A roar of pure rage scorched my throat and blackness filled my eyesight. A second later, I was standing in the middle of a frozen lake that lay behind the house. I threw up my hands as Elena came out of the darkness, her eyes rounded in disbelief. The blast lit up the night, and chunks of ice flew from the surface of the lake when her body slammed into it.

I ignored the shouts from the shore as I stalked toward the vampire who was already getting to her feet. Her arrogant sneer was gone now, replaced by fear and pain. She feinted to her left and then sped to the right. Instead of giving chase, my bare feet planted on the ice, and I called to the magic in the lake. Elena skidded to a stop as a jagged wall of ice erupted in her path. She whirled in the other direction, but the wall moved faster. Within seconds, the two of us were enclosed inside a dome of solid ice.

Panic showed on her face and she tried to use her vampire strength to punch through the ice. Every molecule of frozen water around us was connected to me, and the moment her hand touched the ice, magic coiled around her wrist. She screamed as it snaked up her arm, branding her skin.

I released her, and she stumbled back, clutching her arm to her chest. Her expression was a mix of fear and hatred when she turned to face me.

“Impressive display, niece. Too bad you couldn’t use your magic to save dear, sweet Nikolas.”

My body trembled as my Mori fought to take over, to destroy the thing that had killed our mate. I held it back and watched Elena as she walked along the wall of ice, looking for an escape.

“Do you want to hear about our time together while you were locked up in my cell, what his sweet blood tasted like on my tongue? Maybe you’d prefer to hear about how my hands ran over his naked body as I forced him to take my blood into him. The change is never easy, but it is agonizing for a Mohiri. Do you know he called out for you when the pain tore through his body?”

A scream welled up from deep within me, and my fragile hold on my sanity threatened to shatter as the demon pushed to the surface. The ice groaned beneath my feet. The walls shook, and shards of ice fell around us as the entire dome threatened to drop onto our heads.

Elena smiled. That was exactly what she wanted.

I smiled back. “I met a powerful Hale witch who could also see the future. He told me the ones hunting me would give me the power to become the thing they fear the most. I thought he meant you would fear me because I could make you human again, but I was wrong. I finally get what he was telling me.

“You hunted me, and you hurt the people I love. You did everything in your power to destroy me. You took my power and held me prisoner. You won, but that wasn’t enough for you. You had to take him from me.”

My laugh sounded mad to my own ears. “And now look at me. You brought me here. You made me into this. It looks like Azar was right after all. Madeline’s half-blood daughter will destroy you. I guess Azar forgot to tell you that you would be the one to make his vision come true.”

I walked toward her and she ran for the other side of the small space we occupied. A smile curved my lips, and the walls began to move, closing in on us. Grief poked around the edges of the rage, and I knew I would not be able to keep it at bay much longer. It was time to end this.

When Elena realized there was nowhere else to run, she faced me in a last stand. Ice sprung from the wall behind her and encased her small body despite her attempts to break it. She was no match for the magic of the whole lake that had come to do my bidding.

Standing over her with so much power coursing through me, I had never felt so alive, yet dead and empty inside at the same time.

A shard of ice flew into my outstretched hand. I ran my other hand along the ice, and a long thin blade formed under my fingers. It was blue with golden threads running through it, and the hilt was an exact replica of the one on Nikolas’s sword.

My eyes met Elena’s. I wanted to make her suffering go on forever because that was how long mine would last. Instead, I raised my weapon as I’d seen Nikolas do countless times.

“He was mine,” I said as the razor sharp blade sliced through her throat.

The sword slipped from my fingers and shattered, and the dome of ice crumbled around me. On the other side, Chris, Tristan, and Desmund stood transfixed as I walked toward them. Tristan reached for me, but I pulled away from him. Chris’s hand touched my arm as I passed, but he didn’t try to stop me as I walked back to the shore.

Warriors stared at me as I entered the courtyard and went to where Nikolas’s body still lay in the snow. Sitting on the ground, I pulled his head and shoulders into my lap. My hands trembled as I stroked his face and ran my fingers through his soft hair. He liked to touch my hair whenever he held me, and I’d always found it so soothing. I touched the still lips and remembered his smiles and the beautiful gray eyes that had looked at me with love such a short time ago. I could still feel the bond that connected us, but it was empty like a phantom limb. It was a jagged hole inside of me that would never be filled.

My rage faded and I rocked back and forth as waves of grief crashed down on me. Why did you make me love you and then leave me?

Tristan knelt beside me. “Sara, we have to –”

“No.” I hugged Nikolas tighter, prepared to fight anyone who tried to separate us. “Leave us alone.”

“No one is going to take him from you,” Tristan said gently. “Let us move you both somewhere warmer.”

“Nikolas doesn’t get cold.” And I would never be warm again.

Chris sat on his haunches on my other side. “Nikolas would want you to take care of yourself. You can’t stay out here.”