Chapter 13
Sidney
The rats led us through the maze, their tiny bodies navigating passages I would have missed because of the shadows. Boris’s claws clicked on the stone behind us, a reassuring rhythm in the darkness. Several times, the rats alerted us to pressure plates to avoid.
Ahead is a Beloved with a single devotee, Finn signed.
I nodded. We will sneak up and take them by surprise.
After your lead. He winked. Nibbles ran into a crack in the wall. I told Nibs to stay hidden so he does not get hurt.
I nodded, then peeked around the corner.
A woman with a delicately upturned nose stood with her back to us as she peered down the left corridor.
Her devotee stood flush against her spine, his eyes fixed on the hallway to the right.
I caught Finn’s eye and pointed to myself, then to the vampiress.
I pointed to him, then to the male. He gave me a thumbs-up.
I moved first, my boots silent on the stone, and cast my nullification over the devotee. His face went slack, confusion washing over him as my magic took effect. The Beloved turned, her eyes widening. My dagger opened her throat before she raised her weapon.
Yet she didn’t fall. With one hand clamping over the wound, she swiped with her nails. I ducked. Behind me, metal clashed as Finn engaged the devotee.
The vampiress lunged. I pivoted, my blade slicing deep into her side. She barely reacted. Her gaze locked on to mine, and the air thickened with her magic. My body lifted, legs dangling, chest crushed by invisible pressure.
As the rupture activated, her magic faltered, and I dropped hard, my knees cracking as they met the stone first. Her movements slowed, and she stumbled. I pushed to my feet, driving my dagger through her heart with all my strength.
Finn’s opponent was already down, a pool of blood spreading beneath him.
I cleaned my dagger and reapplied rupture, my hands still shaking from the adrenaline.
With a raised eyebrow, Finn signed quickly, What is that?
I held up the blade. Poison.
He nodded.
Following the rats, we continued on. The air grew colder and damper. Water dripped somewhere far below. The corridor widened, opening into a large, circular chamber.
The rodents froze mid step, their tiny bodies rigid. Then they erupted into high-pitched, rapid-fire squeaking. The sound bounced off the walls.
“What have we found?” Fiorella Bernard stepped from the shadows, her predatory smile sharp in the dim light. Her four devotees fanned out—two to the left, two to the right—boxing us in.
“Well, well,” she purred. “I was hoping I’d run into you, Ilyana.”
Holding my blade before me, I moved sideways to position myself toward the chamber’s center. “How did you find your Devotion so quickly?”
Finn shifted with me, his gaze darting to each threat.
She smiled, trailing a finger down the arm of a blonde devotee on her right.
“You know my mates, do you not? Magically enhanced speed is a valuable asset.” A flick of her hand.
“Strength.” The brute beside her cracked his knuckles.
“Ice.” A pale devotee exhaled mist. “Compulsion.” The lean devotee’s gaze locked on to mine. “But this isn’t a social call.”
Finn and I would have to fight through them. My stomach dropped. It was my nightmare scenario, the kind of fight I had no answer for.
“Kill them both!” Fiorella ordered.
The speedster blurred forward, crossing the chamber in a heartbeat.
I flung my nullification over him. Momentum carried him into a stumble. My blade caught his thigh, slicing through fabric and flesh.
He straightened, eyes narrowing. He cut himself off with a scream as rats surged from the shadows, swarming up his legs in a screeching mass.
They clung on, teeth sinking through cloth and skin.
He snarled, flinging one hard against the wall.
Then he faltered, and his hand jerked as the rupture took hold.
His blade dropped, clattering against the stone.
He stared at his fingers, brow furrowed. I thrust my dagger into his chest while he was distracted. It took every ounce of force I could muster before the blade finally found his heart beneath the resistance.
Across the chamber, Fiorella stiffened, eyes wide, breath catching as if the same weapon had pierced her.
My dagger needed more rupture. No time for that now.
The brute and the compulsion vampire moved in from my left, trying to flank me. The ice devotee circled right toward Finn. Fiorella stayed back, fifteen feet away, watching.
I had to keep Finn alive, whatever the cost. I had a strategic choice: Using my mental shield would only protect me and leave Finn exposed. Nullification would give us a chance, but I could only maintain it on one vampire at a time.
After I analyzed the situation for a moment too long, my hand reached for my belt without my permission, moving like it was attached to a puppeteer’s string.
I slammed my null over Compulsion. His magic fractured, and my body jerked back under my control.
“Interesting,” Fiorella murmured, raising an eyebrow. She gestured, and her Devotion pressed in. The air chilled around me as I switched my magic to the ice devotee. “You freed yourself. Have you gained a new ability?”
Keep switching. Keep them guessing.
Compulsion snarled, and Finn’s movements stuttered. I shifted my null to block the coercive magic again. As it broke, Finn gasped and spun, swinging his weapon at the vampire, who retreated with a hiss.
Next came Brute with fists like sledgehammers. As Boris tugged at the hem of his pants, I ducked his first swing but was too slow for the second. His punch crashed into me. Though my leathers provided some protection, I staggered to the left from the blow.
Finn darted in, grabbing Speedster’s discarded dagger. His snake coiled around Ice’s leg and struck, fangs sinking deep just as Finn aimed a stab toward the vampire’s heart. The devotee twisted, and steel bit into his shoulder. He sent ice shards exploding outward in all directions.
The snake's body went rigid, frozen solid, before the vampire grabbed it and shattered the poor creature into crystalline fragments.
A dull ache built behind my eyes as I kept Compulsion under my null.
After knocking off Boris, Brute roared and swung again. At the last second, I shifted my magic onto him. His bolstered strength ebbed just enough. I rotated with the blow instead of crumpling beneath it. Still, pain screamed through my body. My dagger slipped from my grip, my fingers numb.
Behind me, Finn cried out. Ignoring the rats, Compulsion approached him, weapon raised. I switched my null onto him, stopping him from causing Finn to hurt himself with his own hammer.
Brute lunged for me, and I caught my dropped blade with my off-hand. I slashed his arm, drawing blood.
Finn whistled. The honey badger’s head snapped toward the sound. Back on his feet, Boris shot across the chamber, a blur of fur and fury, crashing into Brute’s knee along with another tide of rats. The vampire staggered.
The rodents surged in with Boris in a coordinated wave of claws and teeth. Brute’s scream ripped through the area as they tore into his body.
Boris’s jaws clamped onto his finger, biting it off. Brute flung him away and stomped at the rats as he clutched his bleeding hand, eyes blazing with feral fury.
The badger lay slumped against a wall where he’d landed.
My head throbbed as I directed my null at Fiorella, just to ease the tension clamping down on my skull. Switching targets brought momentary relief from overuse of my magic. The crow raked at Fiorella’s eyes while rats swarmed her boots.
The maze groaned, and stone vibrated underfoot. Dust rained down. The rodents squeaked and darted in circles as the walls shifted.
Compulsion magic slammed into me. My joints locked. I sent my nullification over the devotee, and the mental chains snapped, causing me to stumble forward.
Fiorella raised her hand. The temperature plummeted. Frost crept across the floor toward us. I transmitted my magic back over her, and the creeping stopped.
My vision doubled. Each shift bought me seconds, but the cost kept mounting. And we were losing. I trembled, sweat stinging my eyes as each breath grew harder than the last.
The ice-wielding vampire unleashed a barrage of frozen shards, and I barely rolled aside. Several bounced off my leathers. One grazed my cheek.
I saw Brute’s punch coming but couldn’t move fast enough and took it on my shoulder. The impact spun me halfway around.
Another flurry of frozen shards flew at Finn. He dodged most, but a few caught his arm, tearing the fabric. Blood bloomed through his sleeve. Compulsion’s stare pinned Finn in place. Veins stood out in Finn’s neck from strain.
Brute’s fist struck my ribs again. I heard something crack. Unable to draw air into my lungs, I fell to my knees. My head throbbed sharply as my null failed.
Fiorella’s laughter echoed off the walls as she advanced. “This is almost too easy.”
Compulsion and Ice closed in on Finn from both sides. He parried and dodged, his hammer moving in desperate arcs, yet his movements had slowed. My own arms shook with every shallow breath, blood soaking through my shirt.
The maze shifted again; walls groaned as stone scraped against stone. A crack opened, revealing pale mushrooms with pulsing caps.
After swatting away more of the rats, Brute’s kick sent me slamming onto the fungus. A cloud of glittering spores erupted. I rolled away, trying to cover my nose, but it was too late.
I choked on a mouthful of bitter spores. Fiorella and her three remaining devotees had pressed close. The densest part of the spore cloud enveloped them, and rasping coughs tore from their mouths.
Across the chamber, Finn had been forced back by the ice vampire’s earlier assault. He stood near the far wall, about fifteen feet from where I’d hit the mushrooms. He swiftly pulled his shirt up over his nose and mouth. His eyes watered above the fabric, but he remained standing.
Another cough jarred my head, and my vision blurred. At the epicenter of the spore cloud, I was afflicted the worst. Fiorella and her Devotion began to recover and regroup while I struggled to breathe.
Finn attacked Compulsion while his defenses were down, driving his blade deep into the bloodsucker’s shoulder.
More spores billowed up as I dragged myself away from the mushrooms, hand over hand.
Fiorella’s blade found me, opening a gash across my arm. Her eyes locked on to mine with predatory focus.
Invisible chains wrapped around my mind; my limbs stiffened, muscles seized. Her will crashed down upon me.
I was going to die here.
No.
Digging deep, I unleashed my nullification in a desperate surge. The compulsion snapped away.
Pain pulsed in my head, sharper than any weapon. I grabbed her ankle and pulled, sending her falling backward into the densest cluster of mushrooms. Spores exploded in a glowing cloud around her. I held my breath.
Her movements slowed, becoming sluggish and uncoordinated. The remaining devotees rushed to her side while I continued dragging myself away. The spores swirled around them, and they collapsed too.
The spores were buying time but not victory. The crow lay in a heap of broken feathers near the wall. Rats, too many to count, lay scattered and still. The snake’s frozen fragments glittered among the stones.
In a fit of coughs, I found my feet and looked toward Finn, hoping for some last-ditch plan. He met my gaze, his eyes wide and glistening with panic. Behind him, a section of the wall was open.
He glanced back at it, then back at me. His face twisted with something I couldn’t read. His jaw worked, and his hands came up, forming half-formed signs that dissolved into fists.
He spun and ran into the darkness.
“Finn!” The name tore from my throat, a raw, useless sound he couldn’t possibly hear.
My mind went blank, static white. He didn’t. He wouldn’t—
Yet the passage was empty. He was gone.
My arms started shaking. The room seemed to tilt. This wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real.
He’d abandoned me.
Fiorella’s laughter cut through the ringing in my ears—sharp and victorious. I turned to face her, alone.