Chapter 29 #2
So if these weapons were here, neatly stacked in front of me like trophies, then somebody inside FangTech had been bleeding inventory out slowly enough not to get caught.
Small shipments. Tiny discrepancies. Just enough to disappear into the cracks until those cracks became a mountain sitting in front of me.
My teeth ground together at the thought of someone inside my company helping these psychopaths.
The human spread his arms proudly toward the crate like he expected applause. “You helped build this future.”
Suddenly, he turned and walked back toward Olivia. This time, she wasn’t struggling. She’d gone perfectly still, and I knew she was waiting.
Then his hand touched her face, and something inside me snapped instantly. A roar ripped out of me hard enough to shake the cavern walls.
Beside me, Rack exploded too. “DON’T TOUCH HER!”
The human turned his head toward us, smiling wider at the reaction, like this was entertainment for him.
“The only way to improve something,” he murmured while stroking Olivia’s cheek, “is through sacrifice.” His eyes drifted down toward her almost tenderly. “And what a beautiful sacrifice she’ll make.”
Cold horror slammed through me. The weapons. The ritualistic location. He was going to use her to infuse the FangTech weapons with that distorted fae magic.
Rack moved first. His roar turned savage as he violently thrust both hands outward. Air detonated through the cavern, and the gatling guns jerked sideways just as they opened fire.
Bullets ripped through several hooded figures instead of us. Blood sprayed across stone while screams erupted.
I lunged toward Olivia, but something cold and wet wrapped around my legs.
Black tar bubbled upward from the floor around my boots, rapidly swallowing my calves. I yanked hard, but my legs wouldn’t move an inch.
One hooded figure nearby held out both hands toward me, and I could smell the demon magic coming off them—smoke and sulfur.
I dropped down and started ripping at the tar with my bare hands, violently tearing chunks away, but it just kept growing back. Higher. Thicker. Hungrier.
My head snapped up just in time to see the human pulling a paper from inside his robes. Ancient symbols covered the page, and he started chanting.
The tar tightened harder around my legs the more I fought it. Panic slammed through my chest so violently it physically hurt.
My breaths started coming, shallow and fast, while Olivia’s eyes locked onto mine across the cavern. For the first time since I met her, I saw real fear.
Think. Think, Calix.
I looked toward Rack desperately.
A fae illusionist had trapped him in some kind of phantom battlefield. Wind tore wildly around him while he attacked enemies that didn’t exist.
Fuck. Think! What breaks tar? What breaks adhesion?
My hands frantically jammed through my pockets until my fingers closed around one of the small explosive air capsules, and my eyes flicked toward my watch. One unused water spell left. An idea sparked instantly.
I slammed the activation button, and water burst into existence above my head in a massive suspended sphere.
The demon controlling the tar looked at it and started laughing.
“Need a bath?” they called out over the rushing water. “Might be hard scrubbing all this off.”
I released the suspended sphere above me. Water crashed downward in a violent wave, drenching me completely and flooding across the tar wrapped around my legs.
The black sludge hissed and bubbled as the water soaked into it.
At the same time, I pulled the small air grenade from my pocket and held it up between two fingers. Hopefully, this didn’t blow my damn feet off.
“Nah,” I said with a grin and all bravado, “didn’t you know?”
The demon suddenly stopped laughing. Its hood slipped backward as it stared at the water flooding the tar.
I smiled wider. “The trick to tar is hardening it.”
“What? NO!” she screamed, and I threw the grenade directly at my feet.
Boom.
Compressed air violently detonated outward. The soaked tar instantly hardened, becoming a solid weight around my legs. I gave it a good tug, and it shattered apart beneath my strength.
Stone-like chunks exploded away from me while I ripped free and blurred forward at vampire speed.
The fairy illusionist barely had time to turn before my hand cleanly punched through its chest . Warm blood burst across my arm, and when my fingers closed around something soft inside its ribcage, I crushed hard.
The fairy’s body convulsed violently before going limp. I ripped my arm free and threw the corpse aside without slowing down, then I charged straight for the madman… and slammed face-first into a forcefield.
The impact cracked against my skull hard enough to make the cavern ring.
I snarled and planted both hands against the shimmering barrier, shoving everything I had into it, but nothing happened. The magic held firm.
Inside the barrier, the human calmly lifted a knife from the altar beside Olivia. Ancient runes glowed faintly along the blade.
“No!” My scream tore through the cavern.
Suddenly, a cyclone exploded around the barrier. Air and fire spiraled together, swallowing the entire forcefield in a roaring storm, and the chamber shook beneath the pressure.
The human staggered backward, lowering the knife while staring up at the destruction spinning around him.
“Calix,” Rack barked sharply, “get behind me!”
He stood several feet away with both hands extended outward, fingers trembling violently while he forced more and more magic into the cyclone surrounding the barrier.
Fire screamed through twisting currents of air, and the forcefield started cracking. Tiny hairline fractures splintered across its surface.
“Yes,” I breathed. “Yes, break—”
Rack dropped to one knee. My stomach lurched instantly.
I sprinted toward him and caught his shoulder just as blood trickled from one nostril. His breathing came rough and uneven now. He’d used too much magic and was burning through himself.
“I can do it,” he rasped immediately before I could speak. His whole body shook while he forced his hands higher. “I can do it,” he repeated.
The determination in his voice hit harder than the magic itself. Nothing existed for him right now except saving Olivia.
Inside the weakening barrier, the human suddenly turned toward the slab and froze. Olivia was gone.
“You bitch!” he screamed, wildly spinning around the chamber to search for her. “Get back here!”
The barrier shattered.
At the exact same moment, Olivia exploded upward from beneath the slab, knife in hand, and launched herself onto his back, burying the blade deep between his ribs.
The human screamed violently while collapsing forward, and so did Rack.
I barely caught him before his face hit the floor. His body sagged heavily against me, his breathing thin and ragged.
“Is she safe?” he whispered immediately.
Even barely conscious, that was his first question. My chest tightened painfully.
Olivia sprinted toward us and dropped beside Rack, gathering him into her arms while tears streamed down her dirt-streaked face.
“I’m here,” she choked out. “You saved me.”
Blood covered half her face. Dust streaked her clothes. Her hands shook while she held him, and he looked up at her weakly. Somehow, he let out a strangled laugh.
“Liar,” he rasped softly.
She immediately pressed a hand against his cheek. “Shhh.” Her voice broke apart while she tried calming him. “Rest.”
His pulse was weak, but with Olivia touching him, holding him, he should make it though. The bond visibly pulsed between them, and if he were truly dying, she would’ve known already.
Instead, despite the tears pouring down her face, Rack continued teasing her.
“Crybaby,” he murmured weakly. She laughed through a sob and lightly smacked his shoulder.
That was enough for me. He’d live.
I slowly stood, then sped my way to the human crawling on the ground. I flipped him onto his back.
Blood poured from his mouth with every coughing fit. Olivia had punctured something important, probably a lung, yet he was still smiling.
“This…” He coughed violently, blood splattering across his chin. “This is not the end.” I crouched over him silently. “He has sent his best for you,” he warned. His grin twitched wider despite the blood drowning him.
“You angered him.” Another cough wracked through him. “Now he’ll take your best from you.”
Then he started laughing again. Wet. Broken. Insane.
It ignited a quiet rage in me that took over, and I planted my foot across his throat. The laughter cut short beneath my weight.
“Don’t worry about us,” I said softly while staring down at him. “We’ll survive. We always do.”
His hands clawed weakly at my boot.
“But your master?” I leaned closer. “He’s going to watch every single loyal follower die.” My smile spread slowly.
“One.”
I pressed down harder.
“By.”
His eyes bulged wider.
“One.”
“You think he can survive against the Syndicate?” I asked, lip curling at even the thought.
His fingers desperately scratched against my shoe while blood bubbled around my boot.
“He won’t.” The rage inside me turned cold. Precise. “We’re going to carve our symbol into his chest.”
I lifted my foot slightly.
“Rip him apart.”
Slam. Bone cracked beneath my heel.
“Then do it again.”
Slam. Blood sprayed outward.
“Until the only thing left on his body…”
Slam.
“…is proof he crossed the wrong family.”
Crunch. His skull caved beneath my foot. I lifted it again, wanting to stamp out my anger one more time, but someone stopped me, melting my resolve. The only one who could.
“Calix.” Olivia’s voice cut through everything, and I was beside her before the last echo faded.
My hands gently cupped her dirt-streaked face. God, she looked exhausted. Shaking. Covered in blood and grime, she was shaking, yet she was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
“Yes, my Via?”
Her lashes fluttered tiredly while she looked up at me. “Can we go home now?”
I glanced toward Rack. Despite barely being conscious, his eyes never left her face. He was still watching her, making sure she was okay, and I smiled softly.
“Yes.” I brushed dirt from Olivia’s cheek with my thumb. “Let’s go home.”