Allissa

I was already moving. I had been moving since the ward broke, Darren beside me, the two of us crossing the last of that circle toward the Nursemaid and Lyra while the sky came apart overhead. Ten steps away. Then five. Close enough to see Smoke squashed against her chest and her arms already reaching. And the oldest thing alive spent her final unbroken breath on me.

I never saw her choose it. Finn did. Finn moved, and for the first time since I’ve known him, the Vampire King was too ...