3. Nyx
Nyx
Willow! I scream her name through our bond, but it’s like my voice hits a stone wall. I can’t reach her no matter how I claw and scrape at the barrier. She’s gone. Locked away somewhere I can’t find her, and in her place is… What is that thing?
Whatever’s wearing my mate's face turns slowly, taking in the room with a predator's patience. Its eyes are completely red, and they gleam with hatred beneath the dark lashes I've kissed a hundred times.
It’s wrong. Unholy. It may look just like her, but it is not my Willow.
I strain against the invisible bindings crushing my limbs, desperate to reach her, to do anything but hang here uselessly. My claws elongate, scraping at nothing, but try as I might, I can't get free.
Willow floats closer to where Dagny is pinned to the wall, her mouth curving downward with disgust as she takes in Dagny’s silver-ringed eyes. “Horrible creature. Vile abomination. I will take care of you first, then I will strip the skin from your mates’ bones.”
Dagny struggles against the powerful hold of Willow’s magic, her mouth moving slowly as she fights to get out her next words. “I’d… like to… see you try… bitch…”
Willow’s lips pull back, and she actually hisses. “I will take my time with your death, halfling, and laugh as I send your soul to the abyss.”
Dagny’s eyes burn, the silver around her irises glowing bright enough to rival the sun. “Fuck… you… kindly.”
Willow’s mouth opens, and a horrible wailing sound explodes, echoing off the walls of the cave and freezing me to the spot as pain lances through my eardrums.
Willow surges forward, wrapping her hand around Dagny’s throat. Dagny’s eyes bulge, and her body convulses as she struggles for air. Willow looks down on Dagny with a horrible, evil grin, the red from her eyes coloring her face the hue of human blood.
Dagny's struggles are slowing. I can see it even from here. With every passing second, the fight drains from her body, and I can do nothing but watch her die.
Just when I think it’s all over, a rush of wind sweeps through the tunnel mouth, and three more figures barrel into the cave. The demons—green, yellow, and blue—move too fast to make out any distinct features. I only know by their body language that they mean to defend Dagny with their lives.
“Get off her!” the yellow one cries. The yellow and blue demons seize Willow by her upper arms, attempting to wrench them away from Dagny’s throat.
At the same time, the green one attacks from behind, wrapping both his hands around her throat and hauling backward with everything he has.
His arms bulge with effort, twin veins standing stark at the sides of his throat as he strains against her, but Willow doesn't budge.
Willow's head snaps to the side with an irritated growl, her attention shifting briefly to acknowledge the newcomers clawing at her. Almost lazily, she raises her hand, and a blast of raw magic pulses outward, flinging all three of them off her as if she's swatting flies.
They hit the ice wall with a trio of sickening cracks, and one by one, they slide to the floor in crumpled heaps, where they refuse to move.
“Useless males,” Willow grumbles, shaking her head slowly.
Satisfied that they won’t be interrupting, Willow turns her attention to Dagny, and that horrible smile creeps back into place. “Sorry for the interruption, darling. Where were we…?”
She goes back to choking Dagny as if the interruption never happened, her grin widening with malice. Dagny's nails scrape weakly at Willow's wrist, but there's no real strength behind it, and Willow lets her know it by throwing her head back in a taunting laugh.
“I love it when they struggle. Don’t you see how good it feels, Willow?” The thing wearing Willow’s face cackles maniacally, like it just heard the funniest joke in the world. “Oh, please. Don’t argue. It will all be over soon. You’ll see, Willow. You’ll see.”
Is that thing… is it talking to Willow right now?
A flash of movement in the corner of the room catches my eye. Kaebl—the gold-eyed one—has somehow broken free of Willow’s magic, and he’s currently slumped on the floor, pretending to be unconscious.
When he is sure Willow isn't paying attention, he begins crawling toward the three newcomers that Willow attacked. He reaches the yellow one first, and presses two fingers to his throat, tilting his head down as if listening for a heartbeat.
Whatever he finds is enough.
A ripple of blue light passes from his palms to the yellow one’s chest, and in the next moment, the demon's eyes snap open.
Stay still. Wait for my signal.
I don't hear the words—not the way I hear Rhune’s voice in my head—but I see them land. The yellow demon’s jaw tightens, and he nods once before going still again, playing dead just like his brother had earlier.
Kaebl moves silently between the other two fallen demons, rousing them the same way he had the first. Within moments, all four of them are conscious, coiled, and waiting.
All at once, they strike.
Kaebl and the other three surge up from the floor and slam into Willow's side in a single, brutal strike, catching her by surprise.
The impact tears her hold from Dagny's throat, and Willow careens sideways through the air, her formless wings beating hard to keep her upright as Dagny slumps against the wall, gasping for breath.
“No! You don’t understand what you’re doing!” Willow screams, fighting against the four demons. “You don’t understand! Let me go!”
Hearing Willow’s screams—even if they are not hers—causes something inside me to snap.
I don't decide to move. My body just does. One moment, I’m held to the wall by that invisible power, and the next, I’m tearing through the bindings and flying across the room, my teeth bared and claws extended, ready to defend my mate.
I don't know if I mean to kill the demons or shield Willow from them.
All I know is that I have to do something.
As I near her, I catch sight of Rhune out of the corner of my eye, a roar tearing from his open mouth as he races in to do the same thing as me.
Willow doesn't even look between us before deciding we're all the same threat. She spreads her arms wide, and the force that tears out of her hits all of us at once, sending us crashing back to the cave walls.
I slam into the ice, and the air is ripped from my lungs as I slump to the ground, feeling my bones crack and shatter with the strength of her magic.
“Useless!” Another screech rips out of her, only this one isn't aimed at me.
Dark blood splatters across the ice-rock as she drives blow after blow into Kaebl and his brothers, the force pounding their bodies into the ground, sending ice-rock flying in all directions in a fantastic show of violence and power.
Rhune—poor, hopeful Rhune—crawls toward her, choking on the blood pooling in his lungs. It dribbles past his lips and down his chin, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He’s too busy trying to get to Willow.
He stops a few paces away, reaching a blood-soaked hand up toward her. His palm is curled into a tight fist, and I can’t see what he’s holding, but I do catch the glint of a golden chain hanging out the side. Willow’s necklace. He must have snagged it at some point during the chaos.
With the last of his strength, he presses up, presenting the locket to her.
“Willow… my love… please, don’t… don’t do it… Come back to me…”
She freezes. Her eyes blink, and some of the red clears. “Rhune…? Why… what’s happening?” When she speaks now, her voice is her own. Not the evil thing that's been screaming through her mouth, but hers. It’s small, and lost, and confused, but it’s still hers.
"I am here," he chokes. "I am right here, Willow. Stay with me."
A tremor runs through her, then another, and her wings evaporate.
I blink, and Willow’s body falls from the air. A massive crack reverberates through the space as Willow lands on her hip. She doesn’t make a sound, just slumps to the side, boneless.
Rhune and I lunge for her at the same time, but stop when our hands are inches from her body. Whatever's happening to her right now, I don't know whether touching her will help or give that thing something to feed on.
“Just hang on, Willow,” I whisper. “We’re here. Just hang on a little longer, beautiful.”
Willow’s spine arches backward, her arms rigid at her sides and her fingers clawing uselessly at the ground. A sound tears out of her that isn't a scream—it’s something lower, caught in the base of her throat. It’s like two different voices fighting to use the same mouth.
She rolls on her knees, releasing a high-pitched wail as she clutches her skull. Her eyes open wide, flashing from red to normal, then back to red.
Every time the color bleeds back into her eyes, I feel it through the bond we share. Something cold and ancient rises, sinking its tendrils deeper into her psyche, fighting to take control. Her gaze clears, and warmth floods back in, but it flees before I have a chance to hold on to it.
“No!” the entity’s voice screams. “No! Stop it! Stop! The halfling is mine! Mine!”
Willow’s eyes roll back in her head, and she falls out of the sky, hitting the ground hard enough to crack her bones.
Before we can move, her body begins to seize.
Just as quickly, she goes utterly still.
Around us, the storm dies. That awful pressure in the air thins and dies, and the chamber is silent.
For a moment, none of us moves.
Then Rhune is on his knees beside her, pulling her limp body into his lap. I crawl toward them, curling my wings around the three of us for privacy.
Dagny and her mates hang back at the edge of the room, watching us embrace. No one speaks or moves, but their wary gazes track our every movement.
I can’t exactly blame them. She did just try to kill us all. But it wasn't really Willow. I just don’t think that’s something they will be able to empathize with right now.
“Lean back a little,” Rhune says. “I want to heal her hip.”