Page 8 of Jagged Souls

“Don’t stop!” Dayne shouts as he throws up a pale-blue shield behind us. It reaches across the span of the hall. The werewolf slams into it and bounces back. He growls at it, then rakes his claws back and forth across it. Sparks fly off as he keeps shaving his claws, the magic burning everything that touches it, but the wardisstarting to break.

We’re not going to be able to outrun it. I stop and turn, then lift my wand. Power curses through me. It’s hot and mad and fueled by a mother’s fear.

“Micha –” Dayne says as he swings towards me.

“Drop the shield,” I order.

He curses, but he lifts his hands to do so.

The shield comes down just as I release my spell. It rips down the wand, lighting up a trail of purple lines within it, then explodes out the tip in a sharp line.

The wolf snarls as it races forward, but then it howls as the spell hits it square in the face. It stops in its tracks as purple flames consume it within seconds. It’s only a few feet from us, having crossed all that distance in a split second.

“Damn,” Dayne says as it crumbles to our feet. “When did they get that fast?”

“Antonio’s been giving them –” I break off on a scream as Dayne sags forward, blood pouring out of his mouth. A human hand I know all too well is poking out of his belly.

“Sau!” I scream as I turn to fight Antonio. I know she’ll be too late for me, but I’m hoping she’ll heal him.

I flick my wrist to call on another fire ball. Although he is still touching Dayne, I can control each individual flame. They will not hurt my friend.

But Antonio grabs the wand just as it starts to fire. He shoves its tip towards Dayne. My eyes widening, I focus on dousing the flames before they can touch him.

While I’m distracted, Antonio yanks the wand out of my hand and tosses it away. Then his fist slams towards my jaw, but all my training with Sau has given me quicker reactions than I had before. I lean away, and the blow he was going for ends up more as a graze. Unfortunately, with his power, that still hits fuckinghard.

My head whips to the side as I stagger in front of Dayne. I try to focus through the pain and double vision.

Antonio still has his arm through my friend, so for now he’s keeping all his blood in.

My eyes widen, though, as I notice Dayne’s lifting both his arms. Clocking what he’s going for, I pretend to stumble around. If I attack Antonio, he’s going to rip his arm free, but if he thinks I’m helpless, he’ll take the time to gloat.

“I told you I’d be back for you –” His words turn into a sudden clenching of teeth. The smell of burning meat hits the air as Dayne electrocutes him with both hands. I lunge past them, dropping my knife as I scramble for my wand.

I snatch it up and turn, already preparing a spell before I aim. A blast of fire starts to shoot out of the tip, but Antonio is already gone, having fought off Dayne’s magic and ripped himself away. I swing the wand to my left, where I just manage to catch a blur of motion before he slams into me. I don’t get the chance to release the spell.

It seems it doesn’t matter how much I trained with Sau to be able to track her movements; Antonio is simply too damn fast.

The back of my head hits the wall with acrack!

My vision narrows, then blurs.

His blood-stained hand goes around my throat and lifts me off my feet. “Where’s your magic gone, Shadow whore?”

Cupping my hands I smack both his ears. As he releases my throat, I wrap my legs around his waist and shove my thumbs into his eyes. I press down hard, but before I can blind him, he grabs both my wrists and wrenches them back.

Crack!

I cry out as bones poke out of my skin, and my knuckles hit the top of my forearms.

He tears me off him, then throws me at the wall. I hit it and slide down. Ribs break. A lung’s punctured. More agony shoots through me as I land on my wrists. Vomit is forced out of me. I start to go into shock.

This is the end.

I know it.

Closing my eyes, I cry over not having finished my bond with Varius. At least then I could find him in the next life.

Tears roll down my cheeks.