Heartpierced

She was limp in his arms. No fire, no shadow, just empty.
 
Nevermore and Violet called to him as he held her, hands and heart trembling. Love and violence howled in his veins... grief. Tears fell on cooling skin as he leaned to kiss her, his blood mixing with hers. His pulse pounding alone.
 
He stirred under the urging of friends and the need to get back what was most precious. The wound he had torn wide when the vampire came to feed began to close. Aloysius had nothing left to lose when she fell, ripping his spear-pinned body from the wall to beat Count Rhodar into mist. But it wasn't done... wasn't done. Life and breath touched her lips as he stood, Aloysius leaving to kill or die with the taste of her in his mouth.
 
They hunted, Lord Esch followed, his heart left behind to guard Nel and Peg in death. What path they found; he'll never know. All he remembers is standing over Rhodar's crypt with sunlight streaming from Violet's sword and Nevermore offering a stake. It wasn't right. It wasn't enough, but he knew what was. Ashwood, silver shod and enchanted. The shock of the blow against the sarcophagus stung deep in his hands but the breaking wood left him with what he needed, a loss-sharp stake to drive into the heart of darkness. He hammered it home with his weeping hands.
 
...
 
He carried her until he couldn't, rigor making her unwieldy in his arms. The feeling of her stiffening body another scar in him. He laid her in the cart next to Nel for the long walk back. No comfort but the slow scatter of the vampire prince's ashes on the trail, drifting a pinch at a time on the wind. His tears, he stored for later. Soon, he'll know what comes next. Either his only love will be living and in his arms, or he'll take the trip to hell to have her back from Tanith.