Chapter 23 #2
A pang in my head ceases my concentration, and the flames die out in an instant.
Then, before I know it, something takes over, controlling me like a puppet on a string, and I relish in it.
The way the weight is lifted off my shoulders, the taste of vengeance and revenge is sweet.
Onyx shadows pull from my body, stretching until they’re floating in the wind.
Stephan’s eyes grow wide at the development, and the grin I no longer care about hiding makes an appearance.
“What—” he starts, but he’s quickly interrupted by the unmistakable shake of Voraxis’s landing, the surrounding debris scattering as smoke billows out of his nose as I turn slightly to see his arrival.
“Stephan, I don’t believe you’ve met Voraxis.
” It looks like he’s thoroughly pissed himself, and I’m joyous at that discovery.
Lightning strikes above, smoking the tree closest to him.
“And I believe I’m not going anywhere with you.
” Thunder rumbles above, and it sinks into my marrow.
The shadows consume my form, billowing around me until we’re one.
One second, I’m standing by Odeyssa. The next, I’m right behind Stephan, the shadows unwrapping themselves, and I let the heat from my palms land on his face.
The wails he sings are magical, and I take a moment to let the sound wash over me.
Pulling away, the blisters that have formed on his cheeks are a masterpiece not even I could conjure up.
His attack comes as expected, but the dry branch doesn’t affect me. Not one bit. The crimson running down the side of my throat is refreshing, like a long-awaited embrace from an old friend that I’ve missed.
“What are you?”
“Your worst fucking nightmare.” The ground cracks as I stomp my foot, and he stumbles from the unevenness. The punch he delivers to my left cheek bone comes with a sickening crunch, his other hand finds purchase under my jaw, and a metallic taste floods my mouth.
Let me help, Voraxis pleads.
No! I bellow. He’s mine. My footing wavers as he advances me, wrapping his hand around my throat. I let the flames scorch his exposed forearms, leaving bubbling blisters in its wake. He hisses, but a smug smile tugs at his lips, like he’s relishing in the pain.
I call to one of the nearby branches, commanding it to come closer.
At first, it scratches Stephan’s cheek, leaving a light streak of blood in its path, before striking again and creating a gash on the side of his neck.
He takes a sharp inhale through clenched teeth, basking in the sting as his grip only tightens around me, snuffing out the little air supply I had.
He leans in close, spit wetting my face as he speaks.
“Not so tough now, are you, Angel?” My eyes begin to flutter shut, teetering on the edge of consciousness as he pulses his hold.
The surrounding debris scatters as smoke billows out of Voraxis’s nose.
Stephan’s grip loosens as his eyes go wide, jaw slack, understanding exactly what beast lies inside my little burnt marshmallow.
Fire shoots from his mouth with a ferocious roar, barreling straight for my assailant.
He pushes me away, but he’s too slow. The moment I’m able to breathe again, I spring into action.
My right hand easily takes control over the flame, like it’s a puppet and I’m its master.
I manipulate it to follow as Stephan weaves in and out of the barren trees, using my left hand to snuff out any stray fires that start when the embers touch the dry shrubs.
And when he comes back into view, I know he’s ours.
Creating a tornado with the orange hue, it circles him until there’s no way out.
He runs his hands through his hair, clearly agitated with how the situation has reversed.
I click my tongue. “Oh, Stephan, what to do with you now.” His eyes bounce to me, then Voraxis, who stands right behind me—no doubt giving Stephan his best intimidating stare—and finally at Odeyssa who walks confidently to my side, keeping a safe distance from the flames.
“You could be of value,” I ponder, looking toward Odeyssa with an intrigued look.
“Or it’s quite possible you’ve already given us all the information you have. ”
“You have no idea what you’re up against,” he seethes, pulling at the ends of his hair.
“I think we have a pretty good idea, don’t we?” I look around at both Voraxis and Odeyssa, who give me their own versions of agreement.
“No. No, no, no, you don’t.” He pulls my attention back to his pacing form, shaking his head while biting at the beds of his nails. “He’s coming. For you. For all of us. Don’t you get it? He will stop at nothing until you’re his. You’re the final piece to everything he’s been working toward.”
I tilt my head. “Who?”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re all doomed, but you’re just delaying the inevitable. By being here. By running. It’s just prolonging what’s to come. I need to take you back.” Back to the place I was held—tortured. He was there? No, there’s no way.
“How did you know where I was?”
“I didn’t. It was sheer, dumb luck you were here.
I thought it was the gods giving me a second chance, to prove myself worthy like I’ve done so many times before,” he prattles on.
“Your little boyfriend gave me a parting gift, and when I showed the commander, he was less than pleased.” He pulls up his sleeve until a symbol burned into his flesh is exposed.
Before, I would’ve thought he was lying, that Callum wasn’t capable of mutilation and torture. But it goes to show I never really knew him to begin with. Odeyssa gasps to my right, her hand covering her mouth as she stares in horror.
“What is it?”
“The symbol of betrayal—banishment,” Stephan answers. “Fae who bear it are shunned from all realms. Basically an invitation to live a lonely life of solitude…here.”
“But how did you get out?”
“Easy. My form changes and, in turn, expunges it from my skin,” he explains. It seems like a very big loophole for the creators of such a place to look over. Who knows how many other fae are walking around that should be here.”
“That’s not possible,” Odeyssa finally speaks. “It doesn’t matter what your powers are, wearing the mark doesn’t just…disappear.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He looks pointedly at her. “I’m different.” That literally explains nothing, but okay. Rolling my eyes, I’m beginning to get annoyed with all of this back and forth.
“Well, Stephan, this has been a nice chat, but we have other business to attend to.” I coax the flames inward, shrinking the space inch by inch.
“Whoa, whoa, okay. Let’s talk about this,” he pleads, extending his arms as if that’s going to stop the roaring flames. The tips of his fingers get too close, singing the skin as he roughly yanks his hand back.
“We have nothing left to discuss.”
“Aren’t you curious who took you?” It comes out rushed as the flames continue closing in.
“You’ve been trapped in here. How would you know?”
“I haven’t!” he yells, frustration blazing in his gaze. I halt the festering blaze, keeping it just a breath away, allowing the embers to heat his flesh. Sweat drips from his hairline, burning his eyes as they land.
“Even if you were telling the truth—and that’s a big if—why would I believe you?”
I see it in the way his facial features change from fear to cynical, not in the way he’s changed forms, but like a switch flipped. “What do I have to lose?”
“Your dignity, first off,” Odeyssa mumbles next to me, and I can’t help the chuckle that escapes.
Stephan’s upper lip tugs up, showcasing a hint of a fang. “Don’t worry, he has plenty in store for you.”
“Come on, Stephan. Tell me why we should let you live,” I taunt, knowing damn well he’s not leaving here with his head still attached.
“Dismiss your…cage, and I’ll be happy to.” He crosses his arms, dripping with smugness. His ego is suffocating, all the hot air he keeps up there mixing with hot fumes, and it nearly makes me dizzy.
I throw him a sarcastic smirk. “Gladly.” I’m not stupid. I eliminate the section separating us but quickly move it behind him, feeding it until it extends far on each side. If he decides to run, the flames will engulf him before he makes it to the opening.
“Cute,” he comments, obviously unamused.
“Deadly,” I correct.
You’re just going to let him go? Voraxis’s question comes out of nowhere, forceful and direct, almost like he wants to yell at me.
No. Just trust me. He stays silent, and my brows pull together for a heartbeat, the urge to face him strong, but I refrain.
“Out with it,” I demand. But he’s on me faster than I can think, engulfing my throat once again and slamming me onto the ground.
I grapple at his arms, not believing this is happening…
again. Odeyssa jumps on his back and pulls his head back by his hair.
He merely shrugs her off, like she’s a bug that just landed on his shoulder.
I feel the moment Voraxis is about to release another raging roar. Anticipating the release, I snuff it out as it leaves him, the heat getting too close for comfort.
Not yet.
Shadows spew from my body, wrapping around his arms and ripping them off me.
Something cracks, but I don’t care. I command them to suspend him in the air.
Then, with the flick of my eyes, they fling him toward a tree trunk, and he hits it with a sickening crunch.
As I step in his direction, the bone dagger strapped to my thigh weighs heavy, and without missing a beat, I tear it from its sheath.
Stephan slowly rises, wincing in pain with each movement.
Gripping him by the roots, I push his head back, pressing the blade to his throat.
He doesn’t show an ounce of the fear he did inside the flames.
Instead, his eyes roam up and quickly change to frustration.
I dig the blade in deeper, letting out a dark chuckle. “What’s the matter? Are they not listening to you?” The second the question leaves me, one of the branches lowers and tickles him on the back of his neck. He growls low, thrashing to get out of my hold, but it’s no use.
“You are nothing. A pathetic, wasted piece of ass, if you ask me.” I move faster than I thought possible. Using my grip on his hair, I slam his face onto my quickly rising knee. He looks up at me, teeth coated in blood as he smiles.
“Who is responsible?” I ask.
When he doesn’t answer, my fingers unclasp from his strands before backhanding him across the face.
He falls to the ground, hard, and I waste no time.
Letting the shadows slither beneath him and wrap around his neck, I string him up from the branches and watch as his fingers dig into the obsidian tendril, his feet kicking for some sort of purchase.
I thought it wasn’t time yet, Voraxis chastises.
Rolling my eyes, I let the shadows dissipate, and Stephan immediately starts coughing up a lung.
Twisting the hilt in my hand, I grip it so the blade is facing down as I stalk toward his pathetic form.
Kicking him in the stomach, he lands on his back, sputtering for his next breath.
Wrapping my hand around his throat, I haul him up with strength I didn’t know I possessed, pinning him against the tree trunk.
I let the heat tingle in my palm, causing my hand to glow faintly with orange, not quite burning but still an unpleasant amount of heat. He grimaces beneath my hold.
“Tell me.”
When he stays silent, I turn the heat to blistering and watch as the bubbles begin to form.
“I’m at a tipping point, Stephy.” A point where I don’t really care if he tells me; I just want his life to be over.
And I want to be the one to end it. There had been a time in my life where I never thought I’d be able to take another person’s life.
But that’s not realistic—not here. I’ve killed, and will continue, and there’s a part of me that doesn’t even think they’d need to deserve it for me to end it.
That should terrify me. Instead, it fills me with an overwhelming sense of delight, imagining the light leaving their eyes. It’s…intoxicating.
His face slackens as he stares at me, searching my eyes with a bone-chilling terror.
His lips form a singular name, coming out as a mere whisper against the all-consuming pain coursing through him.
It momentarily stuns me, and I can see in his eyes that he knows it didn’t matter.
He was going to die either way. But there’s also a look of pity crossing over his features, and I hate pity.
Releasing his throat, I slash the bone dagger’s blade across his already sensitive skin.
Like it happens in slow motion, I can hear—feel—each vein puncture, the blood flow immediately changing course.
The tendons rip apart beneath the sharp force until the line is clean across, and crimson gushes from the incision.
Instinctively, he reaches up to stop the bleeding, but it’s no use. He’ll be dead in seconds.
Somewhere behind me, Odeyssa lets out a horrified gasp, but I ignore it.
There was simply no other way. I watch as the last bit of air expels from his lungs, and my eyes don’t leave him for a long moment, wanting to ensure that he doesn’t just disappear like last time.
Only when I’m satisfied he’s truly dead, I wipe his blood off on my pant leg and secure the blade back in the sheath, turning toward the others.
Odeyssa eyes me with caution as I take deliberate steps toward her.
“I’m sorry.” She looks at me with confusion, and I continue.
“It wasn’t your father.” I hate admitting when I’m wrong, so I try to make sure I never am.
But in this case, all the signs were there.
Like big, neon, pulsing lights that I was too naive to pay attention to. “It was mine.”