Page 164 of This Blood that Bonds Us

Sirius’s fist went for my chest.Foolish boy. I don’t answer to you.

I barely dodged it. I needed the Thing’s power. I had to get it. Sirius went for me again, and I slipped under his legs.

Help me.

He caught me with an arm around my neck, and I flipped him to the floor. He was faster. Better. I would lose in a matter of seconds.

A force hit me from behind, and Sirius took me by the neck. His other hand was wrapped around the dagger. He went to stab me, and I grabbed the hilt, fighting against him inch by inch.

“Little help here,” I said through gritted teeth.

My brothers stayed silent, moving closer to Her and away from me. They wouldn’t help me now. Sirius would snap my neck. That or slice me open. I grabbed the dagger and directed it into my side. I cried out at the slicing pain through my gut. My hands were shaking.

We will serve Her.

I was giving in. The Thing would take over and take me with it. I imagined the Thing in my head and all the hatred I’d held for it since it came. I imagined all the pain it caused me. The terror. The fear. And I imagined it engulfing me. Like a pool of black blood was surrounding me. It should drown me. It did nearly every day, but it wouldn’t. Not today.

Because I was strong enough.

I imagined drinking all that hate and pain. All that fear and letting it into my body. Accepting it. No more running.

It was finally clear. I had control the entire time. I was always stronger than the Thing inside my head.

It all snapped together, and the tug of war inside me was gone, and I felt . . . powerful.

Powerful, like how I’d felt fighting Akira powerful, but this time I had the reins.

I wrapped my arm around Sirius’s neck. He pulled away, but it was useless. Ihadhim. My teeth tore the flesh of his neck, and his blood spilled to the floor. He released me, stumbling back, but I didn’t give him a second to breathe before I charged him and forced him to the ground. Shock. He was in pure shock at my advancement and strength, but it lasted seconds before he flipped me on my back.

He was still a better fighter, but I used the strength brimming in my body to fling him off me and charge him again. I had to do something. I had to make a dent in his armor.

In seconds, the strength was leaving me and the weakness was returning.

I wasn’t much for fighting, but I was good at dodging, and that’s all I needed because Sirius was trying to tear me limb from limb. I used that to counter him and get him on the floor. When I retreated, he came back for me.

I chipped away at him. A bite on the forearm. Then another on the arm. The shoulder.

The queen gasped and grabbed Her head. Luke was already there holding Her up.

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel . . . strange. Weak.”

Sirius’s split-second distraction was all I needed. I couldn’t get the dagger in his heart. The gut would do. The blade slipped, and I shoved it into his belly. His eyes widened as I used the rest of my strength to push the blade horizontally through tough skin and muscle.

That was it. All I had left. Sirius’s blood spilled across the floor. His initial shock wore off, then he worked to stop the bleeding.

Luke held the queen in his arms while She continued to blink slowly. Her eyes were flickering back to green.

“It’s okay. I’m here.”

“She . . . you have to . . .”

Kimberly had the real dagger, which was great, but Sirius would likely kill me before I ever made it out of the cathedral. I was spent. The burnout of using the Thing’s power left my legs wobbly. I had to work to keep upright.

Presley tugged on Luke’s shirt, watching me with worried eyes.

Sirius stalked toward me again, and I braced. Maybe it was my time. Maybe I bought Kilian time and weakened Sirius enough for an opening.