Alpha Asher By Jane Doe

Chapter 240

“My Queen.”

Tristan, my first in command. The man I considered both a friend and a worthy enemy. A Vampire I had once hated with every fiber of my being, only to now trust him with every beat of my heart.

He was dead.

Cold. Unmoving. Not a spark of light in his eyes.

He pushed me out of the way. He took the blow that was meant for me. He gave his life for me and its broke Freya’s spell.

Tristan loved me.

Holly’s head was bowed, her hair a dark veil that covered her face as she wept. Her hands were stained red with Tristan’s blood, but she didn’t seem to notice. She continued clutching at his shirt, whimpering, and whispering under her breath.

Without warning the blood ruby unleashed a blast of light that left me seeing spots. Holly ripped the blade from Tristan’s unmoving chest, dropping it as though it were poisonous.

Freya’s face had lost its triumphant luster, taking on a more sinister expression. It looked like her skin had been pulled too tightly

over her bones, stretching across her face in a way that emphasized every dip and curve. Her cheeks were just a touch too hollow, her eyes bulged from their sockets ever so slightly. Her teeth pressed at her lips, pushing them outward.

Her eyes flickered from the dagger to where I sat in the grass, the start of some sickening plan or idea taking form in her head.

Before she could react-before any of us could react, Holly stumbled to her feet.

I should’ve noticed something off when she went silent, no longer crying or whispering under her breath.

Long strands of inky hair hung over her face, partially shielding it from view. From where I sat, I managed to catch a single glimpse of her eyes. My stomach plummeted as I took in the haunted light that filled her entire being.

Holly, the sister that betrayed me, the one I craved since I was a little girl, unleashed a wail that made my hair stand on end.

For a split second, I thought she was going to attack me. After all, it was my life Tristan died for. Never could I have anticipated

Holly charging at her own mother, grabbing onto her dress with blood-stained hands as she screamed and snarled like a wild animal.

“You killed him, you killed him, you killed him! Holly wailed, her voice cracking several times over.

Freya’s lips pulled back from her face in a distasteful sneer. “Get off of me, girl. Have some class. We do not cry over men.”

She shoved Holly away, who stumbled backwards but didn’t fall. Her shoulders were hunched as she took in breath after breath.

Bloody handprints littered Freya’s skin from where Holly had made a grab for her.

Digging my fingers into the dirt, I pushed myself off the ground and onto my feet. I inched closer to Breyona, hesitating when I caught the unearthly glow of magic in Holly’s eyes.

Suddenly, the bloody handprints on Freya’s body began to smoke.

Freya noticed the same time as I did. Her bulging eyes went wide, so wide that I could see the network of veins running across them like spider webs. Unlike normal veins, these ones were black-tainted with darkness.

“You... You dare use blood magic on me?”

She scoffed at Holly. “l am your mother.”

Holly didn’t so much as blink at her mother.

Her lips barely moved, forming words that came out as a cold whisper.

“You're nothing but an empty vessel.”

was the crash of a vase against a hard floor.

vase or a bone

It was Freya.

crack running down her arm, splitting her pale skin in two, began to widen. Like the brittle edges of a chasm, her flesh began to crumble. More and more cracks formed, each one stemming from the bloody handprints Holly had left

and cleavage. A third inched up her neck, cleaving

down at her hands and the widening cracks flooding her body, a look of bewilderment

nothing! You're not powerful enough to kill me!” She half- shouted at Holly,

have to be as powerful as you, mother. You killed

my ears. As I stared down at Tristan’s body, noting how even in death his eyes were trained on my younger sister, I realized she was right. As disturbing

Tristan was here with us, dealing one final blow before his soul slipped

Her jaw opened wider than it should have, more cracks crawling up her face from how taut her skin was

head. I barely noticed the difference as I slammed my

screeched, making a go at Holly

legs until her flesh crumbled in a sea of cream-colored shards, raining down into the grass. Freya screamed a second time, but this sound was one of agony. Everything from her kneecap down

jaw becoming just as brittle as the rest of her. Her eyes sunk into the hole in her face,

seconds, there was

Blood Witch was

Holly had killed her.

was

blood staining the grass was the only thing that

That panic quickly turned to grim realization when Breyona let out snarl that froze the blood

turned to face the source of Breyona’s

looked like Tristan, blonde hair blowing

two feet as he scanned his surroundings, but it wasn't him. The way he moved was off. Many times he'd look

sucked in a sharp gust of air that fractured into a sob, one that caught the attention of Tristan and had him turning in our Direction.

They were my father’s.

oil,

didn't belong to either Tristan or our father. It was an amalgamation of

body coiled,

trembled as she brought them to her mouth. Several times she mouthed the words, but it wasn't

right thing.” She

what his youngest daughter had done, our father let out a furious

night to escape the fury

in his eyes flickered, deep blue fading in and out like an old radio that couldn’t quite settle on one station. The answer drifted through my head, carried on the echo of a

had bound their life forces

I warned her, a hand

do no good, not when he was

in my direction. A rueful smile

that I couldn’t help but

heir. All of the power in the world,

take a step but stumbling as he did so. The light in his eyes flickered

knees in the same spot Freya had

“Such a disappointment.”

light in his eyes flickered once, then twice, before sputtering out completely. Tristan, his body once more an empty

side. Still pale faced and trembling, a broken sob tore itself from her chest as she gingerly turned

Goddess...” Breyona

of someone standing close by was like an electrical pulse to my already shot nerves. Tree's blurred into one as I spun around, only to find myself steadied by a familiar face. Asher.My mind was so jumbled, my nerves so raw, that I hadn't even felt the sparks licking over my

it had dried. It ran down his sculpted cheek, past his rigid

sight of him warmed me from the inside

until a certain

struggling to find

dried blood smeared across his cheek, there was a look of peace on his face that I hadn’t seen in months. He held my face in his

an ounce of emotion