Chapter 54
Fifty-Four
The breeze swayed through Dante’s chin-length hair as he stared into Valdez’s frosty hate-filled eyes. His fingers and entire body tensed as he summed her up, anticipating her first move. Her lips pursed, her dead stare flickering to his. Her mouth twitched beneath her halved mask.
Suddenly, she jumped into the air, flying up, up, up high above the demolished metropolis. He was on her in a heartbeat. The world spun beneath their feet. The golden sunlight illuminated the lime green sky, sparkling against her gilded armor. He raised his fist to strike her in the face.
“Freeze.” He was frozen in place, teeth gritted together. His eyes bulged with rage. He struggled to move, twisting and trembling, trying to break free from her telepathic grasp. Dammit.
She chuckled, flying up behind him, wrapping her toned arms around his neck. Her gloved talons sank deep into the skin of his throat. She squeezed him with all her might, cutting off his oxygen supply. He gasped, elbowing her once, twice, three times in the gut. Valdez flipped him around and turned him upside down. She charged him into the earth headfirst, and he collided with the terrain sending debris and rubble spraying everywhere.
He rose to his feet and flashed a taunting smile, tucking a fallen strand of hair behind his ear. Dirt tumbled down his armor. “Is that all you’ve got? If I traveled all the way out here for that cheap trick, I’m rather disappointed.”
She gasped as he turned and punched her square in the chin, knocking her veil higher onto her face. He caught a glimpse of the crusty damaged skin he’d given her as a parting gift. She went airborne, landing into a nearby building, crumbling the structure to the ground. He lit a ball of fire in his hand, tossing the flame after her. The sphere ignited, exploding against her fallen body. Embers fluttered to the ground.
As she pushed herself to a shaking stand, he heard the sound of whimpering. Distracted, he stared at the alien family cowering beside the wreckage. The frightened children buried their faces against their parents’ arms.
“Everything is going to be okay,” he mouthed to them.
When he looked at Valdez again, she’d grown two heads taller over the course of a few seconds. The hard muscles in her legs and arms bulked out sporting pulsating veins. Her neck thickened like a tree trunk. Her voice deepened as she growled, charging at him. The ground vibrated and cracked beneath her monstrous stride.
At the last possible moment, he grabbed her by the arm and sent her flying straight toward a steel wall. She turned on her heel with precision and grace, whipping around, facing him.
“Freeze,” she bellowed in a deep unnatural voice. From her tone, she wasn’t messing around.
He struggled again to move, trying his best to maneuver his limbs. Why couldn’t he break her hold with as much strength as he possessed? He had to admit she was a formidable opponent. A wave of sparkling energy shot from her hand, engulfing him whole, rattling him to the core. Waves zapped through his teeth and bones sending him tumbling through the sky. The thick taste of metallic blood filled his mouth as he collided with a building, shattering clear through a glass window.
He pushed himself to a shaking stand, catching his breath in long quaking attempts.
“It didn’t have to end this way, Dante,” he heard her shout from outside. Her voice echoed through the destroyed metropolis. “If only you had cooperated. You could’ve had everything you’ve ever wanted and so much more.”
“I already have everything I want,” he reassured her. “If you’re referring to yourself, don’t make me laugh. You disgust me, always have.”
He flew outside, passing over the shards of glass and through the demolished window when from out of nowhere her body slammed him against the building, pinning him in place. The breath ripped from his lungs as he stared at her revolting face. Her bloodshot eyes tore through him like sabers. Her pointed teeth gritted.
“I’m serious,” her voice caressed him, causing bile to rise from his gut. “I’m not referring to your human or our history. You could’ve been immortal—a god.”
He rolled his eyes. “Why would I want to be immortal? So I could be a slave to the Grand Supreme for all eternity and take orders from the likes of you?” He spit the blood from his mouth, running his tongue against his teeth.
He paused for a moment as a wave of shock and horror simmered through him. His eyes bulged. Wait, oh no. “Is Izzo?—”
“No,” her cracked jade lips curled. “But he will be soon enough, as will I after we receive the missing piece to the puzzle.”
She continued, tightening her grasp around his throat. His vision darkened at the corners. “I can’t believe how much you sound like Maeve—it’s sickening. She was nothing but a sweet little liability. She made you soft and weak like a baby ling suckling from its mother’s breast.”
His mind scrambled with rage. His molars ground in his mouth.
“Why do you bring her up? Why now?” he choked out. She never did care for her and made no secret of her feelings.
“I have a little secret to tell you.” She brought her vile lips close to his ear. Her warm breath poured against his skin as he gagged into her hand. “She always trusted me more than anyone else, even more than she trusted you. But I think you already know that. The way she looked up to me, after all, what are big sisters for?” She winked her left eye on the unscathed side of her face. A cruel smile widened across her lips.
He squirmed in her grasp, trying in vain to free himself, but he’d underestimated her strength.
“On that fateful day, she called to check up on me to make sure I was okay—like she tended to do—and to see that you were safe during our mission. I told her yes, I was okay, but that you had been injured in the crossfire. In blind stupidity, she trusted me, and why wouldn’t she? I’d never given her a reason not to,” she chuckled. “With the help of Keyserike, who had nothing better to do at the time, I lured her off the ship, and guess what happened next?” Valdez pulled a long, pointed arrow out of her gilded armor, twirling it between her fingers. Dante stared on in horror.
She continued. “I’ll never forget the look in her eyes as I fatally wounded her and dumped her body in the sector I knew you were working on. The look of, not only shock, but cold-blooded betrayal. She deserved to die. What a weakling. I’ll never understand what you saw in her and why you couldn’t see the same in me. And when I’m done with you, sweet little Autumn will be my very next kill.”
Dante could still feel the pain in his ribs and chest as Maeve ripped against his skin with the dagger he’d given her to protect herself in a panicked, dying state. The fear and hysteria in her eyes when he discovered her burnt body. His insides quaked with sickness. As he reminisced, Valdez took the arrow between her meaty taloned fingers and twisted the weapon into his gut, cutting him through. He wheezed, doubling over in pain.
He looked up at her slowly, his eyes unwavering. “Is that true? What you said about Maeve?”
“Every word of it.”
He took his knee and rammed her in the stomach, sending her sputtering through the air. He flew after her, taking his fists high above his head, striking her and thrusting her into the earth. Rubble crumbled from the fallen buildings as she collided with them.
He flew down after her, his stomach dripping with blood. Dizziness frayed his sight. Valdez scrambled to her feet and raced over to the alien family cowering on the sidelines. They had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
She grabbed the youngest by the back of his neck and he screamed, kicking. Dante approached her, fire burning in his palm. His legs straightened. He remained steady and focused.
“If you come any closer. He dies. We both know how weak you’ve become,” her mouth sat crooked on the good side of her face as the child squirmed.
The ball of fire in his hand swelled larger in size. “I’m calling your bluff.”
He took a step closer, and she tightened her grasp around the whimpering child, then threw him in front of her like a shield.
“I’m serious,” her teeth chattered before her eyes grew wide and desperate. “Wait, please don’t. You—you need me. You’ll never be able to defeat the Grand Supreme on your own. Trust me, I’ve thought about it myself many times. We can team up.” She paused, her eyes wavering with fear. “Please, let’s join forces. I never ever mentioned what transpired between you and Keyserike. I kept your dirty little secret. And Earth?—”
“Save yourself the groveling, it’s pathetic. We both know you never did me any favors. You only think about yourself. The way you worked me to the bone—you’re a monster.”
Her face contorted as she raised the child high in the air. Her tattered wings shifted. A ball of fire ripped and swirled from his palm, striking her square in the heart. The wave traveled clear through her body as she slammed into the metal wall. Black blood oozed over her golden armor. Her mouth moved but her whisper grew faint. Her head fell to the side, wings collapsing. The light faded from her eyes.
Dante shuddered, his fingers running over his own injured abdomen. Blood stained his dark-red gloves. He fell to his knees and collapsed before everything went dark.