The ritual was to take place in the woods.
Nobody said much as we walked to a clearing near the house. Diana especially kept her mouth shut. She had moped towards us a half hour after she had vanished with Victor.
Victor himself looked like he was from a different realm; Diana was clearly no great hairdresser but his hair now fell in dark waves past his shoulders. His facial hair had been tidied up as well so he looked like a more menacing bachelor. The greatest difference was how he held himself though. I thought the new spring in his step was odd considering he was going to his death.
"I reckon he got more than a haircut from Diana," Jax whispered to me as we walked.
I elbowed his side. "What's that meant to mean?" I said indignantly, not missing his true meaning. "Diana has a boyfriend- she wouldn't do anything like that, even with a lover from a previous life."
"I bet she kissed him anyway," Genevieve added, tossing her dark mane back. "Anyway, stop gossiping. We're moments away from summoning a lord of darkness and shadows."
We heard Victor's step from behind us, his step heavy and brisk. "Don't boost his ego like that."
Unexpectedly, Diana fell back so she was walking next to me. "Maybe I should've brought a thank you card with me- after all, this is the guy who reincarnated me."
Genevieve let out a small shriek about us not taking this seriously.
Then she stopped. We had reached the clearing. The air seemed to quake in anticipation.
"This is it then." Victor's voice sounded oddly thick. I still didn't know exactly how this process worked but from what I'd heard the chances of Victor surviving in one piece was... slim at best.
"Are you ready, Thornwood?" Genevieve asked, stepping into the centre of the clearing and gesturing for him to come towards her.
The vampire lord nodded, but swiftly turned his head back to glance at Diana from where she stood, suddenly shaking, in the safe shadows of the trees. In a flash of movement he was by her side, clasping her hands. It felt like a private moment, yet my eyes stayed glued to the pair.
He looked deeply into her eyes as lovers often did. Expect theirs was no ordinary love story and it was bound to end tonight in great tragedy. Despite her earlier protests, Diana didn't seem keep to let Victor go. I'm fact, a flash in her eyes indicated she was willing to match through hell itself to drag the vampire in front of her back to life if deaths shadow fell over him.
"I love you," Victor said in a strangled animalistic tone. "And I want you to promise me to be happy, no matter what happens tonight. Can you promise that?"
I turned away, suddenly not wanting to watch the scene playing out. I never even heard what Diana said in reply. My mind was flashing with images of Jax being injured and dying. Memories of him lunging at a bloodthirsty vampire with no care for his own life. I clung to my mate and burrowed my head in his shoulder. Suddenly, I wanted to cry.
"What will happen to him when Ezaryth takes over?" I muttered into his strong chest, his intoxicating scent soothing my beating heart. It was funny how Jax could be thrill and calm me, depending on what I needed.
Jax stilled slightly and rubbed my lower back. "The power and darkness that's about to enter him will probably burn him out from the inside. He will become but a shell for the Shadowlord to use until he finds something better. Even if our plan works, it's unlikely there will be anything left of Lord Thornwood to save."
Oh my God.
"I forced him to do this," I whisper, my voice devastated.
"No!" Jax cried. "No. In the end it was his own choice. Besides, even if we didn't do this tonight, Ezaryth was going to catch up to him at some point."
I clenched my teeth and tried to stop the shudder infecting my bones.
"Victor!" Genevieve practically screeched, her patience thinning.
I only turned to look when I was sure Victor was in the circle. Even when I heard the sniffs and silent sobs coming from Diana, I couldn't bare to turn and face her. It was selfish. So extremely selfish.
We all watched in stunned silence as Victor knelt before Genevieve, the moon casting strange shadows on his face. Genevieve pulled something from the pocket of her coat. I was straining my eyes to see what she cradled in the palm of her hands before she shook it out. Her lips moved, voice so quiet I couldn't pick up what he was saying.
And then she was holding a large set of chains. I held in a gasp of horror as she began to bind Victor.
"I bet he's sick of being in chains," Jax remarked to me. "That's got to be the third time in a week."
I had no response but a slight hmmm.
Genevieve's voice rang clear, cutting through the night like a blade. "Lord Victor Thornwood," she declared, "you have promised your immortal body to Ezaryth, lord of the dark realm. Do you swear to uphold this promise?"
His voice was defiant. "I swear."
"And to not fight the dark lord when he comes to claim you?"
"I will let him in willingly."
"In that case," she sighed, the commanding tone of her voice gone, "I summon you Lord Ezaryth!"
Then she began to speak in tongues I had never heard before; awful, horrible tongues that sent goosebumps along my arm and weren't from this world.
"What's she saying?" I asked Jax, the question almost drowning in the epic chants.
"She's entreating him to claim his prize," Diana shouted to me. "In the language of shadows." I stared at her, perplexed and confused. She just shrugged. Apparently, she hadn't forgotten everything from her past life.
A bolt of lighting struck somewhere near us as thunder cracked in the sky, as if the gods had come to watch the drama unfold. Jax growled and held me protectively.
"It's happening," he murmured into my ear, lips brushing sensitive skin. "Ezaryth is coming."
Fear coursed through my veins and Victor began to twitch and convulse on the ground. Diana had secretly come closer to us, and I felt her now thread her hand through mine. I clutched it tightly, glad to offer support and needing some of my own.
And then I felt pain. The same blinding pain I had felt the day it had all begun.
My ears... ringing. It felt as if they may begin to bleed. I dropped my hold on Jax and Diana and shattered into the ground, desperately grabbing at my ears as if I could tear them off.
Just like before, the voice came. Except this time it wasn't in my head. It was coming from in front of me. Out of Victor's mouth.
"Hello niece," the voice snarled, cold as I remembered. I couldn't believe I had ever thought it to be my mate talking to me. I should've sensed the evil in him from the start.
And then Victor's body- Ezaryth- turned to look at me. I cried out and grasped at the dirt on the floor when I looked into his eyes. No longer red.
But violet. The exact same shade I had looked into on a bright summer day at a bookshop.