The first vampire lunged.
Seraphina raised her hand instinctively.
A wave of crimson light erupted from her body, throwing the attackers across the chapel.
Stone cracked beneath their feet. The stained-glass windows shattered, scattering coloured fragments over the floor.
Everyone froze.
Even Damien.
Seraphina stared at her trembling hands.
"What did I just do?"
Damien approached cautiously.
"Your bloodline carries the original magic. You've been suppressing it without knowing."
"I don't want this power."
"Power doesn't ask permission," he said. "But you can decide what you do with it."
A low growl came from the doorway.
Lucien stood among the fallen vampires, his black coat torn and blood running down one side of his face.
His gaze moved from Seraphina to Damien.
Then to their joined hands.
For one terrible second, jealousy overwhelmed everything else.
"You took her."
Damien's expression hardened.
"She came with me."
Lucien looked at Seraphina.
"Are you hurt?"
She hated that the question still softened something inside her.
"No."
He exhaled, and the relief in his face was unmistakable.
Then she saw the blood on his sleeve.
"You're injured."
"It's nothing."
"Stop lying to me."
The three of them stood in the ruined chapel, surrounded by the consequences of secrets neither man could undo.
Lucien finally lowered his sword.
"I sent them," he admitted. "Not to kill you. To bring you back before the other clans discovered what you were."
Seraphina recoiled.
"You sent armed men after me?"
"I believed I could control the situation."
"You keep making decisions for me and calling them protection!"
Her voice echoed through the chapel.
Lucien bowed his head.
"I know."
The simplicity of his answer hurt more than another excuse.
Before she could speak again, a horn sounded in the distance.
Damien looked towards the hills.
*******************************************************************************************9
The rival vampire clans were approaching.
The blood moon had revealed Seraphina's power to the entire immortal world.
And every vampire who feared death would come for her.
Lucien held out his hand.
Damien held out his blade.
For once, neither asked her to choose between them.
"Tell us what you want," Lucien said.
Seraphina looked at the two men who had become both her greatest weakness and her fiercest temptation.
"I want to live."
She lifted her glowing hand.
"And if anyone comes to take that from me, I will make them regret it."