Tangled

139 Ava: A Shocking Finale (III) —

END SEASON TWO

“You’re making this so much harder than it should be. I was hoping to savor this moment, but now I have to rush my meal, instead.” He sounds disappointed, not angry, and the difference makes me shudder.

It’s worse than him being infuriated. It shows that my struggles are no more than an inconvenience to him.

When his fangs break skin, the pain is unbearable.

It’s worse than fire in my veins. It’s an ache so deep that my entire body throbs and burns, I open my mouth to scream, but no sound comes out; I can’t

breathe.

Skimming over the pain is an ecstasy that taunts me with bliss, tantalizing with its lack of pain. I yearn for it, wanting to sink in, wanting to escape this torture-

Eyes, Ava! Selene shouts. Go for the eyes!

With a desperate cry, I jab my fingers toward his face, aiming for those cold, mocking eyes. He jerks his head back and I can feel my neck rip and tear, blood

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139 Ava A Shocking Finale (il)-END SEASON TWO

pouring.

But not before I fe

my nails sink into something soft

and yielding. He howis, his grip loosens, and I wrench myself free, staggering away.

The vampire clutches at his face, blood seeping between his fingers. One eye is a ruined mess, but the other glares at me with unadulterated hatred.

“You’ll pay for that, bitch,” he spits, his voice a guttural

rasp.

I hold my hands against my neck, against the blood pouring out, gasping for air to fill my lungs. It’s like they can’t inflate fully, can’t fill with oxygen.

This time rage fuels his movements as he lunges for me, messy and uncoordinated. My brain’s already off, moving on instinct, through repetitive motions in

training.

A quick sidestep. A knee to the groin, a practiced weak point. He’s wide open and doubles over with a grunt as I follow up with an elbow to the back of his neck,

sacrificing blood loss for success.

He hits the ground hard. Good to know pressure

points also work on vampires

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139 Ava: A Shocking Finale ()-END SEASON TWO

He won’t be down long–may

seconds.

I dart to Lisa, grabbing her under the arms and dragging her back, scrabbling for purchase.with my

slick from

neck screams in pain and my vision blurs from darkness to light, spotted with prismatic shapes.

his feet, his face a mask of rage. Blood drips from his ruined eye, painting a gruesome

elegant monster from before. He’s lost reason. Lost

a

to rip you apart,” he snarls, spittle flying from his lips. “Piece by

with my body. I know I can’t outrun him, not while carrying her. My only choice is to

it

sparks to life inside of me, a crackling current that dances along my nerves. I feel it building,

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A Shocking Finale (1) END

beneath my skin.

It’s electric.

It’s terrifying.

It’s hope.

with a loud snarl and I trust the power

itself changes. A punch that before would have been impossible to track is now something I can

training comes to me without

How to block.

How to move.

to press my hand against his arm, how to utilize his momentum to throw his body as

please.

as I

in offensive strikes, but I’ve practiced

so every time he tries to grab me,

regain

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Finale (1) END SEASON

go on forever.

feel the wooziness in

way my

how my crop top is soaked in

I be

an encouraging

only then that I notice the sounds outside of

little area.

howls in the

sound of

growling of wolves here, fighting. Perhaps they’re

crash. A lot

so relatively peaceful back here, with only Teddy and Bren’s corpses, Lisa’s unconscious form, and the vampire

us, kitten. I’ve been searching for so long. Don’t you want

My story?

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these stupid ke? Their

old ways?”

face once again settled into that pale, death–transcendent beauty. Come with me, kitten. I’ll keep you safe, teach you your powers.

are urgent, and I have so many fucking

body.

how bad the damage to

be small.

is smooth and unblemished beneath my fingers, beneath the blood coating every part of

I’m not

throbbing, but

the faint outline of my

Finale

he can’t. I’ll give you the knowledge she

little girl inside of me, the one desperate for the love of

the rest of me holds her back, despite the faint tingle of the ecstasy I’d felt taunting me from

again, trying to make sense of it all. “I’m not leaving

out of me. For a second, I can almost imagine golden strands connecting

blink.

vision’s still spotty.

with a soft croon.

Ava!

sure if he asked me any