Page 45
What hit me in the tunnels as formless pressure now possesses shape, intent, and a distinct voice.
Sister, the word crystallizes inside my skull, intimate and possessive. You feel it now. The blood calls to blood. You are my Vessel and my way home.
The chains around its limbs crack audibly. Spiderweb-like hairline fractures spread across the magical bonds, and I watch in fascination as centuries-old prison walls begin to crumble.
Yes, I breathe, stepping closer despite every instinct screaming warnings. The power here sparks with lightning and midnight, wrapping around me like coming home.
Do you desire power? The voice echoes through the marrow of my bones. Do you want total control?
Rather than only displaying images, the entity activates every one of my senses from inside the event itself. I absorb the blazing warmth of the flames and feel the sharp, metallic taste of copper on my tongue before connecting instantly with the sound of Darius calling my name. I see Darius on his knees before me, terror widening his eyes as I drain the life from his chest.
"No," I gasp, but the word is strangled. The entity’s power constricts my throat, a suffocating, seductive weight like silk tightening around my windpipe.
You could possess everything and force them all to kneel.
More visions slam into me, showing cities burning under moonly fire and paranormals bowing before my throne. The scene shifts to reveal Darius's lifeless body at my feet while I step over him to claim dominion over every living thing.
He makes you weak. But I could make you strong enough to keep him forever. Let the strength inside you take over. Let me show you what you are truly capable of.
The chains shatter completely. The entity rises, magnificent and monstrous—a form that shifts between a woman carved from moonlight and something vast and formless that fills the entire cavern. Its face keeps changing and cycles through features I almost recognize. I spot my mother's cheekbones and my grandmother's eyes before the visage settles on my own jaw. My own mouth twists into a smile I've never worn.
This is your true potential, it whispers, and the voice resonates from everywhere—the walls, the floor, the blood singing in my own veins. You are meant to be a ruler and the architect of your own destiny.
The cavern reshapes itself around the promise. I see Chicago from above, bathed in moonlight, every supernatural creature in the city bending knee to a power so absolute that conflict becomes impossible. It offers peace through dominion and safety through control. Everything Darius has been trying to give me through brute force and sleepless nights is suddenly handed to me on a platter of starlight.
All I have to do is reach out and take it.
I reach my fingers toward it, desperate for that intoxicating power —
"Serenity!"
Darius cuts through the vision. Suddenly his hands are on my shoulders, shaking me hard enough to rattle my teeth. The cavern dissolves, the entity's furious shriek echoing as I'm yanked back into my own body.
I collapse against him, gasping. The warehouse floor feels impossibly solid beneath my knees.
"What the hell was that?" Kellan demands, his weapon drawn.
The answer refuses to leave my mouth. The entity's whispers continue to echo in my skull, promising power beyond imagining. It guarantees I could make Darius mine forever—or destroy him wholeheartedly.
"It's getting stronger. The prison is breaking."
Darius's eyes search my face with a silent intensity, rendering me momentarily winded. The concern and raw protectiveness radiating from him is exactly what the entity latched onto during the vision. I saw how it studied him through our connection; it catalogued his weaknesses like a hunter memorizing prey.
"The entity," I begin, then stop. My throat feels rough, as if I've been screaming. "It knows about you now. It knows about us."
"What do you mean?" Kellan asks while holstering his weapon but keeping his stance ready.
I push myself to my feet, Darius's hands supporting me automatically. Even that simple touch sets the air ablaze with awareness—and I know the entity felt it too. It mapped that connection and measured exactly how much Darius means to me.
"Our attunement creates an open channel straight into my thoughts," I explain, stepping away from his touch despite every instinct demanding I stay close. "Whatever is down there is learning to exploit it."
"Then we sever that channel."
"You can't tear apart something that's already woven into who we are," I snap, then regret the harsh tone. The fear makes everything sharper, meaner. "I need some space. Just for a few minutes. To breathe and recenter myself."
"Serenity—"
"Please." It escapes as a raspy breath, losing all its strength before it even clears my lips. "I can't think clearly with you this close after what I just saw."
