Unphased by the taunts from Archaios Enas, Sylvie wrinkled her nose and turned her attention back to Casey’s radiant eyes. “Never. I’ll never let another demon come to you.” Sylvie bit on her lip and felt the warmth of love course through her veins, setting her fine hairs on edge although she was ying on solid iced ground. “We have one job left, my Sunflower.”

  A knowing smile crossed over Casey’s blood-stained lips, “Fuck right we do.” Casey whispered intently, her own mind and body reeling in the wave of love that she’d begun to feel coming from Sylvie.

  Together with Casey’s hand held firmly in her own, Sylvie leaned up and pressed the button to start the machine.

  Silent as the grave, the magnetic wheels cmped into pce and swiftly passed from the couple's hands as it sped its way around the ring nonstop. A little roll to the side and Sylvie ensured that she and Casey were free of the portal ring as the contraption did exactly as Kody predicted. It was only after the ring began to glow white hot that Sylvie stood up and pulled Casey to her feet.

  Together the couple turned to face Archaios Enas, Casey hovering behind Sylvie like the annur eclipse that saved her a few minutes before.

  With an audible frustrating growl, Archaios Ens retracted all of her vampire-possessing threads and pulled all of her beloved shadewraiths into her that she could. Her pearl-white form blinked a deep gray as the portal's energy began to fade and the crystals that provided their energy cracked one at a time. Without a solitary word, Enas conceded her current defeat and gingerly walked to the portal and with a fsh of her true bck form disappeared into the fading pool just as the ring cracked and the brace tumbled into the st vestiges of the mercurial pool.

  Half-stumbling forward as Casey’s entire weight bore down on her, it took a few seconds for Sylvie to adjust herself in order to remain upright and turn to hold Casey firmly by her waist. “Gotcha.” Sylvie winked and added with passion fueling her voice rather than understanding, “You.. aren’t… going..anywhere.”

  As their bodies melded into one another, Casey was whisked upon Sylvie’s words to their very first real embrace that came as an accident. “Mmm…” Casey returned her own smile, a single blood tear streaking down her cheek. “Oh my god…” She purred and sniffled, “Oh my god…pull me back…”

  Still basking in the light of the adrenaline pumping in her dead veins and combined with her once chocote-eyed beauty held firmly, Sylvie crushed her lips to Casey’s and absorbed her lover’s kiss with delirious urgency. It was only a polite cough and a few giggles from the other remaining members of the new veil council that made Sylvie ignore the warm swimming feeling of ecstasy that bubbled in her tummy. “Mmm, More to come.” Sylvie cooed and wiped the tear from Casey’s round cheek and lusciously licked the droplet from her finger.

  “You’re lucky they showed up.” Casey quietly fanned herself and bit her lip with a dreamy look in her bzing eyes.

  Taking the opportunity to kick a few of the broken quartz shards and survey the broken ring, Jason finally shook his head while watching Kody spread the zinc powder into the small pools of remaining Mercury. “She got away. All that and the bitch got away.” Jason sighed and looked at his watch. “It’s past midnight.”

  Throwing the white powder all over the toxic remains of the portal, Kody absentmindedly quipped, “Day of the Dead.” They looked up and tossed the small bag on the ground and smiled at Sylvie. “We used to celebrate the day, remember?”

  Unwilling to part with Casey, Sylvie simply held her partner by the waist and faced the group, a cherry look still bzing in her dead cheeks. “Jester, she didn’t get away. She left.” Sylvie looked at the slurry mixture that remained of the portal, “She chose to go through. She even took her new Shadewraiths with her.” Sylvie looked over to Casey. “Which means at some point, we will see that demon return.”

  “So it was all for nothing.” Jason angrily broke a piece of the brittle ring and tossed it across the barren ndscape, where it disappeared from view a second ter. “Look at this mess. There’s no point to it.”

  With her tiny form, Daniel walked in front of Jason and held his hand tightly. “There was a point, my dearest.” She waited until Jason decided to look into her coppery eyes before finishing her thought. “Chaos doesn’t need a reason, just the opportunity…” She paused for a dead breath, “...You said it, Jester. Look at the mess, perhaps that was the intention.”

  “That is a fucking creepy and sobering thought.” Casey offered to the group. “All because of a stupid book.” She looked into Sylvie’s quarter-moon eyes, “Sorry, Sylvie. If not for that book of Vasia’s then this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “Nothing to apologize for, I have always adored your spunk girlie.” Sylvie ughed and squeezed Casey’s side. “Only Vasia will know why she made the text, or what they ultimately mean. We only saw what we were meant to.” Sylvie closed her eyes and imagined her matron mother scribbling by candlelight. “I guess it is the curse of the precognitive mind.”

  Walking behind Kody, Amber patted the older vampire on their back. “Don’t worry, Sylvie ignored me a bunch too.” She smiled, “I’ll bite..” She ughed and flipped her long ptinum braid to her left side, “...what was the celebration? I don’t recall being invited to any Day of the Dead celebration.”

  “It was Franco’s idea really.” Kody’s eyes settled to their green operating glow, “It’s not really important, I can tell you ter back at the Underground.”

  “Underground?” The three vampires inquired.

  “My real home.” Sylvie ughed, “I only stayed in town to be close to the bar.” She pointed in the direction of her tribal nd. “I’ve never been able to leave my tribe..” She trailed off.

  Tossing Daniel onto his back as usual, Jason went over to the portal ring and kept smashing it into fine bits. “If the thing is coming back, it’s not through this damned thing.” He looked at the group, “I could use a celebration right about now. We have plenty of time to figure out how to cover all this up.”

  Shooting a happy gnce at Casey, Sylvie gave her partner a quick peck on the cheek. “Let’s celebrate, both this win and Day of the Dead back home.” She leaned close to Casey’s ear. “You’ll have to put your orgasmic desire on hold for another day and night.”

  “Tease.” Casey grumbled and folded her arms.

  “A little tease.” Sylvie held her hand up with her fingers slightly parted. “Just think about sthering me in the blood room.” It was the shimmer in Casey’s eyes that shot little tingles down to Sylvie’s toes with her own anticipation of what was to come. “Let’s go home.”