Her vision grew dark, and she could hear her own heartbeat growing weaker as he sucked the life from her. Panic exploded in her skull. He’s killing me. Lights flashed before her eyes. Her lungs were going to implode, as the fire inside her guttered and dimmed. A tiny lick of flame danced in the recesses of her mind, and as her energy drained from her body, she tried to stoke it to life, but it sputtered and died. Something else was filling her mind now—a memory: a gleaming sword in the sunlight, in a field overgrown with wildflowers, a smaller sword in her own hand. The blade cut through the air, glinting in the sunlight, as she was taught to wield it.

Fight, Ursula.

Someone, long ago, had wanted her to be a warrior.

Fight.

She blinked, trying to refocus her vision, and she made out the blurred outline of her attacker. She needed to—

Thwak! Something hit him in the side of the head, and he released his grip.

Abe let her crumple to the ground, and her head smacked against the floor, the nape of her neck pressing against the bathroom tiles—cold, just like her body. She felt as though a heavy weight pressed on her, crushing the life out of her. Nearby, Abe was fighting with someone—a woman—but Ursula’s limbs were frozen, drained.

“Ursula!” they shrieked. Zee?

She licked her lips. She needed to warn Zee away—Abe’s kiss was death—but she felt herself drifting away, a cold wind whispering over her skin.

I need to help Zee. She willed herself to get up. She would fight him, smash his pretty face into the tiles.

With a great force of will, she forced her eyes open, staring up at the ceiling. Abe had drunk so deeply from her it took virtually all her remaining strength to roll to her side. She blinked, her vision coming into focus. Abe, a few feet from her, stood clutching Zee like a rag doll.

If she’d had any of Emerazel’s fire still within her, she would have tried to scorch him, burn him to ashes, but he’d sucked her dry. She needed to hurt him another way.

Her eyes flicked to Emerazel’s pen, glinting in the yellow lights just a few feet away. Slowly, like she was moving through quicksand, she reached for it until her knuckles brushed its bony cylinder. She tightened her fingers around it, pulling it into her grasp.

Zee’s blond hair hung down as Abe held her in his arms, her black high heels dangling over the floor. Ursula inched closer, shivering at the chill that emanated from him. Had she actually been attracted to this monster?

Gritting her teeth, she rolled closer and stabbed the pen’s blade into his heel with all the strength she could muster.