The Million-Dollar Heart by Rebecca Ryan

The butler lay on the ground, a victim of a vicious attack.

Someone had been here.

They had taken her children!

Vivienne followed the scent trail outside with urgency. She had sprinkled her children with a special blend of spices, leaving a trace wherever they passed. The trail ended at the base of an old hill.

This was the same place where Abigail had set up her ritual circle years ago, inviting Vivienne and Mr. Wolf into its snare.

Now, Abigail stood at the center, holding fragments of the ancient artifact known as the Millennia Aegis, chanting incantations that seemed to belong to another world.

The ritual was ready, with Vivienne's twin children placed at the very heart of it, lying on a crimson cloth.

Silent and observant, they watched everything around them without a fuss.

Sensing Vivienne's approach, Abigail's lips curled into a triumphant smile. "You really thought I needed your heart to complete my plans, but alas..."

Her gaze fell upon the two children, a boy and a girl, and she laughed, "My true goal was always them!"

"Twins are naturally aligned with darker forces, and now, with the ritual, not only will I achieve immortality, but I will also gain the power to obliterate anything in my path. From this moment forth, none shall stand against me. I, Abigail, will reign supreme over this realm." "After all, you should be thanking your children. Were it not for them, you would be the one lying here."

"You plan to use my children as conduits for this power without my consent?" Vivienne's icy stare bore into the madness that had overtaken Abigail, her eyes simmering with danger.

"You?" Abigail scoffed. "Once I possess this power, you'll be nothing but an ant to me. I can snuff your life out in an instant."

Vivienne simply gave her a meaningful look, her tone cool, "Is that so?"

about Vivienne but unable

cared. The ritual had been activated before Vivienne's arrival, and now, all that was left

circle with her army of gifted individuals, tasked solely with ensuring the ritual's completion and, if necessary, sacrificing their own abilities to

they made no move

This was Abigail's design.

children being used as sacrificial offerings, their powers drained until nothing but

of charging into

Vivienne's calm demeanor only grew

climax and the repaired artifact began

confusion; the

She couldn't believe it.

under such ominously auspicious conditions absorbing vast energies from Vivienne and supposed to be brimming with

accept this, diving towards the children to verify

twins let out a cry and became

bewildered, searched for Vivienne but found she had vanished, with only the storm of the

demands unmet, and a bolt of lightning forced a scream and blood

powers were being consumed by the ritual, intended to correct

army to the

not even the blood of the non-human

forces, her powers and life essence consumed entirely by

reappeared, stepping forward to confront Abigail, now a shadow

good look at yourself, Madeleine Hernandez, the lone

name after so long, Abigail turned to the mirror in disbelief,

been her face, "Impossible... This isn't me... How could I become this...