Until I Die

was squatting down next to an unconscious Georgia. Though she was easily a half foot shorter than my sister, Violette picked up Georgia’s limp body in her arms as easily as a mother carrying her child to bed and began lifting it toward the guardrail.
“No!” I screamed, dropping my sword. I started toward them, and then stopped myself abruptly. The slightest movement, and the revenant could drop Georgia over the rail to her death. In fact, why hasn’t she already dropped her? The thought flashed through my mind, as I watched her hesitate.
“Violette, what are you doing?” exclaimed Vincent. He sounded genuinely confused. I realized that he still didn’t understand what was going on. He hadn’t suspected her in the least. None of us had. Except Georgia, of course—who was now being held in midair above a precipice. Violette stood like a statue, looking down at the dizzying drop.
Behind us, the numa that Vincent had downed began to stir. Bleeding profusely from the side of his head, he raised himself to his feet and lunged dangerously in our direction.
“Violette, make your numa stop!” I yelled.
Inexplicably, she obeyed me, calling, “Paul, stop.” The huge man froze in place. I took a careful step toward her.
“You’ve never killed a human, have you?” I asked, wondering if this was the reason for her hesitation.
“No,” responded Violette, still looking over the drop-off. She eased Georgia’s body down, propping it atop the guardrail and letting the metal structure take the weight. All she had to do was let go and Georgia would fall. Don’t drop her , I prayed. My sister’s body already looked lifeless. I blinked back the tears stinging the corners of my eyes.
“Then why now?” I asked.
“You know the formula, don’t you, Vincent? If a revenant kills a human …”
“She becomes numa,” he finished softly.
My mind felt sluggish with panic, but I pushed it to work. Violette hated Georgia. And it seemed clear that she hated humans. What did she care about? The answer was obvious: herself. “You don’t want to be one of them, Violette. No matter how unworthy humans are of saving, vengeance against one human is not worth becoming a monster.”
Violette swallowed, and then her voice came back as smooth as liquid ice. “Vengeance has nothing to do with it. I never wanted to be what I am. I had my immortal future decided for me at an age when I hadn’t even lived life. I’m so tired of being at the mercy of humans to keep me alive. I don’t want to save you. My only desire is to possess the power over my own destiny. And once my numa and I have conquered the revenants, Paris will be mine and I’ll have all the power I want. My own kingdom to do with what I wish.”
“You’ll still be dependent on humans to survive as a numa, Violette,” said Vincent. “No matter what, you’re stuck in a never-ending cycle. You’re just trading rescue for betrayal.”
“At this point, the latter sounds much more bearable,” Violette said.
“And what is this scheme to overthrow us? How do you plan on doing that?” asked Vincent incredulously.
“With the power of the Champion,” she said, her eyes narrowing as she stared unflinchingly at Vincent. “Of course, if you had agreed to have me by your side, I wouldn’t have had to resort to seizing control. I could have shared your power over all the revenants once you took your rightful place as their leader. But when you made it obvious that you wouldn’t come to me by choice, I decided that conquering them with the help of the numa might not be such a bad alternative.”
“That’s why you propositioned me thirty-five years ago?” Vincent said, staring incredulously at the girl. “Because you thought I was the Champion?”
“Well, it wasn’t because of your beautiful blue eyes,” she said wickedly.
“You don’t know he’s the Champion, Violette,” I challenged, my eyes darting to my sister. Don’t. Drop. Her . “That guérisseur you tracked down didn’t even turn out to be the VictorSeer.”
“No, but she had all the information that I needed.” Violette’s smile slashed like a knife.
“What?” I gasped. “But … she escaped you. Her son told me!”
“Ah, but she came back home,” stated Violette. “Or so my men here were informing me when your sister interrupted our meeting.”
My eyes opened wide in shock. “Gwenhaël. What did you do to her?”
“I, personally, did nothing. But my numa … well, it seems they had to go