Time slowed and Soph had no control. At the initial impact, her head cracked against the window and Eli reached for her. Then they were flying, over and over, each turn marked by a jarring impact as the car bounced off the ground. Shards of glass spiraled around them and all she could do was hold her arms over her face. Then they were suddenly still, the car tilted on an angle against a tree, but mostly upright. There was complete silence, save for the ticking of the engine and the rain that poured down. Soph felt nothing, and she wondered, dazed, if she was paralyzed or if the pain was slow to come through the shock. She shifted her feet, feeling pebbles of glass beneath them. Beside her, Eli groaned.

She wanted to ask if he was okay, but she couldn't find the words. There was blood on his legs, and the car was crumpled around him. He reached out a hand, finding her thigh.

"In the glove box," he whispered. Soph reached forward, fingers trailing over the dash to find the catch. She had to yank it to get it open. Inside, she found a vial of blue pixie wine and a black obsidian dagger.

Her heart faltered. He hadn't told her what they looked like, but she could guess what this was. She pulled the knife gingerly into her lap. A kinship blade.

Eli shifted, pressing his hands under the dash that had collapsed over his legs and heaving it up. The metal frame of the car groaned, but he pushed it far enough to get his legs free. His right thigh had a gash along it. "The wine," he said, making no comment on the blade. Soph passed the pixie wine to him, and he uncorked it before pouring some of it onto his leg. Outside, and over the rain, Soph could hear wailing and shrieking and her hands shook. The predator witches were coming.

"Out your door," Eli instructed. She couldn't get it open, but the window was smashed, so she climbed carefully through it. Eli followed her, landing hard on the pungent forest floor. The rain belted down, soaking them instantly, and when a crack of lightning lit up the space, Soph saw that the car had rolled down an embankment. She looked at her arms. Amazingly, she'd gotten away with nothing except superficial nicks and cuts. When she wiped her brow, though, her hand came away sticky with blood. She couldn't worry about it now. The shrieking was getting louder, echoing through the forest. Soph dropped the obsidian knife and reached out to help Eli.

"What do we do?" she couldn't think straight at all. They were in the middle of Grimshollow forest with no car and black witches closing in. They were fucked. Eli got to all fours, then tried to rise. He brushed her hand away when she tried to help.

"Soph," he said slowly, picking up the kinship blade she'd dropped. She could see the wound on his thigh slowly healing up. "Remember how you asked for a head start if I needed to take the black witch powers?"

"What?" her heart might as well have stopped beneath the horrifying chills that crashed over her. Was he really doing this now? Eli looked up, and his eyes were crimson.

"You need to run. Now."

She stared at the knife in his hand, then turned and fled.

Crashing through the undergrowth, her pale gold dress snagged on bushes and sticks and rocks cut into her bare feet. The rain sheeted down, even beneath the canopy, and blood dripped from her head wound into her eyes. She didn't look back and, despite the fear that gripped her, she knew she had to focus if she wanted to live. She whispered under her breath as she ran, weaving a spell.

A shriek came from her immediate left and she flung her hand out, blasting away the predator witch that lunged out of the darkness. She didn't pause, couldn't stop to see if she'd killed the woman. She ran on, slipping and sliding on the wet forest floor and making her way doggedly uphill. If she could make it back to the wedding, her family would protect her.

The sound of the predator witches flying through the forest towards her grew over the rain. Their howls and snarls drove her on, and yet for a moment she wished she could be one of them, riding on the strength of vampire powers instead of slogging through the mud at human pace. She resumed the whispering of her spell.

The predator witches gained her flanks on the left, their red eyes glowing in the darkness. Soph didn't wait, she unleashed her energy spell, slamming some of them back. Others were quick to come from behind, and she whirled, slipping to her knees. Nonetheless, she pushed back with her magic, forcing the witches to scatter. Her spell continued to roll from each haggard breath as she twisted again to protect against those that had recovered on her left.

Then Eli was there. He was a blur as he flew into the fray, breaking the neck of the first witch he got his hands on. For a split second Soph met his eyes, red, wild. He bared his fangs, and she surged back to her feet, resuming her flight through the trees, dragging each breath into her lungs like a lifeline. The predator witches were momentarily distracted by Eli, and she gained ground, fleeing with only the rain and wind pushing her on.

She didn't see the gully before it was too late. A flash of lightning gave her a split second warning, then she skidded over the edge, sliding down the steep bank to hit the rocky bottom on all fours. A stream created by the storm trickled over the rocks and Soph pushed herself upwards, staggering to lean on a tree trunk growing up the bank. Her muscles burned and her lungs seared. She put a ward about herself, and leaned her head back against the tree, trying futilely to catch her breath.

A stick snapped close by and her eyes flew open to see Eli emerge from the darkness, eyes glowing. His shirt had been ripped from his body, and angry red scratches raked his chest. The rain plastered his hair to his forehead and made his skin gleam.

Soph wanted to cry, to scream, to allow the fear, pain and anger out. But she could do nothing more than drag in lungfuls of air. The adrenaline of the car crash and flight through the forest was quickly slipping away, leaving her with trembling, tired limbs. Eli prowled around the perimeter of her ward, from left to right, watching her.

She wanted to give in, to let the ward down and get it over with. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life running from Eli, her heart ached too much already. He stopped on her other side and slowly his crimson eyes faded to grey. The obsidian blade glistened in his hand.

"Why, after eight lifetimes, did you decide this was the one you had to fall in love with someone?" the voice was unmistakably Sierra's, and it echoed eerily down into the gully. "And it had to be with my witch? Very inconvenient, Eli."

Sierra's shadowy figure appeared on the opposite bank of the gully, hands on hips as she looked down on them. Eli turned his head slightly to look up at her, though he didn't move from his stance at the edge of Soph's ward. Ready to pounce.

"I would have waited a lifetime," Sierra explained. "It's a lot of effort, you know, to hide an essence for only twenty-five years." The witch raised a hand, inspecting a knife she held. From this distance, Soph couldn't tell if it was a kinship blade, or a normal one. Sierra would need something magical to get her essence back. "There's a new queen in Nevermore, did you hear?" she continued conversationally. Eli's eyebrows lifted slightly.

"There is?" he asked softly. Soph had no idea what they were talking about. She wondered if she could run while they were distracted, though Eli would catch her in a heartbeat if he wanted.

Sierra nodded, lowering her blade back to her side. "I'm surprised your friend didn't tell you. Of course, I never trusted him as much as you did. Anyway, Ethereal has found an opportunity. She doesn't even need all the powers, just some. Which means if I get mine back, I can help her take yours instead." she shrugged. "No hard feelings. Look, why not let me take the powers from Soph? Save you the heartache of doing it yourself. Then you can get back to chasing me."

Eli's gaze found Soph's again. She wanted to tell him to just take the powers and not let Sierra have them, but she couldn't find the words. A single tear slipped down her cheek. She didn't want to sacrifice her life to either of them. She wanted to live. He held out his hand, palm flat, and atop it sat the kinship blade. She stared at it, then met his eye. Trust.

Reaching out, she let her ward down. Her hand covered his, fingers brushing against his wrist. The guttural calls of the predator witches pierced the air. They'd found them.

"Go east," he whispered. Her hand closed over the hilt of the knife. It was warm.

"What are you doing?" Sierra sounded exasperated. Soph turned and ran, stumbling over rocks and splashing through the stream as she made her way down the gully to find a way out. She heard Sierra chanting behind her and threw up her ward again in time to deflect the spell that hit her in the back. It forced her forward and she staggered, grazing her hands on the rocks before surging upright again. Sierra didn't give chase, and she glanced back to see Eli gain the top of the bank in pursuit of the other witch.

The gully flattened out, and Soph found a spot to climb the bank. Her dress caught on an exposed root, tearing the soft material. She paused at the top, dragging in hard breaths and staring through the darkness. She couldn't see Eli or Sierra, but she could hear the predator witches. Hiking up her dress, she headed along the incline, travelling east. The predator witches were closing in quickly behind her, and she cursed their unnatural speed.

Whirling, she unleashed the Black Witch essence on them. Raw energy billowed from her hands, knocking the witches back in waves.

Footsteps from her right heralded Sierra's arrival and Soph swung one hand around, blasting the other witch back before Sierra could knife her.

"Fuck off!" Soph screamed as Sierra slammed back against a tree trunk. She slumped down it, dazed, and Soph staggered towards her, the kinship blade tight in her fist. She'd damn well kill her now and get it over with.

A howl rose through the forest from the south, like wind travelling through a tunnel. The predator witches, still partly stunned from Soph's attack, whimpered and scurried away into the darkness. The howling grew, eerie and unearthly. It moved towards them, yet sucked the air and the rain towards it. Soph stopped, staring through the darkness.

Eli appeared beside her, hand on her waist, and she jumped out of her skin. He didn't notice, his focus instead on whatever was coming from the south.

"That's gaian magic," he said in disbelief.

"That's Ethereal," Sierra countered, pushing herself up from the tree. She sneered mockingly. "Better run, Eli, she's coming for you."

Eli took a step back, face paling.

"Go," Soph told him with a push. He stared at her and she pushed again, forcing him back several more steps. "GO!"

This time it was Eli's turn to flee. He spun and, in a blur, vanished towards the north. Soph turned back to Sierra, but she'd disappeared into the night too. There was nothing for it; Soph resumed her dogged jog towards the east.

The howling tunnel lessened with each step away from it, and with no predator witches tailing her, she had the headspace to become terrified for Eli.

She knew Ethereal was a person, but Eli had never mentioned her being alive in this lifetime. She remembered the brief phone call with Cole and Chase before the car crash. Hadn't Cole said "Ethereal"? And hadn't Chase said the woman waiting there was Adriana?

Heart pounding and legs burning, she continued on. She had no idea where she was going. East would eventually lead her to the sea, but what then? She gripped the kinship blade tighter and then all of a sudden she staggered out of the forest and onto the road. It travelled north to south, and she looked up and down it, unsure what to do next.

Headlights appeared, coming slowly down the mountain, and Soph backed off the road to the treeline. She was fairly certain this road came from the wedding venue. Was this another guest leaving? Should she ask for help? Before she could decide, the car slowed to a stop, and the driver got out.

Nona.

"Oh, fuck this shit," Soph gasped, holding up her hand as Nona approached. "Stay the fuck back."

"Language, Sophia," Nona reprimanded. She didn't stop until she was right in front of her granddaughter.

"What do you want?" Soph demanded, taking a step back. Should she return to the forest? Or cross over the road and try to keep going east? Where was Eli? Had Ethereal found him yet?

"I'm giving you a chance."

"A chance to what?"

Nona pointed at the obsidian knife still clutched in her hand. "I am giving you a chance to live." Then, with a swift motion not befitting someone Nona's age, the Light Witch grasped Soph's wrist that held the knife and yanked it towards herself, forcing the blade into her own heart.

Soph cried out, reeling back, but Nona held her tight.

"Don't let go of the blade, Sophia. It is my fault Sierra is hunting you so relentlessly. Take my powers, and if Sierra catches you, at least you'll have an extra essence to live on with."

"Nona," Soph sobbed. The blade had gone into the woman like butter, and now it glowed beneath Soph's fingers. She wanted to turn and run, but she couldn't let go. Nona's hand cupped her face, sweeping wet, dirty hair back from her skin.

"Sophia. Don't mourn this. I am old and tired, in more ways than one. My soul is ready to rest for eternity. Take my powers with my blessing."

Soph leaned into Nona's hand, tears tracking freely down her cheeks. "Eli needs your powers," she whispered. "You should have given them to him."

"This was Eli's idea. He wants you to live, Sophia, and so do I."

She nodded, then wept, gut wrenching sobs tearing up her throat as she doubled over, crying out her fear and anger, all the while still gripping the knife embedded in her grandmother's chest.

"Sophia," Nona coaxed. "There's not much time. I need you to say the spell."

"Wh-what spell?" Soph whimpered, and Nona met her eye, giving her an encouraging nod.

"Repeat after me. By the obsidian blood. Kindred spirits through time. Give me Light's eternity. Go, Sophia."

"By the obsidian blood," Soph whispered, her hands shaking. "Kindred spirits through time. Give me Light's eternity."

The blade glowed brighter, burning hot against Soph's skin. "Again," Nona said.

"By the Obsidian blood, Kindred spirits through time. Give me Light's eternity."

Once more the blade shone, and Soph felt white hot power flowing from the stone through her fingertips. Behind her in the forest, the howling of Ethereal was growing louder, moving towards her once more. Her hair whipped back, light despite the rain.

"Once more," Nona whispered, placing her hand over Soph's on the knife.

"By the Obsidian blood, Kindred spirits through time. Give me Light's eternity." The blade shone white, and the Light power funnelled from Nona into Soph, filling her like a vessel, blooming bright in her chest. Nona gasped, eyes closing briefly, head tilted back. Still, she held Soph's hand tight to the blade.

"Sophia," she whispered. "Beware the housecarl. He is too noble to the cause to be trusted." then she grasped Soph's hand and wrenched the blade away. Soph screamed, and Nona crumpled to the ground, dead.

Footsteps sounded in the forest behind her and she spun as Sierra flew out of the trees, blade raised. This close, Soph could see the lining of honed black stone along the blade's edge. Instinctively, she raised her own, catching Sierra in the stomach with the obsidian knife.

A surprised gasp left Sierra's lips, and she stumbled back a few steps, her hands closing over the knife in her middle. Eli lunged out of the forest, grasping Sierra by the head and twisting, snapping her neck. She dropped to the ground beside Nona; two Founding witches dead within minutes.

Soph clutched her head, fingers digging tight into her hair, tugging at the roots. She groaned, crouching down before the two witches. What had she done?

Eli moved quickly, grasping Sierra by the boots and dragging her back into the treeline and out of sight of the road, then he picked up Nona and carried her to the car, putting her into the driver's seat. Soph watched mutley and all the while Ethereal's howling grew deafeningly.

"Why did you come back?" she whispered when Eli returned to her.

"I couldn't leave you. Come on." he pulled her to her feet, pushing her towards the car. "You need to hop in with Teresa. Drive down the road as far as you can, then run the car off the road. Make it look like she had a heart attack and crashed. Stay with her. The police will question you. Protect yourself."

"Wait," Soph shoved his hands away before he could force her into the car. "Where are you going?"

"Ethereal can't get these powers. I need to hide for a while."

"What? Hide where? For how long?"

Eli shook his head. "I don't know Soph."

"Did I just hear you say you're going to hide? From me, Eli? How disappointing."

The howling abruptly stopped, and Adriana appeared at the front of the car, leaning on the bonnet, chin resting on her fist. She smiled.

"Adriana," Soph whispered. The auburn-haired woman shook her head, ringlets bouncing around her face.

"Please, it's Ethereal." she glanced at Nona's body in the car, then at Eli. "Finally got yourself some witch powers, Eli? Good. I needed some for balance. Sophia, you can keep the Black magic as consolation. I was going to let Sierra keep them, anyway. Unfortunately, I need to take Eli with me."

Eli said nothing, but he shifted slightly in front of Soph. Ethereal pushed off the bonnet and came around to the door of the car, tsking as she walked. "I'd heard you broke an eight lifetime streak and fell in love. Bet you're regretting that now."

"Yes, I fell in love," his voice was even and betrayed nothing of what he might be feeling. "And I don't regret it at all."

At his words, Soph's heart filled and broke at the same time. She placed a hand on his back, feeling each of his breaths beneath her palm and the warmth of his skin despite the rain. From where she stood, Ethereal wouldn't be able to see the gesture, but Soph hoped it gave Eli strength. Ethereal's lips thinned to a disapproving line.

"Believe me, you will. These powers fuck the best of us over. Nicolaus should never have tried to consolidate them. Too much power in a man wreaks havoc. A woman, however," she raised a knowing eyebrow at Soph. "Women make much better vessels. Don't you agree?"

"Yes, I do," Eli replied before Soph could. Ethereal stared at him for a long, hard assessing moment, then shook her head.

"Sorry, I sometimes forget you're a gaian. I wonder, did Nicolaus tell you how the other powers would suppress your natural magic when he swayed you to his noble cause?"

"He did."

Ethereal rolled her eyes. "Well, it's more than he told me. Anyway, the storm's almost over. Time for us to get going." she held a hand out to her side, and an obsidian spear materialised in it. She twirled it once, then pointed it at Eli. "Say goodbye to Sophia and she can go."

Eli turned, his hands running down Soph's arms. "Get in the car," he told her again. "Go as far as you can."