Page 118 of Possess Me at Midnight

Suddenly, Mathias laughs, a screeching parody of joy. The sound drips menace and scorn. “You can’t outrun the spell.”

With my back against the force field, the black cloud begins to surround me. I grit my teeth, bracing myself to stay strong against whatever agony it brings. I will not show weakness or fear. If this is the end, if I never leave this challenge ring alive, I want to die certain that Mathias knows exactly how I feel.

“Fuck off.”

“So you’ve said before. Now…” Mathias smiles as the cloud smothers me, swallows me, taking my vision, my ability to breathe. My hope. I choke, clutch my throat, needing air. There is none.

Sabelle screams, but it sounds far away. For a moment, I’m glad she never Bound to me. She’ll have no need to mourn me once I’m gone.

The evil heat Mathias puts off looms closer suddenly, and the other wizard gibes, “Let’s meet the real Isdernus Rykard.”

What the bloody fuck does that mean?

The cloud clings to me, hovering over my face. I continue to gasp for breath as dizziness spikes. Panic claws deep in my chest. Surely, I’ll pass out at any moment, die in a heap at Mathias’s feet.

That doesn’t happen.

A moment later, the black mass passes through me. I fall to my knees, dragging in a desperate gasp of air as the black mass drifts up the wall, clinging harmlessly to the ceiling.

“What’s this?” Mathias rears back. “That can’t be!”

He reaches a hand toward the cloud and hurls it at me again. Once more, it blankets me, cutting off my air, my light, my hope. Then…just as suddenly, it leaves me, floating aimlessly in the enclosed force field.

Why didn’t it grab me, cling to me, as it did Bram? Why didn’t it drag me into unconsciousness, start splitting my soul, or kill me?

“He…fought it. What does it mean?” I hear Sabelle ask.

I risk a glance at her. She looks pale, worried, as she turns to her brother, frantic for an answer.

“I don’t know,” Bram murmurs. “It latched on to me viciously and didn’t let go. Almost instantly, I felt…anger, arrogance. My worst thoughts all right in my head. Then I don’t remember a bloody thing until the dark healer came to me.”

“Did…did Mathias cast the spell incorrectly?”

Bram scoffs. “Unlikely. He’s both familiar with it and beyond ruthless. He wouldn’t fuck up or spare Ice.”

“What the bloody—” Mathias fists his hands, his blue eyes blasting rage. Fury hollows his cheeks. Sweat slicks his chest and corded abs. “Impossible!”

I step away from the wall, completely unharmed, untouched by the thunderous cloud again.

Amazed, I stagger, weakened and exhausted, but I’m on my feet. I yearn to curl up against Sabelle and sleep for a year. But I’ve lived through something I never expected to. Inside, I swell with triumph.

“Apparently not,” I taunt.

“No one,” Mathias spits. “No one is incorruptible. Everyone’s soul harbors darkness that makes them susceptible to evil. Take it!”

The furious wizard hurls another black cloud at me. This time, I don’t fight it. I think positive thoughts. I fixate on love, on Sabelle.

As before, I experience moments of breathlessness, chest heavy with anger and frustration. Then…nothing.

I cock my head and grin. Finally, I understand. “I felt pure evil pass through me, looking to partner with its own kind. It found nothing useful, so it left.”

“It must have latched on to you. Inside you. Somewhere. Surely, you have some hidden streak that goads you into embracing the dark. Greed, lust, avarice, envy. Something.”

The black clouds converge together, and the mass hovers in the corner…then starts drifting toward Mathias, as if the mass seeks safe harbor in someone who hates or envies, feels too much pride or lust. Someone evil.

And now I understand exactly how to fight Mathias.

With a snap of my wrist, I conjure a sword. Marrok taught me well how to use a human blade. In a few short months, I’ve perfected the art of slicing an enemy any way I wish, whether to defend or, in this case, to kill. Avenging Gailene is in my grasp, and for her, Mathias must die now, by my hand.