Cara! Arturo's voice rang in her head.
Closer by, Kassius called to her. "Quinn?"
Her back arched with pain even as she felt the magic inside of her, even as she heard in her mind the words she must speak. Words nothing like the ones she'd been trying to sound out.
Forcing open her jaw, she repeated what she heard, a string of strange syllables that flew from her mouth as if she'd been born to them. The ground beneath her knees began to tremble, and she feared the sunbeams would break through again with Arturo, Micah, and Neo in the open.
Light flared up around her, light that appeared to be trapped within the Focus, blinding her. Thunder rumbled across the skies.
She could feel the power she sought there in the ground beneath her, but she couldn't . . . quite . . . claim it. And without that power, she could not renew the magic of this world.
"Come to me!" she cried, then returned to the words that flew from her tongue in a torrent of unknowable sounds. It was a language she didn't recognize. A language of magic calling to the forces of the earth.
The more she spoke, the harder she pulled at the magic, the more the pain burned and sliced at her until she was gasping for air between words, until sweat soaked her shirt and dampened her hair, until her eyes filled with dark tears and ran down her cheeks. She swiped at the tears, and her hand came away streaked with blood.
Quinn, you must stop. It is hurting you, cara. Come out of there!
"Sorceress, something's wrong. Get out of there."
But she ignored them both. She was here to renew the magic, and she would not fail. Zack's life depended on it.
The storm rose up all around her, whipping her hair into her face, howling into her ears until she could barely hear her own screams.
So close. The magic was there, rising from the earth, inch by slow, painful inch. It was coming. She would succeed if she didn't stop, if she didn't quit. Sooner or later, she would succeed.
The sweat rolled down her temples. Her head spun. Magic pressed against her chest until she could hardly breathe.
Quinn! Arturo's voice cut through the violence of the storm. You will kill yourself, cara. Come out. Please.
"Can't," she gasped. "I'm so close."
Failure wasn't an option. Not when Zack's life hung in the balance.
Arturo flew off his horse and ran for the Focus, his vampire's speed far faster than any beast's. Unfortunately, his speed was of little use when he couldn't breach the Focus walls.
Through the swirling colored lights, he saw Quinn on her knees, arched in agony, the blood running down her cheeks. He felt her pain, almost more than he could bear, because it was hers.
"Quinn!" His hands fisted, raised as if to beat on the pulsing energy, stopped only by the certain knowledge that touching that energy would send him, and any but a true sorcerer, flying backward. "It will kill you, Quinn! Come out!"
But she no longer even seemed to hear him. Her pain flayed him, her agony burned him alive. Her desperation clawed at him, her need to win this battle.
But at what cost?
"It is the curse that keeps you from succeeding," he called. It had to be. It was the curse that attacked her, that had attacked her the first time she attempted to renew the magic. Neither of the Blackstone brothers had been bothered by it. They weren't affected because they had no Levenach blood. Quinn alone possessed both Blackstone and Levenach blood.
That was the truth he'd finally figured out. Quinn alone.
"Cara, you must listen to me. The curse attacks you. The pull of the two magics will kill you. For nothing, tesoro."
"It's coming. I can feel it coming."
Never had he met a more determined . . . stubborn . . . female. "You will die for nothing, Quinn. There is another way."
A way that he would avoid at all costs. Except this, except her life.
He glanced over his shoulder to where Kassius sat, still mounted, watching him with fathomless eyes. Shoving his fists against his forehead, he turned back, struggling to find a way to reach her.
He could not let her die like this. He could not let her die.
The agony was beyond bearing, Quinn's senses destroyed, her thoughts blown. Save Zack pounded through her head like a mantra. Save Zack save Zack save Zack.
Cara. Arturo's voice sounded in her head. She'd thought she'd heard his voice in her ears, but couldn't be certain. I no longer believe Zack's magic sickness is being caused by Vamp City's crumbling magic. It is the Levenach Curse that is harming Zack.
She frowned. "How is the curse hurting Zack?" She barely whispered the words, but he seemed to hear. "He's not a sorcerer."
What if you are wrong, bella? We know that you possess both Blackstone and Levenach blood. What if your mother was the Blackstone, but it was your Lennox father from whom you inherited the curse? As did your brother. Then it is the curse that is killing him.
"You don't know that," she cried. "You can't know!"
This time his voice came clearly to her ears, every damning word. "I believe it to be true. I have suspected as much since we met with Tarellia. Kassius saw the struggling power within you, one strand of which Zack shared. We believed the one strand to be the crumbling magic. But her revelation that one was the curse made it all too clear. You are the only one in whom the two magics have blended."
The words pelted her like sleet, freezing her to the marrow of her bones. He'd known Zack was a Levenach since they met with Tarellia. He'd lied to her about the one thing that meant the most to her in the world.
The power she'd struggled so hard to hold on to slipped between her fingers as shock radiated across her mind. He'd told her over and over again that only by renewing the magic would she save Zack.
Though she'd lost her grip on the power, the pain still burned, still tore through her, ripping and cutting. But around her, the storm slowly died, the howl of the wind turned to an agonizing moan.
"Kassius." The name left her lips on a gasp.
"I am here, sorceress."
"The truth. For once, I need the damned truth."
There was a moment's silence, and she turned, blinking the blood from her eyes as she found him standing beside Arturo just outside the Focus, their faces garish masks of swirling colors reflecting the Focus's glow. Arturo's hands were fisted at his sides, frustration in every line of his face, his eyes ablaze in pain.
Kassius watched her with compassion. "Ax speaks the truth as far as we know it. When I bit you in Cristoff's castle, I sensed a connection between you and your brother and two powers struggling within you, one of which also attacked your brother. Tarellia's revelation that you possessed both Blackstone and Levenach magic explained much. As did a bit of research that revealed the historical basis of the name Lennox to be, in fact, Levenach. Your father is almost certainly a Levenach descendant. Renewing the magic of Vamp City should cure Zack's magic sickness, Quinn, but doing so is not the only way to save him. And it's not the way at all if it's going to kill you."
"We have to break the curse," she gasped, understanding. "Destroy Escalla." Her pained, furious gaze swung to Arturo. "You promised me you were through lying."
In the distance, a wolf howled. Closer by, a man shouted. "Gonzaga vamps have been spotted."
"Cara. Hate me, if you must, but come, now. When you are safe, and well again, I will happily allow you to slam me against every tree and brick wall in Vamp City. But come. Please!"
She was in too much pain to move, but this battle was lost. And she would not go back to Cristoff.
She struggled toward the Focus's wall. And then Arturo was sweeping her up, the wind flying through her hair as he ran. Darkness descended over her beaten, furious mind at last.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Quinn woke feeling as if she'd gone five rounds with a Mack truck. Her head hurt, her body ached, her soul cried out with frustration. For a moment, she couldn't remember why.
And suddenly it all came rushing back. Standing in the swirling lights of the Focus, being flayed alive by the attacking magic. The pain. And for nothing. For nothing.
She'd failed. The power she'd needed to renew Vamp City's magic had remained just out of reach, refusing to come to her call. The equinox was all but over.
Zack . . .
He was still suffering the magic illness, still in terrible danger.
He was a Levenach sorcerer.
If Arturo could be believed.
Her chest ached, her teeth clenched at the fury curling in her stomach. After all the times he'd promised never to betray her again, he'd lied to her, used her to save his world, making her believe that renewing the magic was the only way to save Zack.
She caught a whiff of almonds. Her eyes snapped open, and she found him sitting on the end of her bed, watching her with enigmatic eyes.
"Get out."
He didn't move. "I did not lie to you, tesoro. I did not tell you everything because I could not."
She opened her mouth, then snapped it closed again. "I said, get out."
"Renewing the magic of Vamp City should have been enough to save Zack."
Dammit, she didn't have to lie here and listen to this. Pushing herself to her feet, she winced at the pain, echoes of what she'd felt in the Focus, as if the magic still hadn't let go of her.
Arturo thrust a coffee mug toward her. "Amanda sent this. It should rid your body of the effects of the magic. It will take the pain."