Chapter 8 #2
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Everything is black and white with you. Being Infernal isn’t a curse. It’s a gift. And she’ll see that once she joins me.”
Horrified, Orion stared at me as if I were a stranger. In a way, I was. The Chrome he once knew was gone. “You can’t make that choice for her, Chrome. She’ll never forgive you for that.”
“She will. Once she’s free of the burden of her conscience, she’ll thank me.” I sighed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
My shadows crept from my arms and chest, coiling toward Orion to feed from him, but the moment they were about to make contact, I redirected them to stop the blast, making it miss him by inches.
My uncle’s eyes widened, relief and surprise in his eyes. “Chrome…” he said in awe, “you saved me.”
I took slow and deliberate steps to close the distance between us, chuckling to myself. “I did, Uncle. Because I couldn’t let you die before I savored that powerful soul of yours.”
He paled, his heart shattering in his turquoise eyes. My shadows struck, hooking onto his soul.
Orion rasped as his chest lurched forward. He drooped until his knees collapsed and his body curled in on itself, thudding to the ground face-first as I drained his soul and fed my power.
Euphoria surged through my body, as if specks of magic dust wafted around my mind and flooded me until I almost couldn’t contain it. Laughter bubbled from the sensation of ticklish shivers that danced over my sensitized skin.
When I finished, I broke through the haze, spotting Orion unmoving at my feet. For a moment, grief and horror threatened to erupt to the surface, but just as quickly, I squashed them down before turning around to face the battle that waged ahead of me.
I casually strolled through the battle, stepping over fallen bodies and slapping away incoming weapons and magical attacks with ease. Focusing on the bond, I tried to pinpoint Gray’s location, but it was like trying to listen to the radio with heavy static. She was near—I knew that much.
Still basking in the euphoric intoxication from Orion, I came to a halt and latched onto a Kinetic, stealing their soul from their body and boosting my strength.
I closed my eyes and tilted my face to the sky, savoring the ecstasy, and allowed it to take me higher for several moments before I came back to my surroundings.
They weren’t the strongest, but they would suffice for now.
At least I had plenty of sources to feed from tonight.
My eyes cracked open, hooded from the high, and my gaze collided with rainbow irises. Several yards away, Gray stared at me as if she’d just seen a ghost.
A crooked smile rose on my face, and my heart picked up. Little savage.
She stood in battle gear, an Elemental sword hanging in her grasp at her side. Kinetic magic and weapons bounced off her air shield that protected her body.
A man shouted in the distance, inconsequential. “Gray!”
But Gray didn’t turn away from me as the world fell away around us. My Twin Soul. She was all I saw amidst the chaos.
“Gray!”
I snapped my eyes away when the man’s voice registered. Slate.
I’d almost forgotten about the oath he’d taken all those years ago. He was going to be a problem.
Gray followed my focus, her attention falling on my cousin, a surge of panic coming from her end of the connection. I stalked toward them.
Blood smeared down Slate’s temples. Clutching a sword in each fist, he rushed to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“Queen Gray Monroe!” I shouted, my voice booming across the Hollow’s grounds.
Gray turned her attention back to me, her face pale and stricken. Slate’s gaze followed, latching onto mine from several yards away as I closed the distance. He held his chin up in a challenge.
I sensed a knife flying toward me from behind. Dispatching the blade from its trajectory with my shadows, I fluidly launched it at Slate’s chest, spearing straight for his heart.
Unsurprisingly, my cousin caught the hilt in his fist, inches from landing true. Just as I’d taught him.
I glimpsed Void wielding roots from the ground as a whip to take out a line of Kinetics, while River rained a torrential storm down on her opponents, directing the water into their mouths and noses.
“Chrome.” My name left Gray’s lips on a breath, her eyes saying everything that her body didn’t.
“Come with me,” I said, holding out my hand for her to take.
She shook her head. “No.”
Slate leaned down, whispering in her ear before she nodded. Then he moved toward me, walking the remaining distance between us until our chests were only inches apart. “Unless you plan to help fight them off, leave.”
“I’m not leaving without her.” I looked past him at Gray, who remained several feet away.
Every other second, a weapon or Kinetic attack came toward us, but Slate and I batted them away, our mutual challenge not to be interrupted.
“You know I won’t let you take her,” my cousin warned from deep in his chest, his eyes glowing blue instead of their usual hazel.
“And you know that she’s mine,” I said, my voice holding every single threatening promise.
Slate narrowed his eyes. “Not when you’re like this, Chrome. This is not how you’re supposed to rule Arcadia.”
“Does it matter how we get there?” I scoffed. “That’s our destiny.”
“Well, history says that didn’t work out too well, didn’t it? Look where it got everyone!” Slate seethed. “Look around, Chrome!” He held arms out wide, gesturing to the battle that grew bloodier around us. “This is the result!”
“We’ll do better this time.” I shrugged.
Slate shook his head in disbelief. “And what about Celanea? Or Forest? You work for them now.”
I lashed out a shadow, gripping Slate around the throat, squeezing it. “You know nothing,” I hissed. “I don’t work for anyone.”
Slate leveled me with a scowl, never wavering.
“You’ve claimed you’d die protecting Gray,” I muttered, studying him as my shadows clutched his neck. His olive complexion morphed into shades of red, but he made no struggle against me. “I think it’s time I test that claim.”
“Good”—Slate struggled to speak—“luck.” Suddenly, his body lit up with a silver aura, his hand unfurling from the fist at his side to clutch my shoulder. Light that burrowed past my bones and marrow singed me, making my shadows around his throat recoil.
“Fuck off with that shit, Slate!” I hissed, backing away from him. Laughing, I rubbed my shoulder. The burn felt like it left a permanent mark. “Looks like someone’s been practicing.”
Slate leveled me with a hard stare, his light still illuminating the space around us.
“You’ll still never be me, brother,” I taunted. Leaning into his ear, I said, “You can protect her, you can love her, you can be her hero all you want, but it’s not you she wants. Never forget that.”
Slate rolled his eyes. “Unlike you, I don’t put my wants first. The old Chrome understood that.”
“Never stopped you from wanting something that wasn’t yours, did it?”
Slate’s fist smashed into my eye socket, the bone splitting from the blow. I cackled.
“Whoever you are,” Slate murmured to me, batting away a stray attack. “You aren’t my brother. The real Chrome would never let Gray near you. Why do you think he left her before you took over? Now leave her alone before I fucking kill you.”
“You can’t kill me,” I chuckled. “Your oath wouldn’t allow it.”
“I’m sure there’s a clause in there that if one of you turns Infernal, then it’s null and void.”
I didn’t know if that was true, but I glanced around Slate, clashing with Gray’s fierce gaze again, my longing for her soaring to newer heights. This time, my yearning felt real, like I needed to protect her. Help her. Fight by her side. Strange. This was painful on a soul level.
My shoulder burned again, like the light that singed me from Slate’s palm spread throughout my entire body, warming a cold and desolate part of me that brought my emotions back to the surface.
I knew Slate wouldn’t let me get close to Gray, and I didn’t blame him. But if I could just touch her, maybe I could find my way back to myself. Instead, I remained frozen in the midst of the battle, holding her heart from afar.
I’d protect it. I’d protect her at all costs, even if it was from me.
I love you, I mouthed to her. Between our close proximity and Slate’s abilities, I felt the taunting shadows of my former self rising to the surface. “I’ll always find you,” I said lowly, knowing she’d hear me.
Slate raised his hands again, ready to shove me back with his otherworldly magic.
Gray clenched her jaw, her upper lip raising into a sneer before she charged closer to me, completely disregarding the battle around us. She balled her fist, ready to strike, but Slate snatched her back around her waist, lifting her off the ground.
“Don’t you fucking dare try to manipulate me with that shit, Chrome.
I’ll never fucking join you!” she shouted, tears streaming down her gilded face as she fought against Slate to let her free.
“I hate you for what you did! You should’ve let me fucking die, you coward!
Now look at you! Look at us!” Gray sobbed, oblivious to the attacks that Slate fought off with his magic.
At last, her body sagged in defeat in my cousin’s arms as she whimpered, “We’re shattered. ”
Gray’s rejection cut deep. My shadows thrashed against my skin, wanting free, but I swallowed the hit to my heart. “I’d do it all again if it meant that your heart continued to beat.”
I turned to walk away when a cloud of obsidian mist dispersed, revealing the last person I ever expected to see, especially at the Hollow.
“Shadow.”
“Should’ve made sure I was dead before killing our mother,” Shadow said, his cloud of shadow materializing to attack me with his microwave shocks.
My own shadows curled around his, but each time, he absorbed mine, then went for a different angle. “My mistake.” I slammed my palm into his chest bone, feeling his clavicle caving in.