The pungent smell of burnt hair filled the room and for a moment, no one in the den moved. Mouths hung open, eyes wide with disbelief at what they had just witnessed.
"No—no! Forgive me!" Kiera shrieked in panic as the last strands of her hair caught fire.
When Lucian finally released the vampiress's neck, she stumbled away from him with a scream. Her hands moved to her burnt face and then frantically to the top of her head, only to freeze there in horror when her fingers found nothing but scorched skin.
Across the room, Orpheus tried to flee and as he rushed toward the doorway, the dark barrier that sealed the entrance remained intact. He searched for a handle, a doorknob but the black smoke had turned into a hardened wall.
Meanwhile, everyone in the room had grown eerily quiet.
When Lucian turned back towards the gathered vampires, unease and regret settled heavily among them. Many wished they had never come tonight.
