Crystal releases Cupid's hand and takes a step back from the waves that lap at our feet. As the sound of war drums mix with the roar of the ocean she raises her arm.

"Archers at the ready!" she shouts.

Behind us a swiping sound adds to the din. Cupid looks down at me, his eyes gleaming in the light of the moon. I see the question in his eyes.

Ready?

Yes.

We let go of each other and raise our bows and look out to the scene ahead. Cal and Charlie do the same.

My heart hammers against my ribcage.

There must be about fifty rowing boats in the water. The ethereal white glow from Charon's ship – temporarily halted at the barrier between the living and the dead – illuminates them. Each one has five or six sallow faced undead cupids spilling over it – each armed with bows and arrows of their own. We're outnumbered – and these cupids can't die. Not without Morta's shears that are on the ship itself.

Somewhere in the distance I think I hear the sound of a high pitched, little girl like giggle. It's manic. Familiar.

Venus.

My skin crawls and I block it out, trying instead to focus on the closer enemy.

Stood in the center of a wooden boat at the front – only about fifty feet away - as four pale, rotten looking guys pull it through the water, is Valentine. He sees me, stood in front of the Matchmaking Service army, and a grin spreads across his face.

He catches my eye then makes a little heart shape with his fingers.

I need your heart for what I'm to do.

Immediately I swipe an arrow from the quiver over my back. I feel its comforting coolness between my fingers, pull it back against the tension of the bow, and let the light feathers brush against my cheek. I narrow my eyes. I aim it at him.

Valentine is coming for me.

Good.

He has the key to the box of hearts around his neck.

If I can get it before he kills me, I can end this.

To my side I catch a flicker of movement as Crystal swipes her hand through the air.

"NOW!" she shouts.

I release the Ardor arrow. I watch as it joins the army of arrows sent by the other cupids. It slices through the night and slashes through Valentine's light blue shirt and into his chest. Through the noise of groans and sloshes of water as arrows hit their targets and cupids are cast into the wild ocean, I don't hear his reaction. But I see it and it makes my blood boil.

He's laughing.

He holds my gaze and winks.

Then he raises his arm into the air just like Crystal.

"AGAIN!" roars Crystal.

I swipe another arrow but before I can send it hurtling toward the ocean Valentine brings his arm down and arrows hurtle toward us from the ocean. Almost in slow motion I see a black cupid arrow coming toward me – slicing through the shimmering white sky.

I make to dive aside but before I can Cupid swipes his hand through the air and grabs it, an inch from my face, crumbling it to ash between his fingers with a look of rage on his face. If that had hit me it would have turned me into a cupid. My pulse races. I have no time to think about that. There are screams behind us as enemy arrows strike.

Crystal commands another rain of metal – sending it the zombie army.

But then the first of Valentine's boats reach shallow water, feet away from us, and the undead begin to spill out into the ocean. Cal tenses beside me – swiping a black arrow and hitting one in the heart. I see Charlie do the same to his side. Crystal comes to stand in line with us.

"Ready, guys?" she says.

Valentine's boat reaches shallow water. He slowly steps down, the water reaching his knees, as others begin to charge toward us.

"Ready," I say.

Cupid shares a look with me. Our army run on either side of us into the ocean as all along the shoreline zombies disembark the boats. Somewhere in the distance I hear Mino roar. And Valentine wades through the water toward us.

"We need to get the key," I say. "Unless we destroy the hearts, his army will keep coming back to life. We can't fight that."

He nods – danger flickering in his eyes and hardening in his jaw.

Screams and the scent of blood mix with the salty air.

Beside me Cal shoots another arrow toward Valentine, then elbows a grey ghoulish looking girl in the face before sticking a black arrow into her chest. He catches my eye as Charlie tackles a zombie down into the shallow water, and in quick succession Crystal hits three enemies in the head before charging out to meet the next.

Valentine continues to walk calmly through the chaos, his eyes on me.

"He needs your heart, Lila," yells Cal, "Get to the cave. Get away from all this. Let him come to you."

Cupid nods. He shares a look with his brother – something passing between them – then he grabs my shoulder and the two of us begin to run through the fighting over blood stained sand. We pass a girl I recognize from the Matchmaking Service on the ground, eyes vacantly open, the ash of a cupid arrow dusting her white combat suit.

My stomach lurches. But we continue to run toward the cliff face.

We're almost there.

Suddenly Cupid flies forward, landing on his knees. His face twists in pain. An ardor is plunged into his back.

I spin around.

A pale faced, muscular female charges toward me – her eyes blank, some of the skin hanging off from her cheek and exposing bone. I swipe an arrow from my quiver and thrust it up into her chest just as she flies into me, sending us both crashing to the ground.

I roll her cold, heavy body off me. It won't be long before she re-animates back into the state of undead that she has been trapped in for who knows how long. I almost feel sorry for her.

But I can't let myself think that, not now, not when there's so much at stake.

I jump to my feet – realizing Cupid is now caught in a fray between five of Valentine's army. In a blur of movement he plunges the arrows into them, sending three of them scattering to the ground before more take their place.

I'm about to go help him when I hear a laugh close behind.

I spin around – firing an arrow into the chaotic scene and hitting a raggedly dressed male in the shoulder before another Matchmaking Agent flies on him. But he was not the source of the laugh. It was Valentine. Where is he?

My eyes dart about the deadly scene. Arrows hurtle through the air. I catch Selena breaking someone's neck by the shoreline, while Cassie beats three of the undead, repeatedly, with her long black staff sending them into the water for the waves to claim.

Somewhere I hear Mino.

"SLEEP!" he roars.

I locate him – fighting among the cupids. An arrow flies toward the back of his head. I'm about to shout out when another arrow hits it right on the tip and sends it clashing into the rocks. Crystal stands about ten feet away from him, bow raised, watching. Then throws herself back into the battle.

I try to locate Charlie or Cal but I can't. Fear curls around my heart.

Not all will survive.

Then I hear the laugh again. My eyes flit to the side and lock onto Valentine's – surrounded by a deadly entourage of raggedly dressed cupids. My heart lurches in my chest. I grab an arrow, fire it at him, and he catches it – crumbling it to dust and adding it to the sandy cold breeze.

He grins.

"Hello, Lila," he says.

Then with a commanding slice of his hand – he points at Cupid and his deadly group charge at him.

"LILA!" roars Cupid as the hoard swallow him. "RUN!"

Adrenaline surges through my veins like wildfire – consuming me, controlling me.

And part of me wants to run – to put as much distance between me and this monster that wants to rip my heart from my chest as possible.

But I don't.

I won't leave Cupid.

And I won't leave Valentine, either.

I need the key.

I need to end this.

I maintain eye contact with Valentine, then allow my gaze to slide down to his neck where a silver chain glints in the ghostly light radiating from the ferry of the dead in the water. He stops a few feet away from me; the two of us still and silent among the chaos.

He chuckles, fingering the metallic string around his neck.

I can hear Cupid's roars filling the night behind me and, I know the anguish in his tone is for me, not himself. He can handle himself against the undead army, but he doesn't think I'm a match for Valentine.

"LILA! RUN!"

I ignore him. I focus on Valentine.

"It appears I have something you want, Lila," he says in his low growl. "And you have something I want. What are we going to do about that?"

The smile spreads across his face, his eyes blazing excitedly in the light of the moon.

Suddenly he spins away from me, plucking an arrow that was aiming straight for his head from the air. He snaps it in two between his fingers. I look behind him to see Cal – backlit by the glow from the ghost ship – bow raised and eyes blazing.

"Get away from her," he says.

"So brave, brother," says Valentine. "But so stupid to be so bold when I have something of yours."

He raises his hand suddenly into the air.

"Snip snip," he says making a deliberate movement between his fingers.

My blood turns to ice. Cal's face pales.

His life thread.

His eyes catch mine.

Then he falls to his knees in the sand, a strangled cry escaping his lips. I watch in horror. Water gargles and pours from his open mouth. He throws his hands to his neck, his fingers grasping at nothing, and retches onto the ground.

"NO!" I scream. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?"

I charge at Valentine who intercepts me, pushing my away from him with ease. Cupid roars behind me and Valentine laughs. But I block it all out. All I can focus on is Cal. His silvery red rimmed eyes hold mine.

"Lila..." he gasps, "get...out...of....here...."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP IT!"

I charge across the sand again. This time the force of my fury catches Valentine off guard. We crash into the sand. He throws me off him with ease once more and I roll over, pushing myself back to my feet and turning to face him. He's already standing – looking completely unperturbed and casually brushing the sand off his jeans.

Cal writhes on the ground. My heart pounds.

Where is his life thread? What the hell is happening?

"What are you doing to him?" I say through gritted teeth. "Stop it. Make it stop."

In a blur of movement Valentine is suddenly right in front of me. I take a swing at his jaw. He grabs my hand in his, clasping it tightly between his fingers, before I make impact with his face. I look up at him, his masculine scent of sweat, salt, and the ocean engulfing me.

"Valentine, please..." I say. "If he dies...I swear I'll..."

The corner of his lip tugs upward, revealing the dimple in his cheek.

"What? Kill me?" says Valentine. "I don' think so. Now, there's no need for the hysterics. I just need to keep both my brothers busy until midnight - while you and I get to the task in hand." He winks at me, and my skin prickles – his hot grip vice like around my clenched fist as he looks down at me. I need your heart for what I'm to do. "Plus, I have a passenger on board that ship over there, to keep entertained until her big entrance." He turns his head calmly to watch Cal as he chokes up water – hands and knees on the floor. "From the look of things she's submerged his life thread in some sea water."

"Venus?!" I spit. "You gave Venus his life thread?!?!"

Nausea waves over me. He shrugs.

"She's been a bit under the weather – there on the ship that long, extended somewhere between the living and the dead. It took a toll on her power – which has put her in a very grumpy mood. But when she returns and her power fully restores..." he gives an exaggerated shudder, shaking my arm and sending vibrations through my body. Then smiles. "Well...let's just say I want to remain on her good side."

"What if she cuts the thread?!" I say – coldness seeping through my veins. Then a thought occurs to me – fuzzy as I try to block out Cupid's roars and Cal's choking. "Your life thread is on the ship too. What if she cuts your life thread?! She's not exactly the most rational of beings from what I remember..."

"My life thread is safe," he says, patting his chest with his free hand. "And she won't cut the thread – not when we may need him as leverage to get what we want from you. You see..."

Suddenly a hard object rams into his side and he jerks away – releasing his grip around my fingers. Cupid squares up to him – wiping blood from his nose with the leather sleeve of his jacket.

"Seems you still need to keep me busy, brother," he says. "Because the way I see it – all we have to do is keep you busy until Valentine's Day, and your unnatural power, passes. Or..."

"...take that key from around your neck," I say – narrowing my eyes at him.

Cupid hits him in the jaw. But it makes no impact on Valentine. He just laughs.

"Ah yes, I had thought about that," he says.

He clicks his fingers and the zombies who Cupid just defeated rise and swarm him again. They grab his arms as he roars and throws his fists against them but there are too many. They turn him, face him toward the ethereal ship.

Valentine raises his hand again – gestures at someone I cannot see.

My insides harden, turn to ice. Fear twists inside me.

"What are you doing?" I demand.

Valentine looks at me, a smile toying at his lips.

"When you got Venus a ticket to Charon's ferry, you sent her with a piece of baggage..." he says. "Something that could be quite useful in getting rid of my brother here..."

"What?!"

And then I see it.

A golden flicker coming from the ship. An object slicing through the air, getting bigger as it hurtles toward us. An arrow. But not just any arrow.

The Finis.

I hear a manic female laughter – resounding in my ears.

"No..."

I run toward Cupid but Valentine is behind me in an instant, supernaturally fast. He grabs my arms. He points me at Cupid, makes me watch.

"CUPID!" I scream.

Cupid's eyes widen.

And the Finis hits him square in the chest.

He is thrown backward into the face of the cliff about twenty feet back, and I watch as his head slumps onto his shoulder – his cry silenced by the final arrow.

The arrow I used to destroy Venus.

The arrow that can kill an original cupid.

(next chapter now up too! >>>)