Fates Entwined

46

The vampire inclined his head and stood back up, then gave us a low bow. "We agree. If you break the curse, we will call a truce, and there will be peace between vampires and shifters."

"Are you sure about this?" Cannon asked us.

"I know what it's like being controlled by the Sun Witches," Jordan said. "As long as the Sun Curse exists, the vampires can never truly be free."

I grinned at him. "We freed the Zodiac Wolves. Why not the vampires too?"

He raised my hand to his lips and kissed it. "This is why I love you."

"How do we do the spell?" I asked.

"Roxandra's spell book is open to the page," Jordan said, gesturing toward an ancient-looking tome on a nearby table. "I don't think I'm good enough to do the spell yet though."

“I’ll do it,” Debra said.

"Then all we need is blood." Jordan took the chalice from me and grabbed Roxandra's dagger off the floor, then sliced into his arm again. He collected the blood in the chalice, and then handed the knife to me.

I was about to hand it to Maricar, who looked like she might pass out again at any moment, when I realized Jordan had given it to me for a reason. Up until the last few months, I'd never considered myself a Moon Witch, just a wolf with a few extra powers, but all that had changed. I'd gotten comfortable at casting real magic, even during combat, and I'd even helped Jordan learn sun magic.

I cut myself and took the chalice to collect the blood. Once there was enough, Debra took it from me and began chanting words in ancient Greek. The chalice began to glow while she swirled it in a clockwise motion, mixing the blood together. Then she poured the blood into the cauldron and continued chanting, waving her hands over the glowing potion brewing inside.

Everyone stood and watched in silence as she went through the spell, the glow getting brighter and brighter until it looked like it was sunlight itself trapped in the cauldron. When it became too bright to even look at, Debra dipped the chalice into it, and then offered it to the vampire who had spoken earlier.

“Thank you,” he said, looking around at all of us while the chalice glowed in his hand. “It means a lot that you would trust us with this. We won’t let you down.”

I squeezed Jordan’s hand as the vampire tilted the chalice up and drank the contents. The light flowed into him, illuminating him from the inside out. It looked like someone had taken the world’s strongest flashlight to his throat, and then his chest. I could see the outlines of his ribcage as it slid down his throat and settled in his stomach. Then, the magic spread out, lighting him up so brightly that I had to lift my hand to my face and squint my eyes. The other vampires in the room started glowing as well, and they all lifted their arms like they were going to take flight.

I was surprised to find tears in my eyes as I watched. Every vampire in Solundra was suffused with the light, and somehow I knew that every vampire back on Earth was too. The centuries-old curse truly was breaking, and the vampires would finally be free to come out of the shadows.

All at once, the light disappeared, as if someone had blown out a candle.

“Thank you,” the vampire said, staring at the chalice in awe. “It worked. I can feel the difference.”

A wave of agreement went through the rest of the vampires as they nodded their heads and made affirmative noises. I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at them. "Congratulations. How does it feel to have the curse broken?"

"Like being reborn." The vampire came up to me and extended his hand. "My name is Ferdinand of House Desmodus. It is a pleasure to be at peace with you."

I hesitated, waiting to feel that instinctual urge to kill any and all vampires...but it was gone. The Sun Curse must have been responsible for that too. Yet another way they manipulated us.

I looked to Jordan, waiting for him to step forward and take the lead, but he gestured for me to respond. His faith in me gave my strength, and I smiled and gripped the vampire’s hand. "I'm Stella, alpha female of the Leo pack, and this is my mate, Jordan."

Damn, it felt good to say that out loud.

Jordan grinned at me, and then reached out to shake Ferdinand's hand next. "We look forward to working with you on this truce."

Things happened quickly after that. I took Roxandra's spell book, figuring it was safest with us, while the Leos gathered the wounded and Debra prepared a portal outside that would take us back to Daybreak. Once the house was empty, Jordan set the interior on fire and held me close as we watched Roxandra's body burn.

"It's finally over." He closed his eyes as a tremor ran through him. "I'm free."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Thank you all for coming tonight to honor my lovely alpha female, Stella," Jordan said into the mic while he gazed out at the crowd gathered before him. "I'm so honored she chose to be my mate, and that she's agreed to help me lead the Leo pack. Since coming here a month ago, Stella has helped me stop the threat to our people and negotiated a truce with the vampires, while also working with our teachers and kids to make our community even stronger." He took my hand and gave me a bright smile. "With Stella by my side, I know we will make this pack the best it can be—a shining example to all of the other Zodiac Wolves, showing we can change and grow into something bigger and better no matter what happened in our past." He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it, then handed me the mic.