Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
Evelyn
Evelyn exhaled their journey and inhaled the sight of the Sun Temple, her soul no longer in its last days, but hours. As if her body knew the end neared, an instinct urged her forward.
Sand blew down the other side of the canyon like rusty waterfalls. Through the shimmering dust, Evelyn made out the simple archway carved into the cliff, the etched sun above it barely visible at this distance.
Kade stepped up to the canyon’s edge, and a thousand words swirled in his golden stare, but he said none and gave Evelyn a committal nod instead. They were here, and there was no going back.
Haste filled everyone’s steps as they descended the hundreds of stairs down the cliff into the canyon’s valley. Evelyn and Kade led the front, Linx at the center, and Todd and Belle at the rear.
Sweat collected rose-colored sand across everyone’s skin, and as they reached the walkway across the valley, Evelyn swore the winds bellowed. Maxie dashed ahead, meowing insistently. Evelyn peered at her familiar and stilled. A pebble by Maxie’s paw trembled.
“Run!” Kade roared.
Bleu ran past, and in a single move, Kade swung upon his horse and headed for Evelyn. She braced, waiting for his outstretched hand, but another force barreled into her, knocking her across the sand.
She landed with a bone-rattling thud, but she didn’t have time to regain her wits.
A nathracha—a snakelike demon—launched at her.
Evelyn threw her hands out and grasped its bared fangs.
Fathomless black eyes stared down at her, the acidic scent of its deadly venom puffing into her face.
Its long, legless, scaled body writhed, muscles trembling as it fought Evelyn’s hold, intent on driving its fangs into her flesh.
Evelyn growled, arms shaking as she fought the demon’s attack, and slacked as metal sang through the air and the head landed on her chest.
“Evelyn!” Kade thrust the beast’s head off her, sword soaked in black blood.
She shook as she rose on unsteady legs, panting.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Evelyn patted herself for injuries but found none aside from scraps left by the sandy rocks. “I’m fine.”
“Kade!” Todd called
The ground trembled, echoing through the canyon.
Todd shifted into his werewolf form, and two more nathracha demons sprang out of the sands. The tips of their tails glinted red, their stingers dripping with venom. The droplets sizzled in the sand where they fell, burning through the rocky terrain.
“Stars above,” Kade hissed, squatting into a fighting stance.
One demon circled Todd, Belle, and Linx, and the other slithered towards Evelyn and Kade.
“Goddess,” Evelyn breathed, hoping the Sun Goddess heard this close to the temple. They didn’t have time for an attack.
“Stay close,” Kade called over his shoulder. “If I tell you to run, you listen.”
Evelyn nodded. Any other time, she’d argue and refuse to let Kade face a demon alone, but she wasn’t in any shape to assist, putting him at risk. Tiredness clung to her bones, and her soul disintegrated yards away from the temple.
The demon struck, but Kade pivoted right, slicing near its neck.
The blade clanged off its tough scales, barely leaving a scratch.
It whirled, lunging at Kade again as its tail rattled, the tension rising in the air.
It struck again, and Kade deflected its blows by scraping his blade across its bared fangs.
Evelyn trailed Kade as he circled the demon and fought. Maxie weaved between her legs, frantic and hurried, while Bleu paced—the other horses had long abandoned them, specks on the valley’s horizon.
Belle and Todd fought a demon together. The witch attacked, stepped back, and before the demon recovered, Todd sliced the demon’s softer underbelly. Linx somersaulted across the sands, joining Kade, and the teammates began the same tactic.
Uselessness vibrated through Evelyn’s tired muscles. Her head ached, and while her heart raced, an icy chill, unfitting for Cirrillo’s desert air, ran in her blood.
“Oof!”
Evelyn swiveled her attention back to Todd and Belle. The demon had used its scaly tail to knock them off their feet.
A screech cut through the air. Linx had thrown an explosive at the other nathracha, giving Kade the chance to lunge close enough and strike his sword through the demon’s underbelly.
Flesh tore. It screeched louder. Kade pulled out his blade.
Black blood splattered on the sand, but he’d exposed himself. Unguarded. Unaware.
Evelyn shouted his name, but it was too late, and her instinct screamed, move, and she did, jumping in front of Kade—not thinking, not caring if she died, but only that Kade lived.
Shielding Kade, she took the other nathracha’s strike.
A sickening crunch rang in Evelyn’s ears, and all she became and knew and breathed was pain. Agonizing, hot, eroding pain.
Evelyn screamed.
Yet, fate and the gods were nowhere to be found so near their temple.
For the nathracha pulled out its stinger, the barbed end shredding Evelyn more on its exit.
Kade bellowed her name, his horror rattling her to the bone.
His blue power fizzled in the air. It grabbed hold of the demon’s tail, still wet with her blood, and climbed.
The demon grew powerless, unable to fight or slither away from Kade’s hungry power.
It devoured its scales, flesh, and bone until only blue remained, peppering the air with Kade’s immense energy.
Evelyn crumpled into his arms. Her hands turned black and spidery from the venom taking root in her veins.
She didn’t have hours. She had minutes.
“Kade . . .” she fought for breath and words and consciousness. “I . . . I love you.”
“NO!” Kade scooped her into his arms and ran. “Get to the temple!”
The ground trembled—or was that Evelyn’s teetering consciousness? The world flipped. Screeches of more demons echoed across the cliffs. Kade’s heartbeat echoed like war drums to her impending doom against her ear as she slumped in his arms.
Stay awake, someone shouted far, far away.
Remember the spell. We’re almost there, another said. Gentle, closer.
Belle—that was sweet, beautiful Belle. A friend Evelyn had found in the darkest of places. A witch who added light to the world. Brightness.
Evelyn lost feeling in her toes and fingers, and fire roared in her veins. Not her power, pure unapologetic flame burning her from the inside out. It inched closer and closer to her already failing soul. The darkness fed on her weakness. Grew stronger from it.
Evelyn fought the venom, grasping onto Kade’s shirt. “It hurts. It always hurts.”
“I know, love, I know. But listen to Belle, we’re going to start the spell. Stay with me.”
Evelyn obeyed. Tried to. The sun became lost, a sky of rocks, carvings, suns and nymphs dancing across the terra-cotta colored ceiling.
Familiarity caressed its gentle presence over Evelyn as Kade laid her down on cold stone.
She’d been here before—a different version of herself, but also wanting the same thing.
To get her magic back.
“Evelyn, listen to me,” Kade whispered, his voice so urgent and gentle all at once as he stroked her hair. “I love you—with all my heart and soul, in this life and the thousand more to come. Meet me there, Ev. Meet me in the Otherworld.”
Her handsome, kind fated. Fucking flames.
How was she dying and happy all at once?
Because of him, she had lived. It was with him she’d discovered herself.
She’d found happiness, laughter, and love.
Even without the mating bond, their love withstood the darkness they fought against. They, together, prevailed.
As would their love, long after Evelyn was gone.
Darkness, the sweet kind that fell before a blissful sleep, wrapped itself around Evelyn, and she closed her eyes, succumbing to the fall.