CHAPTER 22
Frankie
The creature before me isn’t human. Not anymore. His jaw sits lower than it should. Patches of dark fur shadow the edges of his cheeks. And those eyes…I can’t bear to look at them. I know them the way I know my own. It’s wrong. They don’t belong to that face.
He steps forward, claws scraping the ground. My body jerks back as something inside me cracks. I prayed for this moment. I bled for it. I curled up in his room on nights I couldn’t breathe and held the flannel he left behind. And now he stands here, beside my worst enemy. How is this possible?
“Nate?” I barely recognize my voice. He doesn’t look at me, doesn’t even flinch. He just stands there, a weapon sheathed at Dante’s side.
“Talk to me, Nate!” I plead. “Say something!”
Dante squeals, like a kid on Christmas morning. “Ohh, look at that face. Frances, darling, you look devastated! What’s wrong? Shocked your sweet brother isn’t tripping over himself to save the Realm Eater?”
Jess twists in his hold, fingernails scraping at his wrists, but Dante’s eyes stay locked on me. “You left him to rot, remember? You chose your mate, forgetting all about your brother. Why would he come crawling back to you now when he stands next to me of his own free will?”
Fire lashes the ground beside me, Zarreth’s voice a low snarl. “You call that free will? You didn’t free him, you made him into a monster.”
Free will? No, that’s not what this is. It can’t be. “Nate.” My voice cracks, desperate for him to look at me. I wipe my wet eyes with the back of my hand. “I would never abandon you. We thought you were…dead. You have to believe me. I’m your sister.”
His eyes cut toward me, sharp with cruelty. “I no longer have a sister.”
I shrink back. My hands lift to my mouth, trying to stifle a sob. “But you do! I’m right here. I’m so sorry I failed you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. Please, Nate!”
He looks away, his expression flat as if I mean nothing. As if he’s already erased me. My hands go cold when I take a step back. Hold it together, Frankie! This isn’t him. My fingers curl around the hilt of my sword while I focus on Jess. She’s what matters right now.
“What a monumental moment this is!” Dante exclaims. “My prodigy choosing me over his own flesh and blood. This calls for a celebration.” He shoves Jess into Nate’s arms, but keeps his eyes trained on me. “Turn her.”
“No!” I pull my sword free, but Zarreth pulls me back. “I have an idea. Just trust me and keep him talking.” And then he’s gone—wings beating, fire pulling away when he disappears into the sky.
Dante’s eyes flick past me when he chuckles. “Whatever little tricks you have planned won’t save you.”
Okay, keep them talking. “Why are you doing this, Nate? It’s Jess, she’s practically your sister.”
He doesn’t answer, just lifts her higher without so much as a flinch, eyes boring into mine. “Please,” I choke out. “She has nothing to do with this.”
Hope flickers for a moment as his thumb rolls slowly across the pads of his fingers. He’s always done that, for as long as I can remember. It’s a nervous tick he has. He’s still there.
And then it’s gone. His hand goes still, that tiny habit dropping away like it never existed.
Dante claps his hands together, delighted. “Yesss, that’s it, Nathaniel! Do this for me and you will earn your place…second-in-command. Prove it here, with her blood. Sire her to me, and everything I have will be yours.”
He bares his fangs, jaw stretching wide, while he pulls Jess close. No!
Right when the worst possible thing could happen, his mouth snaps shut. Oh my God! He stopped! I knew he would stop. Somehow, I just knew it.
Dante leans in, whispering something to Nate, when a sword forces him to duck. Zarreth and Macen close in, driving him back as his body twists into his half-beast form. Their battle rages on, but my focus is on Nate, on the sister he holds in his arms.
“Nate!” I cry, feeling every ounce of hope shatter as his features harden again, his face no longer belonging to my brother. “Fight it! You don’t have to do this!”
Jess struggles in his grip, tears streaking her face as she begs. “Nate, please! This isn’t you!”
He hesitates. I swear he’s about to stop…but then he snarls, sinking his fangs into her throat. No!
Jess screams, her body jerking in his arms as blood streaks down her neck. “No!” My voice rips out of me while I lunge forward. He bites her again, tearing into her with a violence that isn’t human.
I won’t lose them both. I raise my sword, and let it sink into his neck. Blood rains down on me. His blood…our blood.
He drops her, pulling away before the blade slices all the way through. Everything stills while he holds his head in place, blood gurgling from his lips. He looks at me with the same expression he wore when he’d hide me from our stepfather. Then he traces away.
I gather Jess in my arms. “No. No, no, no. Stay with me!” I scream. “You can’t fucking die, do you hear me?” Her head falls back against my forearm while I search for the wound. There’s so much blood. There shouldn’t be this much.
This isn’t right! What do I do?
Oh my God, what do I do?
I tilt her head, checking the other side of her neck, but she’s so limp. She shouldn’t be this limp! This can’t be happening. Please don’t be dead! I start screaming again, my vision closing in.
Okay, keep it together! She needs me. I can’t let her die.
Dammit, why is it taking so long to find the fucking…wait, there it is. Thank you, God! I cry as my fingers finally find the gaping hole. My hand shakes while I clamp it around her neck, trying to ignore the sticky crimson covering her skin, but there’s so much.
“Come on! Stay with me!” My fingers ache, but I don’t let up, pressing hard to stop the bleeding. I try summoning even the smallest trickle of healing magic, but it doesn’t come. Fuck! I need to calm down if I want my light to come, but I can’t. My best fucking friend is dying in my arms!
My chest heats, the stone at my neck thrumming with my emotions. No! Not now. It’s completely black. Not swirls of gray, like it’s done before—black, like death is staring straight at me.
Shadows are dancing along my skin now, darkness flowing through my veins.
Stop it! I plead, desperate to keep it down.
I can’t release it, not yet, but the shadows tear out of me anyway, lashing out and pulling at my back, trying to split my whole body apart.
Screams echo as demons and shifters crumple, blood pouring from their mouths.
Even Dante buckles, driven to his knees.
My eyes fall to Jess. No new blood. My hands stay on her neck, fingers shaking. The magic is still pouring from me. I can’t stop it, but it doesn’t touch her.
Zarreth’s blade flashes, arcing for Dante’s throat.
“Kill me, and everyone sired to me dies.” Dante’s voice crackles through the air. “Including the redhead.”
Zarreth snarls, halting mid-swing, fire scorching around him. His fingers tighten around the hilt, chest heaving with every breath. “Fuck!” He grits out, finally lowering his sword.
“Zarreth!” Macen shouts. He’s on his knees, eyes wet with crimson when he reaches out his hand, a pair of binding cuffs between his fingers.
Zarreth seizes them, moving in a blur while he snaps them onto Dante’s wrist. Metal clicks and bastard screams.
Macen falls completely over, his body convulsing on the ground, blood now pouring from his mouth. I need to stop this!. Please, God, Buddha…Theia! Help me! The necklace thrums when I mention the Goddess of Light, so I say her name out loud. “Theia! Help me, Theia!”
My stone scorches against my skin. Heat sears my throat, sharp enough to pull a cry from me, as the shadows slam back into my veins. A storm swirls inside the light stone, slowly fading to white. Thank you!
The moment my magic retreats, Nate and Dante’s horde of shifters disappear. Everyone else begins moving again, wiping blood from their faces. A mixture of relief and anger hangs heavy in the air.
“Macen!” Zarreth shouts. The cuffs are around Dante’s wrists, but they only bind his magic. Even with Zarreth’s fire and brute strength, he struggles to keep the demon-shifter down. Macen recovers, moving quickly to help contain him.
Jess cries. It’s painful, but it sings to my soul because it’s loud, stronger than before.
Graven’s by my side in a heartbeat. “Stupid fucking human!“ He places his hand on her cheek as color slowly returns to her face. She stops trembling, her cries quiet down as she drifts to sleep.
“What did you do?” I panic. “Why isn’t she moving.”
He clenches his jaw, speaking through gritted teeth. “I took her pain…” He inhales sharply. “She’s alive.”
She’s alive. Thank God, she’s alive.
Grabbing the front of my shirt, he tears away a strip of fabric. He quickly winds it around her neck and returns his hand to her shoulder. Please work.
Dante laughs as Zarreth and Macen jerk him forward, shoving him into the grip of two massive warriors. The sound rattles through the air, taunting, like he’s in on a joke none of us get. Macen’s voice cuts hard. “Take him to the Hole, now!”
Dante grins, blood streaking his teeth. “It doesn’t matter where you take me. I won’t be there long.”
“What about her?” Sable steps forward, blood staining her blonde hair. “She should be thrown in the Hole along with them.”
“Shut your fucking mouth.” Zarreth stands in front of me, blocking her from my view.
“Why? She brought this on us!” She opens her arms wide. “Look around. Some of us lost loved ones tonight, children were injured.”
Bodies litter the ground, demons crumpled, a few shifters torn open. I glance at a young demon with blood-stained tears dried to his cheek. It’s the one who needed extra help when I taught them how to throw knives. He cowers when I look at him. I did this to him.
“I heard him call her the Realm Eater,” a voice lifts from the crowd of demons surrounding us now. “She nearly killed us. She’s just as bad as the shifters.”
“Get her out of here.” A rock comes flying and hits me in the shoulder, followed by another.
I lean over Jess, blocking her from the rocks as much as possible. “Stop it! You're hurting her!”
“She deserves…” Her words are cut off as Zarreth’s fingers tighten around her throat. She kicks, the tips of her boots barely reaching the ground as she claws at his hand.
“You fear my mate? The one holding back?” His eyes scan the crowd, flames dancing on the tips of his fingers, searing Sable’s flesh. “That’s a big mistake. I’ll kill every single one of you.” His grip tightens, completely cutting off her airflow. “Starting with you.”
Macen slowly moves toward Zarreth like he’s afraid Sable’s head will be lying on the ground with the rest of the carnage if he moves too suddenly. “Zarreth, let her go.”
His nostrils flare for a moment, flames flickering in his eyes, but he finally releases her. Sable collapses to the ground, fury carved across her face. “Things were fine before they got here,” she spits.
The crowd gets restless. Demons shift on their feet, voices rise, threatening to turn into a mob.
Macen turns to Zarreth. “You need to leave. Garrick is watching over Bloodridge. His mate is there, she’s a witch, a healer.”
“Thank you for all you’ve done,” Zarreth says in a low voice.
Macen’s gaze sweeps the uneasy crowd. “I know they don’t see it now, but they will. Because of you and your mate, Aradon is dead and Dante is captured.”
Graven scoops Jess into his arms with surprising gentleness. Sable pushes herself up, her voice cutting through the chaos. “Where are you going?”
“Bloodridge,” he says, adjusting Jess in his arms.
Her eyes narrow, but I still catch the hurt before she buries it. “You’re choosing a human over me? Over us?”
He doesn’t bother glancing at her. “I’m not choosing anyone. I gave my word I would protect her and I failed. The least I can do is take her pain away.”
“I thought you didn’t care about humans,” she spits.
His mouth curves into a humorless smile. “I don’t, but I was never going to choose you, Sable. You were just a good time.”
Her face tightens like she can’t believe someone would turn her down. I don’t hear her response because the ground yanks out from under me and we trace away.