by Susan Reid
—However, Isis’ voice rang out loud and clear above all the chaos and the cacophony of the storm. She swiftly rose up into the air, resisting the power of the natural wind and holding herself steady, she screamed out to us below.
“Ambush!”
Chapter 37
“Zero-gravity!” Isis immediately shouted afterwards with an echo that seemed to come out of nowhere, with her arms raised above her head. Noemi, Sage, and the other two Sylphs rose to join her as well, pushing wind harder in the direction of the now illuminated magenta and green eyes that had surrounded us in front of the gateway.
As soon as Isis’ power phrase left her mouth, the glowing eyed beings that began to surround us immediately dropped to the ground as if being crushed. Stunned, grunts and angry curses rose against the sudden magic that was thrown at them.
“Shit!” I hissed between clenched teeth as I whipped out my katana and curled my fist firmly around its hilt.
Gage moved in beside me, both guns drawn, and everyone else quickly armed themselves with their weapons of choice too. We all lined up in front of Clee, Elvie and Duncan so they could continue to finish closing the gateway.
Isis’ anti-gravity magic was going to buy us a few minutes.
“Attack now! I can’t hold them much longer, this is taking way too much energy!” She yelled down to us.
The other Sylphs began to stir the wind and direct it at the few beings that managed to block Isis’ magic, sending them flying backwards away from us.
“This is way too convenient.” Gage said to me and then he turned to glance up at Nailah who stood at the highest point on the docks with her arms up, drawing the lightning to her.
I followed his gaze. I certainly hoped he was wrong but when Nailah turned and looked back over her shoulder at us, I knew he was right.
“I’m really sorry, Kai!” She called out.
Are you kidding me?
Betrayed and pissed, my first reaction was to run and climb the platform to rip her throat out with my teeth but there was no time for that.
Cole and the others began to charge and attack as forceful waves of water rose up like a giant fingered hand and then came crashing down over the dock to take out some of the ambushers.
“I’ve got a clear shot!” Gage said, aiming his revolver at Nailah and clearly about to pull the trigger.
“No! She’s mine!” I shouted, pressing his gun down.
With teeth grit, I took off with the incredible speed I had acquired since changing and pushed through the pounding rain and waves that created a level four hurricane effect.
Just then, lightning flashed. Someone screamed and all I could see from the corner of my eye was Isis falling into the ocean with a trail of smoke behind her.
“Isis!” I screamed out helplessly. Terror-stricken, I watched her slim body falling limply into the water, unable to get to her in time. The other Sylphs immediately dove down after to retrieve her.
That little bitch had electrocuted her!
As soon as she had been hit, her magic hold was released. Enraged, I turned to glance over my shoulder seeing a horde of Ascendants getting back onto their feet and charging towards everyone on our side.
I heard Erian roar and a burst of magic was unleased in a myriad of bright flashes, sparks, and colors all aiming for Nailah.
Torn, and knowing that Nailah would probably end up really hurting me or killing me altogether, I turned back around and headed back towards the fight. I had to protect Clee, Duncan, and Elvie so they could finish closing the gateway. Erian could handle her.
Furious with bitter anger, my fangs were already elongated and I was ready for bloodshed. I didn’t stop to look, think, or assess anything. Even though bodies were dropping around us from the skilled and rapid gunfire of Gage’s guns, and humans were probably witnessing this battle, it didn’t stop me from cutting down anything that came within arms-reach of me.
Why hadn’t I seen this coming? Was I too soft as Isis said I was? Yeah, my huge heart could possibly be the one thing that was going to get us all killed, and if Isis was dead…I didn’t want to think about that. Every one of these piece of shit Nocturnas were going to pay dearly until my last dying breath.
Riza and the other fire elementals were launching a maelstrom of fireballs but they were immediately being doused by the pouring rain and tidal waves of turbulent ocean water that Marq and his entourage were controlling.
“Pull back Marq, it’s too much!” Clee yelled towards the water.
“Kai! Take her, throw her back through the portal now!” Someone familiar was screaming out to me from somewhere.
Through the throng of writhing forms in the darkness, I switched to infrared vision and sought out the source.
It had been Noemi.
She was hovering a few yards away from Nailah with her palms still up and facing outward. Her wind had thrown Nailah from the platform and sent her slamming down onto the dock below where she landed face down, and was being held prisoner inside a water bubble.
She was stirring, trying to rise and then panicking once she realized that she was encapsulated in water once again.
Sprinting like a bullet, ducking, dodging, and sliding through attempted but missed attacks on me, I ran towards her.
The fierce beast was rising inside of me and trying to take over again. I could feel her roar rising up in my throat as she urged me forward, thirsting for Nocturna blood. I wanting nothing more than to kill her on the spot with my bare hands and then feed from her, savoring every last drop of her blood.
Killing her would be the best solution but it would be too easy of a punishment. She had to be thrown into the unknown and left to survive if she thought she’d be able to. Her fate would be up to others if they decided to keep her alive at all.
“Hurry! The gateway is closing!” Clee called out to me as I whipped past her in a heated and determined blur, already knowing what I was about to do.
The water bubble burst just as I reached out and grabbed a gasping and choking Nailah.
“No! Wait, Kai, you don’t understand. You have it all wrong!” She screamed, coughing up dribbles of water.
I heard nothing that came out of her mouth, nothing that mattered anyway.
Why hadn’t she shocked me yet?
“Isis was my friend, you little bitch!” I roared and screamed threateningly at her.
“No! I didn’t do it!” She shook her head, clearly terrified.
“Please ...listen to me…look out! Mara, don’t!” She begged, her face contorting into horror and her eyes shifting to look over my shoulder.
Jerking her forward towards my open mouth and going for her throat, I was halted by a burning, white hot pain that exploded and seared through the skin of my back, breaking a few bones in my upper ribcage, and ripping completely through my chest.
Nailah screamed and I dropped her, collapsing to my knees.
Dumbfounded, I glanced down at the bloody tip of a scythe jutting from my chest. It hadn’t fully hit me though the pain screamed and rippled through me like hot, jagged daggers. It was as if I were looking at someone else’s body and my entire right arm began to go numb.
“Kai!” I heard Cole bellow loudly, sounding nearly hysterical.
Nailah tried to throw herself over me but she was tossed aside like a limp doll by whoever it was that stabbed me in the first place.
Someone else stepped in front of and shadowed me. An abnormally tall and built female, about the size of an Amazonian warrior, loomed over me and she was glowing magenta all over.
Her face was twisted with both psychotic humor and blood-thirsty hatred, quickly turning into a malevolent smile when I looked up at her.
“Not only have I found and retrieved that stupid, inconsiderate brat once again but I got to kill a Sylph and a Hunter, all in one night. Definitely payment enough for me and all in a days work.”
Chapter 38
Everything was advancing like a slow motion slide show all a
round me. Voices were muffled and incoherent and my rage was nursing the pain, suppressing it because I flat out refused to succumb to any injuries and die tonight. Nailah had tried to protect me. She really didn’t do it but she knew more than she let on. She knew this one’s name.
Mara.
If I had to die, I was taking this huge bitch with me for killing Isis.
A force field instantly burst forth from her glow and completely surrounded her, crackling with live magenta currents flowing all throughout it. A barrage of bullets, darts, fire bombs, wind crescents, and razor-edged water slammed against her shield uselessly. She laughed confidently at everyone’s failed attempt to come to my rescue.
“Take out those damned Animators before they close our only way home!” She shouted to her cohorts.
Cole continued to run at her, ignoring any potential danger and the threat of her incredible power.
“Cole, don’t! Stay back and protect Clee!” I screamed at him.
“Sweet, two hunters! I’m on a roll, baby!” She grinned wickedly.
Adrenaline feeding me, I leapt up to my feet and grabbed her, only to get an extremely powerful shock, way more stronger and way more painful that Nailah’s.
Screaming through the hellish pain that felt as if it were cooking me from the inside out, I tried desperately to let go of her but my nerves refused to let me do it. I had no choice but to be forced to endure and take the full-on electrocution.
Whoever she was, she was an incredibly powerful Nocturna, one I wasn’t prepared for by any means. An Ascendant warrior no doubt.
I could feel my life force start to slip away from me as my body convulsed wildly out of my control and then began to go numb. My heart beat began vacillating between pumping erratically and then slowing down laboriously.
“Shoot her, do it now! She can’t do both at the same time!” Nailah was screaming at someone.
“Oh, you little treacherous bitch! Fuck the money and your father, I’m gonna do what someone should have done with your ass a long time ago!” The Nocturna sneered when she turned to Nailah.
Her head suddenly snapped back and she froze for a brief moment. Several beats passed before she began to grin again. My vision was getting blurry around the edges but I could clearly see a chrome bullet that immediately exploded after sprouting spikes, sticking out of her forehead, dead center.
That had to be one of Gage’s bullets.
Though she shuddered slightly for a moment and her electrocuting power ceased, allowing me to fall completely to the ground on my side, it didn’t do much else.
What the hell?
Gage shot at her three more times and still she was not going down easily.
Taking advantage of that momentary distraction while she commenced to figure out what kind of ammunition was being assailed upon her, Cole leapt and tackled her like a football pro…only to be shocked and stunned as soon as his arms went around her.
I was too horrified and weak to even scream and I watched helplessly as Cole went flying backwards.
Several screams erupted and I heard Clee scream out his name.
Everyone began to slam her with more elements, magic, and bullets all at once, and again her shield blocked or diverted every single attack.
In the melee and chaos of lights, smoke, fire, and water, Nailah crawled over to me and gently turned me over. I could barely catch my breath to speak and I cried out silently once she began to remove the scythe.
Even though I could tell she tried to be gentle, I screamed in pain as it sliced fresh new flesh on its way out. I wanted to curse her out and beat the living shit out of her but I was far too weak to do anything. I could barely utter a sound through the blood dribbling profusely out of my mouth.
What was she doing?
When I saw her raising the scythe towards the warrior Nocturna, about to swing in fury, I wanted to shout and tell her to stop. She was no match for this one but Nailah did it anyway in an attempt to save me. Just as I predicted, the warrior Nocturna was quick on her feet, managing to duck and dodge her swing. She grabbed the base of the blade, jerking it hard from Nailah’s hands and causing her to stumble forward, landing on her hands and knees.
Nailah squealed in surprise and quickly tried to back up away from her.
“How dare you even think about attacking me let alone trying to do it, you rotten ingrate! I’ll just tell your father that these pathetic losers killed you and I could nothing to stop it but I did manage to avenge your death by killing them all.” She laughed, raising the scythe high above her head.
Nailah screamed, holding a hand over her face protectively.
—And then, it was as if some other life force awakened fully and was compelling me to move. It offered me a crutch of power and the will to survive. It was ancient, and though it seemed foreign to me at first, it slowly began to feel familiar. It roared inside my head loud enough to jolt me awake, making my nerves and muscles twitch and thrum with a stronger, renewed urgent vitality.
Driven by sudden intense craving and thirst, I swung my leg forward, tripping and surprising her when she lost her footing and began to fall backwards. Apparently, it hadn’t been just me who made her lose her balance. Gage suddenly appeared with his arm around her neck in a severe choke hold, twisting and pulling her roughly down to the ground.
I appreciated him coming to my rescue and risking himself but he wasn’t going to be the one to take her out. For my best friend and Nailah’s sake, I was going to drain this wicked bitch bone dry and kill her myself.
I growled with ferocity, leaping forward and pouncing on her before she hit the ground fully. Realizing what I was going to do, Gage released her and stepped back to allow me room. Confusion and fear fell swiftly over her previous smug and confident expression when I lunged up at her with fangs bared like the blood-thirsty, feral beast that I was for the moment.
That fear left her mute with shock and before she could even react, defend, or utter a single syllable…I silenced her permanently. Viciously and without remorse or pause, I tore open her entire throat, savoring the rich, juicy burst of cold blood that gushed across my tongue and into the back of my throat.
Gulping copious amounts of her wicked, yet powerful energy and continuing to gnaw my way through, I had nearly severed her head from her body— before finally collapsing to the sound of my final heartbeat…echoing in my ears like a distant and dying drum beat.
Chapter 39
Though I couldn’t move, speak, let alone open my eyes to see, I could still hear and vividly scent everything around me, which meant that I wasn’t dead.
Once that realization became a reality, the only concern of mine was hope that this hadn’t been for nothing. That we had accomplished what we had set out to do and that everyone was alright.
Then, I thought of Isis and mentally, I felt myself start to cry. Isis was like a sister to me and losing her was like losing an important part of my body. The thought of never seeing her again literally made my heart ache as if it had been stabbed with a poisonous blade. I was crying but I could only imagine the tears flowing from the corners of my eyes as my breath hitched internally. I don’t know if I was actually crying or not.
“Look! Cole! Guys, get in here! There’s a tear forming under her eyelash. She’s not dead! Erian, it worked, it worked!” A hysterically happy voice began to sob and laugh at the same time.
Wait. That voice…that voice sounded like, Isis.
Isis! I wanted to open my eyes but I couldn’t. It was as if I were paralyzed with nothing left to my awareness but my highly acute senses. Her signature was like spring flowers and I struggled to sift through everything I was scenting in order to verify that it was indeed her.
Shuffling and footsteps quickly clambered into the room and I could literally feel the heat of their bodies surrounding me.
I imagined myself being either on a morgue table or in my bedroom, especially if they thought I was dead or dying. But I know my brother and friends, if any
thing, they would have never given up hope.
Being extremely sore and hurting like hell was enough proof for me that I was alright.
“Kai? It’s Cole. Can you hear me?”
I couldn’t respond.
Cole! My brother was okay too. The relief and happiness brought the warmth of more tears to my eyes. I’m sure that my face was literally streaked with wetness right about now. I suppose my tears will have to be the additional affirmation they needed to see.
Cole is a big guy, muscularly big, and it takes a lot to even hurt him let along knock him clear off his feet. Seeing him sent flying from the impact of being electrocuted will forever be burned in my brain as part of my personal cache of traumatizing memories.
“The healing and pain spells should be wearing off soon. She’s probably still under the residual effects, which means she can’t respond or move.”
That was Erian.
Oh, so that’s what’s wrong with me then.
“Her breathing is steady though and that’s a good sign. You were right Gage, if she hadn’t consumed such a high grade of Nocturna blood at that exact moment, she would have died.”
Gage was here? I could feel my heart begin to pick up the pace at the thought of seeing him.
“I wouldn’t have allowed that happen.” Gage replied.
“I don’t know what I would have done if she did.” Cole replied. His voice was hoarse, filled with despair as if he’d hadn’t been sleeping or spent long hours crying.
How long have I been comatose?
“She’s going to be alright, Cole. That’s the most important thing.”
That sounded like Clee.
“Kai is tough as hell. There was never a doubt in my mind, even after being skewered with a damned thirty-inch scythe through the chest, and then enduring electrocution that would have taken down an a herd of elephants, she still took that bitch down with one bite. That’s my girl.” Jax bragged on me with zeal.
“Thanks for recreating that disturbing picture for me even though I didn’t witness the horror of seeing my best friend take all of that, Jax.” Isis stated flatly.
