“Stefan, you don’t know what you’re doing,” Damon said, an edge of panic rising in his voice. “If you’re going to kil me, kil me as Stefan Salvatore, not as one of Samuel’s minions.” His face was red, and sweat was beading on his temples.
“This is who I am, brother.” The stake was stil a few feet out of reach. Around us, the ring of vampires watched the fight. Blind rage overtook me. I’d rip Damon’s heart out with my hands if I had to.
“Come on, Stefan. Show your brother who’s the boss.” Samuel’s smooth voice rose over the crowd. He reached down and handed me the stake. I pul ed it back and aimed it at the center of Damon’s heart. I couldn’t wait to see his blood, rich and red thanks to al his hundreds of conquests, spil onto the pier. I couldn’t wait for his limp, lifeless body to be thrown into the Thames.
“Good-bye forever,” I growled. I used the stake to pop off one of the buttons from Damon’s shirt, then gently scratched Damon’s skin. Blood spurted from the wound.
“If you do this, you’l regret it for eternity, and that’s a promise,” Damon said, pushing me off him. He’d been holding off on truly fighting me, I realized, thinking that he’d be able to talk me out of kil ing him. It just showed how little he knew me.
I quickly jumped on him, pinning him back down. He was stronger than me, but I had adrenaline and twenty years of stronger than me, but I had adrenaline and twenty years of hatred surging in my veins. There was no way he’d get away from me again. I pushed Damon’s shoulders into the dock.
“Stefan, don’t do this. I swear, you’l hate yourself more than you already do if you go through with it.” I wasn’t listening. I closed my eyes and pul ed the stake back until a crack of lightning lit up the night sky, il uminating Damon’s face. Just then, fire sprang up from a spot on the dock and quickly formed a ring around us. I heard shrieks and whirled around in confusion and anger. Why was there a fire? I had important work to do.
That’s when I saw Cora running toward us, her hair loose and wild around her face. Behind her was Lady Alice. It was a shock to my system to see anyone other than Damon. It didn’t feel like they belonged in this world, in this place of battle.
Lady Alice lifted her hands to the sky and began chanting a low, guttural ah sound over and over again.
“Samuel?” I cal ed in confusion. The fire had circled around Damon and me, and I couldn’t see an easy way to escape without burning myself and losing my grip on Damon. Was this a trap? Were both of us destined to die?
I couldn’t tel if Lady Alice had set the fire or was trying to stop it. Based on our last conversation, I assumed the former.
“Put down the stake,” Damon breathed, bringing me back to the task at hand. He was struggling against my grasp, and I knew it would only be a few seconds before he wrestled free.
“No.” I shook my head and clutched the stake tighter. But I looked over my shoulder, and Samuel was no longer watching us. Instead, he was pinned against the wal by an invisible force. Lady Alice was pointing her finger toward him.
“Stupid
witch!”
Samuel
yel ed.
“You’re
ruining
everything.”
“No, I’m making things right,” she said. “I believe in an eye for an eye.”
Samuel squirmed under whatever spel Lady Alice was using to keep him glued to the building. He seemed far less powerful than I’d ever seen him before. Lady Alice turned her face toward the sky and began chanting again, a loud sound that matched the sound of the thunder rumbling al around us. Al of the sudden, the flames that had encircled us leapt like a firebal through the sky and against the wal of the warehouse, silhouetting Samuel.
“Exuro in abyssus,” Lady Alice yel ed. The sky lit up with hundreds of lightning bolts, but the driving rain stopped.
Then, the warehouse burst into flames, igniting Samuel’s body like a firecracker. The vampires on the dock fel to their knees under an invisible force. Was Samuel dead?
Had Lady Alice just saved us al ?
Samuel’s charred body fel to the pier in a heap. The fire quickly spread, kil ing every one of Samuel’s vampires in its wake. Alice continued to chant until al of them had been burned to an unrecognizable state. The scent of smoldering flesh permeated the air.
I stood shakily. Several feet away, my brother was lying on the ground, his chest exposed and bloody.
Kill him.
I wasn’t sure where the voice was coming from. It was like the half-remembered dialogue in a nightmare. Kil Damon? I couldn’t. Even the thought made my stomach turn in revulsion.
I looked down. Flecks of blood were on my hands, and there was an indentation where I’d gripped the stake. What had just happened? Had I actual y tried to kil my brother?
Samuel’s compulsion must have been broken with his death. I turned to look at Damon, guilt fil ing my conscience.
I was a monster capable of almost anything, but I could never have kil ed my brother. Damon leaned over and grabbed the stake, throwing it in the Thames. I pul ed the sleeve from my shirt, intending to use it to stanch the blood from Damon’s wound. I moved toward him, and our eyes locked. There was something flickering in Damon’s eyes that I’d never seen before. It was terror.
In the distance, police bel s sounded. The entire pier was on fire. My head was pounding in the smoke, my feet felt disconnected from my body, and I couldn’t comprehend how I’d gotten so close to kil ing Damon.
Then suddenly everything faded to black.