Chapter 38
Iscream her name as the creature descends.
It swings its sharp talons through the air, and I watch in slow motion as they head in the direction of her chest. I can’t get to it fast enough, and there’s no way she can dodge it.
The entire world slows around me as my chest clutches in terror at the sight of what’s about to happen, but suddenly she disappears, her body becoming a mass of shadows.
The dark tendrils twist and curl through the air like serpents as they wrap around the creature’s body.
An unearthly screech fills the air as the tendrils tighten to an unbearable hold, squeezing until an explosion of flesh and blood shoots through the air, decorating the ground with the creature’s remains.
My eyes fix on the space, captivated as dark wisps of shadow weave together until Piper stands before me. I suck in a breath, struck by the realization that I’ve never seen her use her power. Our eyes meet, and relief floods me as she grins, standing there unscathed.
“What? Did I not mention that my shadow-bending ability means that I can turn into literal shadows?” she asks, and we both laugh.
“No, you didn’t.” We share a brief smile, and I know that she understands the message. I’m glad you’re ok.
“My powers are back,” Kaia says, dragging us back to reality.
She stretches out her hands, allowing a thick cloud of shadows to spill from them.
I step back as they morph into two giant swords that she waves through the air.
She turns back to look at me for a brief second before leaping into the fight, cutting down several impures before her feet even touch the ground.
Gods, now I know why they call her the Warrior.
I search deep within myself and feel that tingle of power in the pit of my stomach.
It’s back.
My eyes home in on Willow behind the barrier of bodies that Julian is using as a shield. They remain like statues, unmoving, but I do not doubt that they will come alive the second I try to attack.
I approach with caution.
“I want my sister back, Julian.”
He tsks, and my grip on the dagger tightens.
“Call off the guard dogs, and we can talk business,” he says.
“They’re vampires. You should know that they don’t take orders from me.”
He laughs at this as if the entire situation is just one big joke to him. Meanwhile, my eyes scan the area looking for a way to get to Willow.
“Your friend is quiet today.” He taps the side of his head, and I know that he is talking about Athriel, but a strange look in his eyes puts me on edge.
“He wasn’t in the mood for your bullshit.”
I take a step closer. A flash of movement catches my eye, and I look up to find an impure jumping from the ledge above to join the fight. Shadow soldiers meet the creatures blow for blow, but as Karius tires, we become more and more outnumbered.
Willow slowly stands. She shakes her head as though desperate for me to abandon her, but I ignore the warning. I would rather die than leave her behind. I decide that a distraction is the best method. I can’t run at him directly, but I can keep him talking.
“How did you know that the prince was my mate?”
A low rumble of laughter leaves him.
“I know many things about you and your prince. I’ve always been curious about the mating bond. What is it like?”
“Annoying,” I say. He laughs at this. “Did you know he was my mate when you sent me to kill him?”
He tilts his head. “I had my suspicions. Did you know that mates can recognize something in each other even before they seal the bond? It’s like a tug.”
“No,” I lie. I know exactly what he’s referring to. The tug gets stronger for me every day. The more I try to resist it, the worse it gets.
“That’s how I knew he’d take you, but you were supposed to kill him before it was sealed. It was foolish of me to expect a weak little human to resist the pull of a powerful vampire. Never send a child to do a man’s job, I guess.”
I can tell that he’s trying to bait me, but I ignore it. Right now, he’s giving me information without knowing it.
“So, how do you and your followers intend to break your master out of his little prison? I bet he’s lonely in there. How many nights do you think he’s cried himself to sleep?”
The amusement remains on his face, but his eyes darken in a way that lets me know that I touched a nerve.
“If only you knew the irony of those words.”
I catch a flicker of shadow in the background and barely make out one of Karius’s figures slipping behind Julian. His focus is entirely on me, unaware, so I keep him talking.
“You do love your riddles, don’t you?”
“You only call it a riddle because you do not yet see the lig—”
The shadow figure lunges, but Julian whips out a hand without even turning to look, wrapping his fingers around its throat. It dangles in the air where he holds it, and with a simple twist of his wrist, he snaps its neck. It falls to the floor before disintegrating into a cloud of black smoke.
A piercing scream carries through the night, and I turn to find Karius on his knees, clutching his head between his hands. His features twist in agony, and it feels as though my heart is being torn from my chest.
I can’t breathe. I can’t think.
I move instinctively, closing the distance between me and the nearest impure protecting Julian.
I plunge the tip of the knife I stole straight through the eye of the creature.
Its wails fill the night with a melody that sets my soul ablaze.
Suddenly, the others wake from their sleep-like state, preparing to protect their master.
A vice-like grip wraps around my wrist, and I look up to find the impure with the knife buried deep in its eye, holding onto me.
Without hesitation, I slam my forehead into its face, loosening its grip just long enough to rip the blade from its flesh and glide it across its throat.
I spin, letting the edge of the blade form a gash in the neck of the one next to it before it even hits the floor, and then all hell breaks loose.
The creatures begin charging at me, their dark eyes promising death.
One tries to claw at my face, but I duck at the last minute, falling to my knees and sliding my blade across the back of its legs.
Its screams fill the entire space as it collapses to the floor.
I swivel, positioning my leg until I’m straddling its body.
The familiar scent of decay causes my nostrils to flare as the creature flails its arms around in a bid to claw at my flesh.
I tilt backwards, avoiding the attack as I line up my blade with its chest, remembering Eamon’s lesson. Head or heart.
I wrap my hand around its wrists, pinning them above its head, and I know that if it weren’t for Karius’s strength vibrating through every inch of me, I wouldn’t stand a chance against this thing.
I sink my blade into its heart and watch as the life drains from its eyes.
I look up just in time to see another creature leaping right for me, but its features contort as it hovers mid-air, and I watch as a hand rips through its chest from behind.
My eyes take in its still-beating black heart clutched in a hand before both the creature and the heart are dropped to the ground.
Karius stands where the creature once was, and a spark of energy radiates between us as our eyes meet.
He searches my gaze, and something close to fear swirls in the depths of his dark orbs.
I rise to meet him, the pounding in my chest slowing at the knowledge that he’s ok.
Alive. He lifts a calloused hand to my cheek, and I lean into it, seeking the comfort of his touch.
“You’re ok,” he says. It’s not a question.
I nod. “So are you.”
A long moment passes before he seems to truly accept that I’m ok.
“Come on.” He laces his fingers through mine and tries to pull me along with him, but I stop in my tracks.
“I’m not leaving without Willow,” I tell him.
He looks at me over his shoulder, his face softening.
“Neither am I.”
His words melt me as I hurry to catch up with him.
Julian stands watching. An emotion flickers across his face at the sight of us standing there, but I cannot figure it out.
The others catch up to meet us, and I notice that the only impures left are the ones standing with Julian. There are at least ten of them left.
Julian stares at us, and I know that he’s assessing and planning his next move, his eyes alight with an unspoken plan. We need to kill him. We must end this so he can never free his master. Julian is clearly their leader, and he has to die.
“You’d choose these savage monsters over your own sister’s life?” he asks, and I know that his words are aimed at me.
“Don’t speak to her.” Karius’s voice is a deadly whip against the night.
I can sense his anger through the bond, as if it were a physical touch.
Thick mounds of shadow pour from his hands, bending and twisting as they form into tall figures of darkness.
A ripple of anger crosses his face as his eyes pierce into Julian.
But Julian’s attention is not on Karius. It’s on me.
His mouth tilts into a crooked grin as Karius’s screams render the air. For the second time tonight, my mate clutches his temples, and we all watch on in horror as his shadows disintegrate to nothing.
“Impossible,” Kaia says.
Karius collapses to the ground, a guttural scream ripping from his mouth. I drop beside him without hesitation.
“Karius?” I shake him, but his back arches against the floor as he howls. I whip my head toward Julian.
“What are you doing to him?” I growl, but he only answers with a smile. My eyes dart back to Karius, but I don’t know what to do.
“I’ll come with you,” I shout out. “Just stop whatever you’re doing to him, and I’ll leave with you right now.”
“No!” Even through his pain, Karius tries to fight, but the choice isn’t his. I’ve never seen Karius like this, and if he can affect him, then what else can he do?
“Ah, I knew you would come around. It’s just a shame it took you so—”
Julian’s words die on his lips as his attention falls to his stomach.
I follow the direction of his gaze and find a long blade sticking out through it, dark rivulets of blood leaking from the hole.
I don’t stop to question how. Instead, I leap to my feet, running toward him.
I glance at Kaia, and she doesn’t hesitate.
She throws one of her shadow swords toward me as I stretch out an arm to catch it.
I grip the hilt firmly in my hand before twisting my wrist and swinging the long edge of the blade straight through Julian’s neck.
A deadly hush falls over the group as his severed head slips from his body and tumbles to the ground, his eyes still fixed in horror as he stares up at me. His body slumps to the floor, falling just a few inches from his head.
Suddenly, Finn appears in the space where Julian was standing, dusting off his hands as though he’s just finished a hard day of labor.
“Gods, I thought I talked a lot, but he was seriously annoying,” he says.
An unexpected laugh falls from my lips as our eyes meet. Whatever concoction Finn brewed to turn himself invisible made me completely forget he was even here—and honestly, I’ve never been happier to see him.
He studies the group for a minute before he cocks his head to the side and grins.
“Ok… let's address the shadow elephant in the room. I may be better at this magic thing than those of you who were actually born with it.”
Ajax lets out an amused sigh. “You’re good, I’ll give you that, Curls, but let’s not push our luck now.”
“I think he’s flirting with me,” Finn says, and I smile. “Fighting for the good side isn’t so bad after all.”
He winks, and even Kaia smiles.
“Adina.”
The voice makes the entire world stop, and when I turn to see Willow, I cry out before I bound over to her. I slam into her chest and throw my arms around her.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” she whispers against my chest.
“I would have ripped this world apart to find you, Willow.”
She squeezes me tighter, and I feel her body wrack as the sobs start to escape her, and I can’t help the tears that fall from my own eyes.
My attention falls over her shoulder to where Karius now stands, and I find him watching us.
An unsettling gnawing has my stomach churning, and I know without question that he feels it too.
“You ok?” I mime, and he nods. I don’t understand how Julian was able to overpower him, but I can’t think about that right now. I finally have Willow, and I won’t allow him to steal this moment from us.
“Where am I?” The words come from one of the impures, except they’re not impure anymore. She’s human. The dark eyes and veins have faded to nothing.
Willow and I step apart as I look over the group.
“He really was controlling them,” Ajax says.
“Was he the creature that the gods locked up?” Piper asks, and I shake my head.
“No, but I believe he was the one created to free it. Killing him must have released them all,” I say.
“Then perhaps it’s over. Maybe Julian was the demon's only way of being freed,” Piper says hopefully.
It’s Kaia who speaks next. “I don’t think we stopped it, but I do think we delayed it. The only question is for how long.”
The thought makes me shiver.
“How about we get out of here and have this little discussion in the safety of the palace,” Finn says.
I turn to see Karius staring down at Julian’s corpse, his gaze intense, and I know without a doubt he feels the same as I do—because the feeling coming down the bond, that this isn’t over, isn’t coming from me. It’s coming from him.