I threw the melted lump of metal away from me and the air above the altar seemed to vibrate as the shadows howled in protest, making my gaze fall to the myriad of other dark objects which were scattered across the altar.
I leapt up over the altar, turning my back on the rift as Orion cursed and fought to seal it, his arms trembling with the effort of forcing the thing shut as he continued to stitch the divide between this realm and the next.
I grabbed the edge of the stone altar, and with a combination of my earth magic and Vampire strength, I ripped the stone table from its setting and sent every dark item scattering across the floor away from the rift. The shadows screamed and wailed even louder, the sound threatening to make my ears bleed as I gritted my teeth against it and threw my hands out, blasting every one of the objects with my most potent fire and destroying as many of them as I could manage.
I felt the lash of the shadows against my back and braced against the sting and bite of pleasure they offered, fixing my mind on all the best memories I could muster and planting myself firmly within this realm where the true owners of my joy and love existed.
A panicked curse made me snap around and I found Orion gripping onto the edge of the broken altar, his eyes wide and fearful as his gaze met with mine. Something seemed to tug him towards the last slither of the rift which was still gaping open as the needle hung loose in his fingertips and blood dripped from his other hand, a small prick on his finger causing droplets of deepest red to run through open air towards the rift which hummed and groaned with a violent power that I knew would devour our entire realm if only it got the chance.
“What do I do?” I demanded as I shot towards him in a panic, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him away from the rift as it howled louder, more and more of his blood racing towards it.
I tried to push healing magic into his flesh so that I could block off the connection to his blood, but the moment I began to build it in my palm, Orion roared a refusal.
“Don’t meld your magic with mine or you’ll be doomed too,” he snarled, knocking me against the broken altar as pain and pleasure flashed in his gaze in equal measures. “When my grip fails, it will consume me,” he gasped. “You have to find a way to close it. You need to cut Lavinia off from-”
“Don’t start talking like you’re already dead, asshole. Is it your magic that it’s caught you by?” I asked frantically.
Orion grunted a confirmation, his face drawn in pain which I knew had nothing to do with whatever the fuck the shadows were doing to him and everything to do with what he thought he was about to lose if he was ripped from this life.
“Once it burns through all of my magic it will drag my soul after it,” he ground out. “You need to run, you need to-”
I shot towards him with a snarl, my fangs snapping out as I got my answer and I collided with his back, locking an arm around his chest and fisting his hair with my other hand before yanking his head to the side and driving my teeth deep into his throat.
Orion snarled furiously, the outrage he felt at me biting him more than clear in the rigidity of his posture as I drew in a mouthful of his blood and swallowed greedily.
The moment the power of his magic swept over my tongue, his ability to use it was locked down and his connection to the shadows via it was severed.
He stumbled a step as his link to the rift was destroyed but I held him up as I drank deeply, savouring the intoxicating taste of his blood while keeping my fangs buried in his neck so that the connection couldn’t reform.
Orion struggled for a moment before seeming to realise the chance I was giving him and raising the needle once again, driving the point of it into the edge of the rift and growling with the effort of using his leaden limbs to force it through the divide.
I kept drinking while he finished his work, the entire chamber we stood in rattling and shaking as the rift fought against its destruction until the very last moment.
A deep and heavy silence fell as the rift was finally sewn shut, the pressure in the chamber dropping so suddenly that my ears popped.
Orion dropped the needle, sagging against me as I found myself caught in the bloodlust, unable to pull back like I should have done as I continued to feast on his blood.
This wasn’t what our kind did. It went against the Vampire Code.
But he was one hell of a powerful Vampire and I couldn’t deny the thrill I was getting from owning him blood and bone like this.
I growled as I sucked harder and Orion growled right back, his hands taking hold of my arm where I still held him and lifting my wrist in a flash of speed. My heart lurched with realisation, but I wasn’t fast enough to stop him before his fangs slid into my wrist and a snarl of victory rumbled through him.