Chapter 42
Forty-Two
HAVEN
When I burst from ashes, I’m reborn.
Reborn in fire and magic.
Reborn into the creature I was always meant to be.
The power coursing through me is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. It all makes sense now. Why the demon needed me.
This magic is life. This magic is endless. This magic is strong enough to bring light to the darkest places.
Starting with the demon.
I spread my wings, magenta and purple fire blazing at the tips as I protect Becks’ broken body behind me.
My anger burns as brightly as I do. The demon will pay for that. I’ll make sure of it.
I’m larger now, vast and blazing, hovering above the demon as it cowers. The fear that once paralyzed me has burned away.
I’m no longer what the demon hunts.
I’m what hunts it.
With a loud cry, I beat my wings, sending a surge of flaming magic crashing into the demon. It shrieks as my fire tears through its dark smoke, shredding it like tissue paper.
But instead of burning away completely, the darkness splinters.
The demon stumbles back, its form blurring at the edges, unraveling into ribbons of mist and shadow. The ground blackens beneath it, cracks spiderwebbing outward as the smoke sinks into the earth.
No.
Understanding slams into me all at once.
It isn’t trying to fight me anymore.
It’s trying to flee.
My fire scorches through what remains of its body, but the darkness keeps slipping through, bleeding into the forest, seeping between roots and stone, thinning into a substance I can’t grab hold of no matter how hot I burn.
Panic flares, sharp and unwanted.
I’m powerful, but I don’t know how to stop it.
If it escapes now, wounded and furious, it will survive. It will heal. It will come back stronger. Smarter.
According to Locklyn and the Society, I can only destroy it under a blood moon. If it escapes now, it will rain two years of terror and horror down on people.
This is my chance. I have to stop it now, and for good.
I dive after it, fire slamming into the ground in another blazing strike, but the demon is already unraveling, its laughter echoing thin and broken through the smoke.
“You can’t cage darkness,” it hisses.
No. No!
Suddenly, shadows surge up from the forest floor, thick and deliberate, wrapping around the demon’s escaping form and yanking it violently back into itself.
Imogen bursts from the trees, blood streaking her face, her magic flaring dark and vicious as she snarls, “Like hell we can’t.”
After taking so much of my power, the demon is solid now, close to flesh, close enough for magic to take hold and bind it.
A jolt of triumph hits me hard enough to nearly knock me from the air.
More magic flares, roots explode upward, and I spot Titus down below dropping to one knee, his hand pressed to the earth, plants answering his call despite the scorch and corruption. Vines and thorns lash around the demon, anchoring it in place, dragging it fully back into the open.
Ensley stumbles into the clearing last, battered and pale, but defiant. Faelight blooms in her hands, brilliant, blazing orbs that streak forward and slam into the demon’s black mist, forcing it to solidify, stripping away the monster’s last chance to slip free.
The demon screams, panic replacing fury now.
With a flap of my wings, I rise higher, fire roaring brighter, hotter, answering the certainty settling into my bones.
Now I end it.
With the blood moon as a backdrop behind me, I spread my wings wide, letting the full force of my magic surge.
My fire gathers, hotter and brighter until it burns white-gold.
Holding myself steady in the air, I unleash it in a wild blast, a concentrated lance of phoenix flame aimed straight at the demon’s bound form below.
The fire slams into it and tears through shadow and flesh alike, burning deeper with every heartbeat as the demon thrashes against the magic holding it in place. Its scream fractures, cutting off as my flames sear through the heart of it, unraveling whatever keeps it whole.
The demon evaporates into nothing, and the ground beneath it glows as if the earth itself is being scorched clean.
When the fire finally dies, there is nothing left of the demon.
No body.
No shadow.
No echo.
Only ash drifting down over scorched earth where it once stood.
Relief floods me, but it’s short-lived when I catch the figures below me, all running toward something—a lone figure lying prone on the ground below, unmoving.
Becks.
He’s not in his dragon form anymore and looks especially vulnerable covered in cuts and blood.
I streak toward the forest floor, drawing my fire and magic back into myself. The moment my talons hit the ground, I shift into my human form, the knowledge of how to do it settling instinctively into my bones.
The others are already there. I shove past Titus and Imogen to reach him. Ensley is helping her brother sit up.
He glances up at me and gives me a crooked smile. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
A sob forms in my throat that I can’t hold in. I drop to my knees, wanting to grab him, to hug him to assure myself he’s real, but there doesn’t look like any part of him that isn’t injured.
One of his arms is clearly broken; there’s a gash on his chest where the demon slashed him, as well as cuts and scratches on his shoulders and arms from trying to free himself from the demon’s dark magic.
“I love you,” I say through sobs, and Becks’ gaze softens.
“I know.” And then heedless of his injuries, he reaches out and hauls me forward, kissing me despite the fact that we’re both covered in dirt, ash, and blood.
It’s not the most romantic kiss we’ve ever had, or even close to the most passionate, but it’s the most real.
Grounding.
Born from the need to assure each other that we walked through hell but made it out alive.
When we break apart, Ensley and the others are grinning down at us, looking a little worse for wear themselves.
“That was amazing,” Ensley says, and I bunch my brow, thinking she’s talking about my kiss with Becks. Which is a little weird, because she’s his sister.
“She doesn’t mean what you think she does,” Titus says, throwing an arm over his fiancée’s shoulder. “She means the phoenix.”
“Right.” That makes a lot more sense. “After Becks killed me—”
“What?” Ensley’s eyes are huge as they ping-pong between me and her brother. “You killed her?”
Becks runs a weary hand down his face, smearing blood over it. “It’s a long story. We’ll tell you about it on the way back.”
My gaze strays from Ensley to Imogen, and something occurs to me, making me worry. “Where’s Kade? Is he okay?”
“You mean my future husband?” she answers nonchalantly. “Yeah, he’s fine. He had to stay behind because he’s sooo slow.” She draws out the last two words and then shrugs. “Humans. Good thing he’s so hot. Makes up for the shortcomings.”
“He’s going to be pissed when we get back,” Ensley says. “He tried to stop her, but she just booped his nose and told him to wait for the adults to take care of the situation then took off.”
My mouth drops. “No, you didn’t?”
The grin that spreads over Imogen’s face tells me she absolutely did.
I shake my head. This girl.
Next to me, Becks makes a quiet grunt of pain and my attention snaps back to him. “We need to get you some medical attention.”
He nods, which tells me he’s right, it’s not as bad as it looks. It’s worse.
Titus and I help Becks to his feet.
“How did you find us?” Becks asks as we start slowly trekking through the woods in the direction of the cabin, which by now is probably no more than cinders, but maybe the SUV made it and we can get off this cursed mountain.
Imogen snorts. “How could we not? You guys were making enough noise to wake the dead.”
“We would have been here sooner,” Ensley says, “but we were dealing with the last of the vampires.”
We’re all lucky to be alive. In my case, I’m lucky to be alive again.
I suck in a deep breath of cold air, glancing up to see that the moon is no longer tinted red. It’s hard to believe that this is really over, but it is.
It takes hours to get back to the cabin.
When its smoldering remains come into view through a gap in the trees, the sky has started to lighten and Titus is practically dragging Becks forward.
Becks’ face is ashen and his breathing is labored.
I’m this close to shifting and flying him to a hospital.
But every time I ask if he’s all right, he just grins and insists he’s fine.
Kade appears from around the corner of what’s left of the destroyed cabin. His shirt is ripped at the shoulder, his skin marked with superficial cuts and bruises. One eye is swollen shut, but with the other he scans our group as he jogs toward us. Despite the damage, he’s moving well enough.
When he reaches us, his face is the same stoic mask I’ve come to associate with him. So when I ask if there are any vampires left and he ignores me entirely, going straight to Imogen and cupping her face and claiming her mouth with his, I’m left staring in stunned silence.
I’m not the only one. Becks and I exchange a bewildered look as Ensley’s mouth drops open. Titus doesn’t say anything, but both eyebrows shoot up. Even after the pair break apart, we’re all left standing there, processing.
“Don’t ever leave like that again. I thought you were dead,” Kade growls with her face still gently cradled in his large hands.
Imogen gives him a wicked smile and pats his chest. “Oh, sweetie, it’s cute you think you can tell me what to do. We’ll definitely work on that.”
Going up on her toes, she gives him a quick kiss on the nose and then swings toward the group, where we are all still gaping. A smug smile lifts the corners of her mouth as if to say, “See, I told you,” as she loops an arm around Kade’s waist.
I shake my head. I think this girl is my hero.
Becks chuckles, but it turns into a coughing fit. I rush over to him as it subsides. The sound in his chest is wet, and that worries me.