Page 63 of Possess Me at Midnight (Doomsday Brethren #4)

Chapter Forty-Two

“ T o the death, then!” Blackbourne’s scowl makes clear he hopes I wind up six feet under. Then he ducks out of the ring.

With a battle cry, I lift my wand with one hand. Mathias’s eyes widen in disbelief. He swears and raises his own.

One chance. One distraction. One opportunity to stop Mathias and his evil plan for Sabelle, maybe even kill the fucking bastard. I have to make it work.

Before Mathias casts whatever nasty spell he’s concocted, I raise my other hand, clutching the sword coated in my incorruptible blood.

Thanks to Marrok’s grueling training, I skewer Mathias in the gut faster than the blink of an eye and plunge deep into his abdomen.

As his eyes widen and he gasps out, I turn the blade, doing maximum damage, before ripping it out.

“That’s for Gailene. You brutally stripped her innocence and stole her life.

So I’m going to slice you into little pieces, spit in the open holes, and let you rot until the maggots claim you.

” I shove the sword into Mathias again and, with a hard flick of my wrist, slice him open again.

“And that’s for threatening Sabelle. If you’ve laid a finger on her, I will make your death more painful than you could ever imagine. ”

Mathias falls to his knees, clutching his bleeding stomach with both hands.

All the goodness coating the sword is crashing Mathias’s system.

No doubt the bastard is trying to heal himself, but the effort is rapidly depleting his energy.

Without it, healing any faster than a human will be impossible.

He pales to the shade of fresh snow as blood oozes from his wounds and drips from his gaping mouth. He glares at me with accusing eyes.

“You said you would”—he chokes—“concede.”

“I lied, just as you did. You never had any intention of letting Sabelle go freely. You intended to use her to manipulate me into giving over the Doomsday Diary. Then you were going to kill her.”

“Not so stupid, after all,” Mathias hisses. “But it’s too late.”

“What’s this you say?” Blackbourne interjects. “Mr. d’Arc has Miss Rion?”

“Hostage somewhere in your house at this moment.” And I’ve never been more grateful that a wizard locked down his property from teleportation or Sabelle would be gone forever.

I drop my sword and run for the force field’s door. I have to find Sabelle now, in case Rhea spots Mathias’s injury through the window and harms Sabelle in retaliation.

Blackbourne calls out, “Wait! If you leave the challenge ring before I declare a winner or someone forfeits, Mr. d’Arc wins by default.”

Bloody stupid rules! I don’t care. Sabelle is more important.

“No!” Tynan shouts just outside the ring. “Stay! I will help Bram find her.”

“She’s in danger…”

“And all we’ve worked for will be lost if you step outside that ring. I’ll end the danger to Sabelle. You finish him.” Tynan nods at Mathias.

As much as I hate not racing to Sabelle’s rescue, allowing Mathias to win the Council seat will only give him more power later to hurt her.

It chafes, but I give Tynan a curt nod.

O’Shea addresses Blackbourne. “Lift the teleportation lock. I must reach Mathias’s witch now. I need the element of surprise.”

If he hasn’t already lost it.

Sighing, Blackbourne removes his wand from his coat, then gives it a dramatic wave. “It’s been removed outside the house, except for the challenge ring.”

Perfect. I think.

A blink later, Tynan is gone.

I turn my focus back to Mathias. Time to ensure he never frightens or harms anyone again. Time to dish out death.

Retrieving my sword, I crouch before him and press the blade to the back of his neck. “How does all that pure-hearted blood seeping in through your wounds feel? How do you like the enchantment of goodness?”

Mathias screams in pure agony. He’s even paler now, on the verge of turning gray. He coughs up blood. I suspected earlier that my blood, mixed with an old-fashioned virtue enchantment, would serve as a poison to Mathias’s system.

I hope he chokes. I hope it fucking kills him.

But for good measure, I’m going to sever Mathias’s head from his body.

I press the blade against the evil wizard’s neck. My hand trembles. “I’m going to make certain you never hurt anyone again.”

“As you’re so fond of saying, fuck off.” Mathias crawls toward the challenge ring’s door.

“Stop him!”

Blackbourne shrugs. “No one has conceded or won this challenge. I cannot interfere.”

More bloody stupid rules. Do Councilmen have nothing to do all day but contrive them?

Shoving the thought away, I leap toward Mathias. The other wizard clutches his stomach as he drags himself out the nearly invisible door. I latch on to his ankle before Mathias can break free of the challenge ring.

“No, you bloody bastard. This is a fight to the finish. To the death. Let’s end it. Why won’t you die?”

“You first,” Mathias snarls as he tries to pull his leg free from my grasp.

I’m not letting go.

Blackbourne tsks and clucks, observing with great concern. I ignore him and focus on Mathias, using every muscle in my body to reel the other wizard back into the challenge ring, one clawed inch across the floor after another.

With a roar, Mathias glares at me over his shoulder, then leaps up, pinning me to the floor. The maniacal wizard clasps my shoulders in a crushing grip and presses his forehead into mine.

Fuck. Having Mathias panting in my face makes my stomach roil. Instantly, my energy begins to drain, pouring from my body everywhere Mathias touches me. I grab the sword and, with Herculean effort, bring it crashing down on Mathias’s back again. He convulses and snarls—but doesn’t let go.

Before I can yank the sword free and stab him again, Mathias bulldozes into my head, creates a mental link, and fills it with images of Gailene.

I’ve shared memories with others before and know this is a true memory, one that only Mathias could have put in my head.

Gailene naked, bloody, pleading for help. Begging for me to save her.

The sight is bad enough, but the words…crushing.

I scream as I see Mathias crawl from between a sobbing Gailene’s bloodied thighs while she’s tied down to a filthy bed, shaved, branded.

A line of Anarki stand behind him, all hoping for a turn before the girl dies.

And too young to perform her own magic, too inexperienced with this sort of violence, she calls for me over and over.

The sounds rip through my soul, shredding me with guilt and fury and shame. When my beloved sister needed me, I was unable to rescue her. Even now, I can’t seem to muster the strength to stab Mathias again.

The vision continues, and another wizard kneels to Gailene. Her sobs increase. She knows the death Mathias plans to deal her, and she begs for mercy. Mathias merely laughs and watches the carnage unfold.

“Are you ready to die, begging as your sister did?” Mathias taunts, wand raised.

The vision is the past. The painful, awful, twisted past, yes. But it’s written. Done. And I can’t do anything to change it. The future… That I can impact. I’ll never bring Gailene back. But I’ll be damned if I let this bastard destroy my future the way he destroyed my past.

I suck in a breath, dig deep inside me, then jerk my body away from the other wizard’s, determined to break the physical link draining me and stop the haunting images poisoning my head.

Muscles screaming, I lift the sword dipped in good blood and enchantments and drive it into Mathias’s shoulder again. The wizard howls in agony.

“To kill you is a vow I made long ago,” I rumble. “Today, I will keep it.”

Jerking the sword from Mathias’s flesh once more, I roar, pain slicing its way through every part of my body as I wobble to my knees, still trying to push the disturbing, terrible visions of Gailene from my head.

Weak. So damn weak. My vision swims. I see double as my stomach pitches.

I clutch the sword above Mathias, who staggers on hands and knees below me, bleeding profusely on the challenge ring’s floor.

The wizard’s body heaves, bucks, and he vomits as the poison of good works its way through his tainted blood.

There are two Mathiases blurring my vision, and the smell of blood and puke nearly has me passing out. But I manage to hold on. One good swing with my sword through Mathias’s neck, and I can put the past to rest. And carry on with my future by claiming my princess.

I tremble almost beyond my control, wobbling as I raise my sword. With a final battle cry, I bring it crashing down.

Sabelle

I clasp my magically bound hands in front of me and stare out the window at the empty field bordering Blackbourne’s lands.

Nausea and cold dread vie for control of my stomach.

By now, Ice knows that Mathias’s witch, Rhea, is holding me captive.

It’s only a matter of time before the evil wizard uses that horrible reality against him, forcing him to do something unthinkable like surrender…

or, worse, allow himself to be slain. I see it all in Rhea’s thoughts.

Neither can happen. I refuse to allow it.

Nerves grip my stomach in a cruel vise, and I twist my fingers, thoughts racing. I must do something—and quick. But what?

I cast a sidelong glance at Rhea. Dressed like a goth Victoria’s Secret model, the other witch stirs both my fury and pity. She is helping Mathias with acts that will ultimately enslave and kill many of magickind…and she doesn’t seem to grasp that fact or care.

“Shouldn’t be long now,” Rhea brags. “The most powerful, skilled wizard in all magickind will be mine.”

She’s clueless. Mathias will never be exclusively hers.

Though Rhea’s breasts are in danger of spilling from her very brief top and her transparent knickers reveal a lush, womanly body, Mathias talks to the witch as if she is of no consequence.

He merely uses her. And when he’s finished, he will assuredly discard her, probably in a permanent fashion.

But Rhea’s problems aren’t mine. Right now, I have to get free. Escaping the other witch might be possible. But once Mathias returns, my doom will be sealed.

Right after Ice’s has been.

Think! I was foolish to believe that Mathias wouldn’t be brazen enough to abduct me under Blackbourne’s roof. Spilled milk now, and I can’t afford to cry. I must devise a plan to escape.

With my hands bound and my wand tucked away, magic is impossible. I’ve already tried reasoning with Rhea, but she’s disgustingly loyal to the magical wretch she shags. It really leaves me with no option but trickery.

And I have no problem using it.

“Indeed. I’m rather more concerned about the fact that Mathias bound my hands so tightly, I may lose them if you don’t loosen his magic.”

“You’re trying to trick me,” she accuses, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Hmm. So she isn’t completely daft .

“If you don’t believe me, come test these bonds yourself.”

Since the bonds are invisible, the witch will have to touch me to ascertain if I’m telling the truth. Or she’ll simply loosen them. Either way, I win.

“Mathias said I shouldn’t touch you, so I won’t. Besides, why do I care if you lose your hands?”

“Because Mathias needs me to write in the Doomsday Diary. How am I to do that without hands?” I let that sink in for a pregnant moment, then add. “I wonder…will Mathias remain your wizard if he went to all the trouble to abduct Merlin’s granddaughter and you allowed me to become useless?”

Rhea’s eyes go wide. The thoughts crossing her mind tell me I’ve hit my target. Likely, by the time I count to five, the other witch will be loosening my bonds. One, two, three…

“Nothing funny,” Rhea warns, adopting a mean snarl as she grasps my wrists.

Gotcha . As soon as the woman’s hands touch me, I send out waves of compassion, laced with distaste for holding another captive.

Rhea’s eyes glaze over, and something soft passes across her face.

Resisting the urge to tap my toe, I wait for my siren magic to do its trick…

and hope I can escape in time to save Ice from doing something stupidly noble that will cost us everything.