Page 9 of A Soul’s Curse (Fallen Souls #1)
With the last of her remaining strength, Ellie gasped, grabbing the edge of the phantom blade as she pushed against Leon’s hold. Her eyes flashed open as a memory must have run through her, and the words of some foreign language came out of her mouth, “ Veyr althar duniir .”
“Ellie!” I rasped out, unable to stop unraveling the spell on the urn. The knife that was absorbing her magic immediately stopped when it was pulled out, but the magic stolen by the blade didn’t return to her body.
“Theo, Theo! ” her ghost called out to me.
She took one look at her unconscious body on the floor, then rushed over and dropped to her knees to help me when she realized her phantom touch went right through the snakes and she couldn’t rip them off.
She was panicking and scared—not just for herself but for me .
The urn crumbled in my hands, now nothing but dust and ash.
The magic once sealed inside swirled, the mist thickening as it gathered beside the remnants of the urn.
It pulsed and twisted like a living shadow, gradually taking on the vague shape of a humanoid figure.
Luminescent and skeletal bones formed—an arm, a leg, a spine, a head.
Flesh and muscle then materialized, the mist condensing and knitting itself into sinew and skin.
The naked man had dark black hair, sharp horns that curved inward like a goat, deep red skin, and glowing red eyes that flashed with vengeance.
My magic reached out to the figure—definitely a demon—but I didn’t sense death.
This man was very much alive … and pissed off.
The demon’s magic suffocated the room with a noxious green fog, the overwhelming heat from earlier replaced with an oppressive chill that seeped into my bones.
He raised a hand and objects around me rattled, glass rolling onto the floor and shattering into pieces.
My fingers tried to form a spell but my thoughts were too scattered, the snakes still limiting my movement, and my magic faltered from the venom numbing my limbs.
My chest tightened, my heart racing as a strange, unfamiliar voice infiltrated my mind.
“ You think you can protect her? ” a whisper, sharp and venomous, curled around my ears.
This mysterious voice, the demon’s magic, was all in my head, but it didn’t just speak words.
He must have fed off of emotions, and right now he was dredging up my buried memories and devouring them like a starving predator gnawing at the bones of my soul.
“Yes,” I whimpered. “I … I can protect her!” I harbored immense guilt for my past—about what happened to my family—but I wouldn’t let this creature’s magic take control of me and use that to his advantage. I would protect my friend, no matter the sacrifice.
Leon held out the tip of the knife toward the man before him and scoffed, “You think I’m afraid of you? Your magic is pathetic. You’re weak, so you weaken others to overpower them. Not me.”
With a raging growl, the two raced toward each other, the demon releasing a vicious arc of dark green magic that leapt from his hand and pierced the air. Leon roared, thrusting out his knife as he lunged forward.
“Don’t!” James stepped between them. Leon’s blade briefly flashed with magic, then buried itself into his bicep.
This time, however, blood oozed out of the wound.
The arc of magical energy from the demon then struck him.
James winced, perhaps there was a grunt, but refused to show any other signs of slowing.
With his feet planted firmly in place, James held out his uninjured arm, flattening his palm in the air. The demon momentarily froze mid-punch as a shadowy black magic encased itself around James’s fist, hardening itself into stone as he took a powerful swing at his attacker’s jaw.
Leon retaliated, carelessly tearing James’s flesh as he ripped the knife out of his arm. A river of blood pooled onto the floor. “You can’t tell me what to—”
With a flick of his wrist, James then thrust out his hand, an invisible force tossing Leon across the room.
“Fear isn’t the only emotion he feeds off. You’re too angry to fight him. I said leave. Now. ”
Archie, wanting to have nothing to do with the scary demon tearing apart the restoration room—or the even scarier reporter on a rampage—fled the scene down the hallway.
As he did, the inky black magic binding me splattered into a puddle on the floor.
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out as slowly as I could.
I tried to get up, only to fall back down.
“This isn’t over, Theo.” Leon spit a wad of blood on the floor. “I hope you're ready for the Syndicate’s wrath, because you just made a powerful enemy.” Leon then took hold of Ellie’s wrists, her limp form no longer fighting against him.
Ellie’s ghost looked over to her body, then to me, as if deciding whether to follow Leon or stay with her friend.
“Leave … her … alone!” I reached out as if I could grab my friend, but helplessness swallowed me down into a quicksand of despair. He made some kind of gesture with his hands, no longer needing the knife, then Leon dragged Ellie’s lifeless body toward one of his magical tears. “Damn it! Ellie! ”
“If you want your friend back, perhaps you should reconsider my offer. I’ll be taking her for safekeeping until you come to your senses.”
“ You can’t protect her. ” The sinister voice from earlier echoed in my thoughts.
My blood was pounding, my thoughts fuzzy.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t lose someone else I cared about.
I tried to stay awake, doing the only thing I could think of by forcing my magic to pull at the venom before overwhelming despair completely consumed me.
If I died here, then there would be no one to rescue Ellie.
“Hold on, Theo.” Ellie kneeled by my side, unable to touch me, to run and ask for help, but she never left my side nonetheless.
“You don’t fear me. Why?” These spoken words weren’t inside my head. I blinked my fuzzy vision a few times, the mysterious demon’s voice was deep and gravelly as he looked upon James. He clenched his hands at his side, readying another attack at the reporter, trying to incite his fear.
James chuckled. “Fear you? No. I have nothing to fear from my brother.”
It was the last thing I remembered before I welcomed the darkness as my eyes closed.