Page 42

Nika

E very breath was fire and agony.

“How kind of you to deliver the final piece needed for the ritual right to me, love,” he cooed, every word dripping with malice. “I’d been worried he wouldn’t show, but here he is. Ever the prince charming, this brother of mine.”

“Silas,” I moaned, crying out again when he tugged my hair.

Silas was strung upside down next to Salvator’s wolf and Tometi, all unconscious and unresponsive. Rage I hadn’t felt since my father’s death warped my thoughts.

Rilas tutted me with a finger and click of his tongue.

“Sadly, none of them will hear you, darling.” Hand tightening on my hair, he crouched in front of me, holding a little rock between his fingers.

“You missed one. Tragic.” His red eyes glowed brighter.

“Try anything, and I’ll keep them awake and in anguish.

I’ll let their pain be our ritual’s ambiance. ”

It still hurt to move. I needed to conserve my energy. If I was going to do what I planned, I couldn’t be taxed by meaningless fighting. I needed to wait for the perfect moment to act, when I’d regained enough strength. I’d be the sad little woman he expected. I’d let him think he’d won.

Rilas lifted me off the floor and put me back on the table. He bound my wrists and ankles with chains. These weren’t unbreakable, but my guess was he thought I’d be too weak to break them.

Turning my head, I eyed my guys hanging from the ceiling. Rilas caught my gaze and went over to Tometi. Searching the upside-down phantom, who was still visible for some reason, he collected the pouch we’d stolen.

Had he put them in stasis? Was that the item he used? Why had it worked on Tometi? What I did know was I couldn’t break their stasis without getting the item first.

I’d have to break it like we broke his necklace, and I wasn’t sure I’d have that kind of strength. My magic was barely sparking. I’d used a lot, and while I was healing, it wouldn’t be fast enough. Like this, I’d only have enough power left to do what I needed to send him back.

Hopefully.

Fuck! I hoped I had enough.

I swallowed and sucked in air when he got to Silas, holding a tiny ornate knife. A throb hit my stomach, and I had to smother it. I couldn’t use my power yet. If I used it reactively, I’d fuck it all up.

Smirking at me, Rilas cut my unconscious mercenary and collected his blood in a little vial, then left the three hanging. He didn’t do more than that. The air rushed out of me in relief.

I was worried he’d kill them in front of me, but he obviously needed me compliant for the next part.

He wouldn’t be able to keep me cuffed to the table.

He’d need me to actively take part in it.

Which was easier to do with the three men alive and under threat.

What he didn’t know was I already had a plan.

He made his way over to the table and lit the candles around it.

He was busy placing items when I caught a flash of blonde hair and a heroic wink and salute.

I kept my breaths short and sharp, my pulse hammering, as if I was afraid.

But it was out of excitement, not fear. Lev’s green eyes appeared near the door, and my friend signed their plan.

Rilas hadn’t sensed either of them yet. I wasn’t sure how until I saw the item on Lev’s finger. A concealment ring. I was so infinitely glad I had this clever man on my side.

Ryker and I got this. You know what you need to do. Don’t hold back. It’s now or never , he signed.

I gave him a very slight nod, lips thinned.

They didn’t wait. Lev burst out with his magic and daggers.

Ryker was already at my side, uncuffing my wrists and ankles.

He winked, his hand already wrapped around one of mine, while his other arm locked around Rilas’s neck from behind.

Lev’s magic wrapped around the demon, holding him in place.

I was off the table, stumbling to get around Rilas.

Our eyes met and the final piece of fate slid into place. My breathing calmed and everything came into focus. I already knew what to do.

Live wires slithered all over my body the same way they did every time I used my Soul Collector abilities. The world crawled to a standstill. I searched for the feeling of her and grabbed hold of the invisible hand reaching out to me.

Grandmother came rushing out, appearing in front of me holding my hand in a form I’d only seen in pictures.

Long purple hair poured down her shoulders.

Blue eyes that shared the same coloration as mine gleamed.

The elvish features that had passed from mother to daughter for generations stared back at me.

“Don’t be afraid, darling. Embrace every part of you,” she said in a disembodied voice, laying a small kiss on my cheek. Her smile was gentle as she disappeared into a sliver of white fog.

The feeling in my gut intensified.

Rilas blinked, and his eyes jerked over to me.

He couldn’t move. His body was being slowly covered in ice. Ryker had a strong hold on him, his eyes frozen on me, unseeing. The demon fought the hold on him, but I could see the fear creeping into his stare when nothing he did worked.

The slow-growing ice reached his face, and the red in his eyes dimmed to a dull gold. Then a sliver of inky blackness escaped his mouth. It wasn’t the same as the others. It was distinctly dark. It fled his body for mine, caught by the glowing gem around my neck.

The demon’s voice was in my head as time shuddered and moved forward again. “You’ll never do what you must to send me back, and it won’t be long before my powers return. The seal that old minger put on me is already falling apart.”

His vicious warning echoed inside my head, and I staggered back. Ryker and Lev were already there to catch me. I tossed both of them a grateful smile and stood on shaky legs. The dizziness was worse. I didn’t have long. Every minute was a fight.

Rilas’s icy form was a moment frozen in time. If he broke loose of my body, he’d find his way back to it, that much I was certain. Unlike the other souls, he didn’t need my help to reclaim his body, and I was already running out of time.

Shakily, I nodded at frozen Rilas. “The stone he has is enchanted. Probably a permanent form of stasis.”

Lev nodded and went over to search while Ryker kept me propped up. When my friend found it, everything was a little bit blurrier. “This?”

“Yes. You need to break it.”

Ryker grinned and made grabby hands for the tiny rock. Lev took his place and handed the stone over. Without waiting, the blue-haired Fae uncorked several healing potions and forced them down my throat. I breathed a grateful sigh when some of my energy returned.

“You’ll need more, but those should hold you over until we get back,” he told me.

I nodded my thanks. I could finally stand on my own two legs without a huge amount of shaking. It was better than nothing.

The whispers came again, their chorus soft and melodic. The guys came back to life and hit the ground as soon as Ryker broke the enchanted stone to pieces. It only took them a few seconds to collect themselves before they noticed the frozen demon in the room.

“You took his soul, love?” Silas questioned slowly. “You can do that? That’s bloody brilliant.”

Rilas’s growls and shouts filled my head, and I grabbed onto it, hoping to stifle the sound. But it didn’t help. The abrupt shouting was deafening.

Silas wrapped his arms around me, concern filtering into his voice. “Is that demon fuckwit in your head now, little rebel?”

“I’m not sure how long I can keep him,” I admitted, cringing when another shout rang out.

“Niks,” Lev said in his most soothing voice yet. He was about to say something I didn’t want to hear. “You need to send him back before he hurts you or gets out.”

The whispers beckoned, and for the first time, I understood what they were saying. “It’s the choice you’ll have to make, the soul you’ll be forced to take,” they said over and over.

I lifted my misty eyes to where Salvator stood, and he came over as if my mere gaze had summoned him. His stare bored into mine, and he took my face in his hands. Silas snarled, but the shifter ignored him. “Let me do this for you, Nika.”

I grabbed his hands, my tears falling freely. “I don’t know if I can. I care too much about you. It’s not fucking fair.”

He laughed. “You’re right about that, woman, but it’s the way things are.

And let’s face it, I died once already.” His eyes were painfully kind as he sighed and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears I cried for him.

“This is the only thing I can do for you, so will you let me? I’ve never really gotten to be the hero. Give me this one hero moment, Nika.”

Silas held me tighter, but he didn’t say anything. His embrace said it all. He wished it was him making the choice. He wished I was never put in this position. He might not like Salvator, but he knew what the shifter meant to me.

He was my friend.

Salvator’s smile was so painfully affectionate it only made me cry harder as he dipped down and stole another kiss, this time in full view of Silas.

“Oi, you wolf bastard. Don’t think I won’t lay your ungrateful arse out right here, right now,” Silas bellowed angrily, rigid against me, but Salvator didn’t pay him any mind.

“What is it that the humans like to say? One for the road?” The shifter offered us a one-shoulder shrug and let my face go.

Ryker gaped at the grinning man in front of us. “Did this grumpy asshole just make a joke? Our Sally? He’s about to cross over to his next life, and he finally cracks a fucking joke? How dare you wait until now to show us your fun side.”

I laughed in spite of the new stream of tears, then nodded.

My head hurt worse the longer I had the demon inside it.

It was hard to focus on anything, but it wasn’t an option to do nothing.

If I didn’t send Rilas back, then the world would fall to his power.

It seemed cruel of fate to make me choose between one person I cared about and many of them.

I only had one choice to make.

Salvator slapped Silas on the shoulder and grinned at my mercenary for the first time since he came back into our lives. “Take good care of our girl, Sparkles. I’ll see you guys on the other side.”

The whispers continued their chorus.

The grinning tribesman crossed his arms and took several steps back. With nothing but acceptance in his expression, he waited. I pivoted and peered up at Silas. His gaze met mine with visible grief. My big brute might play his part well, but even he didn’t want another senseless death.

He cradled my face, lending me his strength. “Let him have his hero moment, love. Even I think this wolf bastard deserves the glory of it after all he’s done.”

After one last kiss, I left Silas’s arms and stood in front of the naked shifter.

I barely cared as I wrapped my arms around him and held tight.

“I hope you find everything you want in the next life, Salvator. I’ll miss you so much,” I whispered to him before sensation crept over me and the world slowed to a stop.

I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn’t act quickly.

If I heard anything else…

Salvator was smiling down at me when the ice grew across his beautiful brown skin.

His fathomless eyes lost their gentle gleam.

Everything about him ebbed away. A sliver of white left his mouth in a swirling dance, but to my sudden confusion, it split into three pieces.

Two of the three shot behind me, and the larger one dashed back and forth and rubbed against me before disappearing into my necklace.

The white gem immediately became a perfect grey color when, without waiting, I sent his soul to its awaiting afterlife. Salvator’s familiar warmth left me, and my eyes burned with the loss of him.

Rilas was yelling inside my head, fighting to break free, sensing Fate’s hand reaching for him. I eased back out of Salvator’s frozen hold. Inside, something was tearing. I didn’t have time to second-guess myself.

As the world moved back into motion, I let go and my magic created a vortex around me.

The gem around my neck glowed bright grey as I summoned the sensation from the deepest recesses of my soul and created the necessary symbols in pink light.

Each one I had memorized. Each one sealing his fate.

Each one damning him to an eternity of pain.

“Go to fucking Hell,” I yelled as a black abyss opened up in front of me.

Everyone took a step back to avoid its reach as Rilas’s soul was ripped out of me.

Several others seemed to go with him, getting sucked up by the darkness.

I caught his desperate face before he disappeared into the impenetrable void in the floor.

The large hole closed behind him, and all my energy was sapped with it.

I collapsed.