“Do you want me to kill the next one?” Carn asked.
“Only if it can be done with a knife. I need your strength to stay in reserve.”
“Why aren’t I as strong as they are? I’ve seen what they can do without breaking a sweat, yet I try the same and I can feel part of me fade.”
“We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Shields are no trouble for you, but offensive magic is more of a drain.” A puddle of grease sloshed in the bottom of her stomach. “Xadrak’s power lessens the imbalance but submitting to it corrupts the soul.”
The next, a tall blond man, had attracted a crowd of six men and women. Despite his good looks and easy charm, his audience was of a rougher cut, without a smile between them.
“They’re nothing but cheap tricks, Jakob,” one of the men shouted, his thick arms crossed over his barrel-chest.
“They’re not tricks, cheap or otherwise, Bren.” The light in his hand grew and took on other forms.
Jakob’s display suited Aurelia. There was nothing like a cautionary tale to scare people away from Xadrak’s cult. A surge of her will and Jakob lit up like a bonfire. His screams chased after the others as they ran. She threw aside her shield and stalked forward as he dropped to his knees. Whether he saw her or not, it didn’t matter.
“How many did you say there were?” she called to Carn.
“At least fourteen.”
“Four down, ten to go.”
They appeared in the house of the fifth, but he was ready for them. An orb of fire floated above his empty palm, and he watched the empty air. She threw her power at him, but a shield deflected it. He spun, unable to see her, but he lashed out with the fireball. It sailed past her, exploding against the wall and burning the wood to black.
She attacked again, bashing through his shield. It was built with strength but not much skill, and she knew Carn would not have made such a flimsy thing. The acolyte’s eyes widened as the shield fell around him and he fumbled to repair it, even while wary of invisible foes. She readied her deathblow, but before she had the chance to use it, the acolyte fell over dead.
Carn gasped for breath. He became visible and bent forward over his knees.
She hurried to his side. “I told you I didn’t want you getting involved like that unless I said so.”
“I had to…do something,” he managed to say in between deep breaths. “He was…going to protect himself.”
“I could have handled it. Please, listen to me next time.”
“Why doesn’t it affect you the way it affects me?”
“I’m stronger. I always will be. With time you’ll gain more strength, but right now it’s too soon.” Perhaps she had erred in not giving him his full potential. She tried to help him upright, but he pushed her away.
“I’ll be fine.”
“He had warning. Xadrak is going to move to stop us.”
“I’m ready,” he said, though his breathing labored.
The next two were walking fast down the street. They hadn’t bothered with shields, so her magic snaked easily into their chests and exploded their hearts. They died in the road.
Number eight had almost reached the door to the crypt when they arrived inside the church. He spun as she attacked, rebuffing her magic. His shield was stronger than she’d expected but would not protect him forever.
Shoving Carn aside, she waited, drawing out the acolyte. He neared the altar, which made it easier for her to maneuver towards him. He gathered his power, summoning a massive amount of energy that burned her nose with the stench of rotten eggs. If he released it, he was likely to bring the whole church down around them. She closed in on her prey.
She slipped beneath his defenses and placed a hand on his chest. Shock widened his face but by then it was too late. With the slightest push, her magic tore through his heart. She drew in his built-up energy and transmuted it into her own source as he died. Buzzing with the power inside her, she turned, threw off her invisibility and called to Carn. He appeared.
“The remainders are in there?” She looked at the crypt door.
“As far as I can tell. Hopefully he didn’t add any more while we were gone.”
“Agreed.”
Her heart hummed with the acolyte’s power inside her. Heat bloomed and sweat slid over her skin. She wanted to make full use of this force, and blast as many inside as she could. She might even get lucky and kill Xadrak, too.
“Stay here.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“I can’t worry about you while I’m in there. I have one chance at this, and I hope I can kill them all. Having to cover you will weaken me.”
“I can protect myself.”
“I don’t want to take that risk. I’m ordering you to stay here. If any make it out alive, you have my permission to kill them.”
He glared at her, and she resisted the urge to slap him. He was a child in this game, and in more danger of getting hurt than her. And she grudgingly admitted that if anything happened to Carn, she’d have to answer to Hame.
She fashioned the energy inside her to a peak and added her own considerable strength.
She became Death.
She vanished and reappeared in the crypt. The instant her feet touched the ground, the power ripped from her in all directions, blasting out in such force she thought she’d shatter. If there were defensive blows, she didn’t feel them. Any shields were wiped out in a flash of light that blinded her. And when it was gone, her whole body tingled.
Her vision cleared and the light in the crypt returned to its ordinary gloom to reveal bodies strewn around her. She armed herself for a second attack, but none came. Cautious, she searched for Xadrak’s body amidst the corpses.
Pain seared across her brain as Hame forced his way in. She gripped her head, trying to push him back, creating enough space to respond. His shouts flooded into her.
Slow down, what did you say?
He’s got Carn!
XXI
A hand clamped over Carn’s mouth the second Aurelia vanished, and he was locked against a rigid body. He struggled to free himself, but he was bound. He reached for his power, but it had been smothered so he grabbed the knife. It flew from his hand and clattered on the church’s stone floor. The tinny sound cut off as he was taken, ripped through the ether and away from Aurelia. His stomach plummeted. He was going to die.
But when they returned to Earth, he was thrown free. He spun to face his attacker.
Xadrak clasped his hands behind his back. If it had been one of the acolytes, perhaps he would have stood a chance. Facing the man sent a chill streaking beneath his skin. Carn couldn’t bring himself to think of Xadrak as a demon; being here with his human form was horror enough. Especially seeing those eyes. Flames rolled around a center of purest black; and that grin was a little too fixed, a little too carved to be anything other than a mask for evil.
Carn had been brought to a large, round stone room. Columns supported the domed roof and formed an arched corridor around the edge. The lack of windows made him think they were underground—that and the damp chill in the air. The place made a fitting tomb.
“You and Aurelia have made quick work of my acolytes. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little upset.”
Carn’s tongue turned to lead in his mouth. He was going to be tortured. Xadrak would exact vengeance on him.
“Still, such are the games we play.”
“I’m sure Aurelia grows tired of games.”
“Oh, we all grow tired of games.”
Xadrak stepped closer. A wave of nausea swept through Carn. His mouth watered, and he swallowed quickly to stop himself from being sick. Carn tensed as Xadrak placed his hand on his chest. Unable to defend himself, he prepared for death, regrets and longings tumbling over one another, wishes for one more night with Hame, and curses towards himself for getting involved with Aurelia. Xadrak burned through him like fire across a wheat field at the end of summer, and left ash in his wake.
&nbs
p; “So much power,” Xadrak sighed. “Pity she’s left most of it locked up.”
Carn blinked. “What?”
Xadrak retracted his hand abruptly, and with it his energy. The absence resounded inside his chest.
Such strength.
“You didn’t realize? She has only unlocked a fraction of what you’re capable of. A stream trickles through you when it should be a raging river.”
“She—” He shut his mouth. His jaw creaked. She wouldn’t do that. Not after what he’d done for her. Not after giving her his word.
“Ahhh, she told you that was all your potential would accommodate? Well, Aurelia has always been a bit controlling, wants everything her way. But if that works for you, then I see no reason to continue this discussion.” Xadrak grinned at him. “See you in the next life.”
Aurelia couldn’t find Carn. Xadrak had blocked the witch’s location and the longer she took to find him, the greater the likelihood he’d be killed. Already knowing it was futile, she sought Xadrak instead, but he was masked too. While still sweeping for Carn, she hurried out of the crypt to where she’d left him and summoned a tracking orb. But before she released it, she detected his presence. She caught the weak pulse, then it flared before fading to nothing. Though it was gone, she’d caught the trail.
But she didn’t rush in. This incarnation of the demon was unlike any embodiment she’d encountered before. While some of the others had possessed great power, her dominance had always been assured. This time…
A trap waited for her. Perhaps Carn was dead already and what she’d locked onto was merely a fabrication. But rescuing him was not her goal, and she had to take this chance before it withered.
She gripped the dagger’s hilt, thrilling a little at the prospect of plunging it into Xadrak’s heart. Deep beneath that feeling simmered her fear, just out of reach in the bottom of her belly. Reforming her shields and with her blade ready, she entered the battlefield.
Carn lay on the floor beneath a domed roof in an underground room. Torches surrounded him but the room’s outer rim remained in shadow. She’d materialized as far from him as she could. From her place nestled in the darkness, she watched his chest rise and fall, thankful at least that he lived. But as soon as Xadrak realized she’d arrived, Carn’s usefulness would diminish. The boy dangled like a bit of flesh on the end of the line. For now, Xadrak didn’t know she circled, but eventually he’d pull back the lure and hook her. She had to find the demon first.
She searched, passing closed doors that led off to any number of rooms. She trod slowly and carefully, struggling to keep her breathing soft and shallow. Xadrak had to be hiding here somewhere.
But she found nothing.
Heard nothing.
She stepped beneath an arch.
Flames rushed to engulf her as she passed through a trigger. Her shields held but they shuddered from the force of the blow. A jet of lightning streamed towards her, which she resisted, but another attack launched against her defenses and destabilized them.
Sweat sprung up on the back of her neck as blow after blow struck hard and her shield started to crumble. Her lungs burned with the need for air, and as she took in a great breath, she vanished out of the line of Xadrak’s attacks and reappeared on the other side of the room. She fell to the ground, shoring up her invisibility. She muffled the sound of her staccato breathing, each inhalation sharpening the pain stabbing into her chest until gradually it dulled. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she scanned the chamber for the demon. The assault stopped, and the room returned to normal. She didn’t dare move.
Xadrak’s voice came out of the silence. One moment it heckled beside her ear, making her jump, and the next it floated distant and barely audible. Yet she heard every taunt.
“You should really find something else to occupy your time instead of trying to beat me,” he said smugly. “You never win. You think you do—sending me back into the astral—but I never going away. You and Sinara should realize that. And now I see you’re trying to recruit.” He tutted. “Come now, Aurelia, putting a child in harm’s way? You must be getting desperate.”
His voice wormed into her brain and slipped down her spine. This was the first time she’d actually heard from Xadrak while in human form. All the other lives there’d been a filter between him and her, the twisted ravings of whatever madman he’d become. This time, he seemed almost sane.
“You keep trying to bring me down, but I can do this forever, which is exactly what’s going to happen. There is no key. If there were, you’d have it by now. And soon it won’t matter because your brothers are going to die. Once I’ve killed you, I’m going to kill them. Your efforts over the past four hundred years have all been for naught.”
He was goading her, waiting for her to speak so he could locate her and deal another bone-shattering blow. But she refused to reveal herself. She’d fought him before and won, and while he may be strong, he was not a god.
And he could be slain.
Around the room’s perimeter, she cast an invisible thread that hovered a foot above the ground. Next she sent another to circle around Carn’s unconscious body and protect him. As it settled gently in place, she sensed a pocket of energy, a trap ready to spring if she approached.
“What are you doing, Aurelia? You always were a slippery cunt.”
But for all his bluster, her power stayed in place. He couldn’t risk her attacking him while he investigated what she had done. But that also meant he’d been warned. She had to act fast.
She cast another two threads to lie ready behind the one around the perimeter, then, with dagger drawn, she poured her will into them. She opened herself as wide as possible, tapping the depths of her power, drawing on all her strength, her hate, her anger, and her vengeance to take down the demon. Wave after wave rippled through her body, causing her to sway. Her skin tingled with the magic, her heart hammered, and she filled with a fresh rush of air.
The threads throbbed like blood-filled leeches until she could hold back no more. She released the first attack to find Xadrak. Before it emerged from the corridor, it struck him somewhere to her left. A spark flashed, and a snarl ricocheted around the room. Without giving him time to get away, she released the second thread, and it homed in on his location, attacking with lightning speed and burning through his defenses.
She stalked towards him; her hand clenched around the enchanted dagger. Although he stayed invisible, her magic created a display of white and blue light as it battled with his power. His shield didn’t fall, but it weakened. She’d break through soon. Coming closer, sulfur burned in her nose and soured her stomach. His grunts drowned the hissing sound made by her attack. She waited, crouched, watching. She was still tied to the attack she’d released, her magic still being drawn down, and before long she’d be too drained to do much else, but she ground her teeth and kept focus. Xadrak would not get out of here alive.
There.
Xadrak became visible, his attention and energy focused on maintaining his shield rather than masking his presence. Air punched out of his nostrils. She remained hidden, but if he’d wanted to find her, he didn’t show it. His attention was fixed on a point ahead.
On Carn.
This had to end now. She sucked in her breath, her whole body freezing as she shored up a greater power, then she released the third thread.
It struck with such rapid and deadly force that Xadrak’s body buckled in the middle. He slammed against the wall. Freed of his protections, she sprinted to him, thrust her left hand forward and grabbed his throat. Dazed as he was, she pinned him against the wall. Her invisibility fell away and he saw her at last. Those same evil eyes, that curled lip…
She plunged the dagger into his heart and buried it up to the hilt. His hands sparked but they caused her no harm. The fire in his eyes died and the glassy sheen of death passed over them. Now a dead weight, she released him, and he tumbled to the ground, the dagger still protruding from his chest.
She stumb
led back; her magic spent. Exhaustion dragged her down to the ground, and she crawled towards Carn.
“Look at you,” Xadrak said.
She started and looked over to see the ghostly form of the demon beside her.
“Next time you’ll die before you even get a scratch on me.”
She formed a white pentagram and hurled it towards him. Weak though it was, Xadrak shrieked as it stuck to him, and he vanished in a whirl of stinking air.
She collapsed onto her side and rolled onto her back. Never before had she poured so much of herself into one working. Never before had it been necessary. She thought she’d be strong enough to defeat Xadrak in whatever human form he took, but this time she’d been underprepared and blasé.
You’re alive. That’s what counts.
Hame’s voice came to her, slipping in cautiously, knowing her defenses were down.
Come home. Then he left.
She staggered to Carn. She waved away the last of Xadrak’s traps. The final enchantment, which had kept Carn in slumber, dissipated. He stirred, his eyes blinking, then he recoiled when he saw her.
“It’s all right, Carn. Xadrak is dead.”
He frowned at her, and for a moment she wondered if Xadrak had done something to the boy’s mind. But then he sat up, his expression unreadable. He rose and walked over to Xadrak’s body. She staggered to her feet and joined him, sagging against a column to stop herself from falling.
“You lied to me, Aurelia. You said you’d given me all the power that was possible.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Xadrak. He mocked me, said I was weaker than his lowest disciple. I was no match for him, none.” Carn reached forward and pulled the dagger from Xadrak’s chest and wiped the blood on his trousers.
“Even with every last ounce of your potential power, you could never beat him.”
He spun to face her, pointing the blade at her. “You admit you held back?”
“I admit it, and with good reason.”
Burning Blood: Bonds of Blood: Book 2 Page 18
