Chapter 59
Islam my fist against the barrier. “Amarah!!”
As she turns back toward Yesenia, she holds my gaze for a split second.
Her hands lift slowly, as if in surrender. “What is she doing?!”
“I don’t fucking know—” Kayn snarls, slamming his fist into the wall. It doesn’t budge. It only ripples, wobbling like a balloon full of water. “Take the ground out from under them.”
“I can’t. I tried when I first wrapped it.”
“FUCK!”
Amarah inches toward Atlas, and I see the move before it happens—the blade pressing into the soft flesh of the Mundane’s neck. Thick, bright red blood spilling out.
I can’t imagine a worse pain.
Not for Atlas.
But for Amarah—who collapses to her knees with a scream I feel in my bones.
“No…” Kayn’s voice breaks on the single word. I can’t look at him. He knows as well as I do that if he can’t reach his friend within seconds of death, there’s no bringing him back as one of his kind. “…Atlas…”
Heat pricks behind my eyes, and as much as I want to comfort him, we have bigger problems.
Why didn’t Amarah kill them? She can clearly channel. What the fuck is happening? And why do they keep gesturing upward?
Watching her crawl across the floor…
My entire chest caves in. Seeing her this broken, this devastated, and all I can do is slam my fists against an invisible fucking barrier… it guts me.
The moment her forehead rests in his lap, Yesenia suddenly appears in front of us. Her smug smile pisses me off even more. She leans forward and blows a hot breath against the barrier between us.
Condensation forms. She draws a heart in it—then splits it down the middle.
My hands flex into fists as she steps back and says something we can’t hear. She takes a slow breath and lifts her hand. The white glow in her palm begins to fade.
It’s then I hear Amarah’s sob.
I’m not faster than Kayn. Not even close. He’s in front of me in a blur, his hand closing around Yesenia’s throat.
“NO, DON’T!!” Our girl screams it, but there’s no stopping him. The Hexborn’s head is gone from her shoulders in an instant—not thrown, not discarded. Kayn crushes it between his hands and roars as he launches himself toward Rane.
Bright, golden tendrils lash out, wrapping around his wrists and ankles, halting him a foot from taking the man’s head off.
“K-Kayn, please—” Amarah trembles, and when I try to reach her, I’m yanked down too—tethered just as tightly. “K-Kill me.”
My stomach drops.
“Don’t let them do this. Kill me.” Her shaking hands smear Atlas’s blood across her face as she wipes at her tears. “Please…”
“Release me and let me kill this motherfucker!” Kayn snarls, struggling against the binds. There is no breaking through them. These are just as strong as Vendra’s bindings. Even my shadows can’t contest their grip. I yank, twist—nothing. Not a single inch of give.
Rane steps behind our girl, unhurried.
“Get away from her!” I scream, but he doesn’t even glance at me.
He kneels behind her and wraps his hand around her throat.
Something warm drips down my face—blood, sweat, I don’t know—but I won’t look away from her. I can’t.
“Choose,” Rane says as his fingers tighten around her throat.
Why aren’t you fighting, Amarah?!
“Release her! It’s your death I want! I choose to kill you!” Kayn roars, only to be yanked even closer to the ground. “Amarah!!”
“Solve vinculum nostrum, Vendra. Libera eum… quaeso.” She whispers the chant to her God.
What the fuck is she doing?!
“It’s inevitable.” Rane squeezes her throat, and I hear a soft pop.
“I command you, as part of the blood bind, Kayn. Kill me.”
No.
The moment the air thickens, I know what’s about to happen. I don’t want to think about the consequences. I don’t want to consider why she would rather die. Why she’d put him through that pain for him to live with.
But I can’t allow any of that. She’s mine, and I’ll be damned if I ever allow her to die.
My shadows lash across the space and, in a blink, Rane’s head is gone. They consume it completely—obliterating it until nothing remains but the memory of its existence.
His death comes with mine and Kayn’s freedom from Amarah’s binding.
She slumps forward, and I catch her with the tendrils of shadow before either of us reaches her.
We don’t get a single moment of calm. The ground beneath us quakes violently. It’s like the Earth itself screams—so visceral I’m sure even the Beyond feels it. It lasts only seconds, and when it settles, Kayn and I are both looking down at Amarah.
Her head hangs back, a deep bruise darkening her throat. She doesn’t move, but I can hear her heartbeat. She’s alive, thank the Beyond.
I glance to Kayn, who has his chin tilted upward.
A chill ripples through me as blood drips down his face. Something splashes against my eyelid and I blink it away. Only then do I look where he is.
Swallowing hard, I release a breath.
I’m staring at the reason the city felt so quiet, even at night.
This is what Atlas was trying to tell us.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of bodies hang from the rafters of the warehouse. Mundanes in a slaughterhouse, they sway gently, drained of life. Chests wide open.
“Holy fuck…” he breathes.
Soft paws patter across the concrete, followed by a low yowl. “We need to go. The militia are here, and Thornwyn just suddenly disappeared… Oh shit…”
I look over at Mister. His head is lifted, eyes locked on the massacre overhead before he scans every corner of the space around us. I imagine there are more bodies than just the ones hanging above us. There are likely hundreds more scattered throughout the warehouse.
“This was a setup.” The feline twists, jumps, and in the flip, a portal tears open—wide enough for all of us. “They planned to pin this on you. Let’s get back before you’re seen.”
“Lucifer…” Kayn says as he rises. “Please grab Atlas.”
Without hesitation, I rush over and pull him from the seat. There’s no time to gently free his feet—they rip as I lift him. Before I turn back, I spot the mirror on the floor.
“Mister, can you get Verraketh?”
He appears at my side instantly, snatching it up in his jaws without a word. We move as the sounds of sirens and pounding boots echo closer. Dozens of vehicles. Hundreds of feet.
Fuck… this isn’t good.
We don’t hesitate and leap through the portal.
It’s been several hours since we made it back to Kairhyse and Xeraphine’s home. Amarah is still unconscious, and I know that when she wakes, we’re going to have a lot of comforting to do.
Zuhara hasn’t left her side. Honestly, none of us have. We’ve been sitting in the living room on the couch—blankets thrown over it—just waiting for her. All three of us are covered in blood, and while Kai didn’t seem to care, Xera insisted we shouldn’t scatter evidence everywhere.
Fair.
Kayn places his hand against my jaw, dragging his thumb across my cheek. “Thank you.”
I shake my head. “I should’ve killed him the moment he touched her… I hesitated, only because why would she tell you to kill her?”
“I don’t know, but I plan to get to the bottom of it with her.”
Taking a deep breath, I stroke my fingers through her hair near the scalp. Her head rests in my lap, the rest of her draped over Kayn.
A soft noise vibrates in her throat, and when she squeezes her eyes shut, a sigh of relief escapes me.
She blinks, her hand starting to lift, and I catch it gently. “Hey, hey—we’ve got you.”
Her eyes pinch closed again, and I wonder if it’s too bright. The sun is just coming up, spilling through the wall-to-wall windows. I lift my hand, casting shadows to block out some of the light but leaving enough that she can see us when she manages to get her eyes open.
It takes a second, but she finally smiles.
Bloody Beyond, she has got to stop doing this to us.
“Little slayer, you’re lucky neither of us can have heart attacks.”
She starts to shift, and I help her sit up. Her hand goes to her throat, and she winces.
“It’s just a bruise,” Kayn says as he brushes her hair behind her ear. “Nothing broke.”
“Thanks.” Her voice is rasped and raw. I reach over to the coffee table for the glass of water we set out for her.
“Here.”
She presses it to her lips and drinks—sip after sip until the glass is empty.
For a moment she doesn’t move or speak. She just stares down at the glass. Kayn and I give her the space. I rub her back gently, and she hums.
“That’s nice, feels like forever…” She looks at me, then over at Kayn. “I need to go to the bathroom. But when I’m back, can you keep doing that?” She turns back to me, indigo eyes full of hope.
“Of course, dollface.”
“Want me to walk you there?”
She shakes her head and stands slowly. “No… just remind me which room? My brain’s a bit…”
Kayn sets a hand on her waist. “I understand. First door on the left.”
She gives him a weak smile and moves down the hall, disappearing into the room.
“Fuck,” he groans. “She’s suppressing already. The bond is tied in knots, and I can feel all of her emotions being shoved into a tiny bag and suffocated.”
I move beside him and take his hand. “We will help her… but Kayn, how are you?” I place my palm to his cheek, turning his face to me. “Atlas, he…”
“Was probably the closest friend I had besides Kairhyse. But, Lucifer, I understand my life as an immortal. Death happens.” He exhales slowly. “It’ll take time to stop seeing that image, but… I’ll be alright.” He gives me a soft smile. “Thanks for worrying.”
I nod and lean in, kissing him. He grabs the back of my head and deepens it.
“Sorry to break this up.” I jerk at Xeraphine’s voice. “But we have a fucking problem.”