Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Choice of the Damned

The room had fallen into an eerie stillness. The air was thick with tension, and the power inside Karina thrummed with a deafening intensity. The ancient magic that had awakened in her veins was still a storm waiting to burst free, and she could feel its pulse—stronger, hotter, darker—surging through her, threatening to overwhelm her.

She was no longer the scared, helpless girl who had stumbled into this world of vampires, bloodlines, and ancient rituals. No longer the pawn in someone else’s game. She had seen what was at stake. She knew the power she held, and she had made her choice.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she stood there, the room humming with the magic of the Third Prince’s rising, waiting for her to unleash it. The vampires who stood before her—the ones who had thought her weak, who had treated her like an expendable tool—were now nothing more than obstacles in her path. 

And yet, as the power swelled within her, Karina felt a flicker of doubt. Was this the right choice? Could she really control something as ancient, as dangerous, as the Third Prince? Or was she playing with fire that could consume her?

The tall vampire—Jarek, she remembered him now—took a step forward, his golden eyes blazing with fury and disbelief. His voice, though strained, was cold with anger. “You’ve broken everything, Karina. Do you understand the weight of what you’re doing? The prince… he will rise, but not the way you think. You don’t know what you’re unleashing.”

Karina’s gaze was steady as she faced him, but her heart hammered in her chest. She could feel the prince’s presence, his power stirring within her, waiting for her to make the final move. She could feel it like a shadow, a whisper in the back of her mind. 

But this wasn’t just about the prince. This was about her.

“You’re wrong,” she said, her voice steady but laced with cold defiance. “I *do* know what I’m unleashing. It’s mine to command now. Not yours, not the prince’s. *Mine.*”

Jarek’s lips curled into a sneer. “You’re nothing but a child. You think you can wield this power? You think you can control what’s inside you? The prince will consume you. His rise was never meant to be in your hands.”

She shook her head, her hand clenched into a fist at her side, feeling the surge of magic beneath her skin. The walls seemed to pulse in time with her heartbeat, the symbols etched into the stone flickering with a dangerous light. She didn’t care. She wouldn’t be a vessel. She wouldn’t be used.

*I am not just the key. I am the door.*

“I will not be his vessel,” she said, each word heavy with finality. “And I won’t be your pawn. This ends now.”

Jarek’s eyes flared with rage. Without another word, he lunged toward her. Karina didn’t flinch. She could feel the energy rising inside her, could feel it crackling through her bones. She had one chance—one moment to make this work.

As Jarek reached her, Karina extended her hand, and the magic inside her exploded.

The force of it sent Jarek hurtling backward, his body slamming into the stone wall with a sickening thud. The room shook with the intensity of her power, the air buzzing with raw, untamed energy. The floor beneath Karina’s feet cracked, and the symbols carved into the walls flared bright white before dimming again. 

For a moment, there was nothing but the overwhelming hum of magic. 

The vampire who had drained her blood—Caden—looked at her, his expression a mix of awe and fear. “What have you done?” he whispered, his voice hoarse, barely audible above the roar of energy in the room. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to happen.”

But Karina could feel it now. The prince’s power was there, inside her, not as a force waiting to consume her, but as something she could *shape*. She was no longer the victim. She was no longer bound by anyone’s will.

She had control.

“*I* decide,” she whispered to herself, her voice a soft mantra. “Not you. Not anyone.”

Her body hummed with the weight of it. The power swirled around her, like a living thing, waiting for her to give it direction. She wasn’t here to serve the prince. She wasn’t here to fulfill anyone’s plan. She would make the prince rise on *her* terms, or she would make sure he never did at all.

As she steadied herself, her vision blurred with the overwhelming magic, Karina felt a flicker—no, a presence—something that wasn’t entirely her own, but wasn’t completely foreign either. It was the prince, or at least a fragment of him, stirring in the depths of her mind. 

She could feel him pushing at the edges of her consciousness, trying to break free, trying to rise as he was meant to. But Karina’s will was stronger. The prince’s power was bound to her, tied to her bloodline, but now she was the one pulling the strings.

She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing, drawing in the power with a single, commanding thought. 

“I will not be your puppet. You will rise only when *I* say.”

And then, the prince—whatever essence of him that was buried deep inside her—pulled back, just for a moment. It was as if he understood that she wasn’t going to surrender. She wasn’t going to hand him her body, her blood, her life. 

For the first time, Karina felt the weight of his presence, not as a conqueror, but as something that needed her to exist. His power didn’t consume her. It was now *tied to her will*. She was the one in control. 

The tension in the room shifted. The crackling energy settled, though it still hung in the air like a storm that hadn’t quite passed. 

Jarek slowly got to his feet, fury in his eyes. “You think you can keep him from rising? You think you can stop this?” he spat, his voice dripping with venom. “You don’t understand the forces you’re meddling with, Karina. You think you can wield the prince’s power? You’ll destroy yourself trying.”

Karina straightened, her chest rising and falling with her steadying breath. She could feel the power that pulsed through her, a force of darkness and light, of life and death. She could feel it—but she wasn’t afraid anymore. 

“No,” she said, her voice calm, but filled with a chilling certainty. “I will not destroy myself. I will destroy *you* if it comes to that. If you want to keep trying to use me, you will *fail*. I decide what happens next. *Not you.*”

The room was silent for a beat, as if even the air itself was holding its breath. Karina was no longer just a victim. She wasn’t the scared girl from the coffee shop, or the one who had once believed she had no future.

She was more.

And now, the vampires had a new problem. They didn’t know how to stop her.

The Prince of Zorana would rise. But whether it was as her ally—or her enemy—was up to Karina.

She had made her choice.

And the world would have to adjust.