I didn’t like sour grapes Simon, almost as much as I detested waiting for gods damn Nicholas to give his signal. We would have a long talk about trust and stupidity when this was all over. There he was, just spread out on the altar like nothing, as if he wasn’t about to be sacrificed to Azathoth, whoever the hell he was. Carlo held the kris like a pen and hunched over Nicholas. The point of the knife caressed his skin as he twirled loops and zags over Nick’s chest until it reached the spot directly over his heart.
“Go!” I shouted.
I tore down the remaining steps like a bat out of hell, not bothering to slow down as I kicked open the door. Time seemed to slow down as I flew over the threshold. The acolytes, super soldiers, or whatever the hell they were, turned toward us en masse, gaping and pointing.
“Attack! Kill them!” screamed Vernon. “They are instruments of Il Separatio! Destroy them.”
✽ ✽ ✽
Jordan grabbed me by my arm and whirled me around. “Carlo and Vernon. Focus.”
Right. Mass murder would have been fun, but I had work to do. Jordan’s blue eyes flashed cobalt, and he seemed to swell and malevolence. His hands shook as he fought to keep control of himself for just a moment longer before the beast that lived inside him took over.
“Go,” he growled in a voice not his own. He shoved me toward the altar and turned his back on me, lost to the berserker fury that had fallen upon him.
“Jasper!” Nicholas cried. “Help me!”
Amid everything, Carlo hadn’t bothered to stop. Drops of blood flecked Nicholas’ chest as Carlo continued to carve into his exposed flesh.
A red haze came over me, and my vision became exquisitely clear. The ornate carvings on the kris were as visible as the paintings on the wall. I could hear every raspy, pained breath that Nicholas expelled and the splitting of his flesh as Carlo hewed another marking. I screamed and exploded with light, charging toward them through the throng of juiced-up maniacs. I’d only made it three steps when I was thrown to the side, tackled by a woman twice my girth and half a foot taller than me. She shrieked, spittle flying from her mouth, as she clawed at my face. She anchored a ragged nail into the fleshiest part of my cheek and tore, ripping it open. In the distance, I heard Jordan roar in defiance, struggling to stay to his own task while I bled. I shoved at her with one glowing hand and burned through her robe as I grabbed her arm and twisted.
“Die, you bitch,” she spat.
I wrapped my hands around her throat and squeezed, cutting off the air to her lungs. She struggled, her hands wrapped around my wrists, oblivious to the hissing and spitting of the skin of her hands. The smell of charred flesh filled my nose as she fought.
“Jasper, dammit!” called Nicholas.
Disgusted with my blood lust, I threw her to one side, pulled out my gun, and shot her in the head. There were too many people between Nicholas and me and I couldn’t vent my rage on each person who got in my way. With my right hand, I shot at anything that came near me. My left shot out bolts of energy, a death sentence to anyone who survived the bullets. Carlo’s knife paused over the bloodied skin and took in my steady approach. He dropped the kris and ran for one of the doors.
“Nicholas,” I cried out, as I dropped to my knees in front of him. With shaking hands, I burned through the ropes binding him and helped him to his feet. He threw his arms around my neck. I pulled back to avoid burning him.
“Thank the gods. Jasper…”
“No time. Get safe and stay there.”
He grabbed my face and kissed me. “Take care of Carlo.”
Jordan roared again from the other side of the room as he battled two men who resembled half-giants with hands as big as baseball gloves and body mass that dwarfed him, even in his enhanced form.
“Esai,” I shouted and grabbed him as he ran past us. “Take care of Nicholas. Keep him alive. That’s your only job.”
“Got it. Stay behind me,” he instructed Nicholas. “Go, boss.”
Nicholas shoved me, blood still slick on his chest. “Get Carlo. I don’t know what he did but it can’t be good. Go!”
Vernon placed himself between me and the fleeing Carlo, his mouth drawn into a rictus of hate and revulsion. “You’re too late,” he hissed and pulled his hands to his sides to gather his own power. Without warning, he flung one hand out at me, and an icicle spear flew at my head. I threw myself to the side, but the wintry blade sheared the side of my face, opening a laceration twin to the one on my other cheek.
I reached inward to that place where my magic lived and pulled out my best spell. “Elurra!” And around us, it snowed.
Vernon stopped in his tracks and burst out into laughter as the flurries deposited a light coating of powder on his shoulders. “That’s the best you have?”
Dammit. I knew I had a better one in me, but that was the best I could do under pressure. I wished I had the ice manipulation that Candice could throw around, but c’est la vie. I didn’t have time to contemplate the idiocy of making it snow on him or the beauty of a snowfall on the beach. Vernon hurled compact balls of ice and sleet-like daggers at me faster than I could process. I threw up my hands and sent out bursts of energy, melting the projectiles before they struck me.
This is stupid, said a voice in the back of my head. She had made her appearance and was back with smashing commentary. I felt her slide into my bones and hijack control of my body. She summoned Jude’s wind manipulation and flung Vernon against the wall, pinning him there with a veritable gale-force wind. She touched my well of magic and pulled from deep inside me, deeper than I’d ever ventured. We howled and hit him with the most concentrated effort of ice and cold I could summon. He could have doubled for a young Han Solo the way he was plastered to the wall, encased in ice. Only his eyes moved, tracking me as We stalked closer. She curled my right hand into a ball and punched at the air between us. A shot of energy, hot as fire, hit Vernon square in the chest. I gagged as he disintegrated into bloody steam and icy chunks of flesh spewed over the room.
Keep going, kiddo. We’re not done.
I swiped at the blood dripping down each of my cheeks. Bits and pieces of the fight flashed before me as I tore through the house searching for Carlo. In the television room, I spotted Candice grappling with a man twice her size. She shouted for help and Rodriguez, one of our newest and greenest assassins, threw his hand out. He shot out a stream of water that blasted right into the face of her attacker. It only momentarily stunned him and turned his rage away from Candice. Now able to breathe, Candice gathered herself and summoned her ice, much weaker than Vernon’s, throwing it at the water. The floor, becoming slick with ice, took down her assailant. I watched as she and Rodriguez pounced on him and tore him apart.
As I dashed into the game room, I saw one of the crazed zombies had Ramirez in a headlock. Mercer, seeing his friend incapacitated, dislodged himself from his own would-be attacker and aimed a perfect shot across the room. Ramirez’s foe dropped to the ground.
“He went that way,” shouted Graves as he pointed to the cliffs, “through that door.”
Hope you remember how to swim.
Oh, shut up.
I wrested control of my body back from Her and ran toward the back of the house. I couldn’t lose him, not when we were so close to ending this. He wasn’t anywhere to be found, not in the cellar nor in the giant half-bathroom near the second kitchen.
The cliffs. He’s outside. Obviously.
Duh.
It was the only place he could go. I ran through the patio, stumbling through the ornamental plants scattered all over the grounds, and headed toward the beach.
Between me and the ground was thirty feet of rock hewn out of a millennium of sand and waves beating upon it. That, and a rickety flight of steps that traversed the cliffs. The wooden stairway was a sharp, vertical descent.
I was afraid of heights. They made me dizzy. I only did well in planes because I pretended that I wasn’t that high up. The view beneath me was dizzying.
I breathed deeply. “Jas, you’ve got this,” I muttered. “Just some stairs that can plunge you to the ground. At worst, you’ll shatter every bone in your body and never walk again. No big deal.”
Stop being such a wimp. He’s getting away. Do you want me to take over again?
No, I most certainly did not want to lose control, not until it was time for utter destruction. I was more than okay not witnessing that.
Gulping, I placed my foot on the top step. There was no audible creaking or snapping of the wooden planks. Nothing shook despite the fierce winds that seemed to have shown up for dramatic effect.
Nope. I still wasn’t doing that. Jordan would have to carry me down these stairs.
My plans of sitting back and waiting for my beastly chauffeur went to hell. Carlo bounded off the bottom step and took off running across the beach.
Shit.
I’ll get you down the stairs. We’ll renegotiate at the bottom.
Good enough for me. She sunk into my bones and propelled me forward and terrifying speed. Holding on to the railing did nothing but tear up my hands with wooden shards and splinters. My cries of pain were smothered by Her whoops of sheer joy and wild abandonment as She hurtled us down the cliff.
Twenty more feet.
Ten more feet.
Five.
We jumped the last few feet onto the sand. I landed hard and twisted my ankle. The pain stunned Her and threw me back into sudden control of my body. With that control came the acute awareness of the injuries I’d sustained on the way down. My hands were shredded and bloody. My face stung from the salt that had blown into my open wounds and my ankle throbbed.
“You failed, child,” shouted Carlo through the howling winds. “It’s too late.”
Climbing to my feet, I hobbled toward him. “You’re wrong. We stopped you. Nicholas is alive, and your bootlickers are all dying right now. Don’t you care?”
“They served their purpose. Look around you,” he said, spreading his arms to encompass the whipping storm. “Do you think you can stand against this? The battle has begun.”
“You’re delusional. Nothing has happened. There’s no tear in the sky with some chaos god on a chariot of fire-breathing horses. No Azathoth or anyone else is here for you. Give it up!”
Carlo laughed and tossed his hands in the air. The weather responded to him, and the rain and winds pelted me. I held up an arm to shield my eyes, but it was impossible to see in this storm. Lightning struck the sand mere yards in front of me. The electricity made the hairs on my arm stand up, the power nothing like the one living in my body.
“So what?” I shouted. “You can make it rain. Big deal.” I shot out a burst of energy through the downpour. The flash of light illuminated Carlo’s face. Unlike earlier, his face was gaunt and his eyes…
Cripes.
His eyes shone with the light of the fanatical as he called up a shimmering shield in front of him. It blocked my energy.
What the ever-loving hell?
She and I were on the same wavelength. He had just withstood one of my better efforts.
No. Dammit. No way in hell was he going to win.
I pushed my way through the powerful gusts, one foot in front of the other. No matter how hard I tried, I didn’t make much progress. I threw bolt after bolt of energy at Carlo, only to have it fizzle out as it hit his shield. My wind manipulation was a puff of air compared to his mastery and utterly useless.
“Elurra,” I cried again, desperate for any advantage. For a moment, the raindrops crystallized and became gently falling snowflakes. The respite allowed me to stumble forward, my feet uneven and wobbly on the sand.
“Snow?” he sneered. “Is that the Order’s greatest hope’s best effort?” He shouted again in that alien language.
I slammed to my knees as something punched me in the gut. Spittle and blood flew from my mouth as another gust hit me in the face. Invisible hands battered me from all angles, slapping and piercing my skin through my clothes. I bit down on a sob. I couldn’t stop him. He was too strong.
A wraith-like grip wrapped icy fingers around my wrists and yanked outward, spreading my arms wide.
“Do you understand? It’s over. Stop fighting what is meant to be.”
“I will never stop fighting you and your band of freaks,” I spat. “You won’t win.”
“Leave her alone!” called a rough voice.
No.
Mikael.
CHAPTER THIRTY
MIKAEL RAN ACROSS THE sand and skidded to a stop at my side. “Are you okay?”
I was going to murder him, assuming we got out of this alive. “What are you doing? Get out of here!”
He tried to lift me to my feet, but my ghostly shackles were too strong. He swore in Russian, kissed my forehead and got to his feet.
“The seer arrives. Did you plan on making such an entrance?”
Mikael shook his head. “It was time,” he replied. “You know you can’t do this. The gods will not allow it.”
“The gods have allowed this charade to go on for millennia. I doubt they will get involved now. What I do is a favor to them.”
“How?” asked Mikael, his tone almost conversational as he blocked me with his body. “The apocalypse or whatever you want to accomplish is wrong. It is not time for humanity to make that decision.”
“It was always time for humanity to make that decision. Il Separatio took that away from them. You have seen this. You know what has to happen,” said Carlo.
“More than you,” he agreed.
“Move.”
“Mikael, get behind me,” I gasped. I struggled against my invisible bonds to push him out of the way. Carlo’s magic was strong. I wasn’t able to budge an inch. “For the love of all that’s holy, get the hell out of here.”
“No,” he said with quiet authority. “I’ve seen where I need to be. Carlo, I swear you will not touch her.”
“I already have,” the man chuckled. “The only reason I have not ended her is that I haven’t decided if she’s worth the trouble of keeping her. She will die. It’s only a matter of when.”
Mikael stepped forward and spread his arms. “You will not touch her. On my life, I will not let you harm her.”
“Okay,” said Carlo cheerfully. “I didn’t want to kill you, son. You’re a good man. You could have been a vital ally in this fight once you chose a side.”
“I have chosen my side.” Mikael wiped the rain from his face and pushed back his sopping wet hair. He shivered in the cold. “Hers.”
Carlo shook his head. He reached into his pocket and removed a gun.
“No!” I screamed and fought wildly. My bonds only tightened. “Run!”
Mikael turned his head toward me and smiled. “Ya lyublyu tebya. Thank you for being moya sestra.”
“No!”
The sounds of the shots were deafening. Mikael’s body convulsed and hunched over as the bullets ripped into his abdomen. He crumpled to the ground, one hand trying to impede the flow of blood.
“Stay away from her,” he said through gritted teeth as he forced himself to his feet. He plodded a few feet closer. Carlo shot again, hitting him in the chest. This time, when he fell, Mikael did not rise.
✽ ✽ ✽
Rage and pain that knew no beginning or end flashed through me, obliterating any demarcation between Her and me. The grief was eternal. They had taken away everything from me, everyone I’d ever loved. I couldn’t breathe as I stared at Mikael’s body, face-down in the sand, and the pool of blood that grew beneath him. He had known. He’d shown up now just to die for me.
No. No more.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I screamed, and the world stopped. The rain froze mid-air. It didn’t solidify and turn into ice. It stayed where it was. The winds paused their brutal assault and lightning hung in the sky.
The shackles around my wrists snapped. I hauled myself to my feet and limped forward. I kept my eyes on Carlo as I moved
. If I looked at Mikael, I would throw myself on top of him, sob, and never get up.
“You touched mine,” I hissed.
Carlo’s eyes widened as his spells bounced off me with the same impact as a penny flicking against a fountain bottom. “He needed to die,” he insisted.
“No,” I crooned. “You’re the one who needs to die. Slowly. Painfully.”
He screamed as the bolt of energy I hurled at him struck his left thigh. It burned through his robe and pants, searing the flesh beneath. He fell to one knee and shifted backward.
I reached into that well of power inside, where She lived, where my magic lived and yanked out everything I could use to inflict pain.
“Elurra,” I cried out. I infused the spell with Jude’s wind manipulation and pelted him with hail and sleet. I called down the lightning and struck the sand two feet from him. The blast drove him up into the air, and he came down and landed on his back.
Spitting sand out of his mouth, he got back to his feet, favoring his injured leg. “Jasper, fight at my side. You could be such a gift to the world. Stand and fight for humanity.”
“Shut up.” I slapped him down with a gust of wind and pinned him to the ground spread-eagle. “You won’t hurt anyone ever again. Not you or any of your people.”
“It’s too late,” he cackled.
“You and your madmen have caused too much damage in the name of a gods damn theological debate that was settled at the beginning of time. You taught me that Il Separatio was created by accident, the product of the forces of Light and Dark colliding. He is more powerful than that which created him. He is part of the natural order. We all are. How could you, Carlo?”
“I did what needed to be done, you ignorant child.”
“The children, dammit. How many lives did you take for no other reason than your pride, the belief that you, of all beings in the universe, could set into motion something that was never meant to be?”
“We were never meant to be. We are neither angels nor demons. We don’t exist in the natural order.”
“Seriously, shut up. When God and the Devil return, they’ll work it out. It’s over.”
The Black Knights Page 30
