But there was no answer.
Stiff with tension, he thanked Katarina for her help and spun around wordlessly. He called to his men in his mind. Be ready to leave.
“Alexandru, wait!” Katarina caught after him. “What’s happening?”
“Zari’s gone,” he said curtly without pausing in his stride. “I have a feeling she’s gone back hunting on her own so I’m going to the hospital, where she had her first vision.”
She paled. “On her own? Why wouldn’t she tell you? Or any of the others?”
“She might have told others. I’ve let Sir Richard know about what’s happening and he’ll let me know if he’s find out something.” His jaw clenched. “But if she’s lied to me then she must have seen me in her visions.”
Katarina was able to read between the lines. “And she saw you, like she saw me, didn’t she?”
He didn’t have to answer.
Goddamn you, pet. I’m going to kill you for this.
CHAPTER TEN
ZARI
The burning heat woke me up. The visions had tired me out, the senselessness of the killings making me unconscious. I screamed when I found myself surrounded with fire. It was everywhere, my nightmare come to life.
I looked around and saw that the Red Witch was gone, probably so she could watch LSL burn to the cinders. And while the school had all kinds of spells protecting it, I knew it might not be enough.
The Red Witch was strong, and she had unfinished business there. The one destined to kill her was studying in LSL and she wouldn’t stop until every student in the school died.
Knowing I had little time left, I turned towards the shadows, where I knew she lurked, watching silently as she always did.
“Elsa.”
The ghost appeared before me, her disfigured face becoming more ghastly as she gave me an inquiring smile.
I forced myself up, which was doubly hard with my hands and feet bound. She watched me struggle, not offering to help. I wasn’t sure she even knew how to speak. None of the case studies ever recorded her speaking, but most of the studies reported that she did understand when people talked to her.
“Elsa.”
She looked at me again.
“I need you to come inside of me, like you did before, with the boy. You remember him? His name was Jeremy?”
The single eye she had lit up.
“Help me. Come inside of me.” With her inside of me, I would be free from the pain. It was the only way I’d have the courage to go through the fire and save myself.
I closed my eyes.
Something cold blew.
She was inside of me.
Elsa and I walked through the fire. She didn’t feel it because she was immune to pain, not because she was a ghost but years of parental abuse had made her so. My body was wracked with coughs as we finally made it to the stairs, only to find the door locked.
No!
Tears from smoke stung my eyes.
It couldn’t end like this.
With Elsa’s help, I slammed my shoulder into the door, again and again, hoping it would give way.
ALEXANDRU AND ZARI
Fire. It rose in the night, swaying and roaring like a hungry beast.
Alexandru broke into a run, using his speed as a vampire hunter, no longer caring if humans might see him. The others followed him, Katarina just behind him a few steps. They found the entire hospital in flames, and Alexandru realized that if this was happening then her other vision might happen, too.
Everyone, go inform the enforcers about what is happening. Accompany them back to the LSL and tell them to prepare for an attack. Someone will try to burn the school down.
His men bowed and disappeared into the night.
Katarina was aghast. “But Lady Zari…”
His jaw clenched. “She would want it this way, too, Katarina. Too many lives are at stake for me to be selfish.” His gaze went back to the hospital. This was no ordinary flame. This was Hellfire, something that could kill even immortals like him.
“Stay here,” he told Katarina.
“No. I’m going to help—”
“She saw you die—”
“And if it will happen, it will happen. I won’t just stand by if someone needs my help.” Katarina looked at the hospital. “Just like old times, right?”
“Just don’t die on me,” he said grimly.
“Same to you, hunter.”
They looked at each other.
On the count of three, Alexandru murmured.
Katarina nodded. Three.
They burst into the broken windows, both of them wincing as the fire licked their skin. Immediately, they heard the banging on the door.
“Zari!” Alexandru shouted.
“Alexandru!” A coughing reply.
Relief slammed into him. He sped towards the door, his only thought saving his pet. But the moment he touched the knob, the spell on it came to life, blowing him straight into the fire.