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Then the Nine exploded out of nowhere, vaulting airborne, landing on the titanic god, ripping with lethal fangs at his flesh.
I knew which one was Ryodan, I could feel him now, and, as I watched, he hurled himself into the air and went straight for Balor’s face, primal jaws wrenching impossibly wide, closing on the god’s flesh, fangs sinking deep.
Balor roared, kicking and swatting at the many beasts tearing into him, howling with rage and pain. Abruptly, he focused solely on Ryodan, closing enormous hands around his throat and squeezing.
My heart clenched. I could feel Ryodan’s pain as those massive fists closed tighter and tighter. Felt like I couldn’t breathe, too. Could feel that whatever Ryodan usually did to kill the Fae wasn’t working on Balor.
Get off him now! I thundered inside Ryodan’s head. Get all of the Nine off him. It’s not working!
But Ryodan sank his fangs deeper into Balor’s face, despite the horrific sense of strangulation I could feel him suffering, ignoring me, and I suddenly understood he was trying to drain the life-force from the god, the way Barrons had sucked the Sinsar Dubh from the Unseelie princess’s body, and I knew at the precise moment he did that it wasn’t working. Whatever gods were made of, it wasn’t the same as Fae.
The Nine couldn’t kill them.
It didn’t surprise me. I’d had a strange unshakable sense of fate riding me like a bitch all day.
I was willing to bet I could.
I inhaled deep and slow, embracing my power, calling to the Hunter within, beckoning, welcoming it. Fill me, take me, I’m ready, I willed. Whatever the price.
Energy slammed into me like a fist to my heart and my entire body bristled electric. I couldn’t get a shot at the god with the beasts in the way without taking one of them out, and although they’d return if Balor killed them, there was a good chance they wouldn’t if I hit them with a Hunter bolt.
Get everyone off Balor, I snarled at Ryodan. Now, I said!
I could feel every emotion he was feeling. Fury, grief, rage, sorrow, denial.
He didn’t say I’ll miss that beautiful body of yours, although I felt it.
And I didn’t say I’m afraid you won’t keep loving a dragon, although he felt it.
We’re both too pragmatic for that. We do what needs to be done.
As the Nine dropped away, as Ryodan tore himself from Balor’s grasp, I quit being the wallflower I simply can’t be and strode into battle with fire in my blood, war in my heart, and extreme high voltage in my veins.
My first lightning bolt caught Balor in the chest, slamming him backward, nearly taking him off his feet.
The power inside me felt so much bigger now! And I knew with soul-deep knowing that there was no coming back from it this time. No second chances. I was going to be a Hunter when this was through.
Roaring, Balor spun to face me, stabbed me with that lethal soul-sucking gaze and began to tug at my soul.
To my surprise nothing happened. I couldn’t even feel him trying to take it. I’d moved beyond his reach. Guess I wasn’t quite human anymore.
I saw the look of astonishment on his face and laughed as I stalked nearer, shoving his zombies out of my way. I slammed him with bolt after bolt, in his chest, in his face, singeing and charring him, yet that damned eye remained unaffected.
Then the bastard dropped the mask back down over his eye and I heard Ryodan say, It’s not enough, Dani. You’re not letting go. You have to let go of everything. Become the next thing. He didn’t say Let go of me, but I heard it and he was right. I was still resisting with a tiny part of me, not wanting to become something that would forever separate me from the people I loved.
I had to embrace the transition fully, accept that I was dying, so a new me could be born.
Love you, Stardust. Always. Across space and time. No ending. New beginnings.
Sorrow welled inside me. This was not what I’d planned. This was not the life I’d wanted for myself. I wiped angrily at tears icing my cold black cheeks.
New beginnings, I sent back along our bond, with a wordless expression of how I felt about him. How I’d always felt about him.
He inhaled sharply, and cursed, Fuck. Shit. Goddamn, woman. You show me that now!
It was now or never. Every second I wasted was potentially another sidhe-seer’s soul. I flung my head back and threw my hands up to the sky, calling down power from the heavens. I poised on the brink of becoming something else, something so alien I couldn’t even fathom it. But it was time and it was my destiny and the stars awaited. I AM HUNTER! I roared silently. I ACCEPT. I WANT THIS. I COMMIT.
My body raged with raw high voltage, I became high voltage, I quivered electric with unspeakable power, focused and hurled it all at Balor’s eye in one furious bolt.
