Page 40 of Chaos Carnival (Cirque de Sanguine #2)
Chapter 39: Terrible Glory
Tess
I materialized in the empty field three miles from where Cirque de Sanguine was anchored, far beyond our careful wards. The streams hummed around me, showing me exactly where to stand and which to pull forward. The hunters would arrive in precisely four minutes and thirty-seven seconds.
The night air shimmered with power and potential as I waited. Above, the stars shifted in patterns no one else had ever noticed, while below, the earth flared with ancient forces.
I smiled as the first ripple of seraph essence touched down. They thought they were being stealthy, phasing through darkness and reality.
“Come on,” I whispered to the night, my energy leaking out like a fresh spring of water. “Follow the breadcrumbs, boys.”
The first hunter materialized, weapon drawn, eyes glowing with righteous purpose. The second appeared three feet to his left, while the third hung back, thinking himself hidden. Their confidence rolled off them in waves. Three elite hunters against one hybrid abomination.
In their minds, it was already over. And in truth, too—but they couldn’t begin to grasp how far off their version was.
“The traitors' pet witch,” the first hunter sneered, his blade glinting in the night. “All alone and out of bounds.”
I laughed, the sound rippling through the air. “Oh, sweetie,” I purred, watching him flinch as my voice seemed to come from every direction. “I'm not exactly what you think.”
I let them begin their choreographed performance, watching their movements with something like pity. They were so… confined to linear time and space.
Time to show them what real power looked like.
“Shall we play a game?” I asked, weaving threads with my hands. This night was about to take a very interesting turn.
The first hunter lunged, blade singing through air that somehow wasn't there anymore. I let the air ripple around him like water, watching his eyes widen as the ground beneath his feet began to writhe. Tree roots that existed in another dimension entirely burst through and reached for him with insatiable hunger.
“What the fuck?” He gasped, phasing backward. But I was already weaving the next illusion, pulling threads from a thousand realities to create horrors his mind couldn't process.
The second hunter's blessed chains coasted through the space I'd been, as I stepped sideways through another plane of existence and back out again. “Having trouble?” I asked, my voice echoing from every direction. “Maybe you need a better view.”
I reached into the ether and pulled, tearing the sky open above them like a suture. Ancient creatures peered down with eyes of fire and void, their wings spanning over them like a dragon towering over a trembling mouse. The hunters' fear spiked into delicious ambrosia as vicious darkness dove at them, screaming with voices outside of time.
“Stop these tricks!” The third hunter revealed himself, energy flaring impotently.
“Tricks?” I laughed, the sound fracturing into a thousand echoes. “Oh, darling. You haven't seen anything at all.”
I let them see me then—small, vulnerable, apparently trapped against a tree. The perfect target. They took the bait, all three converging on my position with weapons raised and triumph in their eyes.
At the last possible moment, I pulled three ribbons at once.
The resulting explosion of light and power sent them sprawling, their weapons clattering to the ground as the universe itself seemed to shatter around them.
I stood in the center of the chaos, letting them see what I'd become, a being of infinite possibilities, each movement rippling through countless dimensions.
“You're not hunters,” I told them, watching terror replace confidence in their eyes. “You're toys.”
I reached into the threads and began to pull—one, two, three… four!—watching with dark amusement as the first hunter's eyes widened in horror. The air around him began to crystallize, forming jagged spears of frozen matter that sang with my voice.
“What is this?” he demanded, his voice cracking as he phased backward. He found himself surrounded by mirrors in the darkened sky.
“This?” I gestured lazily, making his reflection reach for him with hands made of claws and hunger. “This is what happens when you chase something that’s… bored now.”
The second hunter tried to flank me, but I was already gone, leaving him grasping at the lies and echoes. I phased behind him, my laughter bouncing between his ears like a demented symphony.
“Would you like to see what lurks between worlds?” I whispered. “The things that swim in the void between my fingers?”
Before he could answer, I pulled another thread, and the sky above him ripped open like wet paper. Ancient beings that had never existed in this timeline peered down with eyes made of galaxies and teeth forged from dead stars. Their wings spanned the horizon, made of darkness older than time itself.
The third hunter, still thinking himself clever in his hiding spot, raised his blade. “These are just illusions!”
“Are they?” I smiled, letting the air ripple around us all. “How can you be sure?”
I reached out with my power, weaving them into their futures. The clouds above began to reach down with hands made of storm and lightning. Trees uprooted themselves, their branches becoming tentacles that writhed with impossible life. The ground beneath their feet turned to glass.
The first hunter tried to phase away, but I caught him in a web of visions, showing him every death he'd ever feared, every nightmare he'd ever had, all at once. His scream echoed across dimensions as he burst into blue flame and vanished, banished back to Hell.
“One down,” I sang, my voice harmonizing with myself. “Who's next?”
The second hunter launched his blessed chains at me, but I was already moving. I appeared in front of him, small and vulnerable, letting him think he had a chance. He lunged forward, victory blazing in his eyes.
And again, I waited until the last possible second before pulling every thread at once, turning myself into a supernova. The explosion sent him reeling, his weapon dissolving into stardust as the universe rejected his presence.
A burst of blue flame.
Another hunter sent screaming back to Hell.
The third hunter stood alone now, his confidence shattered. He raised his blade with trembling hands as I approached.
“Do you not give up?” I asked, genuine curiosity in my voice. “Do you not see what you're dealing with?”
“I’m not allowed back unless you send me,” he whispered, backing away as I let him see glimpses of my true form. “What are you?”
“I told you. I'm what happens when you push someone too far,” I murmured, reaching out to touch his forehead with one finger. “I'm what happens when fate herself… becomes.”
His eyes rolled back as I showed him everything at once—every possibility, every timeline, every horror and wonder that existed in the spaces between realities. His mind couldn't handle it of course, and he burst into blue flame without a whimper.
He would not be sent back to Hell. It was over for him.
Silence fell over the field as the last echoes faded. I stood alone under the star-filled sky, the strands gradually settling back into their usual patterns. The power hummed deep inside me, intoxicating and terrifying all at once to my subconscious. But I didn't think about that.
They would send more hunters. The Seraphim Authority was what earthbound humans would call psychotic. But word would spread about what happened here. About the hybrid who could bend time and space, who played with seraphim hunters like a cat with mice.
Let them come, I thought, smiling as I gathered the threads around me. With infinite possibilities at my disposal, I had the time to play with them some more later.
With a thought, I phased back to the circus, slipping through the wards like they were spider webs. Maverick would be worried, but he needed to understand, I wasn't something that needed protection anymore.
I was the protection for now.
And any hunter who dared to threaten what was mine would learn what that meant.