Chapter 54
Chapter Fifty-Four
Selene
Icarefully watched the other dark mage as I used magic to burn away the ties holding Vivian.
She was strong, and I wondered why she hadn’t used her own magic to free herself.
But I felt dark magic disengaging, like a spell had been broken.
The last of her bindings fell and she dropped to her knees, making her way to April, who lay lifeless on the ground.
Turning her partly over, Viv sobbed, her body shaking as her hands covered April’s wound even though she was already gone.
My chest tightened; the emotional pain was more consuming than the open, bleeding wound on my shoulder. I was the reason for Vivian’s pain. I had killed someone she loved. Yet, something else sickly and dark twisted inside me, growing like a dark vine full of power… power that felt invigorating.
I had killed an innocent.
But I didn’t know it was April. I didn’t know they were being controlled by…
my brain buffered, puzzles of the pieces trying to fit together, but it was too focused on controlling the internal war inside.
The guilt for taking April’s life was being consumed by the dark inferno raging inside me, the guilt withering away.
A black shadow streaked across the sky, casting a shadow.
It barreled into David, tumbling into a mess of claws and fists, fire, and spewing magic.
They broke apart, Chaos on all fours, hunched and hissing, and David, his eyes as black as Chaos’s scales as he casually stood with a dagger in hand—its blade silver and black.
“Selene.” A hand rested on my shoulder and I turned.
“Dad,” I whispered, horrified at his concerned and wary expression.
“It’ll be okay, Sal. You will be okay.” My dad’s gaze darted from me to Vivian and April as he held up a hand, beckoning me to take it. His usual calm mask cracked for a split second before darkening. “Stay away from my girls.”
“That’s unlikely as much as it is impossible.” A dark laugh came from behind me, and I whirled around to see David a few steps closer to me. Chaos stood off to the side, tracking his movements and ready to pounce. “I see you were able to free the dragon mutt. Smart—he is now your only chance.”
I took a few steps back, everything becoming too much, all-consuming.
“Take your clan and leave the academy.” My dad’s voice was hard, edged with a warning that would have made most mages duck their heads.
David hovered a hand over his palm and spoke an enchantment. Less than a second later, the clan mark appeared. My stomach soured.
“Not until I have my consort by my side.” His head tilted, his gaze drifting to me.
An excited thrill shot up my spine at the same time I felt sick.
“You’re powerful, Selene. A level five ether mage.
I have waited one hundred thirty-two years for an ether mage who was worthy to stand by my side.
To think there once was a time when I wanted to siphon your magic and dispose of you without knowing appalls me. ”
“How?” That was the only word I managed to get out through clenched teeth. The books had said the leader of the clan had been a level four ether mage. He was old and powerful, and with dark magic, he may as well have been a five. Was that why he wanted me?
“How did I infiltrate the academy, or how am I over a century old and do not look like a decaying corpse?” His gaze shifted to the front door of the academy, where Priscilla helped support a blood-covered Ender down the steps.
Aura ran out behind them, her white fur covered in dried dark red blood.
Her little beady eyes landed on Vivian hovering over April, and she ran over to her.
“It comes with territory of being a dark ether mage.” David’s gaze locked back onto me when I didn’t answer.
“The irony of having to consume ether magic and killing its host to grow our strength, yet being a dark ether mage is the ultimate power. Healing is a part of our capabilities. The more power we siphon, the younger we look. It takes a powerful magic from an ether mage to obtain this level of preservation.”
“My mom…” I whispered, realizing it had been her magic that made him like this.
“And Ender will be yours.” David took a step closer, and so did my dad.
My hand shot up, using air magic to force my dad back. I pulled my hand to my chest, unsure if that had been for his protection or if it was to keep him away from David. The internal, intrusive thoughts were running rampant again.
“What. Did. You. Do. To. Me?” I ground out at David, this time taking a step toward him.
“Our training sessions proved quite beneficial, along with the dark grimoire.” He eyed Chaos.
“He’s been feeding you dark magic, Selene.” Ender’s hard voice rose across the front lawn as he and Priscilla approached. “Whenever he touched you and whenever you touched the dark grimoire, he fed you his dark magic. It’s what he did to me during our training match.”
I thought of that match and how Ender had lost control in a way that wasn’t like him.
“Almost an accurate assumption, but what I did to you was slightly different.” David raised his chin, holding Ender’s glare. “I fed you dark illusions and emotions. I only transferred my dark magic to my consort.”
“But… you helped kill the dark mage who attacked the academy?” I glared at him, confusion causing my ears to ring.
He had been a friend.
“They were from a different clan.” He shrugged. “I had just given them some guidance to find you, confident it would help advance things and remove a nemesis of our clan, and aided by adding Demonher rats into the equation.”
A bone-popping sound came from my hand and I glanced down. I had pulled my pointer finger out of the socket with my thumb. My jaw set, and I set my finger back in place with my opposing hand and spared a glance at Viv, still crouched by April’s body. Her gaze pierced David with a promise of harm.
“I’m not sure how you evaded or broke through the enchantments,” he glanced between my dad and Priscilla, “but I must say, it is not surprising in the least. You have managed to hide your family from me, John. For an inadequate level of a mage, I wouldn’t classify you as subpar.”
Now he was insulting my dad while also complimenting him.
Ender left the support of Priscilla and began heading in my direction, his gaze on David.
Each step he took, I could feel my magic drawn to him.
It wasn’t the warm and fuzzy feeling I often felt when he was near, but it was a power hungry, all-consuming, visceral sensation beckoning me to consume his potent magic.
“Ender…” I shook my head at him, unable to move. “Please don’t.”
His head cocked to the side.
“No, Ender. Please do,” David sneered, his eyes lighting with excitement, as if he knew the insatiable hunger I felt. “Do you see her obsidian eyes? She’s begging you to come closer.”
My eyes were black?
Dark-cloaked figures emerged from around us, Demonher rats with glowing red eyes trailing them. I counted at least five dark mages and Demonher rats. Each dark mage wore the mark of their clan on their palm.
“This morning’s events were supposed to have run smoother, but one can never be ill-prepared.
” David nodded at his small dark army. “Casualties, I see. I had felt them.” He looked at one of the advancing dark mages, who nodded in return.
“It appears Miss Lee had benefited your academy after all. It brings the odds down a couple dark mages.”
“Miss Lee?” Ender glanced at Priscilla, his brows furrowing.
Priscilla gave him a short nod. “We’ll discuss it later.”
David laughed. “That discussion won’t happen.”
Then the pandemonium started.
David strode toward me as the other dark mages and rats lunged toward my family.
Chaos charged at David, and a powerful burst of magic flew at the little dragon.
The magic surged around Chaos as if he had an invisible shield, but his claws found purchase in David’s chest. They fell to the ground and the dagger in David’s hand tumbled to the grass.
“Selene!” Ender reached me, his hands resting on my shoulders.
His face was bruised and covered in dry blood, and I had never seen his hazel eyes so entirely dark grey.
“Hey,” he said, his voice soft. He gently brushed my cheek with his hand, and my eyes shuttered.
His hand radiated with energy, and all I had to do was wrap my hand around his and his power would be mine.
Vivian screamed and my eyes shot open. A Demonher rat circled her, its dark, suction-cupped tongue retreating after a missed strike. My dad was at her side in seconds, a lighter in hand. Fire shot from his hand in a burning torrent at the rat, causing it to back away with a hiss.
Priscilla was already in combat with two dark mages, and a rat chomped at Chaos’s tail, giving David enough time to reach the dagger. The same dark mage and several Demonher rats closed in on Ender and me.
My heart palpations rattled inside my head and the edges of my vision darkened.
Prickly, searing heat radiated through my nerves and veins.
I covered my head with my arms, the pulsing inside feeling like my head was going to explode.
Breathing became a chore, as if my lungs couldn’t get enough air, and I was entirely too aware of Ender’s presence.
Ender. My soul-bound.
My sister.
My dad.
I screamed. The ear-piercing noise burst out along with a wave of dark magic, sending everyone and everything within a thirty-foot radius flying backward, including Ender.
I turned to face David, who was the first to his feet, smiling at me with admiration.
David turned to Chaos, who slowly rolled off his side and to his four feet, shaking his head. David lifted the dagger above his head—the dagger that most likely was the one Miss Lee said could kill a dragon with one slice—and aimed the tip at Chaos.
“No!” I roared and shoved my fist into the ground, it sinking a good five inches.
The ground around David collapsed. Chaos scrambled backward, barely avoiding the small crater.
I pulled my hand free and made my way over to the crater and jumped in, landing in a crouch.
When I stood, the dust had settled enough to show David leering at me, not phased at all by my assault.
I turned, shoving my hands into the dirt walls and imagining an impenetrable fortress overhead.
Words flowed from my mouth in a language I didn’t know I possessed until black vines enclosed the crater.
Interwoven trails of dark glowing lava, a rich shade of red, pulsed as if the vines were alive.
The magic was so enticing, so alive.
“Addicting, isn’t it?”
I pulled my hands from the dirt, turning to face him. He tucked the dagger away behind him.
I panted, unable to respond. I could feel his formidable power now and wondered if it was something I could take. I stepped toward him.
“You can’t take another ether’s dark magic.
” David assessed me with hunger and desire, like he could read my own cravings.
“I have tried, though I’ve never came across a level five dark ether mage.
That hunger you feel will abate marginally when you take your soul-bound’s magic.
” His words lit an internal desire and he grinned, stepping closer.
“Yes, my lovely. This world will be entirely ours. Free of dragons. If any ether mages rear their heads, we will consume them.”
My lips turned upward into a smile, and I felt half-hinged. I clutched my family, Ender, and the fact that this was the dark mage who had taken my mother’s life, boiling her from the inside out with blood magic.
David is the reason my family is broken, why Vivian’s biological parents are dead, why I killed April, why we hid our entire lives, and if he continues, he will be the reason my remaining family dies… why Ender dies.
My smile turned bitter and I reached out, grabbing him by the throat.
His skin thrummed with enticing, dangerous electricity and I pulled it to me, wrapping my hands around his neck.
Another foreign enchantment left my mouth, and David’s body went rigid before he could struggle, his eyes wide in shock.
I lifted him in the air, ignoring his hands, which made a feeble attempt to remove my grasp from his neck.
“You waited over one hundred years for someone to stand by your side, and you chose me.” I squeezed tighter. “You never chose better.”
As my hand clenched and his power shot through me like a live wire, something else ached in my chest, threatening to burst.
Ender. He was reaching out to me.
But my decision had been made.
With each passing of David’s magic into my soul, he aged, revealing the effects of dark magic on his body.
Wrinkles appeared across his paling skin, his golden hair turning brittle and grey, and his clenched teeth yellowed and became rotten.
All signs of his true self showed until I noticed his blue eyes turning grey—devoid of power.
He hadn’t been turning back into his previous appearance as a dark mage. His body was turning to his true age.
The power vanished and I let go, the man before me dropping to his knees. David was unrecognizable. His sunken eyes gazed at me as his outermost skin turned to dust and eventually, the rest of him followed suit, leaving a pile of brown dust on the ground.
I no longer felt his power and my skin no longer prickled with energy.
The burning vines above me turned to ash, coating me in soot.
The ache in my chest grew into a warm throb, and the insatiable hunger died.
I became disorientated, my head started to feel fuzzy, and my body became light.
Dark grey-blue blurred my vision. That was when I realized I had fallen and was staring at the sky.
A thump landed next to me and Ender’s face came into view. Beyond him, Chaos soared across the sky like a bullet. Sounds of fighting ensued but were distant.
My body burned.
My heart was torn.
I tried to speak, to confess one final thing to Ender.
But my body didn’t listen. He wouldn’t know that I loved him.
Then everything disappeared and I couldn’t hear anything at all.