Chapter 34 Saoirse
With Thorne out of my way, nothing stands between me and the banshee.
Finally, her power will be mine. More than that, I want to feel her break.
I want to taste the moment her scream turns from defiance to despair.
I’ll savour it. She’ll beg without even knowing she’s begging, her voice spilling that sweet power straight into my hands.
I’ll drink it down, until her throat is raw and her soul is threadbare.
Aoibhfidh mé agus í ag titim as a chéile. (I’ll smile while she crumbles.)
With the weight of dead stone, I drag Thorne. His body leaving a streak in the dirt, a reminder of his failure. I don’t bother to be gentle, why would I? He was a pain in my ass, nothing more.
When I reach the tomb, everything inside me stops.
The air tastes burnt, like the aftermath of lightning striking bone.
The stone I sealed shut lies in ruin in the centre of the chamber.
What's left was once solid granite, now it’s fractured.
Great slabs split apart as if it was torn open from within.
Dust and chard litter the floor, the ancient runes carved into its face are now nothing but jagged wounds in the stone.
Furious, I step into the ruin, my heels crunching over crumbled rock. The scent of the human still lingers, but there’s something else, something older. Something that should not be. The veil itself feels torn, cracked where he broke through.
He didn’t just escape, he changed.
With fury crawling down my spine, I bare my teeth to the darkness. Beneath the rage is a twisted kind of hunger. The banshee’s pathetic little lover isn’t human anymore. He’s something… more. Something dangerous and now, more than ever, I must have him.
A hiss slides between my lips as I stare into the empty tomb, the stench of ash clawing at my nose. The untamed power spilling from the cracks in the rocks. I felt it when I dragged him across the veil. But, I ignored it. Now it sings to me, loud and impossible to ignore.
A smile curves my lips, sharp and cold. That stupid human doesn’t even know what’s happening to him, he’s nothing but a child playing with fire, and I’ll be the one to strip the flames from his hands before they consume him.
My nails drag over the stone wall, leaving faint gouges as I breathe in deep.
His trail is everywhere. Each pulse of it makes my skin prickle, making the hunger in me roar because it isn’t just the human I want anymore.
It’s the storm waking inside him… and… I will have it.
That power is ancient. Stronger than anything that banshee bitch will ever cradle in her throat. Her scream is a toy compared to this.
The tomb still reeks of ash, but beneath it there’s a thread that’s impossible to miss. His power sings to me. It thrums as though it’s a pulse through the veil itself, tugging me forward with every beat.
He’s trying to run. Cute. As if he could ever hide something this loud from me.
I close my eyes and let the hunger swallow me whole.
I concentrate on him, and there it is, his flicker, his light.
Moving fast, wild, as if he’s prey who hasn’t yet realized the predator already has its teeth in his throat.
“You can run, little spark,” I murmur, tasting the words as though they’re blood on my tongue. “I will find you… and when I do…” I lick the corner of my mouth, my breath catching on a laugh that scrapes raw in my throat. “I’ll rip that ancient power out of your chest and drink it dry.”
With the thrill of the hunt coursing through me, I nearly forget about Thorne, cocooned and helpless behind me. Fuck. The thought sharpens my focus. I can’t risk turning my back on him, not even for a second, not when this new power is just within reach.
Darkness shifts around me, its shadows curling like fingers, whispering promises of what I’ll take from him. Thorne… he’s still here, a reminder of what I’ve already conquered and what I can’t afford to lose control over. One misstep, and everything could unravel.
With a flick of my wrist, my hair grips around Thorne, dragging him toward a separate, ancient tomb. The stone creaks and hums, resonating with the power I’m siphoning from the air around us.
He thrashes weakly, muffled grunts and protests spilling from the cocoon, but it’s no use. The shadow devours him like a mouth swallowing a meal, sealing him inside the tomb with bindings of old, unbreakable magic. The edges glow faintly red, resonating with the ferocity of my intent.
“Stay put,” I hiss under my breath, the sound more a warning than plea. “You’re not part of this hunt anymore.”
Thorne’s struggles fade into the dark silence of the tomb, and I turn my attention back to the real prize, the human and the raw, untamed power coursing through him. The thrill of the chase ignites a cold fire inside me.
With my senses sharpened, I slink through the shadows, every nerve tuned to the faint pulse of power that radiates from him. It’s like a beacon, and it makes my blood hum with anticipation. He doesn’t know I’m coming. He can’t. I’ve waited too long for this sort of power, and I won’t be denied.
“Run all you want, little spark… I’ll find the marrow in your bones before the night even remembers your name.”