Chapter 33 Dianna #2
No horns protruded from my head, but crimson eyes glared back at me.
Dammit. I closed them, willing that part of me to retreat before opening them once more.
Fuck. Still there. My hands went to my eyes, and I pressed and waited.
I felt no hint of my fangs, no prickle of power telling me I was using even a fraction of my power.
So why the hell wouldn’t my eyes return to normal?
I wanted my normal hazel back, not these fiery pits.
Dropping my hands, I opened them again, surprised to see watery blue eyes staring back at me.
I realized the shop owner was gaping at me, seeing exactly what the man on the street had—red fucking eyes.
I spun away and scurried down the road toward the edge of town. I kept my head low but heard voices rising behind me. Double fuck.
“This is your fault,” I snapped under my breath. People glanced at me and moved out of my way. Gathrriel didn’t answer or stir.
I picked up my pace, nearly running from the voices and noise. I bumped into people, jostling past them in my rush to escape this place and get back to Samkiel. Curses followed in my wake, joined by a shout.
“I really thought it would work, but it seems he got to you first.”
My head jerked to the side, and I nearly jumped out of my skin to see Unir walking beside me.
I stopped and turned to face him. “You think?” I snapped. “Also, where the hell did you come from?”
“Sorry about my sudden departure. I cannot stay in the physical world too long without Death seeing.”
I tossed my hands up. “Oh, well, that makes perfect sense then, doesn’t it? Just call some assassins to kidnap me and then leave? They are assassins, right? The dark clothes, arrogance, and disappearing in a puff of smoke. Sounds like assassins.”
“You are very intelligent. I assume my son likes that about you the most.”
“Actually, it’s my mouth, but I won’t scar you with that.”
Unir grimaced at me. “You have a tremendous bite on you. No one has ever spoken to me as you do.”
“Great. Another thing you and your son have in common.” I pressed a fake smile on my lips. “Wanna guess which one I am talking about? You know, since you have two determined to destroy me, Samkiel, and the world.”
Unir’s jaw flexed, and ghost or not, it seemed he still wielded far more power than Samkiel. A part of me flinched beneath the weight of the glare he directed at me, the other part just raged.
“My intentions toward my children are my own, not for you to know or question.”
“I think I have a right to question when one turned me, the other tried to kill me, and I am in love with the last one,” I rebutted.
His face softened at that last bit. “I am only trying to help you. Him. Them. I swear it.”
I realized I was drawing a crowd and started walking again, Unir keeping pace with me. I turned down an empty alley and spun to face Unir again. “You summoned Gathrriel! He basically barbequed a small town—”
“A few burn injuries, but a vast majority escaped. That was my fault, yes.”
My head throbbed, and I rubbed my temples. He was just too much, too overbearing, too foreboding. I sighed. “Where even am I?” I asked.
“A small fishing town on the river.”
“Ah. Well, that explains the smell.” My head tilted. “What’s the name?”
“So you can call my son here?” Unir asked, his brows lifting. “We aren’t through here.”
I turned and walked away, blindly turning corners in an attempt to get away from him and find my way out.
Fog curled in from the swampy area near the river, humidity skimming along my skin.
My stomach twisted, and pain shot up my arms. It was severe enough that I stumbled, catching myself against the wall.
“I really wanted you to get to Herrbet,” Unir said, keeping pace with me.
“Why Herrb—” My vision blurred, and bile rose in my throat. Unir watched me expectantly, his knowing expression making my blood run cold. I breathed deeply until the nausea subsided. “What did you do to me?” I asked when I could finally speak again.
He blinked at me. “I had them feed you while you slept. I meant it when I said that I need Gathrriel’s help to stop her.”
“What?!” My vision blackened. No. I escaped. But now that I thought about it, it explained why Faye and her brother were so eager to flee. It wasn’t just because I’d saved them, but because they knew what was about to happen.
I groaned as my skin heated to the point of pain. My knees buckled, and my hands slammed against the ground. Unir stepped in front of me, and I glared up at him. My fangs erupted, cutting into my lips, and my voice deepened. “How could you? I told you what he’d do.”
“I’ll get you back once he helps me. I swear it.”
“No,” I said. “You don’t understand.”
I didn’t have a soul. Gathrriel would carve me out. I’d be lost, used, and gone. Tears burned my eyes as I fought the internal battle. Oh gods. Samkiel. If something happened to me, if I couldn’t get myself back, Samkiel would …
“You’ll damn the world,” I said through clenched teeth, sweat breaking out across my skin.
“No, I’m going to help you all save it.”
“He doesn’t have control of …” Oblivion. The last word cut off as my back bent as I fell forward, my body convulsing as I felt Gathrriel rise within me again. This time, he wasn’t just possessing me. He was taking over.
My body stretched and grew, his form replacing mine as he rose. Gathrriel stood and turned, matching Unir in height. He smiled and struck out with a clawed gauntlet, swiping through Unir’s face. His features wavered into whispers of smoke before he solidified once more.
“You are too late, general. I am already dead.”
Gathrriel looked at his hand, then at Unir. “You are truly desperate.”
“I have to know. Is there a way to destroy—”
The words had barely left his mouth before intricate gold runes formed in a circle around him.
Unir’s eyes went wide, and for the first time, fear was present in his gaze.
He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, he was encased in golden light and sucked down through the wet stone.
Gathrriel cocked his head and looked at the ground where Unir had disappeared for a moment before shrugging and stepping out of that alleyway.
He hummed softly as he walked away with me entombed within the shell of what I used to be.