What are you doing? You need to get away from him, not get closer to him! Mircea screeched across my mind.

Shut up! I thought back at him. To Vlad, I said, “I’m right here; you need to stop this. Look at me, Vlad! I’m right here!”

He can’t see you, imbecile! Mircea shouted. Now leave, before he fries us both to ashes!

“I’m not leaving,” I shouted back, out loud this time. Then I increased the voltage that I was sending into Vlad. “Come on! You don’t want to burn me to death.”

Yes he does, look around you! Mircea’s voice was too loud to ignore despite how much I tried. He obviously wants to burn EVERYthing, and you’re part of everything, Leila!

Shut up so I can concentrate! I thought back savagely. This will work. My currents make me immune to grave magic, so they can make him immune, too, if I can get enough into him.

You’re immune to grave magic? Mircea sounded shocked, but a sudden blast of heat from Vlad had me dropping my hands, spinning around, and looking for the nearest pile of debris.

I covered myself just in time. The new barrage of flames crashed over me with even more ferocity than before. They melted the less fire-resistant part of my makeshift barrier until it was no more than a dripping hunk of metal on top of quickly charring wood. I screamed with unspeakable anguish as several parts of my body were exposed to the brutal flames. Then I scooted forward to bury myself beneath another section of my barricade even though it was dangerous to move.

When the fire finally stopped, I forced myself to shove away what was left of my barricade. Every movement was the worst form of agony and pieces of my skin remained fused to parts of the molten remains, meaning I had to tear them off to get free.

Don’t do that again, Leila. This time, Mircea wasn’t yelling and he didn’t sound angry. Instead, he sounded afraid. We’ll die if you do. You must know that.

He was probably right. I still couldn’t see much with the smoke, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the pieces of the barricade Mencheres had formed around Vlad were being burned to the ground as Vlad’s fire grew in size and intensity. I’d have to hide beneath piles of stuff in the other room to survive the next onslaught of flames. After that, I’d have to move farther away, until eventually, I wouldn’t have enough time between the cycles of fiery bursts to reach Vlad at all.

The smoke shifted again, blown back due to the hole above him where his fire had burned away that entire section of the roof. I stared at Vlad, filled with the heartbreaking realization that I would probably never see him again. Either I would die if I stayed, or he would eventually be killed if I left.

After all we’d been through, how could it have come down to this?

Chapter 40

After another aching moment, I blinked in shock as a new gust of wind cleared away the smoke around his feet. Could that be real? It looked like there was a narrow, half-foot radius encircling Vlad that wasn’t even sooty, let alone burned. How?

A second later, I answered my own question. With all the power he was unleashing, Vlad’s aura would have flared out, too, rendering that narrow radius as fireproof as he was. I looked at the circle with new hope. It would be tight, but it might be wide enough for me to be protected from the flames.

It was my only chance, and I ran over as fast as my still-healing limbs could take me. If you believe in God, I told Mircea as I pressed as close to Vlad as I could, then you’d better start praying.

Great, we’re all going to die now, my hated inner voice commented, popping up to join the mental party. Looks like you’ve finally succeeded in killing yourself, Leila.

Fuck off, all of you! I snapped back while shooting pain-and-desperation-fueled voltage into Vlad. We’re not dead yet!

We will be if you don’t stop this and run, Mircea retorted.

I ignored him as I kept shooting currents into Vlad while telling him over and over that I was there and none of this was real. All the while, he stared through me with those empty eyes, seeing what the magic compelled him to see instead of what was right in front of him.

When his power flared and I felt that deadly eruption of heat again, I wrapped my whole body around him, tears streaming from my eyes. It hadn’t worked. How could my voltage save me from that spell, yet not be enough to save him?

Leila, run, this our last chance! Mircea shouted with almost crazed desperation.

I’m not running! I shouted back, steeling myself. If I can’t save him, at least I’ll know I died trying.

The truth of that gave me comfort even amidst the clawing, awful pain that started along the entire back of me. I was as close to Vlad as I could get, yet it must not be enough, and he’d just started with this new wave of flames. By the end of this, I’d be finished, and even if I changed my mind, which I hadn’t, it was now too late to run.

At least I also had the satisfaction of knowing that I was taking Mircea down with me. In fact, I was almost sorry that Mircea couldn’t see my pained grin because my face was buried in Vlad’s chest as I hugged him for the last time.

Bet you’re regretting casting that spell on me now, aren’t you? I thought with the dark amusement of the condemned.

Fine. You insist on staying? Then I refuse to let Vlad kill me through secondhand means, Mircea snarled, his former frightened tone gone. If I am to die by his hand, he will damn well show me the respect I am due by killing me in person! Now listen to me, you ignorant amateur. Magic this powerful can’t be broken, but it CAN be tricked into ceasing on its own. If your voltage makes you immune to grave magic, what you need to do is disrupt the grave magic in Vlad with your electricity while you reach his mind to tell him that what he’s seeing isn’t real.