Ace POV
Emily thrashed in my arms but went still the moment she saw her dad drop to the ground. A strangled whimper leaves her little lips, which were blue from the cold bite of the wind.
“Daddy?” She whispers, and my heart twists painfully for her when I see Reika dart off into the forest after her kids. That must have been hard to witness. No matter how much I hated that vile man, he was still the girl’s father.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” I tell her, hoisting her higher and propping her on my hip when I see Tyson smashed and knocked out by a flying tree branch. I tried to run over to him when the wind suddenly picked up, and it sounded like we were smack dab in the middle of a tornado.
The wind pushes me down to the ground, and I try to shield the girl’s body with mine. Glancing around, I see everything destroyed. Nothing was left standing as the wind ripped the area apart, resembling a war zone. I noticed Aamon on the ground, and I hoped he wasn’t dead, but I couldn’t be sure. Beryl screams, frustrated before throwing her magic around blindly, trying to take out Avery. When Avery suddenly collapses on her hands and knees, plumes of smoke and colored light flying and zapping around everywhere. Beryl laughs while walking toward her, laughing maniacally when the ground starts vibrating, and she stops. I scream out to Tyson but he remains unconscious.
“All these years, all these years, I have waited for this,” Beryl laughs, and she was only around twenty meters from Avery, who was clutching her stomach. Blood covered her face when the ground started vibrating, rumbling and splitting open, lava spewing out of the crack when I heard a furious bellow.
The sound echoes through the sky, and the lightning cracks loudly. Beryl staggers back when I see a black blur fly up out of the cracked earth into the sky, making me crane my neck to look up.
“Asmodeus,” I hear Beryl hiss before turning on her heel and running in my direction. He falls back to the earth, hitting the ground hard and creating a crater where he lands before raising his arms. Lava hounds start spewing out of the molten lava that filled the cracked in the center of the place, they chase after Beryl, and she screams, throwing magic blinding trying to fight them off.
I watch in horror as one pounces on her, landing on her back and tearing into her, her clothes catching fire, and she screams as it starts dragging her toward the crack in the ground. The ground beneath me was hot, too hot, and I roll pulling Emily off the hot ground and placing her on my back.
“Hold on,” I scream over the deafening wind, and she grips my neck tightly, and I start running toward Tyson. The lava hounds attacked Beryl who fought but was fighting a losing battle as they continued to drag her toward the crack. Beryl clawed at the ground screaming. The noises leaving her made my blood run cold when I skid to a stop coming across another gap where the earth had been divided. I teeter on the edge when a hand grabs my arm, yanking me back.
Glancing over my shoulder, I see it is, Aamon. He looks over at Tyson before I smell the strong scent of burnt almonds flood my nostrils and the ripple of his power before I am suddenly beside Tyson’s limp body and Aamon disappears.
“You dare touch my daughter, my granddaughter; I have waited decades for you to return to where you belong. A lifetime of pain awaits you there,” Asemodeous voice booms as the hounds drag her to his feet. Beryl looks up at him, and the lava hounds escape back into the lava.
“Asmodeus,” Beryl gasps.
“Your new captor,” He says before kicking her and she tumbles into the lava-filled crevice. The ground swallowing her, and I hear her screams when he suddenly claps his hands, the earth moving again and closing, and then everything falls still, the winds stops and the storm clears like it never existed.
Tyson groans beside me, and I grip his shoulder, rolling him on his back. He blinks up at me, and I hear Aamon wail loudly, making my head snap back in his direction to find him clutching a limp Avery in his arms, screaming when Asemodeous stops beside him and grips his shoulder.
Aamon looks up at him and the dark-haired figure that seemed like the devil incarnate reaches down, picking up his daughter in his arms and taking her from Aamon.
“I’ll bring her back to you, Son,” He says and Aamon hangs his head.
“Whatever it takes, she will return. This life has taken enough from me, from her. I won’t allow it to take no more,” Asemodeous says before he suddenly vanishes into thin air.
“Ace, Tyson,” I hear screaming. I look around frantically for her voice, feel her growing nearer, and Tyson sits up just in time for her to tackle him, knocking him backward again, his hands clutching her. He hugs Lucy close, and I move toward her to see Reika holding Ryden, Rayan, and Melana step out of the trees. Tyson clutches Lucy’s face looking at her red eyes.
“How are you alive,” I hear him whisper.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Lucy sobs, hugging him tightly, and I brush her hair behind her ear.
“Lucille?” I ask, and she looks over at me and smiles sadly before shaking her head. So my suspicions must be correct, Lucy was no longer a Hybrid but a vampire, her wolf, now gone.
“Is he alright?” Lucy asks, looking over at Aamon behind us. I glance over my shoulder at him before looking back at Lucy.
“He should be,” I tell her, hoping that was true.
“You said you had a car?” I hear Reika ask, looking at Melana, who nods, and I growl.
“It was Lucy’s idea, I swear. I only scratched it a little,” Melana says.
“There better not be a scratch on it,” I growl at her.
“Depends what you consider a scratch,” I growl, and Lucy laughs, the sound making my heart swell, and I reach for her just as Melana removes Emily, who was still clinging to my back.
“I know, sweety, I know, but I know where your mother is; I will take you home to her,” Melana tells her as I pull Lucy in my lap, inhaling her new scent and enjoying the feel of her safe in my arms.