Oberi! I cried, but my Familiar failed to respond.
Unadulterated rage consumed me, causing me to unintentionally siphon power from all those around me, including Naya. Her succubus superspeed and strength flooded into me, and I didn’t waste a second. If Naya was going to turn our powers around on us, then I was going to turn hers against her.
Naya had her back to me as she watched Oberi smash into the trees from afar. The stupid bitch left me an opening, one she wouldn’t live long enough to regret.
I raced forward so fast I couldn’t keep track of the battle around me. I reached her in a split-second and jumped her from behind before she could react. My hands clamped around her wings, and in one swift motion, I tore them from her back. Satisfaction filled me as sinew ripped apart and bones snapped. Naya let out a blood-curdling cry.
Naya whirled to face me, but it was already too late. My hands curled around the base of the long spike at the top of her dismembered wing, and I thrust it forward— straight into her heart.
“I told you once before if you tried to hurt Ava, I’d kill you,” I snarled. “You should’ve heeded my warning.”
A squelching sound filled the forest at the same moment Naya’s screams died in her throat. She gave a gurgle, then a cough that sprayed blood all over my face.
“You’ll… never… win,” she rasped, tone vengeful as she rasped a dying cry. “The Warden… will come… for you.”
Then she fell into a heap at my feet.
I expected to ride a great high of victory when Naya died, but all I felt was relief. She’d been a thorn in our sides since the day we’d arrived at the Institute, and she’d fucked with us far too many times. I should’ve been overjoyed to take her life, but I was merely pleased there was one less person in the world who wanted Ava dead.
Now I had to go deal with the rest of these fuckers.
Naya was nothing to me now that she was gone, so I didn’t bother sticking around. I tossed her wings aside and took off through the forest, dodging rogue spells and falling trees to get to the crash site. I still hadn’t heard anything from Oberi, which couldn’t be a good sign.
As I came upon the crash site, my heart leapt to my throat. I skidded to a stop. A familiar voice filled a clearing, and all the relief I’d felt moments ago morphed into dread.
“Look who I’ve found. A pretty princess to be my plaything.”
Deuce.
We’d defeated the vampire’s team in the Darke Games, but I hadn’t managed to beat him since. At the Institute, Deuce had been even more of a nuisance than Naya. Naya had tried to poison Ava’s drink from Commissary to mess with her meds, but Deuce had straight-up assaulted Ava by yanking her out of her chair and throwing her to the ground. I thought I’d gotten rid of him by getting him sentenced to Cellblock 9, until he’d sicced his gang on us and come back even stronger. He’d won every time I faced him in the ring, and had kicked our asses whenever we’d faced the antidemigods since busting out of the Institute.
This ended tonight. I’d lost to him before, but I wouldn’t lose again.
“Where’s that lunatic husband of yours now, Ava?” Deuce sneered. “Oh, that’s right. He’s getting the shit beat out of him by Naya. Too bad he won’t live long enough to save your crippled ass.”
It only took a moment to assess the scene with my Earth magic. Oberi and Ava had landed in an area of the forest that had already seen a bloody battle earlier tonight. Trees had toppled everywhere by Oberi’s landing, and large logs and branches scattered the forest floor. Dozens of bodies lay in the wreckage, and the blood of all types of supernatural beings seeped into the soil.
Oberi lay whimpering in his wyvern form, appearing on the edge of consciousness and unable to defend Ava. She’d been tossed from his back and trembled on the ground not far from him. She used all her strength to pull herself over a log in an attempt to reach Oberi. I didn’t know where her bow was. She must’ve lost it in the fall, which left her completely defenseless.
“Be sure to give Charlie my regards in the afterlife,” Deuce taunted. “That is, if you make it that far.”
He would not take Ava from me. I was already on the move. I conjured a powerful windstorm to buy me time, but Deuce’s demigod power broke my spell instantly, and the breeze merely drifted around him.
He laughed again, thrilled I’d arrived. “Looks like the Blind Bandit made it after all! Welcome to the party! I’ll have a great time making the Bandit my fucking piñata.”
I had a mere moment to calculate my attack. I decided to forego magic, because it wouldn’t do any good, and unsheathed the sword on my hip. I lifted it overhead, but Deuce blasted out a battle spell that collided with my blade. The sword flew out of my grasp and landed in the dirt far away— too far to go searching for it while he had his sights set on Ava.
Only a second had passed, and she was still within reach of this fucker. I had one last thing I could try, something I’d sworn off months ago, but we were out of options now. I’d vowed to never use my illusion powers again because they’d led me down a dark path. But I realized now it hadn’t been my powers that had caused me to turn bad. It’d been my own choices, and this time, I’d make the choice to use these powers for good. If I could form an illusion, it’d become real, and Deuce couldn’t break my spell once it was cast. Ava was in danger, so I’d do everything in my power to defend her.
In a split-second decision, I chose to unleash the pieces of myself I’d locked away. My illusion magic burst out of me. A hundred wooden stakes materialized in the air before Deuce noticed what I was doing, and they went spinning in his direction.
I didn’t think he could dodge so many coming at him all at once, but Deuce’s vampire speed was faster than I’d calculated. He was already gone by the time the stakes embedded into the nearby trees.
I bent down to grab one. Magic wouldn’t do the job? Fine. I’d carve his heart from his fucking chest the old-fashioned way.
I continued running toward the sound of Deuce’s amused laughter. “You thought you won when you sent me to Cellblock 9, but you still can’t beat me, can you?”
I didn’t entertain his taunts with an answer. I used my Earth magic to curl roots around his legs and hold him in place. He broke my spell, but the roots remained wrapped around his body as I charged forward with my stake held high.
