The moon hung low in the sky, casting a ghostly pallor over the snow covered mountains.

I shivered, lead forward by a vampire guard to where Henric stood just shy of the forest's edge which stretched behind him, dark and ominous.

The trees would be silent bearers to this execution, I realized as I scanned their twisted, naked branches.

The not so silent witnesses stood to the left, gathered in a line and guarded by several of Henric's henchmen.

I saw Brandon first, holding Daciana as she sobbed.

Her sobs were something deafening.

Beside them stood Henry, arms clasped behind his back, eyes hard and staring straight ahead but there were tear tracks on his cheeks.

My heart thudded when I didn't see them: Hannah and the baby.

Had Henric discovered them?

Had he done something to them?

I swallowed down the panic in my throat, forcing myself to remain calm.

Fire flared suddenly, scorching my face.

Snapping my head around, I saw the source: a pyre, lit by a vampire before hastily stepping away.

Orange flames licked at the night sky where no stars could be seen, only a swirl of light gray clouds which held the promise of more snow for this fateful evening.

They marched Christian beside me, though several feet away. His wrists were still bound and I couldn't stand to look at him.

It felt a little like someone was ripping out my heart through my chest, live, with no anesthesia, with nothing to cushion the pain.

We came to a halt.

Henric turned to face us, his devilish face illuminated by the flames.

"Glad you could both make it," Cynically, he said.

I glared at him, the anger in my veins suddenly scorching, my throat going parched.

"You are despicable." I said.

"If you ever find yourself in a position of power, you will understand that betrayals of this kind demand blood." He gestured toward Christian. "In this case, son, it's yours."

"You don't have to do this." I pleaded. "It wasn't his fault. I made him help me."

"We both know that that is not true, Amelia." Henric purred. He smiled a smile that was a soft yet ugly thing all at the same time. "I'm afraid that my poor, foolish son has fallen in love with you. Like father like son, I suppose."

I glanced sideways at Christian.

He was stoic but I saw him swallow hard.

My heart ached at the sight of him.

Was this true? Did Christian love me?

You couldn't fall in love in a few short weeks.

At least, I'd never thought so.

It's me you wanted, I meant to tell Henric.

But Christian spoke over me, drowning out my plea.

"The blood contract, Father. You agreed to spare everyone, including Aimee, if she killed me. You must honor it no matter what."

"That is correct. But that's only if she kills you." Henric paced slowly in front of the fire. "From the looks of it..." He shrugged, looking satisfied.

And he was right.

As the vampire guards released their hold on me, I took a few steps back, fighting the urge to scream or cry.

"Move him over there. Amelia, once he is on his knees, you may begin."

Two vampires guided Christian to the left, to the place where the moon was a backdrop behind him, big and yellow.

They pushed on his shoulders.

One knee hit the snow-covered earth, then the other.

He gave me the slightest of nods.

It was permission, I realized.

To kill him.

I swallowed, panic building in my throat, hands trembling at my sides.

"No," I breathed. "No, I can't do this."

Henric tsked, gesturing to his guards.

Daciana screamed.

She was dragged toward the fire, Henry and Brandon close behind her.

As she fought her captor, her boots left skid marks in the snow.

The vampire shoved her forward until the edges of her coat became singed, fire licking at her skirts.

"Aimee!" Christian shouted.

My head snapped back and forth between his tortured eyes and Daciana's fear-filled face, illuminated by the promise of her impending doom.

"S-stop!" I cried.

"Then kill him!" Henric bellowed.

In an instant, black smoke exploded outward from my body in every direction, a slow, macabre cloud shrouding the transformation happening inside me.

A dark, quiet calm settled over me.

My ghosts gathered behind Christian.

They floated in the air, their eyes empty, their mouths trait-less, black lines.

Slowly, I zeroed in on Henric.

He caught me looking and smiled.

From here I could just barely see myself reflected in the mirror of his eyes.

Dark smoke clung to my body and my eyes were black.

Ghostly fingers skittered across my skin, a painful and hallow caress.

Lifting my hands, I examined the balls of black magic on my palms. I weighed them, casting my eyes on Henric, my intent clear.

Kill him, kill him, my ghosts chanted.

"Wrong target, sweetheart." With a nod to his guards, Henric said, "Kill Daciana first."

"No, father, wait! Aimee, please, look at me. Aimee!"

Daciana cried out as the fire brushed her cheek. As if teasing me, her vampire guard pulled her forward and back, gaining momentum.

"Please." It was Christian's voice that pleaded. "He's right Aimee, I do love you."

Shocked, my eyes tore back to him. In this state of blood lust, when the only thing that mattered was darkness, he'd said the only words that could've pulled me from this spiraling abyss.

The ghosts squirmed behind him but all I could see was his face as I gained control of myself again.

Chris's eyes were full of fear but also of that love he spoke of. For the first time, all his carefully crafted walls came down and he just let himself feel.

My heart wanted to explode.

"And if you love me, even just a tiny bit, you won't let him kill my siblings. Aimee, please."

Tears spilled from my eyes, burning my cheeks as they went.

My throat was on fire.

I couldn't speak.

But in my heart, I knew I could not be the reason for his pain. Even if it meant destroying myself in the process.

I sobbed as I trained my magic on him.

Daciana cried harder, pleading with her father.

"Right here." Christian motion toward his heart. "It's okay, Aimee. Everything's okay."

I weighed the magic in my hand and cried harder.

My echo, travelling through the forest, cried with me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"It's okay, my love. I'm ready."

Christian closed his eyes, face casting toward the sky.

Just as I'd made up my mind to shoot, a battle cry emerged from the forest.

Black-clad figures rushed into the clearing and mayhem ensued.

I didn't know who they were, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that they were attacking Henric's men.

It all happened so fast, blurring before my eyes like a movie.

A group of guards rushed to protect Henric at the same time that I unleashed both balls of fiery black magic at them.

The guards, struck by my power, burst outward, their scorched bodies sent flying before landing face down in the snow. Henric was left unguarded, his men by his feet, my dark magic still sizzling off their bodies.

I met his eyes across the clearing.

His flashed with surprise.

I side-stepped a black-clad man just as he sunk something silver into one of the vampires chest.

Blood sprayed my face as I passed another sparring group.

Battle cries and grunts filled the air.

The smell of blood was a rancid offender against my nose.

I took a few more steps.

Henric spun in a circle, surveying the sudden battle with shock.

I could just barely, somewhere far away, hear Christian calling for me to stop.

When Henric saw me, only a few short feet from him, he grinned wickedly.

"Defenders." he spat. "Always showing up at the most inconvenient of times."

There was a collective uproar as these Defenders fought vampires, and I could almost smell the adrenaline in the air.

All this disappeared, becoming background noise as the ghosts, who had never really left, resumed their macabre chanting.

Kill him, kill him.

"You don't want to kill me," he said matter of fact.

"Is this your way of begging for your life?"

"A King does not beg." He scoffed. "But if you kill me now you will become just like me. I doubt my son would love you then."

As I closed the space between us, I imagined I must have looked hellish. I could feel warm, sticky blood on my face and I knew my skin radiated black smoke.

Henric swallowed, a tiny, almost imperceptible gesture.

I clung to it, and smirked.

"You and I are nothing alike."

"Yes we are. You enjoy it, the power." He purred. "And that will be your downfall."

"And I will gladly be yours."

Henric spun on his heel, to flee like the coward he was. He managed to make it a few feet off the ground, his black wings unfurling, before I hurled a bolt of magic that incinerated one of his wings.

With a wail and a spray of blood and feathers, he landed on the snow-covered earth, staining the perfect white crimson.

"Where are you going, Henric? The fun is just getting started."

Someone familiar shouted my name.

A cacophony of voices melted together.

I saw my window closing in.

Someone would come to defend him.

The time was now.

I neared Henric, kicking his injured shoulder with the tip of my boot.

Moaning, he turned to face me, the left side of his face covered by his own blood.

"Beg." I demanded.

"A king does not--"

"Yeah, yeah, does not beg. But you, Henric, are no king. You," I whispered, crouching low so I was level with his ear. "Are pathetic."

"I was wronged," He groaned, clutching at his bleeding shoulder. "I deserved--"

"You deserved nothing!" I shouted. "You would have had me kill your own son for revenge. Your own flesh and blood. Betrayals of that kind," I smiled, leaning back onto my ankles. "Demand blood, don't you agree?"

"Amelia--"

But I never got to hear the rest of his sentence.

I drove my fist into his chest, the black magic sizzling away at his skin and ribs until finally I could feel his pulsing red heart in my hand.

Henric's mouth opened in agony. He clutched at my wrist, but with no strength to fight me, he fell back onto the ground, floundering like a fish.

"You won't be missed." I whispered before I incinerated his heart in my hand.

The hand that held my wrist whistled through the air, his now empty blue eyes staring at the sky.

"Stop her!" Christian shouted. "Brandon, stop her, it'll kill her!"

Pulling my blood-soaked hand out of Henric's chest, I raised my head and surveyed the chaos.

The battle was dwindling, and two black clad men stalked to where Christian fought to free himself of his restraints.

Sensing danger, I rose to my feet.

My eyes trained on the Defender's backs, seeing red.

"Aimee." There it was. The familiar voice again. Somewhere in the back of my mind, recognition sparked but I was too occupied on the glinting metal stakes aimed at Christian.

I flung my arm out, a warning shot.

Black magic struck beside where they walked, sending both Defenders flying into the air.

"Aimee!" The familiar face came into view, cutting in front of me. A superman curl hung to this man's forehead and his face was drenched in sweat.

Almond-shaped green eyes stared at me with a mixture of fear and despair. He was dressed in black hunting gear, like the others, a silver stake gripped in his overly burly hand.

"I'm sorry." Damian said right before he struck me on the head and knocked me out.