Page 39 of Worse Fates (Soulmates Suck #1)
Red flames are lobbed into the warehouse walls and immediately begin to devour them as if made of paper.
A wave of heat crashes into me, and I throw my forearm up as a shield against it, the stink of my singed arm hair clogs my throat and I have to blink several times to avoid being blinded.
Uncaring about the blaze, Rurik charges towards the screaming blood mages. Their cries soon cut short as his fangs meet their necks, their blood spraying out in an arc.
And through the blaze—“Golden.”
He’s away from most of the destruction and using a piece of glass to cut Ramy out of ropes.
“Lucero! Jace is up there!”
I look to Summer and where she’s pointing, moments before a man with black hair goes to attack her. But even exhausted, Summer is no baby mage—her rings suck in the light, and with a sweep of her arm the other mage’s shadow rises from the ground and flings him into a burning beam.
Knowing she can look after herself, I run over flaming corpses towards my mark. I pass Rurik ripping throats out, so drenched even his hair’s dyed red. I dodge badly thrown spears and watch as people’s own shadows turn against them.
Leaping onto the gangway, I find Jace kicking Kai off him—the boy hits the floor with an oof, landing hard on his hip. Jace strikes out at Apollo, who hasn’t changed since the last time I saw him fifty years ago. But I reach Jace in time, locking my fist around the cunt’s neck in a crushing hold.
Golden’s monster isn’t getting away this time.
CRUNCH!
I slam his face into the floor, blood pooling under him.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
Again and again I hammer his face into the concrete floor, his screaming agony is the sweetest delight.
He hurt Golden, tried to take my mate away from me—and now he pays.
“Get outta here, Kai!”
Apollo might be behind me, but his voice sounds like it’s underwater. “Run!”
“But—”
Every cell in my body yearns to drag Jace’s pain out, his blood and gargled screeching only fueling me.
“KAI!”
Apollo shouts again.
I yank Jace up off the floor and bring his ruined face to mine. Golden’s abuser, this worthless piece of shit, whimpers and the stink of piss wafts off him.
Both of his eyes are swollen, teeth missing from fleshy, red gums. His nose is nothing but a puddle of meat, blood and exposed shattered cartilage.
“I’m going to fucking kill you.”
A vicious smirk rips open my face, my fangs glinting with the fire destroying the warehouse.
Jace blubbers, like the small pathetic little creature he is.
But before I can fulfil my promise and rid this man from the face of the earth—pain pierces my shoulder. My hold on Jace remains, even as I swerve to avoid the next red, gleaming spear.
“Drop him!”
A woman stands near an open door. The one I fought on the side of the road with a shot of white through her dark hair.
Emma.
“I don’t think I will,”
I growl, Jace choking wetly as my hold tightens.
Emma’s dark gaze bounces from me to Rurik, who’s killing the last of her spawn; to Apollo, grinning like a maniac; Kai, trying to get out of the way; and to Summer, with her eclipse-black eyes. Then to Golden, finally managing to get Ramy out and helping him up.
She may be powerful, but the intelligence shining in her eyes tells me she’s not stupid. Emma knows she’s trapped.
“Jace!”
Despite the fire, her voice is cold as ice.
“Give me the spellbook. I can save you!”
I curse and lunge for the spellbook at Jace’s side—he’s got two, so I try to take them both. It doesn’t matter. Emma’s faster. A spear slices into my chest, and I’m lurched backward, pain screaming through me as I drop the brat to the floor with a thud.
Roaring, refusing to let my bleeding shoulder slow me down, I reach for Jace.
Just before I can grab him, the blood leaking from my shoulder rips out of me—like it’s become a rope, yanked. My blood then siphons over his shivering form, coalescing into a hard shell tinged blood-red.
“THE BOOK, JACE!”
Emma shouts, enraged.
How dare this piece of shit use my blood to protect himself.
Blind rage surges through me, and I shout it out as I bring up my fists down—my shoulder screeching in agony—and slam them into the hard shell. It shatters like a dropped snow globe, red pieces flinging out.
I hear a wet grunt from Jace, a sharp intake of breath from Kai, and then—as the shards of red scatter and melt back into blood, I see Emma catch a spellbook.
“Please…”
Jace cries.
“Save me, Aunty…”
She doesn’t.
She never was going to.
Emma turns, smirking in pure satisfied victory and runs towards the exit.
Yet Rutik is hot on her heels and surges forward, however Emma has plenty of blood to use, and pulls two pools of blood up, shaped into spears, and fires with a sniper’s precision.
My brother darts behind a flaming beam, narrowly avoiding being skewered. I expect the spears to slam into the wall—but they twist midair, and go for Summer. Startled, the shadow mage lets out a curse and falls into her own shadow.
“C-come back, please, Aunty…”
Jace wails.
Just as Emma’s about to get to the exit, Rurik rushes towards her, Summer shooting back up and holding out her ringed hands.
But Emma is still powerful, and blood flows freely from the necks of her mages.
With a wave of her hand, somehow graceful even as she sprints—spellbook tucked under her armpit—all the blood on the ground snakes towards her, then rises into a transparent wall of glass, tall and wide as the warehouse.
Apollo grabs hold of Kai and drags them both away from danger.
“GOLDEN!”
I scream as, with a flick of Emma’s wrist, the wall shatters.
“GET DOWN!”
The shards—long as my hand and sharp as my fangs—don’t fall. They hover, suspended for a breath.
And as I charge toward Golden, they shoot out.
Jace is impaled and dies instantly, still reaching for Emma as she vanishes through the exit.
Ramy and Golden shove themselves into a corner. I bolt to them, around boxes full of clothes and supplies splintering open. Shards cut into my body, but I don’t care as I race faster to the only person I’ve ever truly loved.
The boxes protecting them disintegrate, leaving them unprotected as the last barrage of shards head straight for them. And to my horror, a second before I get to Golden, he shoves Ramy away for a shard to pierce Golden directly through his chest.
“NO!”
Ramy’s eyes go wide as Golden collapses into his arms with a cry of pain. When I finally reach them, I’m not gentle as I push my little brother aside, dread chilling my veins as I pull Golden to me.
“No, no, no, no!”
I chant, as if that would fix him.
“Lucero,”
he coughs up blood.
“You're here…”
Tears stream down my cheeks.
“Of course, I’ll always come for you.”
“I know, my light...”
Somehow, through all of his pain, he smiles.
The spike in Golden’s chest melts back into blood, and more of his spills out.
“We have to get out of here,”
Rurik shout.
“the place is coming down!”
I ignore the heat, the beams crashing to the floor, and the fire creeping up the walls. By the time I get Golden out he would’ve bled to death.
“D-do it…”
he chokes, coughing up blood.
I wanted more time with him blissfully human, to allow Golden to become someone not constantly in survival mode and to spoil him endlessly. To make him into a vampire when we were both ready, maybe even finally get that full orchestra.
“I trust you,”
he whimpers, tears in his eyes and love in his voice.
“I love you.”
I don’t hesitate, I bite into my wrist and bring it to Golden’s mouth. He’s weak, but my soulmate drinks deeply, our eyes connecting as everything burns around us.
“Since the moment I was born I’ve loved you,”
I tell Golden, my heart open even as it breaks.
“In every lifetime I searched for you. Not my soulmates, but you, Golden. My heart, my love, my everything.”
The ceiling crumbles, glass explodes and Golden’s pulse begins to slow.
And through it all, his gaze never leaves mine as he gulps.
“And when every star in every sky burns out, it’ll be our love that keeps the universe from going cold.”
The slurping at my wrist stops, and I tuck one of his curls gently behind his ears before standing, Golden cradled in my arms, his cheek resting on my shoulder.
And as we leave the blazing warehouse, Golden dies.