Chapter 2 #2
“I won’t… break it.” He looked out at us weakly, tears welling in his eyes. And, as he let out another cry, it was one not only of physical agony, but absolute gut-wrenching pain for Velra.
“There’s… something I can… do,” Cassius told us, noticeably avoiding my gaze.
Because I knew damn well what the only possible solution could be from his end if she’d truly touched death while being Soul Branded.
“No,” I told him.
“No? What can he do?” Lazriel asked. “What is it? I thought you tethering her with your Celestial Light was a one-shot deal?” Hope sparked in his eyes. “It wasn’t?”
“It is,” I told him. “He’s talking about taking her place.”
“What? Sacrificing himself?”
“Yes.”
“We’re not trading lives here,” Lazriel said.
“We live in a world of magic, of overcoming the supposedly impossible. There are other ways. And we don’t even know if she’s…
you know. I can heal her with my blood.” He rose to his full height.
“I’ll find her and see to it. I’ll track her right the fuck now.
The Soul Brand could be… misinterpreting things. It might not be what we think.”
Denial for the win.
Not the best state to be in with this sort of thing.
But those not as familiar with death magic as I was reacted much like this in these situations so I wasn’t surprised. Especially not with Lazriel and his abandonment issues.
I shook my head at Cassius while Lazriel stepped off to the side to scent out Velra.
“At least she’ll still be alive,” he told me.
“No,” I ground out. “Living in a permanently agonized state is not a gift. It’s cruelty.”
I saw his magic spark, sputtering and wholly unstable, because of his current state.
“No!” I cried, as I saw the beginning of a teleportation spell.
I darted forward, calling my magic.
But I was too late.
He was gone.
Fuck, he was going to perform the sacrifice.
Lazriel swung his head toward me, eyes wide. “Did he just—”
“Yes.”
“It’s all right, I’ve got a lock on her. She’s still at Vantiqe.” He held his hand out to me. “Let’s go.”
I grasped his hand, then he was speeding us away.
It was all a disconcerting blur as Lazriel rushed us toward Velra and Cassius.
A wall suddenly surged toward us in the midst of it.
What the hell?
I felt Lazriel pivot, but the force followed our trajectory.
And then we slammed into it.
At our speed, it had me losing my grip on his hand and hurtling back several feet, before I then smacked my back into a nearby tree.
Lazriel hurtled across the grass, skidding roughly, his clothes shredding from the friction, before he came to a stop as he hit a large rock with a hefty thud.
He shook it off quickly, then sprung to his feet with wolf agility, his fangs and claws dropping instantly as he snarled out into the area, searching out the culprit.
I pushed off the tree, staggering in my step.
The wind whipped around us, and I saw rapid-fire movement headed toward Lazriel.
I cried out in warning, but he’d already clocked it.
His fist was readied as a figure came to an abrupt, skillful halt just two feet from him.
He was massive in stature, even dwarfing Lazriel, the beast all broad shoulders and arms like coiled stone, his chest straining at the seams of his tailored gunmetal suit with a black shirt beneath. His severe cropped hair matched the suit, red eyes glowing, fangs glistening.
“Who the fuck are you?” Lazriel demanded, his anxiousness to get to Velra clear. He was primed to destroy anyone who stood in his path.
“Victor Halrow.”
A chill slithered down my spine.
Him.
The name I’d acquired from Charlie.
A high-ranking member of Puritas.
I slammed my fists into the ground, my red power radiating out in a shockwave headed straight for him.
He leapt up, evading it entirely, flipping in mid-air, then landing several feet away from it.
Lazriel took the opportunity to strike.
But then Victor snagged his wrist with speed that completely eclipsed Lazriel’s, then twisted harshly. I heard the brutal snaps and the grunt from Lazriel as Victor broke bones. He slashed his talons across Lazriel’s torso, making him cry out as he drew deep wounds.
“I’ve wanted to meet you for a while now,” he spoke to Lazriel, kicking him to his knees.
“Why? What the fuck do you want? Your name means shit to me.”
“It wouldn’t. But now I want it to.” An eerie smile infected his features. “Long live, Puritas.”
“Puritas… what… Velra!” he roared, forcing himself back to his feet, as Victor looked on with condescension. “What did you do to her?”
“Me? Nothing. Well, I did facilitate access. So I suppose that is something. But for the actual damage itself you can thank her intoxicatingly ruthless brother for such fine work.”
“What work? What exactly did he do to her?”
“She’s dead.”
Lazriel burst forward.
Victor saw it coming almost before Lazriel had even made the move, and he thrust a single hand out that slammed into Lazriel’s chest and sent him careening back a good hundred feet in the distance.
He landed with an awful thud, his limbs askew, choking up blood.
“That’s right, hybrid bitch, look at me with all that terror. I do love demonstrating to perceived apex predators that they’re really the prey. That fear will grow. It will drive you to the point of paranoia and near insanity. And then we’ll—”
I sent a blast of my power his way.
But even caught up in his villain monologue, he dodged it, the only effect being cutting off his fucking sentence.
He turned toward me. “You’re conserving your power.
That was nothing compared to what the great Sylas Morgrave is rumored to be capable of.
Planning an illegal and mammoth violation of the balance, are you?
Hmm… try if you like, but will the consequences truly be worth it?
Not just the destabilization you’ll cause to the balance of nature and magic alike, but what it will do to you personally.
Becoming your father, for instance? Didn’t you already get too close to that once?
” He smirked. “Ah, yes, I recall Corvin raving excitedly about Glasswake Massacre. It appears that no matter your intentions, you were always meant to become Morien Morgrave. How tragic.”
I thrust my hands out, intending to capture him with Undead Domination and make him my fucking puppet—but then Lazriel released a wolf roar and ran at him, bloodied, shredded, and covered in mud.
“Lazriel, no!” I called out.
But he didn’t stop.
Victor grinned and went to deal out damage again.
But then he paused mid-movement.
Several blurs cut across my vision and then ten vampires were forming a wall between him and Lazriel. All of them wore hooded black cloaks and metal face masks, their eyes glowing red, talons extended, as they hissed at Victor.
Another four slammed into him from either side in pairs, wrenching him off his feet.
They then snapped into position, strengthening the wall to fourteen vampires facing off with him in clear defense of Lazriel. The protection his mom had put on him. Well, as we now knew, protection that had likely actually come from Remnant.
We all tensed as Victor glared out at them, rapidly assessing the situation.
“You are fortunate that today is not slated for his demise.” His gaze flicked to Lazriel. “There will be time to play first, time to savor.”
He took off then in a blur of speed that was barely perceptible.
Moments passed where the vampire unit stared out after him, clearly scenting and tracking him to ensure he’d really left, and wasn’t planning a return sneak attack.
And then the one covered in gold jewelry looked Lazriel over and nodded. “You are healing rapidly. You are well.”
“I am. Thanks for that.”
The guy gave him a respectful nod, then told him, “Go to your love. We will protect the perimeter. You need not concern yourself with that, only your fallen.”
Your fallen.
No.
That wouldn’t be our reality.
I certainly wasn’t going to allow Cassius to pay the price to make that so. I already had the means to see to it.
It was different for me, I was dying anyway.
Cassius had an eternity left to live. And he hadn’t lived yet either. He’d just been an enslaved soldier of the Celestial Plane until recently.
Him dying while they were Soul Branded would destroy Velra and, by extension, Lazriel, because it would leave her closed to him—worse than the first time that had happened.
My way was the only way.
As much as I didn’t want to leave them, as much as I didn’t want to give up what I’d found in them, too much was at stake to be selfish.