Page 3 of Chaos Carnival (Cirque de Sanguine #2)
Chapter 2: Devil’s Grip
Tess
Addie hung suspended three feet off the ground, Ivan's power wrapping around her like luminescent serpents. The protection charm at her neck sparked weakly, trying to fight back against the corruption holding her.
Her eyes met mine, wide with terror, silently begging for help. Ivan stood beneath her, one hand raised as if conducting some malevolent symphony. His face permanently marked with that elaborate tattoo I’d done for him, of a demonic clown smile stretching unnaturally from ear to ear, the dark ink creating a grotesque parody of joy that never reached his cold eyes. His knife danced through the air between us, spinning and weaving like a silverfish.
“Told you I'd get to you, didn't I, Tess?” His lips curved into a cruel smile. “And look how easy it was. Barely an hour since our little chat at the shop.” The blade darted forward, drawing a thin line of blood across Addie's throat. “But I'm feeling generous. A simple trade. You for her.”
Maverick tensed beside me, energy gathering around him like storm clouds. But before he could move, something changed in Ivan's face. His features twisted, skin rippling like water, and when he spoke again, it wasn't his voice that emerged.
“CAREFUL, LITTLE SERAPH.” The words scraped my eardrums like rusted nails, ancient and wrong. “SO MUCH POWER, JUST WAITING TO BE CLAIMED. SO MANY SECRETS YOUR KIND TRIES TO HIDE.”
I felt Maverick go rigid and glanced to see his face drained of color, eyes wide with recognition. The wraithshade's laugh made the floating dishes vibrate.
Addie dropped.
My scream caught in my throat as she plummeted to the ground, then stilled again, seized in that crackling blue web.
“NOW THEN—” The otherworldly voice cracked and shifted, ancient corruption giving way to familiar cruelty as Ivan's natural tone emerged “—about that trade...”
“No.” Maverick's arm shot out, pulling me back to his chest. Shadows rippled around us as porcelain crashed back to the counters, the wraithshade's power fighting his seraph energy. “That's not happening.”
“It's the only way.” I struggled in his grip, my own magic sparking uselessly against Ivan's corrupted field.
“Absolutely not.” His fingers dug into my shoulders. “We're not trading anyone.”
“Clock's ticking,” Ivan sang, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. The knife spun faster, drawing elaborate patterns in the air. “What's it going to be?”
My mind raced, calculating moves and distances. The protection charm lay crushed beneath Ivan's boot, wisps of its dying alchemy curling up like smoke. Blood trickled down Addie’s neck, staining the collar of her favorite sweater.
“You're not thinking straight,” Maverick whispered in my ear. “Look at what he's doing. The wraithshade's feeding off us. He'll kill you both and tear this place apart in the process.” Blue lightning crawled up the walls, warping the kitchen into impossible angles. The air itself was wrong, heavy with the stench of sulfur and ozone.
Ivan's free hand thrummed with electricity, casting writhing shadows. “Tick tock, little witch.”
I shifted my weight, testing Maverick's grip. His fingers tightened in response. “Let me go.”
“No.” The word rumbled through his chest. “Look at the silhouettes behind him. They're not his. They belong to something much worse.”
I forced myself to focus past Addie's terrified face. The shade Ivan’s form cast stretched wide and low as if struggling, separate from his movements. And the lightning crackling from his hand wasn't steady. It flickered, dimming with each pulse.
“He's drained,” Maverick murmured. “That fight at the shop took more out of him than he's letting on.”
The realization hit me like ice water. Ivan was running on fumes, trying to end this quickly before his magic gave out completely. His eyes darted between us, shoulders tensed—
a predator backed into a corner.
“Last chance,” Ivan snarled, but the threat in his voice wavered.
I met Addie's gaze and tapped my fingers against Maverick's arm—one, two, three. Her eyes widened slightly. She remembered our old signal from college parties, duck and run on three.
“Fine.” I relaxed in Maverick's grip. “You win.”
The electricity in Ivan's palm flared brighter for a split second, then dimmed again. He smiled, triumphant. “Smart girl. Now step forward, nice and slow.”
I counted silently.
One...
Maverick's arms loosened, playing along.
Two...
Ivan's smile spread wider as he watched me move closer.
Three.
Several things happened at once.
Addie dropped and rolled as Ivan's power flickered. The knife clattered to the ground as his concentration broke.
Maverick burst from the darkness, his fist connecting with Ivan's jaw. But Ivan landed in a crouch, blood trickling from his split lip, eyes gleaming with manic glee.
He struck with inhuman speed, pain exploding across my face before I hit the floor. His knee pinned my chest, hand curling around my throat. The air constricted as I clawed at his arm, lungs burning against his iron grasp.
“You think you can beat me, little witch?” His voice distorted, dropping to impossible depths and rising again. His fingers dug deeper, and the wraithshade's ancient force tried to seep into my veins.
“I OWN YOU.”
His free hand slid down my body, tracing my curves, leaving trails of crackling blue electricity in its wake. I bucked beneath him, but the floor itself seemed to hold me down. The world sparkled at the edges of my vision, or maybe those were tears.
I twisted, writhing under his weight, but his strength was monstrous, inhuman. Desperation clawed at my chest as his grip tightened, cutting off what little air I had left.
With a final surge of panic, I drove my knee up. Agony ripped through my entire body from the contact, but Ivan's hold loosened for just a second. It was all I needed. I bucked again, harder this time, and scrambled out from under him.
I rolled, every muscle in my body screaming in protest. The room spun, and Ivan's laugh rang in my ears as I forced myself to my feet on shaky legs.
Maverick lunged, grabbing Ivan by the shoulder and spinning him around. They crashed into the wall, sending pictures tumbling to the floor. Ivan's knife lay on the ground, just out of reach.
“You son of a bitch,” Maverick snarled, his fingers curling into fists.
Ivan shook him off with a sneer, straightening his jacket, but the blade was sinking into the tiles like it was melting into quicksand.
“Take another step and she dies.” The blue energy circling his hands wasn't just electricity anymore; it was something older, darker, reaching through from somewhere else.
Maverick froze, his eyes darting between the dark shapes and my face. He edged cautiously forward, gathering his strength like armor. “You can't take her.”
A slow, malicious smile spread over Ivan's face, but his skin rippled like water, the wraithshade pushing through. “I already have.”
Reality itself seemed to rear back like a wave. The walls bent inward, the ceiling stretched up into infinity, and Maverick hurled backward through the window.
That's when Lux and Stone burst into the room. They froze at the threshold, the scene bending around them, the door frame warping like melting wax.
Ivan stood in the center of the chaos, one arm locked on Addie's throat. His form flickered, solid and liquid, blue electricity crawling across his skin like living veins. The wraithshade's influence rippled through him, making his features shift and flow like water.
Lux's gaze snapped from me to Addie, his eyes widening as he saw Ivan's wrongness.
“Let her go,” Stone growled, but the air shimmered and splintered where Ivan's power touched.
Addie's eyes met mine, wide with terror. She tried to speak, but Ivan's grip tightened, making her gasp.
“I think not.” Ivan's voice echoed strangely, as if coming from everywhere at once. Flickering electricity surrounded them. “Come find us, little Tess. Come see what I've built.”
He didn't so much leap through the window as he unraveled, his form dissolving into ribbons of darkness and lightning that slithered away into the night, taking Addie with them.
The shadows swelled like a tidal wave.
I dove for Addie, fingers grazing hers for just a moment before the night swallowed them.
“NO!” I lunged forward, but my legs gave out, sending me crashing to my knees. “ADDIE!”
Through the smashed window, Maverick pulled himself up, his face contorted with rage as he gathered his force against the corruption. Ivan's laugh echoed impossibly, as if coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.