Grim lurched up.
She shoved the stake into his chest.
Grim’s eyes flared wide and he sucked in a sharp breath.
Then he smiled. “True,” he whispered, and blood spilled from his lips. “Both…right…”
The bastard smiled, and died.
Grim’s vampires inched forward.
Simon glared at them. “Your choice. Die with him or get the hell out of here.”
They stared back at him.
“My mother…” One whispered. “He made me…”
“My wife…” From another.
“My son.” Grief. Fury. “I begged him, but I couldn’t stop him!”
Not born monsters. We are what we become.
Simon stared back down at Grim’s still face. Once, Grim had just been a man, too. A man betrayed who’d woken to the power of a near god.
Dee’s fingers slowly loosened their death grip on the stake. Her breath exhaled on a hard sigh. She trembled.
Grim’s lashes were closed. His lips unmoving. No heartbeat. No breath.
Death.
Simon took Dee’s shoulders and pulled her away from the vampire. Over. Finally.
“Dee?”
He caught a scent then. A wild, fierce scent in the night. Animal.
No, shifter. Jude had to be close. More of the cavalry, but coming too late this time.
The vampires stilled, and he saw their eyes dart to the shadows. They knew when they were being hunted. Fear trickled into their dark gazes.
Then they bolted.
Not as dumb as he’d thought. Just lost, like he’d been.
“Is he dead?” Zane wasn’t looking at them. His eyes stayed on Nina’s body and his shoulders hunched.
The stake was buried in Grim’s heart. The bastard wasn’t so much as twitching. Yep, looked dead.
He pulled Dee toward him. “Sonofabitch, woman, you scared me! Catalina didn’t tell us Grim would die, she said you—”
Her knees buckled and Simon saw her chest—saw the blood that covered her. “Dee?”
A stake. A fucking stake. She’d gotten the Born, but he’d taken his death blow.
Both…right.
Because they were both dying.
Her lashes fell closed. No, no, screw that. Simon grabbed the stake and yanked it from her chest. She was still breathing. Her heart still beating. The stake had missed its mark, it had missed! She wasn’t going to die, no, she wasn’t going to—
“Easy.” Zane’s hoarse voice ordered and Simon realized he’d been screaming. Begging.
“Live,” Simon whispered now.
Grim had missed her heart. He could hear Dee’s heart beating. She’d be all right. She just needed blood. She just needed—
Her lashes lifted. Such dark eyes. Weak, but, still Dee.
“I will,” she promised. “I will.”
He crushed his lips onto hers and kissed the woman as hard and deep as he could.
Surrounded by death, but she was alive.
He leaned his forehead against hers and just held her.
“Missed…heart…barely…” she breathed the words.
“You just scared the hell out of me,” Zane snapped.
And she’d nearly killed him.
“Over,” she said, whisper soft. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”
The voice was gone from his mind. The link cut. “Let’s get out of here.” Away from the death and back to the life that waited for them.
But Dee shook her head and glanced toward Grim. “Always come back…” Her hand lifted to her shoulder. Pressed hard. “They always…come back.”
“Not this time.” Catalina’s certain voice.
She came from the darkness. Soot and blood covered her clothes. Jude walked at her side, clad in a pair of jeans, and his woman held the witch’s arm, helping her to walk. “This time,” Catalina said again, “he’ll stay down.”
She stopped near his body. Catalina stepped away from the shifters and lifted her arms. Her chant came, quick but soft, and the wind stirred.
Power. Licking in the air. So much power.
And not all of it was from the positive source a witch should use. Simon felt the taint of darkness, saw it reflected in Catalina’s eyes.
Changed.
Grim had left his mark on another victim.
A ball of fire exploded—no, Grim’s body exploded into flames. Burned and burned until nothing was left.
Not even ash.
“Guess he won’t be coming back from…that,” Dee managed and they watched the fire sputter.
No, he damn well wouldn’t.
A reminder never to piss off a witch.
Bye, asshole. Have fun in hell.
“I didn’t die.” Dee felt like she’d been hit by a bus or a stake. But then, she had. She winced as she lowered her body onto the chair that Simon had pulled out from who the hell knew where.