Chapter 3 Lazriel #2
Cassius struggled forward and tried to call his white power to break through it, but his magic only sparked.
My blood had healed him from the perspective of giving him enough strength to rouse from unconsciousness and keep him here on this plane while the Soul Brand fracture had been trying to pull him toward death with Velra.
But beyond that… accessing his magic was currently off the table.
Until Velra was back with us.
Until she was spared.
Saved.
Fucking alive.
Sylas shoved to his feet, his hooded coat flapping wildly behind him as the force of his power streaming from his palms shook the forest around us, wind whipping violently, as he cast a dome over him and Velra.
As that held steady, he thrust his magic at Velra in two streams than had me grimacing when it made her body jerk violently like humans being defibrillated.
He was caked in mud and blood, mine in his hair and his neck from when I’d held him to me with my wrist still gouged and not yet healed, Velra’s blood soaking his pants. He looked like a macabre dark arts master as he streamed his magic with such force and furious determination.
Black sparks started to seep into the crimson streams as he bellowed a disturbing incantation.
"Mors mihi nunc non imperat.
Cede voluntati meae.
Flecte corpus et animam.
In genibus—subiice!"
“Cease!” Cassius thundered. “Sylas, do not!”
I knew what those words meant. Learning about the magical arts went hand-in-hand with becoming familiar with Latin, as many spells—especially amongst traditional and elitist magic-wielders—were performed in that language.
"Death does not command me now. Yield to my will. Bend your body and soul. On your knees—submit!"
He was challenging death itself.
I watched red veins traveling through any part of Velra’s skin visible, and in mere moments, her wounds were healing, including the horrific one in her side.
“He’s spreading my vampire blood throughout her body without the need for a beating heart to distribute it?” I asked Cassius.
“Yes. He cannot bring her back to a broken body. With what he is doing, it could result in Animated Fleshwork being raised in place of her true form.”
I couldn’t allow him to do it at all.
Not like this, not when he could die as well.
I went to rage at the barrier again, but Cassius yanked me back, trapping me in a body hold.
Even though he was weakened and his magic basically inaccessible, he was still an Immortal, so his strength was colossal.
“You intervene now when he’s in the throes of the spell and you could damage yourself, him, and Velra.”
“We can’t just allow him to do this!”
“I agree. There is a way to end the spell without causing harm. Somebody who has fused their magic with his before could perform a similar feat now, but it would have to be done with surgical precision, or—”
“Ariana Martel. Sylas told me that she’s the one who enabled his serum-making to become perpetual. The fact that it’s his spell she’s powering means magical fusion, right?”
“It does. However, there may also be another way without involving her. Somebody else who can assist.”
Silver smoke erupted and a voice ground out, “My granddaughter will not be involving herself in this heresy.”
We both spun to see Cornelius Martel eyeing us as he strode over hand-in-hand with his husband, Warlow Boyd.
Warlow choked as he saw Velra lying there—fucking dead.
No. Stop it.
Temporarily dead.
We were bringing her back.
It wasn’t even a question. It was a fact.
An absolute fact.
But not like this.
“How are you here?” Cassius asked.
“Velra sent Kelsana to us,” Cornelius said. “Her instructions were to call as she returned to campus, but Kelsana panicked and came our way in person instead, hence why the three of you weren’t also alerted.”
Cassius smiled sadly. “Velra realized I would be compromised, so she sought to bring in another source of Immortal power.”
“So this sort of thing wouldn’t happen,” I grunted, gesturing out at Sylas.
Cornelius eased his hand from Warlow’s after stroking his cheek in a sweet act of comfort, then grasped Cassius’ shirt, easing it aside to get a look at the Soul Brand.
“I see,” he said, unsteadily, then swallowed hard, clearly trying to check his own reaction, given how much he and Warlow cared about Velra.
He stepped back then, his right fingertips glowing with his silver power.
He pressed them to his temples then closed his eyes in concentration.
When he opened them, he announced, “He’s coming.”
“Who are you—”
My words caught in my throat as Kai Hunter materialized in a flare of rose-gold magic right beside Cornelius.
His leather trench coat swept behind him as he spun to face him. “I’ll spare you the details given that you’re her grandfather, but suffice to say, I was engaged in a deliciously dirty liaison with Ari and my loves when you ripped into my fucking mind.”
Cornelius grimaced. “I am fully aware. I entered your mind in haste and saw more than would normally be possible with a mere mind-link.” He held up his hand. “My apologies, but the situation is urgent. I trust that you have dissuaded Ariana from following?”
“I threw up a couple of blocks on my way, but with her power, they won’t hold for long. We need to make haste. So what is—” His voice caught, a visible chill rolling over him as he caught sight of Sylas performing the spell.
His gaze flicked rapidly from Sylas to Velra.
Then to me.
It lingered for a while and I saw his pain for me, before that was then focused on Cassius as well.
Sylas had obviously kept him in the know concerning our burgeoning group dynamic.
He sucked in a breath, then addressed Cassius. “How was she killed?”
“An iron blade to the heart.”
I could see the strain it took for him to utter the words, to try to treat them as facts and not loaded with so much fucking devastation.
“Iron blade… like last time.” He swung his head toward Sylas who hadn’t even noticed his arrival or that of Cornelius and Warlow. Some sort of realization flamed in his eyes as he turned back to face us. “Puritas was here? At least Sorin?”
“Sorin did this to her,” I answered. “Sylas and me also had a run-in with another agent—Victor Halrow.”
I could see his urge to ask more, but with the urgent nature of what he’d been called here to deal with, he didn’t speak to it.
Instead, he focused on Sylas as that same incantation continued. It was clear to me then that Sylas could no longer hear or sense us—he was far too deep in the spell.
Kai eyed Cornelius. “You brought me here to bolster him, to use me as a conduit to allow protective interference into Auctoritas Mortis.”
Cornelius told him, “To counter what he’s doing without disturbing the spell—which is too far along now and would cause irreparable damage to him and certain death for Velra—you’ll need surgical precision.
Specifically, your precision in melding your magic with his, since you’re already familiar with it. I will supply additional power.”
“You’re going to need to. We’re talking a colossal amount to pull this off without causing further damage.”
“If we don’t, there’s only one way out of it now he’s invoked this particular spell.”
“Black magic,” Warlow uttered with clear distaste.
“He won’t do that,” Kai assured them. “He’ll let himself die instead.”
“What? How do you know that?” I demanded.
“Because of his father.”
I frowned. “His father?”
“I see he hasn’t told you.” His gaze flicked to Cassius. “But you know… a little, yes?”
“Yes,” Cassius admitted, avoiding my eyeline.
Kai cut through the intensity and stepped up to the shimmering red wall, upturning his palms and calling his power. He held the left out to Cornelius. “Let’s reel in this madness.”