Nolan and his team observed the scene about to unfold. He motioned for everyone to stand down, and appeared confident the outcome would end in his favor. Blair and Eli waited cautiously, unsure what to do.
“Adrian!”
The blades in Lizzy’s hands swirled into small puffs of wispy shadows, the blank ink reappearing on her forearms. The corners of her mouth stretched into a delightful grin. The heaviness in her turquoise eyes subsided, softening in relief at the sight of seeing me still alive and unharmed.
She stretched out her arms to embrace me, and ran to meet me the last few steps. I followed the same gesture, but not to return her affection.
“Impetus.” Lizzy froze, eyes wide, struggling to comprehend the malice now burning in my eyes. A blast of orange magic propelled the short distance from my palms. She called forth her shield, but not in time. A direct hit to her chest knocked her off her feet, and she toppled backwards to the floor, tripping on the broken glass and other debris underneath her.
“You know that’s not necessary to activate your magic.” Nolan casually positioned himself beside me, enjoying the show.
I always thought this magnificent power came from the watch, but I now understood it to come from Rezith. I had been refusing to use it, trying to strengthen my Nullifier ability instead. But the rage...the same dark, malicious rage that overcame me the night of Nolan’s betrayal, consumed my emotions and cast all reason aside. I could not forgive this woman for playing with me the way she did.
Blair and Eli instinctively focused their immediate attention to Lizzy’s threat. In that pivotal moment, bladed feathers soared past them as a warning not to step any further. They both motioned to raise their hands in a magical defense, but Isaac hurled a mutating ball of dense ash, tossing them aggressively into a graveyard of desks and expensive, now broken, machinery. I watched as their skin began mutating into an ugly red patches of burning magic. I could hear them writhing in pain as it ate through their clothing down to their bare skin.
Before they could get up, Daisy, still trapped under the shelf, unsuspectingly rolled a red orb at their feet. I saw her lips move, but I couldn’t hear the words that came out. Rose colored powder burst into the air and fluttered down onto them. Within seconds, their bodies went limp, lying there like puppets whose strings had been cut. They could no longer do anything but watch and listen.
Isaac moved in to finish the job when Nolan stopped him. “Let them helplessly watch as the one they betrayed rips apart their precious teammate.”
It was now one on five. Still on the ground, Lizzy’s terrified gaze darted from her teammates back to Nolan, then to me.
“Wha—what are you doing?” Her voice was a shaky whimper. She pushed herself up to her elbows, sharp glass piercing her skin, her eyes swelling with disbelief. Shallow cuts marred her once pristine face, blood trickling down like wet paint on a deceitful canvas.
“How does it feel to be a traitor? Did you think by turning me in, getting rid of me, that you’d finally find a way to prove yourself to all these assholes? You’re a liar. You all are!” I turned to Blair and Eli, still listening but unable to move. “I thought you were different. Despite going against everything I believed in, despite constantly telling myself not to do it, I gave you my trust. How could you? You never wanted to help me, did you? You just needed to eliminate the problem before it got out of hand. I should have known you were just another sleazy street rat. Just like everyone else.” Seething anger like sharp barbs formed on my words. They were painful and hurtful, and I meant every single thing I said.
Tears mixed with blood as they rolled off Lizzy’s face and splashed onto the floor. She rose to her feet, wiping the tears from her cheeks and smearing the blood across her face. Her stormy eyes then caught me in her dark gaze. “How dare you say that! You don’t know anything, Adrian! What lies did he feed you?”
“Nothing. I was warned to stay away before anything even happened. I refused to believe it. But I heard your conversation with Blair and Eli. I hate to admit it, but Nolan was right all along.”
“It’s not true!” Lizzy shouted through her trembling voice, crying through the shock. Another blast of magic escaped my palms. A loud crash rang out as Lizzy’s body collided with a metal storage cabinet, the contents inside dislodged from the shelving and dropping on top of her. She didn’t even try to block it.
“Adrian, stop! Please!” she pleaded. My hands clasped together to form a gun. This time, a shot of powerful, condensed magic energy blasted outwards from the tip of my fingers and punctured a hole in her right shoulder. A desperate wail from deep within erupted from Lizzy’s mouth, as if her terrified soul trapped inside decided to flee to escape the torture. She clutched a hand to the hole, trying to keep the blood from spewing out of the fresh wound.
“I won’t let you do this. You made a promise...to always find me! Come...come back! Please!” The unexpected words gurgled out of her mouth along with a stream of thick crimson liquid that intertwined with the other streaks flowing down her face. Those words...was it her voice calling to me, allowing me to escape my own prison inside my mind?
“Enough!” Nolan thrust out his hand and a shadow slithered like a snake until it coiled itself completely around Lizzy, pinning her arms and legs tightly to her side. Her body lifted, the back of her head smacking against a solid plastered wall nearby. The moment of distress caused her head to lob forward, and I noticed faint rays of white magic shining through the black shadow surrounding her.
I reached around to my back pocket, ready to pluck the syringe of bubbling neon green liquid clenched between my fingertips. The magic inhibitor had been meant for Nolan, but maybe it would be better put to use against Lizzy.
“Tell my friend here something.” Nolan moved in closer to Lizzy until he was nearly brushing up against her nose. He squeezed a shadow tighter around her chest, and more blood choked out from her mouth. “Why did you really save Adrian that day?” She struggled against his hold and her black ink magic began growing brighter as the vibrant white streaked through the dark shadows.
Without hesitation, I punctured the needle into her neck to stop it. She cried out as the magic drained from her body, until the glistening white glow completely disappeared. The struggling stopped as she slowly began suffering the sickening effects of the serum. I repeated Nolan’s question. “Answer him. Why did you save me?”
“Perhaps we need a little encouragement.” Nolan waved his hand in the air. “Daphne, bring me the good stuff!” I turned around to see Daphne had rejoined us, and I wondered just how much of my violent rampage she had seen.
Heeding Nolan’s command, she swiftly zig zagged through the piles of jagged glass, bent metal, and broken machines. She opened a plastic cabinet that had fallen to its side, adjusted her glasses as she rummaged through the unorganized magic bombs, vials, and other various liquids and powders until she pulled out a clear glass bottle that managed to survive the anarchy. She swiftly ran back over and handed it to Nolan along with a syringe.
“One of my favorite creations. A good old fashioned truth serum, no magic needed.” He pushed the syringe into the bottle, extracting the transparent, sky blue liquid inside. His hand easily passed through the thick shadows tightened against her limbs, and he injected the serum into her inner forearm right above the wrist.
Within a few minutes, she was completely out of it. Laughing, then crying, then cringing when she suddenly realized the severity of pain my onslaught of magic had caused her.
“Now tell us. Why did you save Adrian?”
She struggled with the disorientation, but gave in easily. “I sensed...something. But I couldn’t tell what.”
Nodding in agreement, Nolan replied, “Of course. You sensed that destructive power that destroyed the cell.”
“What?” My eyes blinked in wild confusion. “I didn’t do anything. Lizzy—”
“—was saving herself.” Nolan completed the sentence for me. “She blew a hole in the wa
ll to save herself, but when you destroyed your cell with Rezith’s magic, she knew you were no ordinary human. She took you with her on a whim because she was afraid of what you might do to her if she left you behind.”
I wanted to say something, but no words came out of my mouth. Nolan returned his gaze to Lizzy and continued. “I sense some kind of spell on him now. Your magic. Remind us how exactly you found him so easily at the bar? And again here at the lab?”
“I...I kissed him. With my blood magic.”
That unexpected bombshell caused a sick tightening in my chest. Not that I had thought the kiss to be anything but awkward, but I had never expected her to disguise it to cast a spell on me. One so that she could track me anywhere I’d go, no matter where I was.
Nolan roused an ecstatic grin across his face, knowing I was getting more pissed off with each answer coming out of her mouth. “The man in his memory. You knew him, didn’t you? And you kept that a secret from him as well?”
She coughed up a mouthful of blood that dripped down her pale lips. “Y—Yes.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The extent of her lies and manipulation went far beyond what I had ever imagined. She knew something was off from the day I met her and never told me a thing. Then she pretended to actually care about me, promising to make everything all better when all she really was doing was plotting to kill me. I can’t believe I fell for her intricate web of lies. Her deception hurt more than anything I had ever experienced before. I had really wanted to believe that maybe, just maybe, she was different. But I should have known I was destined to always be betrayed.
“That was a particularly painful reminder for you, wasn’t it? Remind us why?”
“He killed my brother!” she growled with feral intent. A sudden beast was unleashed inside Lizzy. Her eyes grew dark with unmitigated fury, and she thrashed within the hold of the shadows like a caged tiger trying to lunge forward and rip my throat out with her dangerous claws.
My stomach flip flopped at hearing her threatening voice. I had no idea who this Rezith person was, but I gotten the sense he was powerful and an expert manipulator. He tried to trick me into thinking he was here to help, but remembering what Lizzy had told me, about him killing thousands of people, I now knew his true intentions.
It’s not what it seems.
I shrugged Rezith’s voice out of my head. I couldn’t blame Lizzy for the sudden repulsion toward me. I, no, Rezith, killed her brother. But I wasn’t that man and I didn’t deserve the same punishment he should be given. What she did to betray me, Adrian, was unacceptable and didn’t warrant my forgiveness.
“And my final question. Tell us how you really feel about Adrian?”
She fought to keep her slippery lips tightly sealed. Mumbling sounds vibrated from her throat, refusing to speak the words she was being forced to share.
“Mmm...I...ahhhhh…I...” She snapped her mouth shut before another sound came out.
“Come on, you can do it,” Nolan took off his gloves, the first time I had ever seen him do so. Darkness swirled around his bare hand as he tightened his skeletal fingers around her throat, forcing her to gasp for air and open her mouth. While she struggled to breathe, he turned to me and said, “The gloves never had any use. They simply concealed the shadows surrounding my hands so I could use my magic without anyone seeing.” He then turned back to Lizzy. “Continue.”
“I want to...to k...ki...” She drew out the last syllable, but she didn’t need to complete the word. I knew exactly what she was trying to suppress.
I...want to...ki-ahhhhh!!!” She screamed out the remaining air trapped in her lungs. A blaze of white magic soared upwards, slashing through Nolan’s shadows like a piece of silk fabric.
“Oh, my. It seems the magic inhibitor effects have worn out much quicker than expected.” The shadows holding her in place disappeared, and her whole body glowed a brilliant white, like sparkling diamonds shrouding a very bloody, very deadly, and very angry demonic angel. Despite her mangled condition, she was determined to fight back. She dropped to a knee, then used her foot to push off and lunge at Nolan. This time, an axe appeared in her right hand aiming for a clean slice of his head.
“I will not let you take Adrian!” A swishing noise could faintly be heard over Lizzy’s murderous screams, and Nolan vanished into thin air, reappearing right behind her. Without even turning around, Lizzy’s quick reflexes reacted by whipping a thick barbed wire behind her around his torso.
“Ha! That won’t work on me!” The spiked wire sliced right through Nolan’s shadowy body. When he reshaped himself in exactly the same spot, charcoal shadows laced with violet swirls coiled around his arm as he swung it around, hitting Lizzy right in the shoulder blade where I had shot her. She hunched over, spit some blood onto the floor, and grunted painfully to recover her remaining strength, refusing to go down.
Lizzy screamed over the clashing of magic. “He’s mine, not yours!” Their movements were like flashes of lightning, appearing and disappearing so fast no one dared interfere. For every hit Lizzy landed, Nolan dealt two more.
Lizzy fought like the true soldier she was trained to be, but her movements became more sluggish as she continued to lose blood while still trying to shake off the side effects of regaining her full magic back. She swaggered back and forth like a drunk in a bar fight, while Nolan took complete advantage. I wanted to feel sorry for her pathetic show, but the selfish part of me believed she deserved every last bit of it.
At this point, the clash of weapons and magic had died down as Lizzy dropped to her knees. Nolan did not come out of this encounter unscathed, with several scrapes and bruises across his neck and arms. He had slash marks across his black pants and polo shirt like he had been mauled by a bear. But Lizzy suffered a far worse fate. She looked as if she were seconds away from giving in to death. She was hunched over, her arms hanging heavy at her sides. Her shredded clothing was covered in splattered blood while her hands appeared gloved in red.
In the distance, I could hear the wailing of sirens growing louder with each passing second. Raven and Isaac must have heard it too. Up until now, they had been enjoying the showdown between Nolan and Lizzy, but now they were eager for it to come to a close. No one wanted to be here when the police showed up.
Daisy, free from the confines of the shelf thanks to a little help from her teammates, stood watch over Blair and Eli, ensuring they were kept paralyzed and not allowed to interfere. Isaac and Raven stepped forward to join the fight to quickly put an end to this.
I watched as Nolan and his crew surrounded Lizzy. I didn’t join the fight, instead watching as Lizzy’s final moment began. This was it for her. There was no way she could survive against these three powerful villains in the condition she was in.
With a sweep of her hand, Raven sent out a gust of midnight blue magic as Lizzy sailed into a large rectangular metal case with a thick glass door right next to where I was standing. The well-constructed heavy machine, which I knew to be an incubator used for special magic spells that reacted to temperature, simply screeched a few inches across the counter it was sitting on, the bottles and vials inside barely affected by the movement.
I forced myself to look at Lizzy as she grasped the edge of the counter, the slick blood coating her hands making it difficult to grip and stand. My spine stiffened and my muscles went rigid at the vision before me.
Lizzy’s face was drawn in agony, but not over physical pain. Her magnetic eyes were liquid pools of desire...a desire to prove something. Behind the sheet of blood coating her face was a determined warrior with a driving hunt to full her promise. To always find me, and bring me back.
She didn’t have to come here in the first place, but she did. They all did. And I had shot her. Blasted her continuously with my raw magic. She was thrown against a wall and strangled. Sliced and diced like a summer fruit salad. But she wasn’t giving up until I accepted her and came back. Why?
Now wasn’t the time for my emotions t
o cloud my head. I decided to distance myself from Lizzy and move closer to Daphne, the one person here who wouldn’t be able to protect herself if things went south.
Lizzy got up and clumsily threw a dagger in Raven’s direction, but she didn’t even bother to move. The weapon coasted several feet to the right, completely off the mark. Isaac responded by forming a ball of twisting crimson dust magic above his head.
He thrust his hands forward, and the warping sphere zoomed toward Lizzy. A gust of Raven’s wind sent the magic hurling at an incomprehensible speed. The sparkling bubble burst and the crimson light inside exploded outward, swirling in a turbulent whirlwind that engulfed Lizzy’s body. She writhed in pain as the crimson dust inside began eating away at her tender skin.
I stood there watching pensively. A part of my conscious pulled at the corners of my mind, telling me to help her. The hero in me wanted to jump in front of her and save the day. The other part reminded me she was unworthy of my friendship or protection. This unusual feeling had been gnawing at me for a while now. As much as I hated her for what she did, I didn’t feel like she deserved to die because of it. And if I let this go on much longer she probably would. So, do I end this right now, or walk away and let destiny take its course?
My head started throbbing, and I was reminded again of the small cut bleeding from the back of my head, a gift from Nolan I still didn’t understand.
“Watch out!” Daphne’s hand clasped my arm, shaking me out of my trance. I blinked to see a crimson dust storm rocketing directly at me. Raven’s chaotic wind exploded the magic dust, and in the process sent part of it flying directly at me.
I shoved Daphne out of the way and threw up my arms, but my frantic mind couldn’t concentrate. Up until now, I never had to react this quickly to activate my ability. And now faced with danger, I couldn’t.
“Adrian!” Lizzy whipped out a chain, coiling it around a pipe exposed above me. She then yanked on it, swinging herself directly toward me using the last of her strength. Her arms wrapped around me and tackled me to the ground as a piercing cry sounded directly into my ears.
How to Hunt a Menacing Magical Shadow Page 30
