He doesn’t. He doesn’t even register my voice. He rakes his nails down the metal door, fingers splitting open from the force, but he doesn’t stop. Blood smears against the surface, but he doesn’t react to the pain. He just keeps going, desperate to rip his way out.
"It didn’t work," Ophelia whispers. Her voice is small, shaking. "I—I don’t know how to undo it."
Rage surges through me. "Try again!" I snarl. "You don’t get to say you don’t know. You did this, so fix it!"
She stands there for a moment, her back pressed flat against the farthest wall. She’s shaking from head to toe in terror. But she takes two breaths before she steps toward Ares. She grabs his hand as he tries once more to claw his way through the steel. "Ares, listen to me. You don’t want to do this. You don’t have to do this. I’m telling you—stop!"
For a second, he freezes. His glowing red eyes turn on her, nostrils flaring. Then his lip curls. "Ophelia. You hurt Lana," he growls, voice thick with disgust. "She didn’t deserve it."
Ophelia flinches like she’s been struck. She drops his hand when Ares lets out a roar and slams his shoulder into the door. I hear a snap as his collarbone buckles. His body is wrecking itself, but he doesn’t feel it. He doesn’t care.
“Focus, Ophelia,” I say through clenched teeth. I feel like I’m on the verge of a panic attack. Watching the man I love unravel is horrific. And there’s nothing I can do to help him right now. “Try harder.”
“What do you expect me to do?” Ophelia asks, annoyed and scared. “He’s acting like a fucking lunatic.”
“Because you made him that way!” I snarl. “Try again!”
Ophelia’s jaw clenches, and her eyes shift back to Ares. “You’re going to hurt yourself, so stop it, now! You don’t have to do this anymore, Ares. Just stop.”
But Ares just pounds his fist into the door, screaming for Sysco like he’s possessed.
Fuck.
He’s going to tear himself apart. I can’t let him hurt himself.
I don’t hesitate. I pull the dart from my pocket, praying it has enough toxin left for a second dose, and lunge. Ares barely reacts before I jam it into his neck.
His entire body jerks. He gasps, glowing red eyes locking on mine for just a second—just long enough for me to see a flicker of recognition. The black veins sprout around his eyes, and he spasms in pain, a cry escaping his lips. Then he collapses.
I drop to my knees beside him, my breathing ragged, my hands shaking as I push his hair back from his face.
Tears slip down my cheeks.
I finally have him back.
But how the hell do we fix him?
“Lana, I…” Ophelia starts. She stares at Ares with wide, terrified eyes, tears glistening in them. “I didn’t…”
“You didn’t actually think about what you were doing to him?” I snarl as I glare at her. “About the fact that he is an actual person? That there would be consequences to taking away his free will?”
Her eyes meet mine, and tears slip down her face.
I wait. I wait for her apology. She should be really damn sorry.
But she never says the words.
“Try again,” I snap. I haul Ares back to the bed, and I don’t give a damn that she’s seeing my newfound strength. I just don’t fucking care what she thinks anymore, and I’m not even going to bother explaining. Me being a Made is her fault, too—a direct consequence of her decision.
Once he’s positioned comfortably in the bed, I take his hand and hold it out to Ophelia again.
She swallows once, noting the blood that is smeared over his hand. The split where he broke the skin is slowly knitting itself back together.
She takes his hand, his blood staining her own. She stares at him for several long moments. She lets her eyes slide closed and inhales a slow breath.
“Ares, forget everything I told you to do. You don’t need to kill any more vampires. You don’t need to kill yourself. Things need to go back to the way they were before.”
I inhale to speak, but suddenly, the door of the vault swings open.
