Why isn’t Mona waking up? Could this be the ghoul’s influence making her sleep so heavily? I would have shouted for her, but I didn’t want to give my location away.

I crawled to the edge of the bed and looked up to see Erik reaching for the curtain rail and yanking it from the wall.

The ghoul was now in its physical form again as it attempted to lash out at him.

Erik held the rail in front of him and drove it against the creature’s stomach, forcing it backward to create a safer distance between him and those menacing black nails.

I crawled to the other side of the bed and stood up.

I was about to reach for Mona’s shoulders to shake her when Erik yelled again.

“Watch out!” The ghoul had noticed my attempt and came gliding toward me.

Grabbing the nearest thing to me—a bed lamp—I chucked it at the ghoul’s face.

It dodged the object easily and my attempt only seemed to rile it up further.

“Mona! Wake up!” Erik bellowed as the ghoul’s sharp hands gripped for my ankles.

It lifted me up in the air, hanging me upside down like a piece of meat.

I screamed and thrashed about in its grasp as its nails sped toward my chest.

What followed happened so fast I could barely comprehend it.

The ghoul’s hold on my ankles loosened and I went tumbling down onto the bed.

Erik had leapt up and grabbed its feet, attempting to pull it down to the ground—while a cloaked figure had just entered the room.

Kiev? As Erik weighed the ghoul down, Kiev leapt onto the bed and, springing onto the bed, extended a clawed hand for the ghoul’s throat.

He missed, but I wasn’t about to let Erik’s attempts go in vain.

Before the ghoul could evaporate once again, I jumped up and latched onto his lower legs too.

With the two of us dragging the creature downward, we were faster in pulling it to the ground.

By now, I couldn’t help but wonder why it hadn’t disappeared.

From the surprised look on Erik’s face, he was wondering the same thing.

Perhaps it can’t manifest its subtle form if another physical body is holding onto it… This time, when Kiev lurched forward again, narrowly dodging the ghoul’s nails, he caught its throat within the claws of his right hand and dug in deep.

There was a sickening squelch as black blood streamed down Kiev’s wrist.

In one final motion, Kiev ripped off the ghoul’s head.

Its skull rolled onto the floor, its body still shaking as blood spilled out of it.

The three of us stared at each other, panting.

It was only now that I realized something was odd about Kiev’s appearance.

Very odd.

When he pulled off his cloak to wipe down his right hand, both Erik and I gasped.

“Y-your arm!” Erik swore, rushing over to his brother.

“What the hell happened to you?” Kiev took in a rasping breath and gave Erik a dark look as he staggered toward Mona on the bed.

“Let’s just say my hatred of witches has matured somewhat in the last few hours.”

Chapter 34: Mona

An unexpected sensation broke through the nightmare I was trapped in.

Something brushed against my lips.

When my eyelids flickered open, I thought I’d just entered into another dream.

I was staring into a pair of hooded green eyes… Kiev’s eyes.

His cold hand was against my cheek as he kissed me deeply.

I reached my hands up and flattened my palms against his chest.

If this was still a dream, it was the most vivid I’d ever had.

I was suddenly scared to shatter it.

Scared to wake up.

Scared to verify it was indeed a dream.

The love of my life was holding me and kissing me like I was the only woman in the world.

Even if this was an illusion, it was a welcome escape from the hell that was my reality.

A reality that would return full force the moment I woke up.

Reaching my hands into his thick dark hair, I closed my eyes and began returning his kiss.

“I love you,” he whispered, his voice husky.

The words sent pain searing through my chest.

You have no idea how much I wish you did, Kiev.

Tears welled in my eyes and began to spill down my cheeks as I sat up and knelt against him, still afraid to open my eyes.

As I pressed my weight harder against him, he groaned, causing me to open my eyes again.

Pain was etched across his face and as I lowered my gaze to his shoulders, I gasped.

Where his left arm should have been was a bleeding stump.

I leapt back on the bed, rubbing my eyes, and took in the full room for the first time.

Abigail and Erik stood in a corner, watching us, and on the floor a few feet away from them was the headless corpse of… a ghoul.

“Wha-What happened?” I croaked, even as understanding began to dawn on me.

Kiev reached out the only arm he had and caught my hand, pulling me back down to his level.

I noticed for the first time then just how sick he looked.

He was shockingly pale—far too much even for a vampire—a sheen of sweat covered his skin, and his whole body was trembling.

“I never stopped loving you,” he wheezed, “that’s what happened.” Oh, no.

No.

Realization crashed down on me like a ton of bricks, winding me completely.

Guilt shattered me into a thousand pieces.

Falling to my knees, I fell apart.

“I’m sorry,” I choked.

“I’m so sorry.” Kiev’s firm grip closed around the back of my neck, forcing me up to look at him.