Chapter 38 #2
“Warwick?” I called him through our link.
He knew what I needed. Both he and Scorpion circled around me, protecting me, while I put all my focus on my magic.
Before, it had only been a few ghosts that I controlled.
Now I needed my own army, and that took all my focus.
A guttural cry came from me as I summoned the thousands that hovered near the river and cemetery.
My brain shut out everything else. Digging deep, I felt myself leave my body, stepping into the spiritual plane.
“Give them the order, my girl.” Tad stood next to me, confirming the claim he would always be near me. “I believe in you. You are strong enough on your own.”
I inhaled, staring out at the thousands of spirits around me. “Attack,” I ordered. They turned instantly, doing my bidding. Screams and cries burst in the air as each one killed an enemy.
It was sad because, at one time, they were innocent people with lives and families, just trying to make it. Now they were mindless killers, and no matter what, my family came first.
My soldiers and my mother’s worked in harmony—armies of death claiming more victims and reaping their souls.
The energy it took to keep them all in my control drained my body quickly. The commotion outside of my body made it hard to concentrate, my hold on the spirits slipping.
A cannon detonated overhead, yanking me out of my trance, severing my connection to the ghosts with a brutal snap, bending me over. The ball crashed through the bone army like a bowling ball, fragmenting and scattering the skeletons in its path, taking out several hundred.
My stomach sank.
Fuck.
Bullets may not kill them, but cannon fire could obliterate them, making them as good as dead.
“Lukas, watch out!” Ash bellowed, running for him.
My head yanked up to see Lukas, distracted by the cannon fire, his head turning away from his brother. Iain leaped out of the passenger seat, his weapon raised, his mouth moving, though I couldn’t hear what he said.
Bang!
A scream stabbed my throat, my body halting in shock as Lukas’s frame jerked back at the impact. His head lowered to where the bullet sank. Shock and sadness etched his forehead, his hand going to his heart. He glanced at his brother before his body fell.
No. No. No . . . please, no.
“Noooo!” Ash’s howl cut through me, gripping my lungs like clawed hands, his legs tearing across the plaza to his lover.
“Ash!” Warwick belted a warning. Iain pointed his gun at Ash, ready to fire.
“No!” Instinct moved me forward to get to him, but Kek’s thunderous scream froze me in place.
Her skin became translucent, her eyes so black you could see no reflection, only pits of wrath. Objects slid out of her way as she stormed for Iain.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
He twisted, shooting at her, but even if she was hit, her demon was too angry to notice.
Terror streaked over Iain’s face, his legs stumbling back, about to run like a coward, but Kek caught him first. Snapping the gun out of his grip, he let out a squeak as she drew him in, her arm wrapping around his neck, ready to snap it.
She whispered something in his ear, his eyes growing big in response.
I could tell her demon wanted to kill him slowly.
She wanted this painful and cruel. Her hand started to crack his neck.
The backdoor to the SUV swung open, my mouth opening to scream, to warn Kek of the danger behind her.
In a blink, Sonya moved faster than I had ever seen, her violet eyes glowing brightly.
Her lip tugged up in a sneer as she swung the sword she had in her hands, the blade cutting at Kek’s neck from behind.
A noise wedged in my throat, my body jolting as if I had been the one struck, devastation and agony empaling my soul on a blade.
I know I screamed. I could feel the rawness of my throat, feel the vibration in my chest.
My eyes took in what was happening, but my mind couldn’t. Not even as Kek hit the ground next to Lukas, her head almost no longer attached.
Sonya screamed at Iain, both scrambling back into the car. Segui hitting the gas, the car pushing past its blockade, tires squealing as they got away.
I no longer cared. My legs bowed, a sob wailing up as I crawled for my friends. To Ash. Time felt fuzzy, and my perception of the world was hazy. All I felt was more pain. More death.
My hand touched Lukas and Kek, digging into my gut to revive them. I shrieked, trying to bring them back to life, searching for their souls, pulling at nothing. Magic fizzled as I used everything, burning through my energy.
“Kovacs.” Arms wrapped around me, trying to pull me back.
“No!” I batted at his hands, trying to push back in their souls, though I knew they were gone, but I didn’t care.
“Princess. Stop.” Warwick’s link grew weaker the more I pushed my energy into Lukas and Kek.
With a growl, he yanked me back in his arms, wrapping me up so I couldn’t move, his mouth at my ear. “I can’t lose you too,” he muttered.
My body went limp, my head bowing, feeling the pounding of his heart, the warmth of his body, the solidness of his love.
“Whatever it takes.” His shadow cupped my face.
Ash’s grief drew me from my own. Wiggling from Warwick, I scooted to Ash, wrapping my arms around him. His heartache was so heavy, so painful, I could barely hold on to him, sharing in our grief for just a moment. I felt the trees and earth bow to his pain. Mourn with him.
His soul was so kind. He was lightness and life. I felt I was made for the darkness, for the ugly side of death. He wasn’t.
Not like this.
Another blast plowed through more of the skeletons near us, flinging bones up in the air like dust, taking out another huge chunk of our fighters.
My agony wanted to wallow in the loss of my friends, but the battle around us wouldn’t allow it. Unless we laid down next to them and gave up.
Warwick yanked me to my feet. I didn’t want to get up, I didn’t want to go on, but in war, you had no choice. You had to sever any part of you that could feel, leaving your fallen comrades where they died, only to grow heavier which each soul you carried on your back as you continued on.
The ones who caused this pain, who took our friends from us, escaped. Anger gripped every muscle, making my shoulders rise in vengeance. It was like I could feel Kek and Lukas near me, telling me to get my ass up and fight.
“Get that bitch for me, little lamb. Take them all down.”
Blinking, I glanced down at Kek and Lukas, Ash still bent over them, his heart shattering, as another explosion hit a tank close by.
“Brex!” Warwick tugged me.
“Go! Go!” Wesley motioned for us, moving to Ash. “I’ll get him.”
“Keep him safe.” Warwick’s words were a threat, not a plea.
Wesley waved us on, shooting at the enemy as the rest of our group jogged away. The only thing keeping me going was knowing if I didn’t, more of my friends would die.
In the end, this war came down to me.