Chapter 22 #2
When I turned, I confirmed I was the last supernatural standing, and all the humans who had broken in were dead.
My breaths came in ragged gasps as I scanned the floor for the device. A small black hexagon device was spewing gas over by the window.
I stormed over and ripped the gas device from the floor, hurling it out the broken window with every ounce of strength I had.
Fresh air hit the ballroom in a violent rush the moment the device was gone.
Supernaturals groaned as if on cue.
The once-beautiful toxic decorations were jarring now. The dripping illusions cast a sickly light over the unconscious, dead, or groaning bodies.
I ran back to my mates just as Jesper shakily rose to his feet. “We need to move. Who—” He sucked in a breath. “Who knows when more will come?”
I dragged him upright until he could stand enough to help me with the others. I attempted dosing them with purgegut venom, but it didn’t work. Perhaps because it was gas tourmalyke and not injected. I wasn’t sure.
“Everyone up! Get out now! Let’s go!”
The academy students woke slowly, stumbling and leaning heavily on each other.
Jesper, Drecken, Tobias, and I were the most mobile, though they were much less sturdy than I was.
We all pushed toward the main doors. The hallway blurred past until the large doors came into view. Throwing open the doors, we found ten more humans waiting for us at the top of the stairs.
“Careful,” my mates hissed harshly.
“I’m always careful,” I assured them as I stepped forward, standing in front of all the tourmalyke-effected supernaturals.
This would’ve been the only formal event my parents and professors didn’t attend. They needed all hands on deck to prepare to raid the human facility. Little did we know, the humans were a step ahead of us.
More humans stood between us and the way off campus. They braced behind shields, some hefting rifles, others with those same sleek black batons crackling with the same electric charge the humans inside wielded.
I stepped up to the front, the neon glow of my dress reflecting off the stone like spilled poison. The night air was cold against my flushed skin, but it didn’t cut through the heat of rage burning in my chest.
The humans shifted, their stances tightening as they blocked the stairs out of Apex Nexus. The one in front, taller than the others, lifted his chin slightly. “Primary target identified. Basilisk. Do not damage the asset.”
Asset.
My lips curved into something that wasn’t even close to a smile. “I’m getting really fucking tired of being referred to as an asset.”
Behind me, I felt the frustration and weakness of my mates through the bonds. Their magic was dampened from the tourmalyke, though the worst of it was clearing.
I launched forward.
Two broke their line to intercept me, shields snapping up.
The front one swung his baton in a practiced arc, aiming for my ribs. I stepped into the blow instead of away, catching the shaft on my forearm and letting the jolt slam through me. Pain crackled along my nerves, and my muscles spasmed.
I let my knees buckle.
“I’ve got her!” He leaned in, weight shifting, ready to restrain me.
I smiled up at him. “No, I’ve got you.” My fingers locked around the tiny gap between his glove and wrist-guard.
My venom poured into him.
His eyes went wide behind the visor of his helmet. He didn’t even scream before his heart stopped.
I shoved his collapsing body and baton into the second shield-holder and used the momentum to pivot.
My dress skirt flared, the enchanted fabric making me feel like I had to look cool.
My bare leg hooked around the second human’s arm.
I twisted, letting gravity do the work as I slammed him face-first into the ground.
His visor cracked, and my fingers jabbed into his exposed neck.
My power flared as I sent more fatal venom into his bloodstream.
I ducked on instinct, a baton whistling through the space where my skull had been. I jumped and rolled away from the hit, the silk of my gown whispering across the stone.
Another human fired their rifle at me. Whatever round he shot grazed my side, burning cold, but I didn’t stop.
My palm slapped the front of his helmet.
I couldn’t reach skin, but I could kill without my power.
I snapped his head back, and he stumbled. Driving my knee into his chest, I stomped on his leg, hearing the bone snap.
He dropped, and I kicked his throat, basilisk strength vibrating through my muscles with the kick, crushing his wind pipe.
He didn’t get back up.
Gunfire shot off, and a magic shield flickered weakly to life on my left. It was sloppy and rushed, but it deflected at least two bullets.
“Your left!” Drecken shouted, his voice cracking.
I turned just as another human lunged, a knife gleaming in his hand. I didn’t have time to dodge. His blade sliced across my thigh, tearing the slit of my dress wider and drawing a line of blood as it separated my flesh.
Stinging agony followed, but I caught his wrist in both hands.
His knife hand stopped an inch from my throat.
We stared at each other for a second.
“Bad fucking idea,” I hissed. “How do you expect to get my DNA if you kill me?”
“Your corpse,” the man spat.
“Not happening.” I shifted my grip, letting the blade’s edge press into my skin just enough to distract him. Then, my knee came up hard between his legs.
He gasped, doubling over, and my fingers slid under the edge of his glove, into the warmth of his skin.
He trembled as my venom flooded into him.
I watched him turn into a wooden husk in an instant, dying brutally as roots slipped out of his orifices.
Behind me, a roar split the air as raw, furious draconic magic burned through my matebond with Jesper. He surged forward in a blur, catching a human who’d aimed a rifle at my back.
He slammed the man into a pillar hard enough that the stone spider-webbed.
“Don’t fucking point that at her,” Jesper snarled, voice hoarse. His fist crashed into the human’s helmet again and again until it caved inward.
Blood spattered the ground as the human dropped.
He leaned against the pillar for a moment, chest heaving, then pushed off, standing between me and the rest of the humans as if he could block bullets if he had to.
Another human aimed at him.
I reached down and grabbed the knife from the husk corpse of the human and flung it at their face. It cracked their visor and made them stagger.
Zuko rushed in, not shifting but letting his basilisk speed and strength spurt through. His fist collided with the human’s throat, and while they choked, his fingers slipped beneath the edge of their sleeve.
“You’re not getting your hands on my mate,” Zuko hissed.
The human seized up and fell.
“On your right, venom baby,” Slater snapped, chaos magic sparking wildly around his fingers. He was pale and shaking, but he still managed to send a jagged bolt of distorting energy into another attacker’s weapon, making it explode in the human’s grip.
The human screamed, clutching her ruined hands.
I blinked in shock. I hadn’t known Slater’s chaos magic could do that.
Worthy manifested, the small serpent with wings flying toward the humans and biting any exposed flesh he could reach.
I followed, pushing through the last of them. Half of them fell to my venom. The rest went down under a battered, struggling combination of my exhausted mates and other fourth-years who’d managed to drag themselves from the auditorium.
It was messy and brutal, but we had taken each human down as their corpses decorated the academy’s stairs.
When the last one dropped, gasping his last breath as my venom liquefied his insides, I stood in the center of the stone staircase.
My chest heaved, my dress splattered and streaked with blood and entrails. My lungs ached, not from the tourmalyke, but from adrenaline and anger.
Behind me, Ominous cursed under his breath as he stumbled forward. “My magic is fucked…I can’t pull enough magical energy to travel anyone out, and it is pissing me off.”
“You’re not the only one,” Koa muttered, limping up beside me. His eyes were still a little glassy, but he lifted his hand anyway, a flicker of phoenix flame dancing at his fingertips. “I can barely light a candle right now.”
“Everyone breathing?” Jesper asked roughly, doing a quick visual check, his gaze sweeping over each of the supernaturals in attendance at the formal event.
“Mostly,” Tobias said, voice tight. “I found four dead watchers.”
My gaze cut toward the wrecked auditorium doors. “Seth is dead.”
Grief stabbed through the bond like a jagged shard. I swallowed hard, forcing the pain down. Later, I’d feel the grief. Right now, I needed the anger.
“We can’t stay here.” Dimitri’s red eyes were darker than usual.
“We move,” Jesper said. “We need to leave through Basilisk Forest. The wayfaer’s non-functioning on a new moon, but we can at least start toward HQ.”
“Agreed,” Drecken replied. He was paler than usual, his blue eyes rimmed with exhaustion, but his magic still coiled around him in restrained tendrils. “I’ll stabilize what wards I can on the way, but even I can’t teleport yet.”
We pulled everyone together, forming a staggered group of fourth-, third-, and second-years leaning on each other.
Ivy had a nasty cut across her brow. Solon’s lip bled.
Katie had singed hair and a furious glint in her eyes.
Ominous had blood soaking his suit. Eleanor had blood dripping down her temple as Lorian carefully held her up.
Nobody but me had healed from the wounds sustained during the fight.
We descended the stairs and moved toward the bridge.
Under the bridge, the pure condensed magic of glowing mist churned in slow spirals, colors shifting from pale mint to deep emerald to soft white. It was luminous and thick. The air above the chasm shimmered, and the hum of power rose in a low, constant song.