“Has it ever occurred to you lunatics that some of us womb-carrying beings do not want to bear children?” I ask, my voice empty with disbelief.
Elle looks up at me, aghast. “You haven’t thought it through.”
“Believe me, I have,” anger leaks into my tone.
I have considered the possibility and ruled it out long ago. Not only because I’m certain I’d be a disastrous mother, but because I find pregnancy terrifying.
Elle shakes her head. “No, you have not. Nothing can compare to the joy of being a mother, to knowing you’ve made a little person that you love and will love you unconditionally.”
I swallow. “I am happy for you, and for any other women and females who feel joy in having children. But I won’t sacrifice my physical integrity and power to become pregnant.”
Elle grinds her teeth. “Sacrifice your power? You can have it back once you’ve had your child. How selfish of you to think that way.”
I begin to shake with anger. “Selfish? I’m selfish because I don’t want a child and you aren’t for bringing an innocent creature into this twisted world of yours? And even worse, with the sole purpose of turning them into a killing machine aimed at innocents?”
Elle breathes hard, furiously organizing the empty plates on the tray. “You still don’t understand, you’d be making sure our species endures, you’d be raising a defender of the innocent, of the truly innocent.”
“I can be a defender of the innocent, I have enough power, and each day more. Why shall I be relegated to breed for the cause instead of fighting for it?” I demand.
She trembles with rage. Now we’re even.
“You are making rushed decisions based on lies,” she proclaims. “You’ll be given the choice and taught the truth.”
I feel lightheaded, a sharp electric ache exploding in the middle of my chest. I fist my hands. “By that you mean I’ll be implanted with one of those horrible devices, right?” my voice is even despite the fear and revulsion.
Elle takes the tray and looks at me as if I were a capricious child. “It will give you time to think, to consider who you want to be: a puppet of demons or a part of the Light.”
I snort, fixing my gaze on hers. “Being cut open and maimed like that is the same as being raped,” I say, my voice steady. “And if you lunatic zealots think I’ll acquiescence without a fight, you’re very fucking mistaken.”
Her face twitches with irritation and disapproval. “It would be easier for you if you just cooperate.”
“It would be easier for you if you let me go before I take down as many of you as I can,” I counter, “or before my friends find me and kill you all.”
A nasty smile crosses her face. “You can scream all you like, they will not find you.”
“We’ll see about that,” I croon.
Elle scoffs and turns, looking regal despite that slight limp as she stalks to the door. The guard opens it for her; I wave my fingers at him and do my best to mimic Isir’s threatening smile. His nostrils flare.
A sob escapes me when the door closes, my head falls on my hands, and I weep.
* * *
There’s a tiny window high on the shower wall in the bathroom. I can see nothing but yards of manicured lawn, pine trees, and a mass of forest far away. This place must be some sort of giant mansion. Night has fallen, and there’s no moonlight. It feels fitting somehow, that the sky echoes how gloom I feel. With every minute that passes my fear of not being found mounts. It takes some focusing and fighting with my fear to feel the wards. They’re mighty and stretch wide.
I’d have to go outside to get my SOS through them.
I feel as if my very organs are quaking with fear.
No one has come back to bother me.
I’m certain I felt Aaron around, but he didn’t enter.
With nothing left to do, I explored the room. The massive closet is full of delicate-looking dresses in pastel colors. They are all disturbingly my size, and I don’t know if that’s because Elle is my size when not pregnant, or if it belongs to someone else. Or the worst option: someone prepared it for me.
I found a pair of tennis shoes that I gratefully put on.
I wonder if they’re letting me drown in my fear of if the doctor is still out after I injected him.
He is my main target.
If I can’t get out of here, I’ll kill him.
I’m certain it’s easier said than done, but I also know I can’t, won’t let them cut me open and turn me into a Nephilim vending machine.
Astherinox, ego adsum.9
I close my eyes and fight against the binding bracelets. My energy core stirs, angry, and demanding an out. Just then I realize I’m not sweating despite the effort. Which can only mean I’m getting further away from mortality. Immortals don’t need to cool their temperature with sweat, Isir had explained.
I’m standing near the table, knowing it’s the only weapon I have. I don’t have the strength to break the legs of the table and chairs without exhausting myself, but I can wield them.
My heart hammers harder when I feel a presence loom closer.
I know it’s him.
My hand closes around the table’s stand.
I open my eyes as I toss it towards him, calculating just the right distance and hitting him full on the torso and face despite his attempt of avoiding it. The glass shatters and cuts his face and neck. The guard enters too and I move.
I knew I’d have one chance to make it through the door, so I rallied all the strength and speed I could muster. Still not as lightning fast as I normally am, but close enough. I take hold of the chair and zoom, hitting the guard and exiting the room in a blur, claiming the superior senses and battle instincts. I pass a lavish room with a fireplace and high windows, down a corridor, then another room with massive windows. I run towards the windows, putting one arm in front of my face and hoping they are made of glass and not inch-thick crystals like those in Nox’s penthouse.
I collide with them, feeling the sting of several scratches and the flimsy fabric of the dress tear. They are made of just common glass. I fall sideways on the plush grass and roll, standing and running, breathing deep the smell of petrichor and flicking a glance at the half clouded sky. The strongest wards extend to the edge of the forest, one-hundred yards away. I know the Nephilim are closer. My spine tingles in warning. I zig-zag to avoid possible energy bursts, watching green energy fly right beside my head.
I clench my teeth and dodge as best I can without turning.
Sharp pain lances on my right buttock. Cool liquid spreads with alarming speed down my legs, up towards my chest. I lose speed, my breath catching inside my throat.
So close, I’m so close.
I cry out launching forward, my legs fail me and I fall hard on the humid grass, screaming with frustration and pain. Chanting the spell over and over again in my head…
I can’t stand, I can’t—
NOX
Just as the sun sets completely, I feel it.
A faint tug on my chest that comes from about twenty miles away.
I hear my name as if whispered by the wind.
Then a blast of power not even wards can hide.
“Head twenty miles southeast,” I call through the earpiece and then portal away, feeling the sting of Nephilim wards and landing just a few yards away from the end of them.
What I see steals my breath away.
Dinah is laying on the ground crying out in anger and frustration, her eyes full of tears lock with mine.
I send a blast of my power with a murmured spell, knocking down the Nephilim wards, replacing them with my own. I’m beside her in less than a second, lifting her off the ground and holding her tight. She clings to me with weakened limbs, shaking with contained sobs. I take off the massive dart, injecting her with what smells like morphine and something chalky.
Reluctantly, I pull back. Her silvery eyes are wide, lashes wet, so much fear, relief, pain, and desperation buzzing out of
her. I’ve wrapped us in a bubble of my power, keeping her safe.
“Take them off, please,” Dinah asks, voice trembling.
I send tendrils of my power to the cursed bracelets. “Fractus.”
The heavy crystal cracks and falls from her hands and neck. Dinah arches her head, letting out a raw sound of anger as her power uncoils. She blazes from head to toe, her energy burning the chemicals they injected her with. To my surprise, her power doesn’t burn me as it should, but I’ll have to think about that later. After a minute she clenches her fists and reins it in, standing on her own.
I see with the corner of my eye how Isir, Stefan, and Bryce arrive.
Isir claims one of Dinah’s hands at once, falling under the dome of my protection.
Dinah lets out a sob, and half hugs her, still holding onto my arm.
I look over their heads. There are four Nephilim just outside the mansion. One of them, a lean male wearing a powder coat and holding rifle bolts inside at once. Aaron and the other two males that look like warriors face us.
“He killed Derek,” Dinah says, her eyes on Bryce.
“I know,” Bryce replies, voice laced with cold anger. He walks further to the left, to secure a safe distance.
Stefan lets out a growl, shifting with uncanny speed. He’s far from being a match for Aaron, he knows this too. I send a vine of my power around him, shielding him from light power attacks.
Dinah releases me and stands beside me, hands fisted. She’s wearing a torn, bloodied blue dress. I wrap a layer of my power around her. She gasps as my energy envelops her but doesn’t fight me, her trust is unwavering. I use a part of my focus to vanish the dress and summon a set of Isir’s leathers and the amethyst weapons directly on Dinah.
She swallows hard and sends me a grateful look.
The Nephilim summon weapons and let loose their light power. Brilliant silver armor materializes on their bodies, made of an alloy that replicates celestial metal as close as possible.
Isir readies her vines of power, focusing on the coffee skinned warrior that levitates off the ground as he summons his blue-energy wings, he’s staring at her with disgust.
A boom of hot power explodes to my right. Everyone except for me and Isir gawks as Bryce explodes, azure fire enveloping him as his shift occurs. Stefan wisely gets out of the way. A mighty roar that shakes the earth comes out of Bryce’s other form, a white dragon, almost as big as a mansion; massive wings and blazing azure eyes, smoke comes out of his nostrils.
“Holy shit,” Dinah mutters. She meets my eyes, awe, and determination shining there. “Only Aaron dies.”
I clench my teeth but nod.
Bryce flaps his mighty wings with a leathery boom and rises from the ground.
Stefan makes his way at full speed towards Aaron. The Nephilim wastes no time in launching light power and spells towards him that I block, simultaneously shielding Isir as she speeds towards her mark.
The other warrior, a blond, takes flight and aims his power towards Dinah. He spits a nasty spell in Asteri and sends a jet of golden power towards Dinah. I reinforce the shield, absorbing the burning energy with a small hiss.
Stefan is giving it all he has to find a weak spot in Aaron’s defense. But there is none with the amount of vomit-green power the Nephilim has surrounded himself with. I manage to block a blast that would have killed the lycan warrior, but the force of it sends him away at speed against a stone fountain near the entrance of the mansion. I cushion the blow, but it still cracks his skull and leaves him out of combat.
Dinah readies her claymore, the elegant sword is by far her favorite weapon. She looks mighty bathed in golden and orange light that blazes like fire. I can feel her creating both an outer and inner shield. She speeds towards Aaron and he meets her halfway, light weapons clashing with enough might to cut through concrete.
Isir has used her telekinesis to lift herself off the ground and slice with her sword at the Nephilim, cutting through his ethereal energy wings. Her sword is magicked with my power and specially made to cause considerable harm to Light beings and demons alike. The Nephilim cries out and falls on the ground, looking beyond enraged. Unlike mine, his wings aren’t precisely physical but made of power. Still, it must hurt like hell.
Isir chuckles. “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”
She’s playing with her food.
A larger blast of power hits me, making me take a step back. I move just in time to avoid the slice of the sword of the blond warrior. The lack of fear, skill, and sureness of his power and moves indicates me he is the oldest. He’s blazing with yellow light from head to toe, face set in a calm mask. I keep the barriers around Stefan, Isir, and Dinah.
I summon my wings to match his advantage, knowing that underestimating him would be a mistake, feeling the deeper well of power that he wields. He can’t kill me, but he can damage my physical vessel if I get distracted.
I go airborne and stop playing on the defense.
“You vile and repugnant creature!” The Nephilim spits in Asteri language, the calm facade crumbling. “One day you and your repulsive brethren will fall under the Almighty’s army. And those degenerates who brought you into existence will be forever imprisoned for their sacrilege!”
I arch a brow. “What an incredibly unoriginal little script. Tell me, have you ever used your brain? Or are you too comfortable letting daddy think for you?”
The Nephilim snarls and sends a violent burst of light power, strong enough to kill a lesser demon. I don’t bother blocking it, opening a dimensional pocket to let it go through instead. If he continues being so careless, he’ll exhaust himself. He speeds towards me and I meet him halfway, the crash of swords and power sending waves of energy that light up the night.
It takes all of my restraint to quench the urge to turn to Dinah, standing beside her, and protecting her as I fight with the blond warrior. But I can feel her, the link between us once again in place. Her power core is pulsing steadily and stronger than ever before. She can do this.
Heat blasts to my right. I see Bryce let out a jet of blue flame with the corner of my eye, wings flapping steadily as he lands closer to Dinah.
CHAPTER 25
DINAH
I’m torn between continuing fighting Aaron and helping Isir.
I have no idea if she’ll be able to maintain her advantage or not.
The bastard is very determined to fight with me, though. We’ve managed to cut each other a few times, nothing significant, at least not to near-immortals. I block a blast of Aaron’s power, feeling Nox’s shield repel him too. Our power doesn’t collide, it only blends and reinforces my shield, something I’m certain it’s not normal.
Aaron sends a spell that sounds nasty, and I place my blade as a shield on instinct. The blast lifts me off my feet nevertheless. I fly back and turn on myself in the air, landing on my feet several yards away just as a jet of blue flame leaves the massive dragon Bryce has become and collides with Aaron.
I shield myself and turn to look at Nox. His amethyst power clashes violently with the massive power of a blond Nephilim. I hadn’t even felt that warrior while in the mansion. The Nephilim is bathed in yellow energy, blazing so bright I can’t see his face. Nox’s beautiful onyx wings and the silver-amethyst energy surrounding him make him look like a fallen angel.
Isir has a vicious smile on her face as she wields a black diamond claymore, similar to mine. She can’t channel any light power through it but doesn’t need to. Smoky vines of power curl around her and poke at the dark-skinned Nephilim who—despite not being as powerful as the blond that Nox is fighting—is holding his ground against her well enough.
I send power through one of my amethyst daggers and launch it towards the warrior fighting with Isir. It stabs him on the right side of his back; he cries out and turns to send a blast towards me. Isir wraps his arm in a vine and pulls tight.
“Mind your business,” the succubus says, winking at me, eyes azure and looking like she’s havin
g the time of her life.
I catch a flash of white and turn just to be hit by a mighty draconic tail and sent flying again. Blue flame and puke-colored green light clash as I twist in the air and repeat the maneuver to land on my feet.
“Hiding behind your lizard pet, Dinah?” Aaron mocks, he’s panting, his face splashed with pinkish blood thanks to a gash I managed to give him. I have one on my back, it stings, but I can feel my regeneration kicking in.
“You’ll have to make up your mind, Aaron,” I croon, standing beside Bryce, feeling the powerful furnace of his power heat my skin. “I thought I was the pet. Or are you just trying to find an out? Are you scared of the big bad dragon?”
Bryce lets out a low growl.
Aaron’s nostrils flare.
“You better run, Aaron, because you’re not getting out of this alive,” I say, knowing it’s true as a flash of fear crosses the bastard’s eyes.
I’m sure Bryce could defeat Aaron on his own. The power I’d felt thrumming inside him when we trained is nothing compared to the full might of his dragon self.
My chances of defeating him aren’t that bad either.
I’m fully attuned with the Asteri-inherited genetic combat memory now, so we are even on that front. And despite still not being as strong and powerful as I’m meant to be, I am close to matching his power.
“What’s it gonna be, Aaron?” I needle.
He clenches his teeth, sword gleaming with power, and making a stand. I call for my power, feeling it blaze from my core to my right arm, my sword flames.
“You get to kill him, I just want to stab him at least once,” I say to Bryce, who lets out a heavy huff, smoke oozing from his nostrils.
I feel Bryce’s power stir as he arches his neck.
Aaron runs.
I blink, turning to look at Bryce. “You know, I wasn’t actually expecting him to run.”
Bryce makes a gesture with his head, indicating his hide. I don’t hesitate, crouching and jumping up.
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