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If only I can free myself for an instant, I can jump off this cliff and die. Ophelia craned her neck in Martin’s arms, looking to see the cliff over Togo River, a jagged peak rose not far from the cliff, gray with massive ice formations like teeth hanging off it.
All her defenders had fallen away, even Jean-Pierre, a super-powerful, supposed vampire, whose motives were entirely selfish.
Ophelia saw the doll Martin had given her for Christmas, hanging by its skirt way up a birch tree. He needs to believe I love him. She pointed a shaky finger at the doll. “Muffy.”
Martin smiled. “First, my hair, and now this silly dolly.” Walking over to it, he set Ophelia on her feet, keeping one arm around her, and reached up to fetch the doll. “You’re so sentimental.”
Hands free, Ophelia unzipped her purse and plunged her hand inside. She came up with the Arctic Poppy mash, bag split open and soaked with melted snow. It had never been tested, not on Brandon, and not on Martin.
“One day, we’ll have a real baby together and she’ll live, I promise.” Martin needed both hands to loosen the doll’s skirt without ripping it. He lifted it down to her.
Eat this, Jackass! Ophelia smashed the Arctic Poppies into his face.
Martin shrieked and staggered back, tearing at his face with all fingers.
Ophelia backed away, tripped over tree roots, and caught herself on a snowy bush.
The more Martin grabbed and scratched at his face, the more the poppy mash dug in.
Ophelia flipped herself onto all fours and scrambled back to the wrecked SUV. She grabbed her backpack and yanked out the flannel-covered mirror. Ripping off the flannel, she rose on shaky legs. If only it’ll work like it did on the Oldblood, I can blast him right into the river.
The mash burned away Martin’s face, dripping onto his shoulders, burning his skin through his shirt, revealing sick yellowish flesh. His eyes bulged, inhuman, and he stretched his hands. “I need you, my Sweet. Only you can ease my pain, my heaven on earth.”
Ophelia glanced back at her car. The impulse to run hit her nerves, but she could not outrun such an unearthly monster. “Free. I need to be free.” She raised the mirror to him.
Martin’s head cocked as though he’d never seen a mirror, as though his image was foreign to him. His harsh yellow eyes blinked, one set of eyelids, and then, sideways, another set of eyelids.
He grinned. “A gift for me?” And he stepped forward.
Ooh, crap. The mirror grew heavier until Ophelia was forced to hold it with both hands. It glowed hot until it burned her and fell into the snow. A cry ripped out of her chest.
Martin stood, arms outstretched, eyes wider still, both sets of eyelids peeled. His yellow eyes glowed into white, and then into bluish white. He fell to his knees, mouth hanging open. “Ooh, so good.” For an instant, he looked like he might fall over. His bluish white eyes fixed on her and he smiled. “Thank you, my Sweet, my goddess.”
And he stood.
Ophelia backed against the SUV and eyed the cliff.
No time to leap.
Martin would catch her.
Broken glass riddled the snow beneath her boots. I’ll slice open my wrists. He’ll be too overcome with bloodlust to try keeping me alive.
One step, Martin reached for her. “Oh, my Sweet, we’ll soon be far...”
Adrian landed on his feet not two meters from them, his jacket gone, his shirt shredded, muscles glistening as sweat and snow melted on hot skin.
Martin straightened and stepped three paces out, face going hard and red. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
“Your father had other plans.” Adrian settled into battle stance, legs balanced, arms at the ready. He circled out. “You’re not getting this Sweet. This one goes free.”
Martin paced one way and then the other, eyes flashing. “You’re turned, but not trained.” He clawed his hands and charged.
Adrian’s hands clawed, but he redirected the red energy away from him. He stepped back and sideways.
Martin blew by him and slammed into a tree, toppling it in a great flurry of snow and red sparkles. He emerged.
“Yeah, but I was a blackbelt in Aikido to begin with.” Adrian moved to the side and backed to the cliff, keeping Martin in focus. “You didn’t really think I undermined you creeps for four years out of stupid luck, did you?”
Martin paced the other way, face crimson and pulsating, sizing him up.
Adrian smiled. “All the time you were going out with Ophelia, I was sneaking behind your back, kissing her in the stairwells, sneaking her up on the roof to make out. We were messing around in a moose thicket the whole time you hunted us at the Old Mine.”
“Liar.” Martin paced the other way. “Ophelia is incapable of that.”
“You only believe what is convenient. Idiot.”
“Monster!” Martin stopped and faced off.
“I can’t wait to bang her senseless.”
Martin shrieked at Adrian, a mass of red energy. “I will destroy you first!”
“No!” White energy rushed and snapped through Ophelia and she strode towards her enemy. “You will not!” Rage twisted around her chest and rushed out her fingertips in splintered ice, striking Martin square.
Striking Martin off the cliff, into the far, sharp rocks, and down into the white rapids below, churning with ice.
Blue sparkles died among the shards.
Silence.
Except the rushing of water.
Ophelia remembered to breathe.
Adrian stepped to the edge of the cliff and looked down, clenching and unclenching fists at his sides. “How’d you do that?”
“I...don’t know.” Ophelia faced him. “I needed to stop him from killing you so I...”
“I’ve never seen anyone do anything like that before.” Adrian’s attention rose skyward.
All around them, the Aurora Borealis exploded in swirls of purple, blue, and gold, brilliant against the black, star-filled heavens.
“Wow.” Ophelia’s face warmed in the rays and faces appeared before her waking eyes, all at once familiar and yet unknown, and vanished like mist.
The Ice Princess has come of age and drawn our kind to her banner.
“Grandma?” Ophelia searched her thoughts for the words’ origin as they sunk into murmuring and evaporated.
“You’re glowing.”
“What?” Ophelia looked at Adrian gaping at her.
“Your face is...shining.” His words didn’t make sense.
The boy Ophelia loved now shared his body with an additional set of biological directives.
Adrian closed in on her, unblinking. He reached out and touched the gash on her forehead and studied her blood on his finger.
One taste and the subsequent addiction would rule his life and destroy hers.
Sharp breaths cut in and out of Ophelia, clouds in the cold air. “Please. Don’t give in. Stay with me. You’re strong enough, I’ve seen that.”
Adrian’s face twisted and gnarled, and he thrust the finger into the snow, cleaning off her blood. “I need to get you out of here before...” He gathered her into his arms and leapt up and over the snow berm, onto the road. “Sorry about the ‘bang her senseless’ crap. I was just trying to make him as mad as I could and use his energy against him.”
“My mom and sister. They’ll freeze to death if we leave them here.” Ophelia craned her neck to see. “Or at least Mom will, she’s fully human.”
“I need to get you to the Langdons. I’ll come back and...” Adrian stopped.
Ophelia looked to see what had set his face like flint.
Joseph stood in silent strength. He was very tall and broad-shouldered, with short, brown hair, Roman nose, and deep-set brown eyes. He wore a forest green parka and the full moon shone on his pale skin.
To his right stood a girl who looked about her age with wildly curly black hair and big brown eyes.
To his left stood a boy with neat black hair and sharp eyes. He felt so familiar, but she bore no memory of him.
“Tristan Li.” Adrian recognized him at once and clutched her tight. “I see you brought back-up this time.”
“It’s okay. These are Brandon’s friends, Joseph and his...” Ophelia glanced between the teenager-looking vampires “...his children.”
Joseph’s eyes fixed on Adrian, unmoving, but not in threat.
“They’re here to help us,” said Ophelia.
“No. They’re here to help you because I can’t anymore.” Adrian strode forward and pushed her into Joseph’s arms. “Her sister and mother are on the other side of the berm.”
“Adrian, no.” Ophelia’s voice sounded so small in her own ears, helpless to help him. He’s gonna go kill himself.
Adrian kept his gaze fixed on Joseph. “Keep her safe.”
“You have my word.” Joseph held her, but not tight, and focused on Adrian, too. “Maya, her sister, Tristan, her mother, quickly.”
His children broke ranks and retrieved her family.
Adrian backed away and dared a look at her again, possibly for the last time.
“What about Perdy?” Ophelia’s eyes stung, now able to weep.
“I couldn’t save you both.” He didn’t flinch.
“Adrian, please.”
He removed the gold griffin ring from his finger and offered it.
Joseph accepted the ring and pressed it into her hand instead.
Adrian turned and ran, the wilderness devouring him in night.
Gone.
Just like that.
“Oh my God.” Ophelia’s mouth dropped opened. The cold air froze her tongue, and tears blurred her vision.
Joseph placed her in the center backseat of a dark green Ford Expedition. “We must go quickly, before the Malevolents arrive.”
With little effort, Maya placed Bianca next to her.
“Thank you.” Ophelia buckled her sister in safe.
Mom moaned against her other shoulder.
Tristan buckled her mother in with not a glance.
“I know you,” whispered Ophelia. “Somehow.”
He froze, but then shut the door without looking.
Maya and Tristan got into the third-row seats and closed their own doors.
“We need to get airborne.” Joseph started up the engine. “Where’s Brandon?”
“Dead.” A little cry rippled through Ophelia’s lips.
“Where’s his body?”
“In front of my house.” Ophelia grabbed the back of his seat as he stomped on the gas and the tires gripped the road. “Airborne?”
“Yes, we’re taking you and your mother and sister home with us to Minnesota where we will hide you and keep you safe.”
“No.”
Maya’s eyes widened at her.
“Take us home, to our house.” Ophelia sat back. “The Brynners are all dead. Martin killed his mother when she tried to take me for herself. A bear killed Mr. Brynner when he attacked Adrian.”
“A bear-shifter?” Said Maya. “Regular bears are hibernating right now.”
“I...I don’t know. And I...I destroyed Martin when he tried to kill Adrian.”
“I saw the Aurora Borealis. You’re so young, I didn’t think...” Joseph studied her in the rear-view mirror, gripping the steering wheel as they sped along the mountain road, massive snowflakes striking the windshield. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.” Ophelia sat back and stared blankly. “And...my grandmother is coming. She’s almost here.”
Grandma’s presence grew in her thoughts, brighter, fiercer, and flanked by two champions in silver and pure starlight.
Joseph shoulders rose and fell, forehead ridged in wise lines, presumably present when he was turned. “Very well. I doubt Queen Alva would allow me to...” Joseph’s attention darted to her mother and something indiscernible settled in him. “I will provide for your security, with the Queen’s permission. However, I must inform you the Malevolent Oldbloods do know of your presence here, and they will destroy any Newblood in the vicinity.”
“You mean Adrian.”
Joseph hesitated in a cloud of sadness. “Mourn Adrian as though he died, for nothing of his old self remains. He has become a very great threat to you.”
“He stopped Martin from taking me.”
“So he could keep you for himself.”
“He let me go!” She gripped the back of his seat.
“A residue of his old self remained long enough to do so, but it will be consumed quickly by the Newblood addiction.”
No. Ophelia’s face burned. He’s wrong. Even so, the memory of Martin’s descent into madness made Adrian’s fate clear.
“Your family’s safety depends on you. They are no match for those who threaten you.”
Ophelia studied her mother’s bruised face and remembered Mrs. Brynner pursuing them on all fours and in high heels. She turned to her sister.
Bianca shook in her seat, tears streaming, little cries breaking. “They’re vampires.”
Ophelia reached over her mother and took her sister’s hand. “They’re like Brandon. Remember? I know. I can hear their thoughts.”
“They’re gonna eat us.”
“No, they won’t.”
“What proof do you need?” Bianca blew her nose on her sleeve. “A good bite on the neck?”
“Bianca,” said Joseph. “A scientific mind is a rare thing on this side of reality. Please, don’t discourage your sister.”
“Yes, sir.” Bianca slumped in her seat and shut-up, except for a sniffle every minute or two.
Ophelia pressed her fingertips to her lips and watched the dark trees race by, hoping to see Adrian among them. Her fingers trembled against her face. She forced the emotion down. Must stay focused. Must see my family to safety.
You’re doing fine. Joseph glanced at her in the rearview mirror. You’re almost home. A light shone on his face and, for a brief second, his expression resembled her father’s, coming to rescue her from a nightmare.
Ophelia held her mother’s head against her shoulder and watched giant snowflakes strike the windshield against the blackness of night.