by Bella Klaus
Someone broke into a round of applause and then stopped when nobody joined them. I couldn’t tell if everyone was awed by Kresnik’s story or fearing their own fates. No amount of brainwashing could make a person not see Kresnik’s intentions.
“Since perfecting Hemera, we’ve had more dragons, ifrits, and even a manticore.” He gestured in the direction of where Martika sat and stepped back.
Healer Calla stepped forward, holding the shears. After unbuttoning my denim jacket, she cut through my sweater and bra before sliding a cool finger down my breastbone. A draft swirled over my clammy skin, cooling it to goosebumps.
As Kresnik walked away to continue his speech, Healer Calla’s lips moved as she stuck her fingers into each notch of my ribs. Her finger slid beneath the crease of my breast, and she tapped a spot between my ribs.
“What are you doing?” I whispered from between my frozen jaws.
“It looks like she’s going to do something nefarious to your fifth chamber,” Hades said, sounding fascinated.
My heart galloped around my chest like a wild stallion. A wild stallion whose tail had caught fire and was trying to outrun the flames.
“You owe me,” I whispered. “Help.”
“If your soul ever reaches Hell, I’ll find you a nice spot in my palace,” he said, sounding like he was doing me a favor.
My eyes narrowed. Considering he’d originally planned on keeping my soul as a pet, his generous offer probably involved me sitting in a gilded cage.
Healer Calla returned with a long needle, its tip sparkling with dazzling magic. I thrashed within my invisible bonds, but they tightened around my body. It was no use. Even if I pushed my magic down to my lowest chakra, her needle would still access the root of my power.
“Alright.” The old woman placed a steadying hand on my left breast, holding it taut so she could impale me in the right spot. “Hold still.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my teeth, and waited.
Warm droplets fell onto my chest, and Healer Calla’s arm slid off my breast. I opened my eyes to find the old woman staring down at the point of a knife protruding from her ribs. Blood bubbled from between her lips, spilling down her chin.
Healer Calla fell backward to reveal Aurora reeling on her feet.
Gasps filled the air, and a sharp breath whistled through my teeth. Aurora had just stabbed an old woman through the heart to save my life. I stared into my mother’s eyes. Eyes that shone with determination and love and pride. Eyes set within a face I wanted to remember for the rest of my life.
At that moment, I saw the similarities between her and Aunt Arianna. The candlelight softened her features, bringing out the high cheekbones and heart-shaped features they shared, as well as their gentle smiles.
Aurora had bought me an opportunity to live another day—one I hoped she wouldn’t have to pay for with her life.
“Run,” I whispered.
Somebody on the left side of the room screamed, followed by another and another and another until the cries echoed across the chamber.
Kresnik’s roar tore through the sound, ringing through my ears. The magic holding me up loosened, and I dropped to the floor, cracking the back of my head. Stars exploded behind my eyes, and pain radiated across my skull, making me hiss through clenched teeth.
“What is the meaning of this?” he roared.
With a groan, I rolled to my side and pressed my hands onto the floor to scramble onto my hands and knees. Fire crackled through the air, accompanied by the sounds of rushing feet and candles falling to the floor. I shook off the sensation of a symbol crashing against the back of my head and stumbled to my feet.
Most of the people from the edges of the room huddled along one wall, using each other as shields. Kresnik stood on my right, his body seeming to broaden with rage. His red hair glowed brighter than stoplights and more incandescent than the flames of the remaining candles. He loomed over Aurora with hands that had formed six-inch claws.
“Get back, Miss Griffin.” Hades' voice sliced through the sounds of panic. “Use this opportunity to escape.”
Maybe this was my fatal flaw, but I couldn’t leave Aurora to face the wrath of a fallen god. That’s what Father Jude had called Kresnik once, but I hadn’t paid the phrase much attention.
Aurora raised her chin and met his gaze with the same determined eyes. Droplets of blood splattered onto her white dress, but I think it came from where she’d stabbed Healer Calla in the back.
“Explain yourself,” Kresnik snarled.
“You have gone too far, My Lord,” she said in a voice as unwavering as steel. “The plan was to use the children’s magic to defeat the Supernatural Council so that fire users could live without persecution. Nobody ever agreed to turn them into preternatural vampires.”
Kresnik backhanded her across the face with a streak of fire that hit her with the crack of a whip. “You have disappointed me for the last time.”
My hands clapped over my mouth but did nothing to suppress my scream.
The force of the blow made Aurora spin around the room and land on a lit candle before falling onto the floor. I ran toward her but Kresnik grabbed the hood of my cloak and threw me onto my knees besides Healer Calla’s cooling corpse.
“Heal her,” he snarled.
I glanced in Aurora’s direction. Gail and Coral rushed to her side, as did a few others I guessed she had trained over the years.
“Now!” Kresnik threaded his fingers into my hair and gave my head a hard shake, bringing my attention back to Healer Calla.
“We need to take her to the infirmary,” I said between ragged breaths. “Maybe if we get some blood replenishers, we can call an ambulance—”
“Imbecile.” He released my hair and wrapped his large hand around the back of my head. “Use your flames.”
“But I don’t have—”
Kresnik snarled, his fingers digging into my skull. “Hemera Griffin, I have tolerated your lies and tricks and subterfuge for the sake of my precious general, but no more. If you continue the charade of hiding the magic that rightfully belongs to me, you will meet the same fate as your mother.”
My eyes rotated to the raging madman, whose eyes glowed with a fury that threatened to burn me from the inside out.
The worst part of this situation was that I hadn’t produced a single flame since Father Jude had stolen my magic. Even if all my power had returned to me, which was unlikely, I couldn’t—and wouldn’t use it to help a killer like Healer Calla.
Kresnik’s teeth lengthened into a mouthful of incisors, and Jonathan’s black flames rolled in the back of his mouth.
“Stop it!” a female voice yelled.
His face twisted into a snarl. “Who dares—”
“Me.” Her eyes glistened with tears, and her face contorted with anguish. “You were supposed to be helping us, but you’re just as bad as the vampires.”
Kresnik released me and bared his teeth. “Coral Sorrel.”
“Yes, I am.” She curled her hands into fists. “And if you really are our father as you claim, you’ll stop treating us like your personal stable of magic cows.”
Kresnik raised an arm and pulled back his wrist, producing a whip of flame.
“I’ve been tormented and tortured by vampires for the best part of my life.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “Do you think that skinny little whip will scare me?”
He flicked forward, letting it arc through the air. My stomach lurched. Without thinking I reached for his arm, trying to pull the whip off course, but the lash wound four times around Coral’s neck.
She bared her teeth and snarled, revealing the same manic anger she’d demonstrated the time she attacked Lazarus.
Kresnik shoved me to the side, making me skid across the wooden floor on my ass. A cry tore from my lips. The first time with a flame whip didn’t hurt. I’d witnessed that myself when Father Jude had whipped Aurora because of Jonathan.
The whip tightened around Coral’s
neck, but she stood tall, her features hardening. “Call that punishment? You’re weak.”
“Stop,” I sobbed.
The fire whip exploded into sparks, which wrapped around Kresnik’s neck. He bellowed a pained roar, and fell onto the floor, writhing with an agony I couldn’t fathom. I glanced from Coral to Kresnik, wondering what the hell was happening.
“Interesting,” Hades drawled.
“Stop this!” The thrashing tyrant wrapped his fingers around an invisible noose that continued to spark and cause him to choke.
Even more screams filled the air, and the people cowering against the walls huddled closer to form an impenetrable mass.
I stumbled to my feet, rushed to Coral, and grabbed the taller woman by the arms. “What did you do?” When she didn’t answer immediately, I gave her a hard shake. “What?”
“Nothing.” She stared at Kresnik through wide eyes, her bottom lip trembling with shock. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“Who is that woman?” Hades asked.
I released Coral’s arms and continued to Aurora, who lay on her side, with Gail stroking her hair. Racon knelt beside them both, clutching an unconscious Petra to his chest, with Clarence, Leman and a few others hovering behind them.
Claw marks marred the side of her face, revealing molten flesh that radiated heat and brimstone. Grief wrapped around my chest, squeezing all the air from my lungs and leaving me lightheaded. My legs trembled before buckling, and I landed beside Aurora on my knees.
“Mera,” Aurora croaked.
“I’ll get you to the infirmary.” My voice shook. “There’s still more of that aloe and Dharma salt. If we make a poultice—”
“Listen to me.” She grabbed my hand, holding it with the certainty of death. “This is the end.”
I clamped my mouth shut, the sorrow gnawing through my gut telling me that this situation was futile. The doors were still sealed shut, and even if I could get her to the infirmary soon, the fire beneath her skin might burn out before I even opened the cupboard and pulled out the first ingredient.
“Mother,” I said.
Tears shone in her eyes, and her lips trembled. She looked on the verge of saying something, but she hardened her features and croaked, “Kresnik has a weakness.”
I leaned in, my heart aching and on the verge of collapse. Kresnik’s pained bellows echoed across the room, drowning out the sounds of everyone’s screaming. I pressed my ear to her lips. “Tell me.”
“He is no god, as I failed to find his divinity,” she rasped. “He lost his immortal body when enforcers dragged him to Hell, and he lives on borrowed magic. Now he dwells within—”
Heat flared across my skin, and I drew back. Flames curled from Aurora’s lips, her eyes, her nostrils… even from the depths of her ears.
A sob caught in the back of my throat. Kresnik’s final punishment had burned her from the inside out.
Aurora was dead.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I stared down at Aurora. The top layer of her skin burned away, revealing the flesh beneath that glowed brighter than hot coals on a forge. The flames curling from her mouth and ears spread down her neck, setting everything on fire.
Grief cut through me like a scythe, infusing every nerve ending with an agony so intense it stole my breath. This was just like when Valentine died—another person sacrificing themself to save me, and there was absolutely no chance she would ever return.
Flames spread across her body, lighting her up like a funeral pyre. They unfurled across the ritual room’s wooden floors, curling at my feet, my legs, and through my tortured soul. I balled my fists and rocked back and forth, releasing sobs deep from my gut.
Aurora was gone, and we didn’t even get a chance for a relationship. We didn’t even get to say goodbye.
A large hand landed on my shoulder. I glanced up to meet Racon’s eyes, which glistened with unshed tears. He cradled a still unconscious Petra to his chest and stared down at me, his features grave.
“You’ve got to get up.” His deep voice barely penetrated my wall of grief.
I shook my head. “Someone has to stay with her until the end.”
“Miss Griffin,” Hades hissed. “Listen to the oaf and get out before Kresnik finds a way to destroy your plucky friend and moves on to you.”
The reality of the situation rushed back into harsh focus, as did the panicked screams of the other young people who were trying to find a way out of what was now a burning ritual room.
Kresnik had picked himself off the floor and knelt beside Healer Calla’s corpse. The sparks that had attacked his neck now morphed into thick ropes of fire—the same ropes Coral had used against Lazarus when he’d tried to attack me.
I turned back to Aurora, who was now engulfed in flames and barely anything of her original body remained, save for a few glimpses of her denim outfit.
“Your mother’s soul has already departed,” said Hades. “It’s time to leave.”
His words hit me like a lash of fire, making me reel forward. How could he speak so callously about a woman who just got murdered for saving her daughter’s life?
I rocked forward, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to block out my surroundings, but the echoing screams rang through my ears. Hades was right. Everything around us was falling apart, and if I wanted Kresnik to pay for what he did to Aurora and everyone else he hurt, we needed to escape.
With all the strength I could muster, I stumbled to my feet and bent over double, breathing hard and bracing myself with my hands on my knees. Flames covered every surface of the floor, engulfing the fallen candles, and now started to spread up the walls. I could barely hear the snap and crackle of the fire over the shouts and screams of the people trying to escape.
Kresnik also rose from his knees, busting through the ropes of fire with a furious roar that made my hair stand on end.
Coral stood ten feet away from him, baring her teeth like a domestic cat standing up to a lion.
“How are you doing this?” he snarled.
She raised her fists. “Open the doors right now and let everyone out or I’ll do it again.”
“How is she doing this?” Hades asked.
“I don’t think she is,” I muttered back.
Racon placed a hand on my shoulder. “Are you alright?”
I nodded. “What’s going on with Coral?”
He shook his head. “It’s been brewing since we lost our power. You’ve never seen her in a fiery rage. Coral usually says what she means, and when she doesn’t it all comes out in an explosion.”
“Right,” I said, not quite understanding the connection.
There was more to this standoff than her temperament. Even though she’d once been powerful enough to warrant individual attention from Healer Calla and Father Jude, Kresnik stole all her magic. Coral was now turning Kresnik’s attacks against him.
My gaze drifted to where I had left Aurora. There was nothing left of her and the patch of room was now indistinguishable from the flames which now curled at my knees.
Grief weighed on my shoulders like a dozen reaper’s cloaks. It soaked through my skin, into my muscles, making them ache, and seeped into my bones where it transmuted into regret.
I should have made more of an effort to get to know Aurora, should have tried to understand the woman beneath the stern exterior. Not everyone who offered gentle words and kind smiles was good and not everyone who scowled was bad.
My throat thickened, and I swallowed down a lungful of sorrow. Look at Healer Calla who could murder dozens with a syringe and a smile. Aurora had been unpleasant at first but I should have listened to Racon, who had told me she was harsh on the outside and gooey in the middle. Now I would never get to know my mother.
I ran a hand through my hair, glancing at my teammates, who huddled around Racon. Gail wrapped her arms around his middle, with tears streaming down her pale face. Next to her were Clarence and Leman, who stood with their heads bowed.
> “Let’s find a way out,” I said to them.
“Finally,” Hades whispered.
I glanced around the room. The door that man had dragged me through was still a solid wall of paneled wood, and that was where the majority of the people huddled. Fire spread toward the ceiling, making me worry that it would consume all the oxygen and leave us all to suffocate.
“Bastard,” a shrill voice cut through the general sounds of panic.
Martika pushed her way through the crowd and stood at Coral’s side, her legs trembling beneath her denim miniskirt, and her hands curled into fists. “Give me back my manticore.”
Kresnik continued glowering at Coral, not sparing Martika a glance. “Speak, girl. How are you countering my attacks?”
Coral raised her chin. “Give everyone back their power and release us first.”
Kresnik bared his teeth and snarled.
Did Coral really know or was that a bluff? I bit down on my lip, my gaze darting around the ritual room for a hatch or a gap in the wood panels—any way out before we ran out of air.
He threw a blazing white fireball at Coral, but it landed on her chest as harmlessly as snow.
“Heath, Rahim, Eric,” Kresnik shouted.
The bald man who had seized me from Aurora’s room emerged at his side, flanked by two others. In the firelight, he looked like a polished statue with eyes of faceted jade.
Kresnik pointed at Coral. “Seize this woman and—” He clutched his throat and bent over double with hacking coughs. “Stop this.”
Coral’s lips stretched into a broad grin that deepened her crow’s feet.
“My Lord?” The bald man rushed to Kresnik’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Kresnik shoved the man away with an elbow to the gut, making him stumble back into one of the candles that hadn’t been knocked down in the panic. The other two men backed away from their master holding up their palms in surrender.
With a snarl of frustration, Kresnik swept out an arm, producing a whip with nine tails that arced through the air. The fiery lashes wrapped around Martika’s body, making her squeak.
