Since We Are Apart

Chapter 13.2 Tomorrow was War

For a brief moment, as if losing concentration—or perhaps realizing the impossibility of deflecting all the force aimed at her at once—Maria made a mistake, and another energy sphere, instead of vanishing like the others when the witch redirected it away from herself, flew toward Diana and struck her straight in the stomach. The blow was so strong that the fragile girl lifted off the floor and her body hurtled into the nearest wall. The impact was powerful enough to make the furniture shake and to knock one of the paintings from its mount.

Max rushed to his beloved, but he had no time to act. Diana’s head hit the wall with a loud thud before she fell to the floor; Maxim carefully lifted her and laid her across his knees. His long fingers gently supported Diana’s head as he examined her.

Di had lost consciousness. God, how strong must that hit have been if she—a vampire—was knocked out? What the hell were they all doing here?!

Max’s lips curved into a contemptuous smile. He gently laid Diana on the carpet by the wall, then stood up and squared his shoulders. Maxim tensed his arms and spread them wide, just as he had done in Dr. Smirnov’s makeshift home infirmary. His thumb moved in sequence from index finger to pinky as if counting them, and he whispered something almost inaudibly. There was no doubt: Max was reciting a new spell, watching the battle and preparing to join it. Remembering the power Max possessed, I felt something break inside me with the realization—nothing good awaited us ahead. Driven by that thought, I began searching for my father with my eyes, seeking support. I hoped to convince him to step in and stop this chaos, and then I saw Kostya take Maria’s side. They covered each other’s backs and together pushed the others away from Dr. Smirnov, who was cowering in the corner.

Viola had spent all her energy. Unable to cast another spell, she grabbed a knife from the table and tried to find the right moment to wound one of my parents. I had already noticed a thin red line on Maria’s cheek and shuddered.

A fire of anger and indignation at the injustice flared within me. Instead of first figuring out what was going on, everyone had rushed to throw punches. And the first line of defense to overcome in order to get to Vladimir was Maria and Kostya.

Why did my family have to be on the front line of this battle? Even though I sympathized with the others, knowing in my head that Viola must have had evidence of what her father had done, my sympathy didn’t dispel the veil of fear weighing on me like a heavy shroud, paralyzing me.

My legs grew heavy, as if filled with lead, forcing me to stand even more firmly on the ground. Fear seeped inside me, whispering in a mocking tone that if I wished, I would have the power to protect my loved ones. My imagination painted a terrifying picture in which I once again stood within the gray walls of the farewell hall—only this time, on the platform were not my grandmother’s coffin, but two others: one for my mother, and one for my father.

At that moment, my gaze met Kostya’s, and he spoke to me so quietly that I understood only by reading his lips:

"Run."

Viola seized the moment of distraction and, with a wide swing, lunged at my father. With a wild roar, she drove the knife under Kostya’s collarbone, burying the blade to the hilt with ease. Blood splattered in all directions, spattering my face. The salty, metallic scent hit my nose. I felt my teeth clatter together as if in a surge of rage, my body unable to decide whether to scream in horror or leap into the fight. With contempt, I watched Vladimir step back toward the window, weighing his chances and clearly realizing the defense wouldn’t last long. I felt a surge of hatred for this man—not so much for what he had done to his own family, but for the threat the doctor had brought upon mine—and more than anything, I wanted to… no, I wouldn’t dare.

"Just admit you really want to."

"No," I protested. "I’m not a monster like him."

Suddenly, Kaandor’s elongated muzzle appeared over my shoulder, and I felt his warm breath on my skin. Almost searing, like the heat of summer, it carried with it the pleasant scent of thyme and rosemary.

"I’m not asking you to become like this bloodsucker. Tell me, has this vampire brought anything into the world except pain? Look"—long fingers gripped my chin, preventing me from turning away—"look at how the ones you love and long to protect are tearing each other apart. You’ve been given the power to stop this with one precise move. All that’s left is to admit you want it more than anything in the world."

My gaze slid from the unfolding battle to the culprit of this grim spectacle, and his attempt to open the window and escape only rekindled the fire within me.

But what could I do? I was a pathetic human, just a girl caught up in a whirlpool of events I could barely explain.

Kaandor laughed theatrically, as if he had heard the course of my thoughts, and, like an old friend, ruffled the hair at the back of my head.

"Just a pitiful human? When will you understand that the human part of you is just as dead as the souls of these vampires?"

Kaandor appeared before me, and our eyes met. The warmth of amber drew me in like a flame draws a moth, and before I could even think, I stepped forward, toward my dark companion, who had already spread his arms and waited with interest, unsure whether I would dare or not.

"I will give you a power you never even dared to dream of."

More than anything, I wanted to plunge into those arms completely. To escape from the gaping hell into a parallel reality where there was no death, no struggle, no pain. Where my parents lived together, and the Smirnovs and the Chyornys were close friends. A world where Diana, Viola, and I held pajama parties, while the boys tried to convince us to sneak out into the forest in the middle of the night, build a campfire, and scare each other until morning with stories about mythical creatures that simply didn’t exist. Everything could have been different if we had been ordinary people. Happier.

I had no strength to watch everything I loved disappear in an instant. A crunch sounded, as if someone had stepped on a cookie, but I kept my gaze desperately fixed on Kaandor, afraid to look at the source of the sound and realize whose body had just been broken like a fragile matchstick. I rushed into the embrace of darkness and, to my surprise, didn’t touch anything at all. It felt as though I had passed straight through Kaandor’s body and ended up once again in a familiar place. A place without light.

"Wake up, wolf. Wake up and take what you want to take."