AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Frances,” Noah whispers, reaching his hand out to her. At that moment, something hisses through the air. Frances’ eyes widen, and she stares at Noah, speechless.
“Enough sentimentality. I don’t need you anymore, so I can eliminate you,” Alessandro murmurs. Standing directly behind the young woman, he draws the blade out of her back.
She opens her mouth as if to say something, but all that comes out of her throat is a gargle and a gush of blood. I squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t want to see this. I know what happens next, and I can’t go through it again. Frances’ and Alessandro’s deaths, Ayden almost dying too. But there’s nothing I can do to stop it, and I can already hear his voice.
“You bastard!”
Ayden is standing on the stairs, and he joins me and Noah without hesitation to fight alongside us. Alessandro is hit by Ayden’s fireball and hurled against a wall, but he’s not ready to give up. He gets back on his feet and immediately resumes his attacks. They come hard and fast. Fire, rain, snow, ice, earth – his hexes all seem to come down on us at once until I no longer know which way to dodge or how to deflect which one with what. The room shudders, and the air burns, stinging my lungs. Noah and Ayden merge more with their spirits too. Ayden is enveloped in flames and looks like some divine being from another world. By contrast, Noah is dark, with smoke swirling around him as if it’s seeping out of every pore, completely enveloping him. They both hurl attack after attack at our opponent. Their spirits charge and try to pin down Nero and Alessandro somehow. But they seem to be untouchable.
I know I have to do something. I can’t just stand around and watch. I need to help them. So I raise my arms, gather all of my power, and hurl it forward. I won’t give up! The jet of fire shoots out of my hands straight at Alessandro and hits him.
Alessandro raises his hand, opens his mouth in a furious scream, and I can guess that his next attack will be incomparable to anything that went before it. Ayden appears behind him and grabs his arms, holding them tightly. I can see him fighting the pain that it causes him to hold on to that body, which seems to consist of every single element. Wherever he comes into contact with Alessandro, his skin blisters.
“Do it, Noah!” he cries, as I continue to attack Alessandro front-on. Together, we manage to force the glowing colors on our opponent’s chest to disappear, and the ordinary skin beneath them is exposed. Now we can hurt him. And Noah doesn’t hesitate. He raises his hand, conjures a spear of smoke, and he’s about to throw it when he sees Nero behind Ayden.
“Shit, watch out!”
Ayden turns slightly. But he can’t defend himself without letting go of Alessandro. So Nero leaps through the air unhindered and bites into Ayden’s side.
Snow rushes to his aid and tears the leopard off him. Both spirits tumble across the floor.
“Just do it!” Ayden cries out again.
Noah throws the spear. It hits Alessandro in the center of his chest. There’s a loud crack as it pierces him between the ribs. The lights surrounding our opponent flash faster, and then they all turn jet-black before swirling across the floor and vanishing. Alessandro doesn’t make another sound. He just slumps to the floor, collapses like a lifeless doll. Blood streams from his chest and seeps across the stone. Nero looks over at him and then approaches him to say goodbye. He lowers his head and nuzzles his master, as if to check that he’s really gone.
My heart shudders, and I can hardly breathe. I quickly look to Ayden, who’s still on his feet. But it won’t be long before he stops breathing.
“No,” I whisper, shaking my head. “No.” I want to go to Ayden, but I step into empty space, fall into nothingness, and then there’s a loud crash.
I groan softly and rub my back, which is drenched in sweat. My heart is hammering against my ribs. It takes me a moment to find my way back to the here and now. Yoru is standing beside me, nuzzling me with his snout. His gaze is soft and empathetic. I guess he can see how rattled I am.
I stroke his head. “It’s okay, just another one of those nightmares. Hopeful they’ll stop one day.”
“They will,” says a voice, and I get such a fright that I jump back and smack my head against the headboard.
Alfredo pushes the door open and comes in.
“Are you retarded?! Is this becoming a regular thing now? I told you, you can’t just come in here, and I don’t care what you …”
“You helped them kill my brother,” he says in a cool voice. “I always knew you were somehow involved. It took a while for the poison to break down the barrier enough for me to see everything. But now I know.”
I stare at him, speechless, as an icy chill spreads inside me. Fear surges through my veins because I can tell by the look on his face: he’s serious; he knows everything. For a moment, I wonder how that’s possible. Then his words fully sink in.
“These nightmares,” I mutter. “They weren’t nightmares at all.”
Alfredo shrugs. “Not really. They were memories, which my key spirit’s poison forced you to relive. It’s an incredibly useful talent of his. It allows me to go into another person’s head and force them to show me the events that I want to see. With you, it took a while, which surprised me. But in the end, I got what I wanted. I know the truth.”
He comes a step closer. Yoru stands protectively in front of me and growls. Alfredo pays him no attention. He only has eyes for me.
“You helped them kill my brother. Not only that, but you did it with a Noctu – and Ayden. I keep hearing that he’s changed recently. But I never figured he was capable of that.” He shakes his head slowly.
Hate, nothing but pure hate in his eyes, so merciless, so destructive. I nervously sit up in my bed. I’m acutely aware that he’s capable of anything right now.
He cocks his head and scrutinizes me. “You’re scared of me,” he observes. A smile steals across his face, which makes him look even more terrifying. “Good, you should be. Because I can promise you one thing – I’ll make you pay for this. You’ll experience hell on earth, and so will Ayden. Death is too good for you. In the end, you’ll beg me to let you die.”
With that, he turns around and strides out of my room, pulling the door shut behind him and leaving me alone.
I can’t move. My whole body is paralyzed with fear. There’s no doubt in my mind that Alfredo means what he says and will stop at nothing to make it a reality. I can’t escape him.
