Page 55 of These Eternal Bones

A strangled sound comes from the crumbled form of the witch.

I blur to her as a gasping, wet laugh fills the air.

She laughs even harder at the sight of me.

Jarring her muddled form. “There-” she rasps, her broken, mush of a face plastered to the ground.

“There will be no peace for you. You have won nothing.”

Her laughter is crazed this time, making whatever fuels her wretched form ooze out .

“Gods, you are all so blind to your mates. So…malleable. It is perhaps the biggest joke of all. They make you weak–”

I press my shoe into what’s left of her jaw, halting her words.

Rage is an inferno in my chest. When she speaks again, her voice is one that does not require a functional face.

“You are a vile, disgusting aberration of life. I have taken from you so much more than you know, and I am not done you foul fucking–”

I roar, lashing into her, making her scream as I bubble what’s left in her veins. It is not blood, not in its pure state. “You are a hypocrite, every bit as monstrous as I.”

Her scream dies off into more laughter, her blank, bloodied eyes cutting to me.

Her hatred is every bit as pungent as her diseased blood.

“The curse was intact, Beast of Port Clyde. You are as stupid as you were back then, and you have done the one thing capable of getting around it. You have made her vulnerable, because a vampire’s soul cannot be reborn–” My fist plows into her chest, punching through the cavity with ease.

My eyes never leave hers as her slow beating heart, rotted from her own magic, gives its final thuds in my hand.

Her words are acid on my mind as I drop it to the ground beside her.

The horror of her final statement doesn’t have time to sink in when everything explodes .

Waves of ether burst from her corpse, slamming me into the ground, razing and peeling my flesh.

I roar my agony as my tendrils snap out, blanketing Molly.

Understanding dawning on me too late as I fight my battered form off the ground.

Blackened blood, blown wide, arcing like morbid art against the ground and sky.

Something falls from my side as each agony joins new ones, my arm thudding to the ground, tangling underneath my feet, making me stumble.

My form shakes with agony as I force it toward my mate.

The fox fared far worse than me in the ether blast. The power of an entire ancestral line of magic hitting us all at once, detonating like a bomb. Panic rises with the pain, because she’s right. I made her killable.

A death that sticks.

And I delivered it.

I stumble, smashing into the ground again, my eyes finding the back left wing of our home collapsed.

Pain fizzles my mind, but the worst of it comes from my soul as I force myself back to my feet.

I try to call out to her, but only a gurgling sound leaves me.

My eyes snap down, finding more blackened blood pouring from my neck.

I stretch it, finding it moves very little, some kind of deep wound there.

A groan leaves me as I shift my tendrils, upsetting the rubble that covers them, but even that comes sluggishly.

I shift them again as I lose my footing, slamming to my knees.

I don’t stay there, ensuring the form underneath was safe from being crushed before dismissing the protective barrier they’d formed around her.

The fox’s body falls back from where he’d thrown himself in front of her.

He thuds to the ground, and already it parts to pull him home.

Molly’s crumpled body is broken, but untouched by the blast. My dominion sinks inside in weak, fluttering pulses.

I feel my venom racing through her blood, changing it.

The sensation is both sickening and beautiful.

I allow just a tendril of relief to fill my chest as I turn toward Tien, my feet dragging before I collapse to my knees beside him. The Chimera’s slitted eyes flutter open, weak but unwavering. “Forgive–”

I nod stiffly, pain flaring from my neck.

Something pops at the action, a tendon on its last leg.

My palm shakes as I brace my remaining hand on what’s left of his bicep.

A grunt leaves him as he lifts his claws, dragging my skin as he grips me back.

“You saved her.” The accusation comes out in a rasp, the sound barely a whisper.

It only serves to make blood spurt harder from my neck .

“She was a baby…” His words garble together between pained, unintelligible breaths.

I reach out with my dominion, despite how quickly it drains me, I seize his blood.

I can’t stop his bleeding in my current state, but I can slow it.

For a moment, I let my body sag against his. “There had been enough death.”

I wait for that familiar vindictive rage, but it doesn’t come. His eyes never leave mine, although I cannot fathom the strength it takes for him to keep them open. “Yes, far too much.”

I allow my fangs to fill with venom, although I haven’t a clue what turning him will do to his fae form, after years the act having been forbidden it feels… uncomfortable to think of now. My balance slips, making me pivot a little harder. I release him to avoid falling atop the battered man.

His renewed grip on my arm makes me pause, my eyes landing on his slitted ones.

“I am tired, Elric.” He releases his clawed grip to pat it there. “Let me rest.”

Something lances through my chest, understanding what he’s asking, a trickle of a new pain.

We stare at each other for a few more beats of his heart before it jumps and sputters. His next breath ragged and wet. “Tell Molly goodbye for me, yes? You paid your penance, Elric, it’s over.”

I nod, stealing myself as I use more power than I have to give as I stop his heart. Ending its pained, labored beating.

I take too long to reach her, my eyes following the network of veins that now spider onto her breasts.

My movements are uncoordinated and limp as I grunt, gritting my teeth as I maneuver her off the ground, hoisting her over my shoulder, using what mangled bits are left of my right atm to heave her into a more comfortable position.

My entire body thumps in agony as I stumble toward what’s left of our home .

My boot catches on the top step, sending me slamming into the ground with a sickening, wet thud.

Sharp fangs dig into my bottom lip to keep my agonized roar inside as I check on Molly, ensuring she didn’t knock against the ground.

I struggle to get us back up, the steps slick from my blood and water.

I’m not quick to give up, but my body is.

My eyes flutter as I push her into the entryway, hating the way her soft hair snags on the stone.

My muscles scream as I push harder, ensuring she’s not out in the cold; she’ll be safer inside.

“You’re okay, syringa. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I force out, my fist knotting in her dress as my vision goes black, my mind following swiftly.