Harald Dyre was a storm given flesh.
Cloaked in the fury of his Lycan form, he tore through the castle's outer defenses like they were parchment. Vampire guards lunged at him, their fangs bared, but they were little more than insects before his wrath. His claws ripped through throats, his fangs crunched through bone, and his golden eyes never once strayed from the castle's heart.
Asis.
Her scent was everywhere—fear, blood, and beneath it all, the intoxicating sweetness of witchfire and roses. It drove him mad.
Anders fought at his side, his silver blade flashing as he decapitated a vampire mid-leap. "The wards are tied to the Luna Queen blood!" he shouted over the chaos. "If we can't break them, we need her to!"
Harald didn't respond. He didn't need to.
He would burn this cursed fortress to the ground if that's what it took.
*****
Back in the ritual chamber, Asis clutched her bleeding hand to her chest, her vision swimming. The cut Vlad had given her wasn't healing. Instead, the edges of the wound pulsed with an eerie violet light—his magic, seeping into her veins.
"What did you do to me?" she demanded, her voice raw. Vlad circled her like a wolf around wounded prey. "I didn't do anything," he purred. "The blood moon did. It amplifies magic, Asis. And your blood? It's deliciously potent." He licked his lips. "By dawn, you'll be more of a vampire than a witch. More mine than his."
Revulsion coiled in her gut. She could feel it already—the unnatural chill in her limbs, the way her heartbeat stuttered like a dying thing.
But beneath it, something burned.
A thread of gold, stubborn and unbroken.
Harald.
She closed her eyes, focusing on that thread, clinging to it like a lifeline.
*****
Harald skidded to a halt before the castle's inner sanctum, his claws digging into the stone floor. Before him loomed a massive obsidian door, etched with runes that glowed the same sickly violet as Vlad's eyes.
Anders cursed. "This is it. The last barrier."
Harald didn't hesitate. He slammed his fists against the door, the impact sending cracks spiderwebbing across its surface. But the moment his skin touched the runes, agony lanced through him—white-hot and paralyzing.
The wards were rejecting him.
Because they were tied to her.
Gritting his teeth, Harald pressed his forehead against the door and roared her name.
"Asis."
Inside, Asis's head snapped up at the sound.
Harald.
His voice was raw, desperate. It cut through the fog of Vlad's magic like a blade.
Vlad's smirk faltered. "He's persistent, I'll give him that," he muttered. Then, his gaze sharpened on her. "But you're not going to him, are you?"
Asis didn't answer. She was too busy listening to the thread of gold in her chest, to the way it pulled her toward the door.
Toward him.
Vlad's expression darkened. "You foolish girl," he snarled. "Do you think he'll still want you after this? After my blood has tainted you?"
She met his gaze, her eyes blazing. "I guess we'll find out."
Then she turned and ran.
The obsidian door shattered the moment her bloodied palm touched it.
Harald stumbled forward as the wards collapsed, his golden eyes locking onto hers. For a heartbeat, there was nothing but silence. Then his gaze dropped to her hand, to the violet-tinged blood dripping from her wound.
Asis braced herself for disgust. For rejection.
Instead, Harald growled and yanked her against his chest. "You're alive," he rasped, his voice rough with relief.
Behind her, Vlad hissed. "How touching."
Harald's grip tightened, his eyes flashing wolf-gold as he bared his fangs at the vampire emperor. "You're dead."
Vlad laughed. "Oh, Lycan King. The night isn't over yet."
And with a snap of his fingers, the castle's shadows moved.
The moment Vlad snapped his fingers, the castle's shadows twisted, detaching from the walls like living things, slithering across the floor with eerie sentience. They coiled around Asis's ankles, icy tendrils creeping up her legs like chains. She gasped, stumbling back into Harald's chest as the darkness pulsed with Vlad's magic.
"You should have taken my offer, "Vlad purred, his violet eyes glowing in the dim light. "Now you'll both die here."
Harald snarled, shoving Asis behind him as the shadows lunged. His claws tore through the inky darkness, but the tendrils simply reformed, slithering around his wrists, his throat—
"Harald!" Asis reached for him, but a shadow lashed out, wrapping around her waist and yanking her backward. She hit the stone floor hard, her breath knocked from her lungs. Across the room, Vlad stalked toward Harald, his fangs glinting.
"I'd love to break a Lycan King," he murmured. "I'll savor this."
Harald's bones cracked as he shifted, his Lycan form erupting in a burst of muscle and fur. He tore through the shadows, his golden eyes blazing as he lunged for Vlad. The vampire emperor barely dodged, his laughter echoing off the walls as Harald's claws gouged deep trenches in the stone.
"Faster, beast, "Vlad taunted, weaving through the air like smoke. "Or are you too weak without your mate's bond?"
The words struck like a blade.
Because it was true.
Asis could feel it—the frayed edges of their connection, the way Harald's movements were just a fraction slower, his snarls strained. The blood bond. Vlad's magic was poisoning her, and in turn, weakening him.
She had to do something.
Asis clenched her bleeding hand, focusing on the ember of magic still flickering in her chest. Vlad thought her power was his to control now.
He was wrong.
She pushed against the shadows holding her down, her skin burning as flames erupted from her palms. The darkness shrieked, recoiling like a living thing as fire licked up her arms. Across the room, Vlad's head snapped toward her, his smirk faltering.
"Impossible," he hissed.
"You forgot one thing," Asis panted, rising to her feet. "Witchfire burns vampires." She threw her hands forward, and a wave of flames surged toward Vlad.
The distraction was all Harald needed.
As Vlad twisted to avoid the fire, Harald moved his claws, sinking deep into the vampire's chest, ripping through muscle and bone until his fingers closed around Vlad's still, dead heart.
"This," Harald growled, "is for Asis."
He crushed it in his fist.
Vlad's scream was cut short as his body disintegrated into ash, swirling in the blood-red moonlight before vanishing entirely.
Silence fell.
*****