunks. I felt my breathing calm.

"Liz?" I heard a voice croak. "Liz?" Val. I rushed over to her body.

"Val, you're okay!" I said, throwing my arms around her. "You're not dead! I'm sorry. I'm sorry I did that. I thought I fucked up. I thought I fucked up so bad."

"Liz, I'm... still not sure what the fuck happened, but yeah, I guess I'm okay." She glowed intensely and I saw her strain her face.

"What's wrong?"

"I think... I think I'm going to –" She turned her face to the side and threw up something black.

"Woah, what the fuck..." I heard Jason say.

"They used dark magic," I said. Val wiped her mouth as she glowed even brighter than she did before.

"You're going to want to back up for a second Liz..."

"Do you have to throw up again? I don't care." She forced me to stand up and back away from her. Her eyes glowed white as she opened her mouth. Bright white light came from mouth, her fingertips, out of her ears, it consumed her. When the light dissipated, I knelt back down in front of her. She was silent and scarily still for a moment. "Val? Are you okay?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"Well... that wasn't fun."

"What was that? What happened?"

"...You made me stronger. And I think..."

"What? What is it?"

"...I think... I'm immortal."

"What? How do you know that?"

"That's how it feels... The spell that created the first vampire was trying to make a fae immortal. We don't have time to worry about it now. I'll check myself out later. Let's go while I still feel good." Confusion didn't cover what I was feeling. I looked her up and down a few times, trying to truly gauge if she was alright. Her heartrate was steady and strong, she smelled a bit different, but still good. I didn't care that Jason was standing behind me. I kissed her intensely and then helped her off the floor.

"Now, where's the Coven Leader? She and I have some words to share. I can't let this continue. They have gone far beyond a cultural practice of Santeria." The two of us and Jason went in search of Altagracia, running into a witch who nearly peed on herself when she saw Val. She tried to run away but Val bound her and snapped her neck without laying a finger on her. I looked at her concerned about what she had done.