Liberation of New York City

The Liberation of New York City takes place in Bloodbound, Book 3, Chapters 15 and 16, after your character and her friends return to New York City to stop Rheya Apostolous. It is a two part battle that serves as the series finale.

Return to New York
Following the Battle at the South Pacific Island, Your Character, Adrian Raines, Lily Spencer, Kamilah Sayeed, Jax Matsuo, and Gaius Augustine arrive in New York. Nikhil Banderjee, if you saved him during the Massacre at the Bacchanalia, arrives and drives you to a safe house. He explains that everyone, both humans and vampires, are under Rheya's thrall, and only he and several members of Clan Matsuo that he managed to find and save are in hiding. Nikhil states that Rheya is about to make her appearance at the opera house.

Once you arrive at the safe house, Kamilah plans to have Gaius pretend he has captured Your Character and your friends so that you can ambush and kill her. It is not much of a plan, but Your Character can give a rallying speech about how history has caused too much pain and blood to encourage the others. She can either remind them of everything they have accomplished or to remember the people they loved and lost (Marcel Lafayette, Elias Moralis, Liv Denara, Griff Sanderson, and Takeshi Watanabe). Your Character is determined to free New York City once and for all.

Infiltrating the Opera House
Your group, including Gaius, agrees to the plan, and soon gain access to the opera house. However, Rheya realizes that it is a trap and injures Gaius. Kamilah attacks Rheya with her daggers but is defeated. Adrian tries to attack her next, but she backhands him. Lily and Jax try to attack using their respective weapons, but she deflects both their attacks with ease. Your Character uses her psychic powers as taught by Kano Yoshimasa to stun her and is prepared to stab her with the black dagger, but Vlad Tepes defends Rheya. The dagger ends up in Rheya's possession. As she is about to finish Your Character, Jax or Lily takes the hit for her.

Your Character, Adrian, and Kamilah mourn the loss of Jax or Lily. If Jax is killed, he uses his final breath to encourage the group to defeat Rheya and, when everything is done, to fight for those who couldn't fight for themselves. Jax then takes the stake from Kamilah stating that he doesn't want anyone else to be burdened to kill him. Jax stakes himself and dies in Your Character's arms. If Lily is killed, she states that she was glad to live her life on the wild side and have adventures with Your Character. Lily tells Your Character to live her life to the fullest. She then tells Kamilah that she is ready before Kamilah stakes her in the heart. To your friends' discomfort, Your Character grows furious, releases the same power Adrian released in the Upstate New York Showdown, and vows that Rheya must die.

Defeating Rheya
Your Character charges at Rheya's vampire security guards. She has the choice to either kill or incapacitate them. If she chooses to incapacitate them, she tells her friends that was her extent of her mercy and that they will recover eventually. She eventually meets Vlad Tepes and attacks him. She uses her telekinesis to stop his blades and hurls them back at him. Vlad begs for his life, and Your Character again has a choice to either kill him or spare him. If you spare him, you punch his face and earn a compliment from Kamilah, who states that she "never liked him."

Just as Your Character is about to confront Rheya, Serafine Dupont freezes your friends in place and prepares a psychic blast for you. You have a premium choice to convince her to make her an ally or let her die. If you recruit her, you tell Serafine the truth about Rheya. Serafine is shocked and stunned. She lets your friends go and is comforted. Serafine promises she will help her real friends in any way possible. Your Character confronts Rheya, but Rheya holds Lula Jacobs as a hostage. Gaius distracts her by freeing Lula, allowing Your Character to summon Rheya to her psychic plane and fight her there when she tries to control your friends again.

Your Character tells Rheya that Iola didn't die at the hands of the Son of Ares but was kidnapped. Rheya initially refuses to believe you, so Your Character shows Rheya the memory of the Sons of Ares' attack on Mydiea. Demetrius was wounded trying to save Iola, and Iola was taken away by the Sons of Ares. Rheya allowed her anger blind her in thinking Iola was burned to death by the Sons of Ares. Your Character then shows Rheya that Iola grew old, married a merchant named Ajax, and had a daughter named Minerva. The village that Rheya brainwashed Gaius to attack as part of her revenge on the Sons of Ares was in fact where Iola lived. During the raid, Rheya herself killed Iola, although Ajax and Minerva escaped.

Rheya is stunned and in tears when she learns that she was responsible for the death of her own daughter. In her despair, she loses the will the fight. Your Character has a choice to kill her immediately or to state that Rheya doesn't have to die. Regardless of whether or not you offer her forgiveness, the heartbroken Rheya demands Your Character to kill her, and she does so by absorbing her essence.

Flush with Rheya's immense power, Your Character becomes darker and more frightening. She thinks that, with her powers, she can bring back Jax or Lily back to life. However, when she uses her powers to make flowers grow on the opera stage, the flowers wither and die almost immediately. She realizes that she needs more power in order to bring back her fallen friend—power that she can only gain by further killing. Depending on who survived the initial confrontation with Rheya in Chapter 15, she offers to make Lily or Jax her right hand and allow them to rule alongside her once she achieves ultimate power. She appeals to Kamilah for support, offering bring her twin brother, Lysimachus, back to life again. Finally, she looks at Adrian and tells him that she can help Adrian create the peaceful world that he has always dreamed of.

Lily or Jax, Kamilah, and Adrian are shocked and dismayed, and each refuses her offer in turn. Your Love Interest begs Your Character to come to her senses and reaches for her hand. You have the option to refuse their appeals and embrace the darkness. This grants her incredible power but also corrupts her, causing her to kill millions of people—including her friends. Ultimately, she takes her Love Interest's hand and accepts that she cannot bring back Jax/Lily. The group leaves the opera house.

Aftermath
Your Character, Adrian, Kamilah, and either Lily or Jax pay their respects to your fallen friend at the Cavern. Your Character turns to Gaius to decide whether or not to execute him for his crimes. Adrian and Kamilah argue that Gaius did help them find Demetrius and obtain his blood. Lily or Jax also speaks up stating that Gaius saved Lula's life when she was held hostage. If she chooses to kill him, Gaius genuinely smiles at her and is able to rest in peace knowing that, despite 3000 years of blood and pain, he is redeemed. If she spares him, he decides to travel abroad and continue to seek atonement for his past.

Your Character, Adrian, Lily or Jax, and Kamilah hold a conference explaining the mysterious circumstances of Rheya's death. Finally, you and your friends show their true natures as vampires. After many years of discrimination, vampires are able to live amongst humans publicly, in peace and harmony. Your Character finally embraces who she is and keeps her promise to Jax or Lily, with her friends and Love Interest at her side.