All the waiting in the world hadn't made Silvia ready as she was given the signal from Vice to start the spells. The man had appeared moments ago out of his own creepy ghost transportation spell, and they'd formed up. It was time for them to join the fight, but they would have the Zehirs on one side and the rest of the vampires on the other. If either side of their fight lost, they'd be collapsed upon, so they were relying upon the Shades and the Fleurs to keep their enemies occupied. How ironic that she was the wall that divided the vampire houses from their allies.

Walls were the only spell she'd even done well.

Neil came to her side, slid his hands to her face, and kissed her. For just that moment, she relaxed into him and allowed herself to sink into the chill of his skin and the warmth of his lips as they adjusted to hers. They wouldn't be far from each other in the fights, but she still worried about him and about herself.

"Silvia, we're going to crush them," Neil assured her, crimson reflecting the confidence in his eyes, and she smiled. It was difficult for her to see him dressed for war in his pitch suit, swept with wisps of cream and white wind over his breast. It was the first time she was seeing him with his hair up, to keep it out of his eyes when he fought, and he looked so different than when they'd met.

Powerful, mature, and confident. Not long ago the poor guy had to eat the couch arm to keep from biting her. She supposed his men had always followed him this reverently, and he'd always clung to her in his sleep like she was his world, but there was just something about him leading that struck her with happiness. Neil had found his place after losing his father, and she would do everything she could to make sure he stayed alive.

"We are going to triumph," she breathed back into his lips and they parted ways, but not by far.

Forest and his men circled her with Idus and the few vampires assigned to their side of the fight, and Neil formed up with Ares, Ruprecht and the rest of his men. Like it or not, Forest and her were the strongest the mages had, and Neil and Ares, the backbone of the vampires. They had to lead their men and that meant she couldn't hug Neil's side for the entire fight like she wanted to. She had to do her part to make sure that no one collapsed on Neil, which meant she couldn't always be by his side.

Neil was strong on his own anyway, and she had faith in him and his command as Forest cast the light magic to whisk them into the fight. Several more spells formed under the Copses across the Arc line, and in a cyclone of light magic, they appeared in the middle of the chaos.

The ground was drenched and Idus took no time in yanking a few men under as the Zehirs were picking themselves up. It appeared Tide had just concluded his tsunami spell, and as the Zehirs retreated, the Sols joined with them. Some came from the Zehir lines, and the rest descended from the forest around the area, and with them, the fight started anew.

Neil moved in an instant, whipping up a storm around him as half of the Zehirs advanced on them with malice, and she took a step in to her father as they came. Brambles of her father's magic burst from the ground and grabbed the first vampire, tearing it in half before dropping it and moving to the next. Another vampire descended near them, and Silvia slid into him and ran a blade of wind up through his throat and into his face. Blood splattered, but she moved to the next as she was lost in the fighting.

Darting through the Zehirs, Ares was terrifying to behold, his shadow copies of himself tearing through flesh and bone as they fought around him with claws as long as the man's glaive. In his shadow, Neil moved with precision, slicing any at Ares back and stealing the feet out from under the Zehir warriors as his men pounced. Screams echoed with the crunched of bone, and the splattering of skulls.

A howl from Ruphrecht shook the air as the Arc lycanthrope shifted and tore through the ground with his claws, throwing vampires away from Neil as he fought at his side. The man was a massive beast of pitch fur that shined blue and silver in the moonlight, and nothing a vampire wanted to face. Lycan's stood on two legs like men, but stood a half a man taller than any vampire, with muscle bulk a plenty, and long arms with talons for claws that sheered flesh and beheaded vampires with ease.

She caught Neil's eyes for a moment, but she gave him a wave as she took off with the Copses. As much as they wanted to fight together, it was easier to keep the mages with their own so no one was downed by friendly fire. While she and Forest could differentiate because of their familiarity with the Arcs, not all the Copses could. While they drifted further from Neil, it was only to advance in the fight, and her attention was already divided.

Not far, just off to the left, she could sense him. Jesse Zehir fought with his men in the Zehir frontlines, and she ushered their half of the fight forward. The masses had already shifted. Some of the Fleurs had circled around and joined them when they'd appeared, and the better known Arcs like Idus and Reaver were among the mages to protect them. Reaver's blade magic danced with the Copses, and they moved forward with Idus under them dragging vampires into his abyss.

That left her to advance on Jesse, and he sensed her magic and was in front of her in an instant. Brandishing a long blade of wind, she had to hold the back of it as she blocked Jesse's slash down onto her. They spun, and she pushed him back with a hurricane spell that he shook off with ease before lifting his blade again.

Blood covered half of his face and his blue eyes were darker than she remembered, shadowed by his long black tangle of hair. And he was fast as he slid in behind her and cut her legs out with an ankle, but she rolled away and got back to her feet. As soon as she was up in a crouch, he rushed her, and she gasped as his forearm caught her in the collar bone and pushed her backwards into the Zehir line and onto the ground below him. His own people surrounded and defended him as one of the mages called after her, but he'd separated her on purpose.

With the pressure of his body pushing down on his forearm, she could barely draw breath as he pinned her, but he didn't have a hand on either of her arms. She lifted one to touch his chest, and she could have used it to throw him off with a hurricane spell, but instead, she clutched the fabric and tears lined her eyes, softening his dark gaze over her. She moved her lips, mouthing the same words she'd said to him after the unity gathering.

Come with me.

Jesse lowered his eyebrows and looked away from her at the battle around them, at everyone fighting so desperately, before he dropped his eyes back. Lessening the pressure on her neck, he lifted his forearm enough for her to breathe but dropped a blade of darkness so close to her face that she cringed to the side.

"Still?" he said, a single world lost in the screams and bursts of magic around them.

Cool skin touched her fingers on his chest as Jesse surround them with his own in a tight grip that gave nothing away as to what was inside his mind. A small smile spread over his lips, and he stood off of her. He whistled, and the men around him changed focus, forming up ahead as he dropped both of his hands. From them, a spell circle formed around him and drew the attention of everyone. Any spell that took time to cast was bad news for whoever it targeted, but Silvia didn't know what she was supposed to do.

"Stop him!" Lorenzo's voice carried above the others as the Fluers that had joined them drew the Arcs with them and came at the Zehir frontline like a battering ram.

Whatever spell Jesse was casting was dangerous enough that they were investing everything to stop him. And she couldn't move. The touch of his hand on hers had been so gentle and yet firm, like he was as conflicted as she was. They didn't want to fight each other, and he'd left her unharmed instead of killing her just now. It hadn't failed her notice that not one of the Zehirs had reached for her either, so they remembered her from his captivity.

They knew who she belonged to, and none of them had the right to kill her but Jesse.

Magic circled Jesse, running up and down her spine as she lay on her elbows at his feet. She searched his eyes for clarity on what to do but came up with nothing as focused on the spell. Vampires clashed not a foot away from her as the Arcs and the Fleurs closed in, and then Lorenzo was there himself, tearing vampires off their feet with a spin of ice that ripped them apart and threw them away.

There was nothing between Lorenzo and Jesse as the Fleur leader bought his hands together into a spell that opened into whirlwind of ice particles. Rational thought left her as she saw Lorenzo's power hurdling toward Jesse's defenseless form, and she slammed her palms into the ground. Wall after wall exploded from the ground, repelling the ice and circling her and Jesse like flower pedals as they wrapped together and overlapped, closing around them in a rose yet bloomed for spring.

Inside of the protection of her antimagic, she stood and walked to Jesse where his magic wrapped around and illuminating them both in the darkness. She stepped in and reached for him, her hands touching either side of his face. There, in the way of him seeing anything else, she met his eyes and he saw her, but he said nothing.

This was it. She either killed him or trusted that he wasn't going to hurt the ones she loved. Kopje had saved her time and again when the Zehirs had preyed on her naivety and hope that there was something good left in these people. If this spell targeted her people, she could lose Neil, her father, Lorenzo, everyone, but she didn't think she could do it–stab a man who couldn't defend himself.

Unable to tear out her own heart, she lifted her arms up and around his neck, something she had to get on the tips of her toes to do. She held him then, pressed his dark magic up against her, and cried on his shoulder. Angry tears dripped down her cheeks and hissed away as they connected with the magic aura around him, and something vibrated in his chest–a purr of affection or a growl of anger, she couldn't say which.

Jesse leaned into her and breathed on the side of her face. "Lower the walls." His words teased her ear, and she trembled as she squeezed him tighter. "The dark magic will rebound and kill you if it's boxed in this close with antimagic."

"If I drop them, will you kill my mate and family?" Silvia asked directly into his face, but his expression changed none, remaining blank as his blue eyes bored into hers.

"Perhaps," was all he said, his smile either kind or menacing. She couldn't tell, and more tears flowed. "If you remain in here and die when this spell releases though, I will have little reason not to dart back, regroup and cast it again. Then I will have no reservation about wiping out your people."

"Why can't you just answer me!" She punched his shoulder.

Magic sparked off of him, and he cringed. "Silvia, please, drop the walls. I can't hold this spell any longer," Jesse begged, his fangs lengthening and the power pulsing through him. "I won't kill you." Jesse wrapped his arms around her, and she jumped as power surged with them. "If you will not release the walls, then I will protect you. I cannot stop the magic now, but I can take the backlash for you. Will that make you happy?"

This time tears slid from Jesse's eyes, and he crumpled to his knees with her, pressing her into his neck and kissing the side of her face. The magic released from him in a wave, like a gentle sigh into her hair, and she couldn't let him die. Curse her, she couldn't do it, so she dropped the walls around them, and they crumpled into dust as Jesse's magic surrounded her and flooded forth from the confines in a mist.

The cloud rolled from light blue to green in the light as it billowed out and swallowed the fight around them. Without the walls, they were left open, and a few Fleurs moved past the crumbles of her magic only to hesitate when they saw her holding Jesse's weak form. For a few moments, there was confusion on both sides as they tried to figure out what was going on. It all fell to chaos as the mist sank into the bodies around them.

All around her, the Zehirs trembled and struggled to move, leaving her in a shitty position as Jesse's people turned on him. The first came at her, and she dropped Jesse to meet him wind blades in hand. Slower or not, the Zehirs were strong, and she had to shove the man back with a hurricane spell and retreat to Jesse's side as another came for him. She punctured the second's skull with a short blade, but the scuffle drove her away from Jesse, and by the time she turned around she was too far to help him as he people collapsed on him.

Wind surged around her, but it wasn't her own as it spread forward and encircled Jesse in a cyclone that tore the Zehirs to pieces and ripped the ones further out off their feet. In its place, Neil dropped down and turned to her, lifting his chin to direct her gaze behind herself where Lorenzo moved to her side. Ice spread through the air, and the vampires around took a step back even though Lorenzo looked tired as hell. Blood dripped from his brow where he'd taken a hit to the head, and he had numerous cuts all over him.

"Thank you, Lorenzo," Silvia said, and he turned his eyes on her with frustration that she well expected. It hadn't gone unnoticed that no one had punched through the antimagic walls. Lorenzo knew how brittle they were to physical touch and could have easily followed but had chosen to protect her instead.

"You're lucky I trust you," Lorenzo said with a sigh, tossing his blue hair behind his shoulder as it fell forward. "I've been here since the start and I'm at my ropes end with patience concerning this fight. Your friend has given us an edge to end it, so I won't argue, but what you did was reckless."

"I know," Silvia groaned as he left to finish off the Zehirs, but he gave her a silent nod to be careful.

Silvia turned to Neil as he offered a hand down to Jesse, and the man shrunk back like it was on fire. The way Neil had beaten him bloody for his own entertainment at the unity gathering made such an action threatening, but after a moment, Jesse surrendered his hand to Neil.

The cracking of bone was so loud that even Silvia heard it, and she cringed as Neil pulled Jesse to his feet, releasing the hand he'd mangled. It would heal on its own quickly since the wound hadn't been cause by dark magic, but Neil had gotten his message through without words. He didn't like Jesse but understood that they were on the same side for now. She closed the distance between them, and Neil brought her in close to kiss her on the neck, but they couldn't linger as the Zehir vampires closed in on them.

"Stay close, but out of the way," Neil said over to Jesse. "You helped because you have affection for my mate, and she no doubt granted you protection, but I imagine you would not relish killing your own kind. I will protect you until this fight is over, and then there will be words." Words sounded more like the equivalent of "a punch to the face", but Jesse bowed his head. They both knew that if Jesse wanted to seek protection under the Arcs that Neil would be his family head.

Around them, The Zehirs were trembling from whatever magic had saturated their bodies, and Lorenzo and the Fleurs ran through them like paper. It was painful to watch as the Arcs and some of the Shades who'd made it through the lines fell on them. They were weak and cried out as they fell to her allies, and she looked back to Jesse where his eyes were cast into the ground.

He'd crippled his own people.

It wasn't news that Jesse hadn't liked Tanya, but that didn't mean that the rest of the men under her thumb weren't in a similar position. Silvia wished she had the luxury to stand around and soothe him, but they needed her in the fight and she took up position on the other side of Jesse. The Arcs and the Copses reformed up around her and Neil and they fought in a formation that spun and spread out, ending the remnants of the vampire house that had started all of this.

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Word Count: 3074