CHAPTER FORTY-THREE #2
I flinched, my eyes squeezing shut, and crumpled to the floor, coughing hard, dragging air back into my lungs.
When I opened my eyes, Will stood above the guard’s limp body, chest heaving, blood on his face.
I just pushed myself up with shaking arms and stumbled toward the door.
He shouted something, but I couldn’t hear it.
The hallway twisted sharply, then spilled out into a wide, open room.
At the far end, glass doors stood wide open, letting the smoke curl out onto a narrow balcony that seemed to wrap around the building.
And there he was.
The man I assumed was the owner of the brothel, stood at the threshold, framed by the night sky. He wasn’t holding Licia by the arms anymore. He had her by the throat.
Her body dangled over the balcony railing like a rag doll in his grip. My stomach dropped straight through the floor.
If he let go… If he so much as twitched…
“Please,” I choked, stumbling forward.
My voice cracked, ripped raw from my chest. “Please—don’t—”
The man’s grip tightened, vicious and final. Licia’s body jerked, then went limp again, helpless in his hands.
"You move, I drop her. DO YOU HEAR ME?!" he roared, eyes wild with adrenaline, with power.
Everything inside me screamed to lunge at him. To rip him apart with my bare hands. But I didn’t move. Because one wrong step and she’d be gone.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t blink. Couldn’t think.
Then I felt it.
Something inside me… shifted.
It wasn’t fire. Or light. It was something older. Darker. A shadow slithered through me, slow and venomous, it curled around my lungs, threaded through my veins.
A part of me I didn’t recognize. It didn’t beg or cry or scream.
It waited.
And I let it in.
The panic faded from my eyes as I drew a deep breath and rolled my shoulders back, because I wasn’t alone.
I don’t know if all gods move through the shadows, but in that moment, it felt like the world itself surged into me.
The air. The ground. The fear. The pain.
Every shred of it rushed inward, crashing through my body like a tide that didn’t care what it broke on the way in.
I don’t know if I was channeling all the power of the gods, or if they were using me as their puppet. But it didn’t just fuel me.
It transformed me.
And I didn’t just unleash the monster inside me, because somewhere between pain and power, it stopped being it.
And it was just... me.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like prey. I felt like a predator.
“Please...” I pleaded, “Let her go.”
His sneer faltered. I stepped closer, my movements slow and fluid, tilting my head slightly. I didn’t know where the idea came from, only that it felt like the only way to save Licia. If I could make him forget his fear of me, I could get her out. And what’s stronger than fear?
Lust.
“Please,” I said softly, letting my voice drip like honey, thick and sweet and deadly. “I’ll do anything.”
He didn’t answer, his grip on her didn’t loosen. But his attention shifted.
I had him.
I leaned in, just enough to let the heat from my skin reach his.
“How do you think I got that man to risk everything to set me free?” I murmured. “He said it was magical.”
His eyes locked onto mine with single-minded hunger.
Perfect.
I stepped in closer, slowly, until our bodies nearly touched. Then I leaned forward and pressed my lips to the curve of his neck, soft and slow, just enough to make him forget.
“Let me show you,” I whispered. “Give you what you deserve.”
His breath hitched.
I let my fingers trail up his arm, feeling the shape of his muscles beneath his shirt. I didn’t rush it, every movement was deliberate. Controlled.
“Sorry,” I murmured. “I just can’t help myself around men like you. Strong. Powerful.”
My hand slid lower, across his forearm.
“I get this… need,” I said softly, like it embarrassed me. “Something deep and aching.”
I reached his wrist, the one gripping Licia, and I didn’t try to pull it away.
Instead, I wrapped my fingers gently around his hand, to keep him from letting go.
Then I began to pull. His hand stayed in place, trapped under mine, while Licia’s body painstakingly slowly, shifted back over the ledge.
I felt Licia’s weight shift and her breath caught in a sharp gasp as she collapsed into safety behind me.
He still didn’t notice. The man was completely lost in the spell I’d wrapped around him.
“I know you feel it too,” I said. My hand rose to his jaw, trembling but delicate. “I could make you so happy,” I whispered, tracing the edge of his face with careful fingers.
Then I tightened my grip.
I felt his pulse, the heavy beat beneath his skin.
The gift—curse—whatever it was, it wasn’t fueled by fear.
It was fueled by rage. I could have ended it quickly.
I could’ve crushed his heart and been done with it.
But I thought of all the suffering he had caused, all the pain that men like him cause.
I didn’t need to reach into my memories to find motivation.
It was right in front of me.
And suddenly, crushing his heart just wasn’t enough. I wanted him to die screaming.
So I gripped his face and met his eyes.
The heat that surged from me wasn’t fire.
It didn’t burn like flames—it simmered, low and relentless, more like a fever rising through me as his pupils began to shrink.
The veins around them darkened, bursting beneath the surface, until crimson tears welled and spilled down his cheeks.
His skin blistered next, swelling as waves of heat rolled through him.
Then the flesh started to twist and sag, sliding from his cheekbones in slow, molten ribbons.
I didn’t blink. Didn’t look away. I watched as his eyes melted, dripping down his face in black, smoking trails.
The flesh around them split open, glowing red at the edges like embers breaking through.
And the sound that left him wasn’t a scream of words.
There was no please, no mercy. It was just a raw, guttural noise tearing itself from his throat.
Then his body tipped over the railing and disappeared into the fire below.
Fuck.
The fire—my fire, had spread outside, and I had no clue how to stop it. It wasn’t anything I’d ever tried to do before, I didn’t even know if I could. So I stood there, frozen.
“We have to go,” I gasped finally, my voice shredded and raw. I reached for Licia as the heat rose fast, and smoke thickened the air.
Licia looked up, her eyes wide and wild, but she didn’t take my hand. She turned away instead and retched violently. Terror gripped me, not from the fire, but from the look on her face.
She was afraid of me. Of course she was, how could she not?
“Licia, please,” I begged, my voice breaking. “Come on.”
She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, blinking through smoke and tears.
“I’m okay,” she said. Then she lurched forward, coughing as she followed me through the burning building. Fire spread beneath my feet, with my touch, with my breath. I was a living, breathing ember; everything I touched turned to ash.
“I'm sorry,” I whispered. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry.”
But it didn’t matter. The fire didn’t care. “KERA!”
The shout cut through the roar, and I spun around.
Will and Aran stumbled into view, coughing, bloodied. Will’s eyes locked on me and his face changed.
I looked down.
I was glowing. The golden light around my skin flickered and pulsed, and the heat radiating off my body was enough to make the air shimmer.
“Stop!” Will shouted. “Kera, you have to calm down!”
“Get away from me!” I shouted, backing away. “Please, just go. And take her," I said, pointing at Licia. "Get her out. Now.”
Aran didn’t argue. He grabbed her and helped her toward the stairs.
But Will didn’t move, that stubborn idiot.
“Leave!” I begged.
“No.”
“You have to. I’m making it worse. I can’t control it.”
The flames roared louder, a deafening bellow that filled every inch of the building. The fire licked up the walls beside me, surged across the floor, curled its fingers around the beams above my head. Every time I turned, the fire was there, taunting me, chasing me, swallowing every escape.
“I’m not leaving you.” Will said.
It infuriated me how stupid he was. I had survived fire before.
I was a monster.
He wasn’t.
The ceiling groaned above me. A beam cracked and crashed to the floor behind him, sending up a spray of ash and embers.
Then I heard the scream. It cut through the fire, high, sharp, and full of terror. And that was when I realized I wasn’t just burning down a building full of evil men.
There were girls inside.
Girls like Licia.
Trapped in the same maze of velvet and smoke.
I hadn’t thought about saving anyone else.
It had seemed impossible, even if they wanted to be saved.
And maybe, deep down, I had assumed they wouldn’t.
After what the girls at the theatre had said, I’d assumed the ones in Hel would choose to stay too.
That they wouldn’t want saving. That they’d be afraid of freedom.
But there’s a difference between leaving them behind…
and killing them. I couldn’t be the reason they died.
So I ran.
The hallway was fire, and each step I took sent sparks skittering across the floor. I turned a corner and saw a girl, she was sprinting, barefoot, and guard had a second girl by the hair. He yanked her off her feet, her knees scraping against the floor as she hit the ground hard.
I didn’t hesitate.
I raised my hand, and the guard turned just in time to die. I lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing and slammed him into the far wall.
He hit the wall hard, crumpled, and didn’t get back up, but the girl scrambled away, vanishing into the firestorm.
I kept moving, chasing the screams, and found a door. Small fists hammered against wood. Voices begged through the flames, as fists hammered hard.
I threw myself at it, but the handle didn’t budge.
“They locked it,” I gasped, slamming my shoulder against the wood. “They locked it!”
“Kera, we have to go!” Will’s voice came from behind. I spun around and ran to the dead guard’s body, dropping to my knees. My fingers tore through his pockets, as more smoke stung my eyes, turning everything into shadow and flame.
“There has to be a key,” I rasped. My lungs scraped for air. I couldn’t breathe, but I didn’t stop.
“There’s no time!” Will shouted, coughing hard into his sleeve.
I was killing him. He wouldn’t leave unless I did, but I couldn’t leave the girls to burn. I knew what that felt like. And they were real. Real people with dreams and fears, favorite foods and families who were waiting for them, hoping they’d come home.
And if I did nothing… I’d be the reason they never did.
Will grabbed my arms and tried to pull me back. “The whole building’s coming down!”
“I’m not leaving them!” I screamed.
I ripped free from his grip and hurled myself at the door again. My fists pounded the wood until my knuckles split and blood smeared across the surface.
But the door didn’t move.
The fire was everywhere, a living thing, roaring and bellowing, its breath hot against my skin, my face. And it screamed, like a thousand furious voices howling in my ears. Smoke poured into my mouth, into my nose, searing my throat raw.
It was mine—and it wanted me dead.
Then Will’s arms were around me again, pulling me backward, lifting me off the ground.
“We have to leave!” he shouted. “Now!”
“No—just a second—I can still—”
“You can’t!” His voice cracked. “You can’t save everyone!”
And as he dragged me away, the screams behind the door, those final, desperate cries, faded into the roar of the flames.