AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Magic," I ordered, my voice harsh when I locked eyes with her. "Now. I've got you, Verena."
She inhaled a shuddering breath. "I don't know how. I'm sorry, I can't, I don't know—"
Her gasping, panicked breaths threw petrol on the fire of my rage, and my lips peeled back from my teeth as I launched at the spirit. I plunged my mace into its cold body, but my hand and arm sank through his icy body too and I had to swerve to keep my balance. The impact I was used to never came, my weapon useless.
"That tickles," he laughed, a wide smile crossing his eerily transparent face. I could see the weapons on the wall through his silvery skin, and if I hadn't been so furious, that would have sent a chill through me.
"You don't get to touch my family," I growled, driving Verena's sword down through his shoulder, mindful of hurting her. The ghost didn't flinch, but I got close enough to knock Verena away from him.
She skidded across the room with a whimper she tried to suppress. My rage spiked higher, a constant snarl in my throat now.
"Shit," she gasped, the sound close to a sob. "Emlyn, there's more of them. They're everywhere."
"Get here," I ordered her, shaking all over, completely cold inside as I glared at the psycho ghost. "Put your back to my back. Don't move away from me."
Verena rushed to follow my instructions, her warm body shaking when she pressed against me. "What are we gonna do?"
"Fight like hell," I bit out.
There was nothing else we could do.
I reached for my magic and slashed the sword at the same time I let out a devastating arc of power, severing tables, gouging through the walls until there were deep slices cut in them. And yet the ghost stood unhurt, smiling, in front of me, with dangerous plans gleaming in his eyes. My family might be criminals and killers but there were lines we wouldn't cross, and I knew this ghost would. There was a reason the worst humans were sent to Hell to suffer for eternity.
If the worst of humanity had escaped their confinement into the boundaries of Hell proper, we were all screwed. Spirits were undefeatable. Nothing could kill a ghost. And even as I slashed more emerald magic through the room, more ghosts bled through the walls with hungry looks on their faces. They weren't looking at me; they looked past me to where Verena was shaking, the tips of her fingers sparking.
"I won't let them hurt you," I vowed. She was mine to protect, my fucking family. If Haley wanted to keep her, she was ours, no questions asked.
Fuck. Hales. My breathing hitched. I grunted when a ghost grabbed my wrist, ice biting into my skin, so suddenly painful that my knees weakened.
"Back off," Verena hissed, but her voice wavered.
I sent out another bright lash of magic, grasping for my shifting magic. Another ghost grabbed me, so cold and painful that I couldn't concentrate, and I swore.
"Emlyn," Verena gasped. "I don't think I can—"
I spun, swallowing a snarl when cold hands grabbed at me, sinking into my back, and I caught Verena when her knees buckled. The look on her face was fierce, her teeth gritted and eyes furious, but the sparks at her fingertips died and she staggered into my arms with a gasp. The fact that she let me close said how weak and afraid she was. In full health, she'd have stabbed me.
She was so much like Haley, it hurt. She could have been our daughter.
"I've got you," I promised, dropping the axe so I could hold her up. "I'm right here, kid."
I wasn't going anywhere, even as more ghosts poured in. The whole palace had to be swarming with them by now. We were all going to die, weren't we? Not even Cronus could be blamed for this; it was demon greed, through and through.
I'm sorry, Haley.
It wasn't enough. No matter how hard I fought, cold bled into my bones, making me heavy, sluggish. My magic resisted as I tore it up through my body and shattered the room with it, tables left in ruins, even swords severed. But the spirits didn't avoid the magic in fear; they floated towards it, eager, hungry. I hissed when I felt their freezing touch on my power.
"Come here," I grunted to Verena, pulling her stiff body closer and snapping my wings out around her. It was better the spirits touched me, weakened me. Maybe Verena would stand a chance of getting out of here.
"What are you doing?" she demanded weakly. "Don't be fucking—stupid…"
She was weak. Oh, gods. My stomach dropped. I'd come to save her from an unstable city, but there was nothing I could do against spirits, and now her life was being sucked out of her.
The first spirit chuckled, his laugh louder than before and his eyes sharper, clearer behind his glasses. Actually, his whole body was clearer. More solid. Motherfucker just stole our lifeforce.
I growled, the only thing I could do when my arms were trapped by my wings around Verena. I wanted to shred the bastard into ribbons, and now that he was more solid, I might be able to harm him. Maybe. It was a fool's chance, but if it wouldn't have left Verena unprotected, I would have taken it.
But Haley had claimed her, and she was one of us—alone, mistreated, and raging at the world because of it. She was exactly like Harvey or Kai, exactly like me. And no way in any goddamn realm in the universe was I leaving a thirteen-year-old kid unprotected. So I just snarled my threats and kept her bound up in my wings, my growl sinking deeper when cold hands plunged into my body, leeching all warmth, stealing my energy.
