The screams chased him down the tunnel: raw, inhuman, laced with pain and fury and something that used to be love. Seraphine's voice cracked stone, shattered wards, rose into a shriek that was almost a song. Amira's green fire answered with a roar that shook dust from the ceiling in sheets.
Tobias ran at the head of the column, golden light blazing to guide the way, but every step felt like betrayal. He kept glancing back, counting heartbeats, measuring distance, calculating how fast he could return once the children were safe.
Seventy-five seconds there. Seventy-five back. Two minutes thirty seconds total if he left the moment the last child was aboard.
He could do it. He would do it.
Then a small figure broke from the rear of the line, weaving desperately through legs and arms, tears flying off her cheeks like sparks.
Lina.
Tobias slid to a stop on his knees, catching her as she crashed into him. Her whole body shook with sobs.
"What is wrong? Talk to me, Captain."
She could barely breathe through the crying. "Please… please… go save my mommy."
The world tilted.
He cupped her face, thumb brushing away tears, and really looked. The dark curls. The shape of the nose. Those eyes that had stared him down thousands of times.
Amira's eyes.
Amira's daughter.
All the air left his lungs. She had never said a word. Not once. Not in all the nights they had talked about everything and nothing.
Lina clutched his shirt with both fists. "Please go save her! Please!"
Tobias pressed his forehead to hers for one heartbeat, voice steady even as his heart cracked wide open.
"I will. I swear it. Stay with the others. A good friend of mine will be waiting at the junction. His name is Uncle Kael. You hold his hand and everyone else's hand until I bring your mommy back, understand?"
She nodded frantically, hiccupping.
He stood, turned, and the where gold light normally would be guiding him, a dark black void around him flared.
Seventy-five seconds.
Tobias ran.
The tunnel blurred. Stone became streaks of gray and red. His boots barely touched the ground; power propelled by muscle and terror and a promise he would die before he broke, he tore back the way they had come.
Behind him the children's footsteps faded, replaced by the rising howl of the fight he had left behind.
Seventy-four. Seventy-three. Seventy-two.
He rounded the final bend at full speed, power coiling.
Hold on, Amira. I'm coming.
Amira stood firm in the center of the platform, green fire coiling around her like living vines, snapping and hissing in the dim light. Seraphine rose from the crater in the wall, bones cracking back into place with wet pops, her crimson eyes burning holes through the air. The children were gone, herded forward by the nurses and elders, their footsteps echoing faintly toward the train junction.
"You think you can stand against me?" Seraphine snarled, fangs flashing as she blurred forward.
Amira thrust her hands out. A wall of emerald flames erupted between them, forcing Seraphine to twist mid-leap. The vampire landed like a cat, claws raking the stone, drawing sparks.
Seraphine lunged again, faster than thought, her nails extended into black talons. She slashed low, aiming for Amira's legs. Amira spun, a shield of verdant energy blooming around her ankle just in time. The claws glanced off with a screech, but the impact sent a jolt up her spine, draining a sliver of her strength.
"You did this to him!" Seraphine spat, circling now, voice thick with venom. "If you never showed up, he would have never left me!"
Another slash, high this time. Amira ducked, countering with a whip of green fire that lashed across Seraphine's shoulder. The vampire hissed, flesh sizzling, but she pressed forward, undeterred, landing a glancing blow across Amira's arm. Blood welled up, hot and immediate, and with it came a wave of exhaustion that made Amira's vision blur for a split second.
Seraphine laughed, low and broken. "He was mine! Before you poisoned him with your lies!"
Amira breathed deep, drawing on reserves she had hidden for years. She hurled a bolt of emerald light straight at Seraphine's chest. It connected with a thunderclap, driving the vampire back three steps, but Seraphine recovered in an instant, claws raking again. This time they found purchase on Amira's side, shallow cuts that burned like acid, sapping more of her stamina. Her legs felt heavier, her magic flickering just a touch dimmer.
Crimson mist began to fume off Seraphine, rising like smoke from her pores, thickening the air with the copper tang of blood. Her eyes glowed brighter, movements turning even more feral, more unpredictable.
"I knew I should have made sure you died that night," Seraphine hissed, voice dripping with old hate. "The night I found you two together, tangled in your filthy secrets. I thought I had slit your throat, but I should of know you would have some way to slither your way out of it."
She blurred again, a red streak in the shadows, talons aimed for Amira's throat. Amira raised a barrier just in time, the impact ringing like a bell, but the force drove her back a step, breath coming in ragged gasps. Sweat beaded on her forehead; the cuts throbbed, pulling at her energy with every heartbeat.
Hold on, she thought fiercely. Just a little longer. For Lina. For him.
The platform trembled as a pulse came from the tunnel, it felt like everything in the room got heavier. Then again.
Seraphine twisted ready to strike, but instead her eyes linked with his. Not glimmering gold and his natural light but pure black, void of anything.
Another pulse and black magical essence filled the space. It was suffocating, even Seraphine felt it.
"What did you just say Seraphine."
"Tobias!"
Amira slumped against the wall, clutching her wounds, green fire dimming to embers. "You... came back."
He spared her one glance, fierce. "Always."
Seraphine straightened slowly, blood dripping from her lips, the feral gleam in her eyes flickering with something almost human. "Wait... wait, my love. You misunderstood. Everything I said... it's her. She's the one trying to tear us apart. Poisoning your mind against me."
Tobias froze. His voice came out deafening, a thunderclap that made the stone tremble. "You twisted my memories. You made me think I killed her. You made me lose my sanity so you could show me you loved me?"
Amira watched him, heart pounding. Something had shifted in Tobias. This was not the man she knew, the steady shield, the golden hope forged from love and resolve. No, this was the other side of the coin: raw, unbridled hatred, a vessel of death and vengeance. His eyes burned not with light, but with eclipse-dark fire. The air around him was warped, heavy with the promise of annihilation.
Seraphine took a hesitant step forward, hands raised, palms out. Tobias mirrored her, closing the distance, his presence was pure chaos.
"I know it sounds bad," she whispered, voice trembling for the first time, "but you have to see it from my perspective. Everything I did... the memories, the pain... it was to bind us closer. To make you see how much I love you. Without her interference, we could…"
His boot connected with her chest like a battering ram. The impact was catastrophic, a crack of bone and stone as Seraphine flew backward, crashing through the far wall in a spray of debris. She hit the ground in the next chamber, rolling to a stop amid rubble, coughing blood that splattered dark across the floor. She struggled to her knees, one arm dangling useless, crimson eyes wide with disbelief.
"Stop it!" she screamed, the words shredding her throat. "You are mine! You belong to me!"
Tobias was there in an instant. His hand shot out, grabbing her by the collar and hauling her off the ground. His nails had lengthened into sharp, black claws, extensions of his power, digging into her flesh like blades. She dangled, feet kicking uselessly, blood trickling from the punctures.
"Let me make this clear," he growled, voice low and final, every syllable etched in ice. "I belong to no one. I never belonged to you. You used me. Broke me. And now I am whole. I could kill you here, end this nightmare... but I think letting you live would hurt you the most. Know that you will never see me again after this. Never feel my hands on you again unless it's to kill you."
Seraphine choked, tears mixing with blood on her face, her crimson aura flickering weakly. "Please... Tobias..."
He dropped her like refuse, turning away without another glance. His gaze found Amira, softening just enough to reveal the man beneath.
"Go," he said quietly. "Your daughter is waiting for you."
Amira recoiled as if slapped, her secret yanked into the harsh light. "How did you...?"
"They should be at the train junction with Kael by now."
She rose unsteadily, green fire guttering out as she clutched her side. Her eyes met his, full of questions and gratitude and something deeper. "Thank you."
Then she was gone, limping into the tunnel toward safety, toward Lina.
Tobias turned back to Seraphine, who huddled against the broken wall, broken and small for the first time. The death in his eyes burned brighter.
"Now," he said, voice a blade's edge, "tell me everything you know. And I want to know what Vaelor has done to you."