Chapter 20
CHAPTER
“Stupid humans,” the spider-demon hissed furiously. “I saved you; you don’t know his nature. But I… I can make use of him. I can drain him of his abusive powers and put them to better use.” She closer to us, slowly as if not to scare us away, like a predator.
“I know what he is,” I snapped, grabbing her attention away from him. “He’s mine.”
I grabbed her leg and stabbed my blade in quickly, pulling it out before she was able to retreat. She hissed, baring her teeth at me.
The fog tightened around us until I couldn’t see sky or ground, only grey swallowing grey. The demon took a step back, probably letting us think we had won as she became a silhouette in the mist.
“Jaden?” I shouted out.
The shape shifted in the fog, turned humanoid, but shorter with hair buns and as the fog slowly separated from it I saw pink highlights.
“Ashley?”
Her shape stood between the dead trees, hair tangled like she’d been running for hours. She looked… broken.
“Why am I here? Do you remember?” she whispered. “Because I do. I remember her hand slipping from mine.” Her voice cut deeper than any blade. “I was supposed to die. Not her. I killed her by living.”
Ashley’s twin, her wound that never closed.
My heart lurched, protective, horrified, but Malakai’s hand squeezed hard around mine.
“Whatever you see, it’s not real,” he warned, voice strained.
Ashley’s face twisted into grief sharpened into accusation.
“You weren’t there,” she said to me. “You never saw what they did. You didn’t hold her while she died.” Her voice cracked. “You would never understand that kind of pain.”
The words hit like a fist.
Before I could answer, the shape shuddered, bones rearranging. Until Lionel stood there, cold and emotionless.
“You’re a fire mage,” he said. “I didn’t walk away because you chose him, I walked away because of what you are.” His disappointment smeared across every memory I had of him. “You burn everything that loves you. It’s just a matter of time.”
My body shook, but my flames exploded outward, pushing back the fog and the visions.
Once more I was back at that spider’s nest and her legs had circled around Malakai again; trying to drag him away, but he held my hand firmly and the other hand pressed into the sand…
Or rather the sand held him locked in place. Jaden’s magic was holding onto him.
My flames were enough to make her illusions fade, but not to kill her.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him,” she hummed tauntingly.
I reached for my gun and fired a shot at her.
Quartz burned into where her human and spider bodies became one and she screeched. My hands shot to my ears to try to keep the sound out, and her legs trembled, one wrapping around the wound I had made.
She was still a demon, still vulnerable to quartz.
Thank the Gods.
I shot another two rounds, and her eyes turned furiously to me. Her legs shot out towards me, all at once, ensnaring me as if she was trying to cocoon me next.
Another shot sounded from behind her, making her legs twitch in pain. But she kept encircling me. Was it Jaden who had made the shot?
“Disgusting human,” she hissed. “Hateful creature, what have you done?”
I tried angling my gun at her to fire another round, but her legs pushed my arm to the side. My eyes slid to Malakai, who had fallen to the ground, panting, struggling for consciousness. Then I swept my attention towards her eggs.
I used all my strength to straighten my arm and shoot them. First bullet missed, but the second cracked an egg open, blood gushing out of it.
“NO!” the creature screamed, her body bending as if the shot had hurt her physically too. Her leg slapped the gun out of my hand again. My flames flared, but they had no effect against her legs and her upper body closed in on me.
“I’ll devour you and your sinful flames,” she whispered coldly. “Then, I’ll let my babies feed on those you left behind in the forest.”
Another shot went off, she staggered, her legs curling as she made a gurgling sound.
“Those sinful flames belong to me,” Malakai said sternly. He had managed to grab my gun and shoot the abomination in the side.
“You—” she hissed as he fired another shot.
“Sorry, threats don’t really work on me,” he said lazily, reloading the gun.
Her legs had loosened enough for me to pull out the quartz ammunition from my own satchel around my belt.
I gathered them into my hand and used my flames to launch the shards into her chest, pushing them further inside her.
The spider staggered, and I fell to the ground when all her legs retreated, trying to hold herself up.
“I’ll make you pay,” she spurted. “He’ll betray you, like the demon he is.”
I pushed my flames harder against the quartz, shoving them even further in.
“He’s starving for you,” she told me, stepping close, leaning over me like a predator. “If he loved you, he wouldn’t restrain himself. He would devour you.”
She moved fast, her face close to mine, her hand reaching for my cheek.
And I burned it.
Fire exploded from me like I was borrowing the sun’s scorching flames. In the blinding flare, the demon shrieked and Malakai blocked one of her legs from trying to pierce me.
I stabbed her jaw with my dagger, flames erupting down the hilt, lighting its veins up from the inside out.
She thrashed, her legs thundering against the ground around us, making the earth itself quiver.
“I know him,” I hissed. “And he is nothing like that.”
The demon spider writhed, her body slamming against the ground before everything turned still.
Silence.
A hand seized my shoulder, firmly, when I turned I met with eyes burning like blood on fire.
“You should’ve run away.” Malakai’s voice cracked with rage and relief all tangled together. “What if it had killed you?”
I grabbed his wrist, meeting his fury head-on. “I couldn’t just leave you to become her snack, or whatever she was doing.”
His eyes dropped to my hands, which still shook. “You were scared.”
“Terrified! Did we not see the same creature?” I barked. “Still, I will always protect you.”
His breath stopped.
For the briefest second, awe shattered his anger.
His hand slid up to my jaw, a claim spoken through touch; forehead pressed to mine, a low chuckle rumbled in his chest as he reveled in my trust in him. His eyes began glowing scarlet, like he was barely resisting the urge to sink his teeth into my throat to punish me.
“Sweetie,” he breathed. “You will be the end of me… but I’ll happily die for you.”
“That’s cute and all… Or just stupid, but those spider eggs are ready to hatch any second.” Jaden grumbled, limping towards us.
Malakai spared him a glance, his expression blank. “I must admit, I did not expect you to help.”
“Well, here I am,” Jaden shrugged. “Being helpful and all.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, looking him over.
“I just sprained my ankle a bit, nothing to worry about,” he waved it off.
I nodded and returned my gaze to the giant tree.
Quickly, we plunged holes into the spider eggs with our blades, killing whatever offspring she might’ve conceived, not willing to risk them haunting us for revenge.
The humans that she had caught were not alive; she had drained their magic into the eggs and their blood along with it.
I wondered why she had kept them like that…
It was horrifying and I felt bad for not being able to save them, for being too late.
“Ethalyn?” a familiar voice shouted, and I knew it was Lionel, worry sharpening his tone. They must have searched for us for a while. If they had heard all the gunshots, I wouldn’t blame them, I would’ve been worried sick, too.
The fog parted just enough to reveal the path back.
I tightened my grip on Malakai and nodded towards Jaden. “Come on, the others need us.”
Ashley’s cries hit us before we saw them.
We burst back through the fog, heat still burning in my lungs. Ashley sat in the grey sand, her hands drenched in Nate’s blood, fingers trembling as she pressed against the wound.
“He, he passed out—” she choked, voice cracking. “I can’t stop the—”
“We wrapped a bandage over the wound, but he bled through it in moments,” Eve filled in.
“I’ve got it,” I said, already kneeling and Ashley moved away to make room for me.
I pressed my palm over Nate’s shoulder. Flame pulsed beneath my skin, not raging, but controlled and precise. My magic found torn flesh and sealed it shut, sizzling blood into dark scars.
Ashley flinched at the smell but didn’t let go of him.
She didn’t dare.
“He’s alive,” I whispered as the fire faded. “He’s alive.”
She exhaled a sob that hit deeper than the demon’s taunts ever could.
“What happened, did you get the demon?” Lionel asked, his voice coated with worry.
“Yeah,” I stammered, trying to push the pictures of the spider away from my mind. “It’s gone.”
Malakai crouched down beside us, silent, assessing, and then he did something none of us expected.
He slid his arms under Nate and lifted him gently. Ashley stared like she’d just witnessed a miracle, and Malakai raised a brow. “What?”
“You are helping someone who isn’t Ethalyn?” Ashley said, voice raw and hysterical. “Wow, character growth. I’m proud of you, demon-boy.”
Malakai’s eye twitched. “Say that again and I’ll drop him.”
But the corner of his mouth softened, just a hint.
Enough that she gave a tear-choked laugh.
Jaden hovered nearby, hands shaking. He couldn’t look at Nate, couldn’t look at any of us.
“I killed him,” he whispered. “I killed Caleb. I didn’t even… Gods, I didn’t even think.”
No one had stopped him, but no one had encouraged his decision.
There was no comfort to give.
“It’s not your fault,” Eve said finally, quiet but razor-sharp. “It could’ve been any of us.”
Her eyes shifted to Malakai, guarded, but not hateful.
“And we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves,” she added. “To be clear, you’re still terrifying… But you’re not like them, you’re not evil.”
Malakai blinked, confused.
Faelin nodded, folding her arms. “He seems to be an exception.”