Valen's breath slowed.
Palmer felt like he lost an emotion with every heartbeat.
Flashes of their past flooded his mind—him and Valen grinning as they fought together. Their first meeting, their promise to protect what mattered. It all played in his head like a cruel, inescapable illusion. And beneath it all, he could hear it—Valen's heartbeat, once steady, now fading.
Palmer lay motionless.
Sarah's cry shattered the silence, raw and broken, her body trembling as tears streamed down her face.
Kael, Ivy, and Kole stood frozen. They didn't even register the presence of death breathing down their necks.
Lilith's amused voice cut through the heavy air. "Ah, ah… He actually did it." She pouted playfully. She cocked her head, lips curling in amusement as she glanced at the trio. "But still… you guys have guts. Turning your backs to me like that."
They didn't answer. They didn't even acknowledge her.
Their gazes were locked on Valen.
Palmer turned back toward him too, his fingers twitching as an old memory surfaced—
"I always thought I had it worse than anyone in the world when I lost Annabelle until I met you…"
Valen's voice, from so long ago, sounded so close.
"You had it so much worse. And besides," he reached out a hand to Palmer, who had been barely clinging to consciousness. "I've taken a liking to this family. The Montgomery's. So I'll do it." His expression had been fierce, determined. "I'll become your anchor. But in exchange, we'll see that no one ever hurts the ones we love. Ever."
Palmer had taken his hand that day, feeling something shift inside him.
"I have a lot of questions, though," Valen grinned. "What does it feel like to be a vampire? I've killed a lot, but I've never tasted blood. Would I be able to fly? How fast do I get? And how come you're so different?"
It had been the first time—a human outside of Elias Montgomery's immediate family had acknowledged Palmer's nature with curiosity instead of fear. It had made Palmer genuinely happy.
He could still see Elias Montgomery and the others watching with warmth in their eyes as the two boys—one human, one vampire—formed a bond.
The memory shattered.
Palmer's eyes remained wet.
It felt like something inside him had broken past the point of repair.
Across from him, Elijah slowly drew out the stake. His voice was calm, almost pitying.
"Nothing has changed, Elias."
Palmer flinched.
"You're still that weak little boy who couldn't save his childhood friend."
Sarah's cries grew louder.
Kael clenched his fists. Ivy bit her lips. Kole's body shook.
"I'll break you so bad," Elijah continued, voice low and merciless. "I'll make you watch the same thing from back then happen to you again."
A sharp ringing filled Palmer's ears.
Valen's words from that day echoed in his mind—
"We'll see that no one ever hurts the ones we love. Ever."
Then.
Everything went still.
A shift in the atmosphere—like the world itself was holding its breath.
Then
A pulse.
A surge of something primal, something unfathomable.
Palmer's limbs regrew instantly, flesh weaving itself back together at an unnatural speed.
Elijah's eyes flickered with intrigue.
Palmer slowly sat up. His head tilted slightly as he looked toward his brother.
One of his eyes burned a golden yellow, pure and blinding. The other was dark crimson, gleaming with malevolent intensity. Both pulsed with the noble pattern, intricate lines shifting as if they were alive.
With a slow, eerie motion, Palmer reached up—one hand pulling the spike from his forehead, the other ripping out the ones impaled in his abdomen.
His body…
It was shifting.
Darkness bled from his skin like living shadows, consuming him whole
Then
Cracks.
Thin, glowing fractures formed along his body, pulsating like molten veins. A golden light spilled from them, contrasting against the abyss consuming the rest of him.
His form was changing.
Not into something vampiric.
Something else.
Something beyond classification.
Sarah, tears still in her eyes, could only stare, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.
Kael, Ivy, and Kole all gasped as a burning pain lanced through their bodies.
Then—a burst of energy.
It was happening again.
But this time—it was so much worse.
The ground split beneath them.
A tremor erupted across the entire city.
The sky darkened, thunderclouds forming in mere seconds, rolling violently like a storm of nightmares. Lightning crackled across the heavens, illuminating the battlefield in flickering shadows.
Elijah's breath came shallowly.
"I've felt this before," he murmured. "But... this time, it's even stronger."
Palmer finally met his brother's gaze.
A horn protruding from one side of his head.
On the other—a half-formed halo, flickering erratically.
His expression was...
Empty.
Like he didn't recognize anyone anymore.
Then, with a slow, effortless motion
He raised a hand.
Elijah jerked forward involuntarily.
His body moved against his will.
"What the—"
He tried to fight it. His heels dug into the ground, but the force dragging him forward was greater than the weight of two colliding meteorites.
He couldn't stop it.
Before he even understood what was happening—
Palmer's hand was wrapped around his throat.
Elijah gasped, feeling his very essence shrink under the suffocating pressure.
Palmer's other hand extended toward the ground.
The earth responded.
The battlefield trembled. Debris, metal, lava itself twisted together, forming a jagged, hellish blade. The air around it warped from the sheer heat.
Palmer raised it effortlessly, his grip tightening around Elijah.
Sarah—her heart pounding—ran.
"Palmer! Don't do it! This isn't you!"
For the first time—Palmer's head turned.
He looked at her.
A single second passed.
Then
A shockwave exploded from his body.
The force launched Sarah and the others backward, sending them crashing through the air.
Sarah, unable to stop herself, spiraled toward a wall, about to break upon impact
But in a flash, a blur moved.
A strong arm wrapped around her, stopping her mid-air, landing her safely to safety.
Sarah slowly opened her teary eyes.
She stared up at her saviour.
A familiar smirk greeted her.
"Geez," Valen chuckled. "I close my eyes for a second, and this is what happens?"
He was alive.