Rex and Nova watched in horror as Jax vanished. The air rushed in where he'd been, wrong and empty. Nova didn't have time to process it.
Vampires poured in from above, shadows moving too fast, boots scraping stone as they closed the distance with predatory precision.
Rex stepped in front of her without a word.
Steel flashed as he met the first wave head-on, blade carving brutal arcs through the narrow path. Nova fired over his shoulder, gold-lit arrows punching through chests and skulls, detonating on impact. Bodies fell—but more replaced them instantly.
They were being driven uphill. Luckily that was their goal.
Their shoulders brushed stone as the path narrowed, backs scraping the mountain wall as they retreated in brutal synchronization. Pure defense. No room to maneuver. No margin for error.
Rex's eyes flicked left, noticing a plume.
It was glowing faintly red, heat rolling off it in shimmering waves. Volcanic. Unstable.
Opportunity.
He mindlinked immediately.
Rex: Give me your ring.
A vampire lunged in that instant. She loosed an arrow point-blank, the impact blowing the creature apart and the ones following behind it. As she reloaded, she slid the Drakenfire ring from her finger and handed it into Rex's waiting hand without breaking stride.
Rex hurled both rings straight into the plume. The mountain answered.
Molten light detonated upward as dragons of living lava tore free from the fissure, roaring without sound as they coiled into the air. Fire cascaded down the slope in searing sheets, washing over the oncoming vampires.
They burned. They screamed. They kept coming. Nova fired again.
A third of the swarm exploded mid-charge. But the rest surged through the flames like they didn't care if they burned, skin blistering, eyes locked on her.
Their molten dragons moved around them, firing at any vampire that got close. They continued up the mountain for a few more minutes.
Then Nova went still. Her eyes flashed silver—bright, absolute. She spoke. Draken-Vorah rolled from her tongue, ancient and commanding, every syllable striking the mountain like a hammer. Runes ignited beneath her feet, blazing white-hot as the stone shuddered.
Rex understood what she said.
Let the Dragon Incarnates be judged. If they endure, the way opens
Ten feet in front of them the mountain answered. Stone folded inward, revealing a narrow, steaming cave beyond. Heat rushed out in a suffocating wave.
They sprinted towards it at alpha speed.
Rex hooked her waist just as she twisted and fired a golden arrow over his shoulder. He didn't slow. Didn't look back.
The arrow detonated midair, a violent bloom of gold tearing through the swarm of vampires behind them.
Another pounced.
Rex shoved Nova hard through the opening as claws snapped for her ankles.
Nova hit the hot spring pool with a sharp gasp, heat swallowing her whole. As soon as Nova touched the water, it turned pure gold.
Rex fell after her, twisting instinctively to shield her with his body.
The dragons outside followed, spinning back into molten ribbons that shot across the cave—and reformed into rings on the stone beside them.
The stone door slammed shut as a vampire hurled itself against it, claws shrieking uselessly over solid rock.
They could hear it screaming on the other side.
Denied.
The water steamed around them, glowing bright gold, lighting up the cave.
Rex was still on top of Nova, one hand behind her head to keep it above water, the other braced against the stone beside her face.
Their breaths were sharp. Too close. Too real.
"Close call there," Nova whispered, voice shaky.
Rex let out a breath that was half a laugh, half relief.
"Understatement."
Nova huffed a small laugh with him, both of them chest-to-chest, adrenaline crashing hard.
Then Rex suddenly tensed—then went slack.
"Rex?" Nova said.
He didn't respond. She sat up fast with him still in her arms.
"Rex!" Her voice cracked.
She eased him to the stone ledge, hands trembling.
His skin was hot. Too hot.
Her hands trembled as she unzipped the back of his combat suit and peeled the fabric down his shoulders, wanting to cool him.
She froze in panic when she saw it. A bite mark on his shoulder.
Fresh. Deep. Veined with black.
Her breath left her in a strangled gasp.
"Oh gods… Rex…"
She hadn't read about vampire venom, but she did hear Hyran's warning of it.
To her horror, Rex's body twitched once—violently.
Nova's hands shook. She was alone with an unconscious Rex.
And a ticking poison she had no cure for.
She mindlinked.
Nova: Hyran, Aeron, is someone there?
Silence.
Nova: Rex, he was bitten. Tell me what to do.
She was already concerned they were running out of time, and unaware that time moved differently for them.
She tried to to use her magic to heal him, but only weak silver wisps came from her hands. Her insides burned in pain, and she knew that she was completely drained.
Her soul wasn't severed anymore. But for the first time, she understood the extent to which her power was bound. She'd grown used to pulling from Jax or Fin when she needed to.
Nova: We are trapped, outnumbered. In a cave on borrowed time. I don't have enough magic left of my own to make a portal.
Still nothing.
Nova dragged Rex out of the steaming pool with a strength she didn't feel—water sloshing off both of them as she pulled him onto the patch of warm grass beside the spring. His body was burning up, far hotter than the volcanic air around them.
"Stay with me… please—just stay with me," she whispered. She looked at him more closely and what she saw made her breath catch.
Deep vampiric scratches. Bruising already blackening beneath his skin. And the bite at closer glance was swollen, black veins twisted, growing around it.
"No, no, no—Rex…"
She pressed her palm over the bite and forced more silver magic into him, the air humming with power.
Nothing happened.
The black veins writhed, spreading.
"Please…" she whispered.
Desperation clawed up her throat. She grabbed a sharp rock with shaking hands and slashed her palm. She squeezed her blood directly over his bite mark and across his other wounds. They hissed—steam curling upward—and slowly began to close.
The spreading infection halted.
But the bite mark itself stayed, dark and pulsing with a sick, foreign shimmer.
Nova swallowed hard, then leaned over him and pressed her bleeding hand against his lips—exactly as she had done for Fin when she saved his life.
"Come on… drink… please wake up, Rex…" Her voice cracked.
He didn't move. Didn't swallow. Didn't even twitch.
Her vision blurred. Her knees buckled.
Then everything went black.
A soft growl rolled through her chest as Seraphine stepped forward, powerful and certain, sliding into the vacancy Nova left behind. She rose through Nova's body like a tide, taking control with calm, instinctive finality.
She knew what to do. She knew Nova would struggle and needed to keep her focus on getting through this challenge.
Still fully in human form—but eyes glowing gold. She leaned forward, she lowered her mouth to his non-bitten shoulder. Her fangs elongated into him.
She kept her bleeding hand in Rex's mouth.
A clean, sure mark. A claim. A lifeline.
Power tore through the cavern—hot, electric, ancient—rushing between their bodies in a blinding pulse of gold and silver.