Page 31

The Council members fell quiet, eyes bulging from their sockets as they looked back and forth to each other in a panic. Lynette was standing on her chair again, her chest heaving as she wiped a bit of spittle from her chin.

My mouth clamped shut, my limbs so heavy I couldn’t lift them any longer.

“That’s better,” she said softly.

“Was that necessary, Lynette?”

My eyes moved to Saint Sancha, still seated across from Lynette, her expression calm as could be. She showed no sign of strain, like the others at the table languishing under the effects of Lynette’s power.

Moving with surprising speed, Lorelei was beside the Cardinal in a flash, her gun trained on the side of her head. “I would think twice about trying anything funny, Your Eminence.”

“I do not wish violence against either of you,” Sancha said calmly, her hands planted on the table, palms down. “I merely want to offer counsel to someone whom I think desperately needs it.”

“Liar,” breathed Lorelei, a clicking noise emanating from her weapon.

Lynette snorted a laugh. “You’re no better than the rest of them, Sancha.”

“And what makes you think I claim to be otherwise?” the Cardinal responded. “You see the injustice in the world, and it makes you angry. I understand. I share in that anger with you. But this is not the way to bring about change?—"

“ Shut. Up.”

The pressure intensified, the windows behind Lynette quivered with a resonant tone, and several of the council members fell unconscious as blood dripped from their noses.

Sancha flinches, even her cool demeanor faltering for the briefest moment.

“You sit there,” Lynette spat, “and try and convince me, convince yourself that you’re not complicit. I know the skeletons you keep in your closet, Saint. I could kill every last person in this room, and my hands wouldn’t have but a fraction of the blood that soaks yours. So, do not patronize me with fairy tales of tolerance for corruption. Necessary evils are never truly necessary. They exist only to alleviate the responsibility of any who profit off the backs of those beneath them.

“Look around you, Sancha. A room filled with the most powerful, the wealthiest of our kind. My mother has rendered them docile. Made them fat and happy, reaping the rewards of a system that benefits those who already hold power. You can see it plain as day if you’d only open your eyes to it.”

“I… do… see it….” the Cardinal managed through clenched teeth, a stream of red blood flowing from her nose. “Please, let me help you?—”

A sickening crack sounded through the room as Lorelei slammed the butt of her gun into the side of the Cardinal’s head. She crumpled forward onto the table, speaking no more.

“Fucking Magi, and your need to feel superior,” she muttered, nodding toward Lynette.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Council,” Lynette addressed those still conscious. “I would like to introduce someone very special. We are joined tonight by my brother, Tobias.” She waved a hand, producing a shower of golden sparks. The pressure restricting my movements lifted, and the restraints around my hands fell away. “Come join me, brother. There’s something that we must see done.”

Was this it? Was I about to be ritualistically sacrificed in front of the entire Council in some horrific display of power? My limbs quaked as I stood, slowly making my way over to where Lynette waited.

“I’ve been given a vision,” Lynette said, taking my hand in hers and pulling me the rest of the way. “A glorious premonition of a second Awakening. Together, Tobias, you and I will make that vision a reality. Together, we will bring forth a new era of magic that will last for another thousand years.”

“Lenny, please. Mother is gone. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to stoop to her level. You’re better than her.”

Another cruel laugh spilled from her mouth. “Mother has been running away from this moment since the first visions came, promising the flames that would put an end to her reign. I am doing this because I am better than her, Tobias. Open your eyes.”

The door to the council chamber burst open with a bang, and Lorelei’s head snapped toward the sound, but there was no one there.

Lorelei hurried over to close the doors once more before training her gun back on the unconscious Cardinal.

Lynette reached for my other hand, taking it in hers and pulling us to the wall of windows overlooking the city. “This is your moment, Tobi. Ever since we were children, you’ve spoken about wanting to show your usefulness. The reason you belong in this family. Now’s the time. Don’t be afraid. We were born for this.”

Her grip on my hands tightened, and the crushing weight of her aura pinned me in place. She locked eyes with me, the edges of her form glowing with golden light. My hands burned where the Cirian’s and Bastien’s stones were embedded, and the pain only intensified as Lynette’s aura squeezed around me.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

She didn’t respond, the scalding heat in my hands changing again. That empty place inside of my chest that had been dormant since the start of my second life began to fill, not with my magic, but with something that felt wrong.

Was she funneling her magic through the stones?

“Stop!” I shouted, but she didn’t break eye contact, the vice grip on my hands nearly cracking the bones.

In matter of seconds, that space in my chest had never felt so full, brimming with this vile, burning magic that made me want to wretch. I tried to draw it out, to force it from my body with my aura, but it only swelled more, pushing against my skin like a caged animal dying to get out.

I was going to burst. The magic would tear me apart if she continued. Was that what she wanted? Was this the sacrifice she was looking for?

A groan tore from my throat as the pain spiked to new heights, my knees shaking as she clung to me, funneling a seemingly endless supply of magic into my body.

I felt it then, the tearing of my soul, bursting at the seam from the force of my sister’s magic. What would be left of me once it shredded its way through?

My second life was almost over. What would come next? If Bastien was right, then there may be nothing waiting for me on the other side.

Bastien. My promise to him was about to be broken, like so many that had come before. I wasn’t coming back from this. There would be no miracles, no magic that could piece together whatever would be left?—

Lynette’s hands were ripped away from mine as she was hurled into the high-back chair, shattering the frame into a heap of splintered wood. I collapsed to my knees, the swelling sensation holding steady in my chest, but the heat fading from my hands where the stones glowed red-hot. Shimmering into existence over me, Azrael wrapped me up, lifting me into his arms.

A deafening bang went off, something shattering the window behind us as Lorelei took aim for a second shot across the table. Just as she pulled the trigger, a long gash appeared on her arm, causing her to recoil and her shot to go wide. Irwin pulled a bloodied claw back, his lithe frame becoming visible as he ducked Lorelei’s flailing haymaker, laughing as he rolled under the table. Reed appeared next, behind the seething blonde, wrapping her up in a bear hug and lifting her off the ground.

We were moving then, Azrael carrying me across the room where Cirian waited, shaking out his limbs as he regained control of them. Others stirred as well, a handful of the Council members lifting their heads from their stupor. The Cardinal raced from her seat, hurrying over to her Acolyte in a swirl of billowing fabric.

“Get close to me,” she ordered. “I will shield you from her magic as best I can.”

“What did she do to him?” Cirian questioned at Azrael’s side. He pressed a hand to my chest, and the swelling pain flared, causing me to cry out.

“I don’t know,” Azrael said, the rest of his words getting swallowed by the pounding of my pulse in my ears. Whatever Lynette had put inside of me, it wasn’t happy being contained. It expanded like it was breathing, squeezing the air from my lungs and pushing on my ribs till they cracked.

“Bastien! Over here, quick!”

My eyes fluttered open, searching for his face amongst the scrambling crowd around me. A man with greying temples, a patchy beard, and familiar honey-colored eyes broke from the crowd, kneeling next to me. The Veil peeled away from Bastien as he leaned closer, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

“ Bring me Tobias!”

“Shit, they’re coming for him!” shouts Irwin.

Azrael set me gently on the ground, then handed something over to Bastien from his pocket. “In case you need it,” he said, then bolted, snarling.

Bastien lifted my hand, touching the green stone, then recoiled as if it burned him. “That can’t be good.”

“What’s happening?” I asked, the words coming out like a croak.

“I think Lynette’s overloaded your system with magic,” Bastien said, checking my other hand with the same results. “Now it’s trying to come out all at once.”

“I can’t focus it,” I told him. “Can’t force it out.”

“Look out!” Cirian shouted, and I raised my gaze quickly enough to see him release a bolt of blue lightning into the crowd, bearing down on the group. Three council members fell in a heap, but more waited behind them.

Another swell in my chest and my limbs shook violently, my body seizing as the burning magic expanded, crushing me from the inside.

“Gods, it hurts!” I gritted through my teeth.

“Hold on,” Bastien said, pulling at the buttons of my shirt. He pressed something sharp to my chest, muttering a string of words under his breath.

It took nearly all of my strength to lift my head enough to catch a glimpse of the violet-colored stone in my chest as his hand pulled away.

“He’s mine. And I am his. He chose me. I choose him.”

“Azrael?” I choked out.

“He came and asked me to help him make it,” Bastien explained, wiping the blood from his hands. “Said that he wanted to make sure you’d make it back for your resurrection. He also told me that I was a fool for not coming with you, and I agreed.”

The pressure in my chest lessened some, allowing me to draw in a full breath.

“I think it’s helping,” I said, unclenching my jaw.

“Try and spread the magic out evenly,” Bastien instructed me. “It’s all focused in one place right now.”

Reaching into that bursting reserve of magic, I pulled it forward, spreading the energy between my hands and chest. Immediately, the relief was enough that tears rolled down my face. My ribs ached, my head pounded, but I was whole. Lynette’s magic hadn’t broken me.

“That’s it, Tobias,” Bastien coaxed me, his hand on my cheek. “Keep at it. You’re almost through.”

And here he was, this beautiful man, bringing me back from the brink of oblivion for a second time, his gentle voice guiding me through the haze. The pressure continued to abate, that horrid magic moving from the place deep in my chest. As it carved its way through my body, I could feel it change, adapting to the energies of each of the stones as they absorbed the excess.

My senses came back to me, the noise of the conflict raging around us sinking in as they did. Lifting my head, I watched Azrael tear into a councilwoman’s arm as she dove towards me, rending a layer of flesh before tossing her back into the crowd of bodies that clambered toward me.

“Down!” Cirian cried from the other side of the front, a streak of blue lightning crackling to life from his hand, immobilizing the next wave of puppeted bodies.

Sancha stood in the center of the group, her deep umber skin glowing with a halo of cerulean light as she chanted under her breath. She must be keeping Lynette’s magic at bay. I wondered how long she’d be able to hold out.

“Brother!” Lynette’s voice filled the room, surrounding us from all sides. “This is your destiny!”

This wasn’t going to end until Lynette was neutralized somehow.

“Help me up,” I told Bastien, struggling to lift myself from the floor. He hauled me to my feet, bracing me until I gained my footing.

“We need to get you out of here,” started Bastien, steering me toward the doors, but I held fast, planting my feet.

“No, we can’t just let her get away.”

“But no one can stand against her,” he argued. “The Saint won’t be able to protect us forever.”

My mind raced, running through our options. Lynette wanted me so we could leverage that. Draw her away from the council members, decrease the casualties. It was a start.

Reaching for the power now held in the stones attached to me, I wrapped myself in my aura, marveling at the rush of strength I felt from the magic. Bastien was right about me being supercharged. This was more power than I’d ever been able to conjure before. Maybe that would make the difference.

“We can draw her out. Let me get over?—”

The doors to the council room blasted apart, shreds of metal and wood spraying across the room. A lone figure stood in the opening, a flickering golden light wreathing their form in an ethereal light.

“Daughter!”

All eyes were drawn to Adoranda Greene—or what was left of her. Her clothing was tattered and blackened, with patches being indecipherable between melted cloth and her skin. Her hair hung in singed clumps from her head. But her face was the most horrific of all. Blackened, charred flesh hung to the left side of her face, peeling away from bone and sinew in a stomach-turning fashion, the opposite side scarred with angry red welts and blisters. It appeared as though she’d chewed her lips away, her teeth barred in an inhuman snarl that sent tingling fear spiking up my spine.

She was Death, walking.

Raising a skeletal hand in the air, the golden light flared, a blast of magical energy clearing a path between her and Lynette. Council members flew through the air, landing haphazardly in crumpled heaps.

Lynette’s magic brushed against my aura once more, but the pressure was like a finger running across my arm instead of the crushing weight of a boulder. To my right, Sancha groaned under the exertion—keeping us safe from the power that roiled off of my sister.

The remaining Council members under my sister’s control abandoned their pursuit of me, turning instead to charge at Mother with twisted, broken limbs and vacant expressions. Mother cast them aside like a child playing with their toys, advancing on Lynette with a limping gait.

With the assault on our group paused the others rallied around me. Azrael and his Urchins spattered in blood that didn’t belong to them. Bastien beside me, his hand on the small of my back as he watched on with horror. Cirian came beside the Cardinal, whispering incantations under his breath as he healed a wound that ran along his forearm.

Another wave of magic roiled over us as Mother crushed a councilman’s skull between her clawed hands, and Sancha’s knees buckled.

“Your Eminence!” Cirian exclaimed, catching her before she could crumple.

Shit. Without her protection, we were as good as dead. Thinking quickly, I pressed my aura out, enveloping the others. Before now, I found covering more than one person with my aura to be exhausting. But this felt easy, like I was wrapping my arms around each of them.

Now, I’d just have to hope it would hold.

A thunderous collision rattled my bones as Mother reached Lynette, the two of them clashing together in a blinding display of power. The wall of windows shattered from the force, glass debris raining down around us like sheets of snow in a blizzard.

Those council members still standing halted their movements, a dozen statues standing stark still as the pressure of magic spiked in the room. The waves of power rolled over us, butting against my aura like the ocean crashing against a cliffside, but my ward held fast, the pull on my power far less than I expected.

“Are you doing this?” Azrael asked, eyeing the violet stone over my heart.

I nodded, still focused on the struggle between Lynette and Mother.

Mother struck a blow against Lynette, sending her reeling, and she crashed against the framing of the massive window, her arm dangling over the edge and over the city sprawling below.

“You will not take this from me,” Mother seethed, limping toward her daughter with determined malice. “My power will stay with me till my dying breath, and I will destroy anything that stands in my way. Even you, daughter.”

Mother raised a hand into the air, an orb of pure golden light pulsating in her palm. Then, a shot rang out, a spray of fresh blood bursting from Mother’s shoulder. Lorelei was standing atop the wreckage of the council table, the barrel of her gun smoking as she leveled a steely glare at Mother.

“Get away from her!” she ordered, the weapon clicking, then firing again.

The second shot hit Mother in the back, and she wheeled around, bellowing with bestial rage at the mortal. Seeing her opportunity, Lynette moved, wrapping her arms around Mother’s torso. With a kick off the window frame, she heaved the two of them over the ledge, and they disappeared into the night air without so much as a whimper.

The room fell deathly quiet, then, all at once, the standing council members crumpled to the floor, a chorus of groaning beginning amongst those still breathing.

Slowly, I pulled away from Bastien’s hold, making my way over to the window and peering over the edge. It was dark on the street below, too dark for me to be able to confirm exactly what happened, but in my heart, I knew.

Mother had met her end.

Withdrawing the ward from my friends, I projected the aura downward, feeling for either of my family. There was something—Mother’s aura, I recognized, flickering like the flame of a candle. I wrapped my aura around the feeble presence, cradling it.

Did she know I was there?

In the end, it didn’t matter. A moment later, the flame flickered out, and Adoranda Greene was no more.