“You sent us away without a means for survival.” One of them stepped forward. Kira. A skilled knife-thrower who rarely missed her mark. She dared to challenge me with a reckless snarl. “No ability to replenish our numbers sinceyou’rethe only one who can raise our brethren. No jobs to speak of since the capital only knows ofyourexistence. Forcing us to leave was just a different kind of death sentence.”
“I didn’t force you to do anything.” I’d given them achoice.
Her laugh was brittle. “You call it a choice, but I call it an ultimatum. You spit in the face of our predecessors with your bullshit, and we wanted no part of it.”
“An ultimatum?” Sharpening my nails to fine points, I slit my palm open and let the blood trickle down my fingers. “If that’s what you want, I’ll gladly give it to you. I can still command you to follow my will.” Something inside me screamed at the wrongness of what I’d just threatened, and yet… The red haze claiming my vision seemed to blanket my other senses, so all that mattered was making Kira pay for her transgression, for abandoning Cruor.
No.My fingers quaked, and blood shone against my nails.I gave them a choice. Keep it together.
“You wouldn’t dare.” She smirked and flicked her wrist.
An agonizing shriek ruptured Gaige’s lungs, and he white-knuckled his thigh as a wisp of shadow oozed from somewhere deep in the wound. Kost’s face blanched, and he submerged his hand in darkness to forge a deadly rapier.
With harsh, ice-green eyes, he glared at Kira. “Remove the blade at once.”
“Such a tiny thing.” Her fingers twitched, and Gaige screamed again, his cry ratcheting up several notches. Blood dripped between his clasped hands, and he fell to the forest floor. His symbol glowed for a moment, as if he were trying to determine what beast could help him, when Kira formed a tight fist. His body shuddered in response, eyes rolling to the back of his head, and he passed out. “Just a shard making mincemeat of his veins. How long before it destroys the main blood line to his body? Only I know.”
Beside me, Calem let out a dark, guttural chuckle. “I never did like you much.” His body tremored, and he tilted his head to the side. Gone were his muted-red irises, and instead, the entirety of his eyes from corner to corner had turned a shining mercury. He targeted her with an animalistic ferocity that shone in the reflective surface of his stare.
“What the hell is wrong with him?” Kira faltered, taking an involuntary step back.
Calem lunged without fear for Gaige or use of his battle wits. His usually fluid movements had gone jerky, as if the muscles straining against his skin had been electrified. Despite that, he found his mark with ease. Twin blades manifested in his hands, and he sank them deep into Kira’s chest. But when the spray of blood coated his arms and the smell of death hit the air, something in him snapped.
It happened so fast, I barely had time to process what I saw. His skin shifted to thick gray hide, and he fell on all fours, spine cracking and legs elongating. Stone-tough scales formed along his lithe body. His clothes shredded to pieces as he outgrew them, falling around heavy paws that used to be hands and feet. Sharpened claws gouged the soft earth. Lifting his head to the heavens and pinning his ears back, he let out a bone-splitting howl. Then the hound that was once one of my closest friends targeted his next victim and pounced.
He tore into his target, separating flesh from bone, and the sickening rip of skin drowned out all other sounds. Save his pleased growl, which shook the very marrow of my bones and spurred everyone into motion. The remaining assassins dove into the shadows to avoid Calem’s fury and manifested before us. Ink-black blades flew from their hands, aimed squarely at our hearts. Kost jumped before them and parried with his rapier. They clattered to the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Hot and angry, the blood in my hands begged to be used. And I had no sense to deny it. I eyed my first victim.
The door to Midnight Jester flew open and crashed against the masonry. Leena bolted from the tavern with panic in her eyes as she took in the scene. She dropped a duffel at her feet and gaped at Calem. Behind her, Dez and a handful of patrons stood at the threshold with slack jaws.
“Stay back!” I shouted. But she didn’t listen and instead rushed into the clearing. Leaving Kost to handle the assassins, I joined her side just as she thrust out her hand and showered the air in a vast rosewood glow. The groan of the beast door sounded, shaking nearby pinesco pods into a frenzy. A mass of black rage tore through the air, and Onyx snarled as he raced toward Kost and took down the nearest assassin. Leena slowed and brought her hand back to her side when another creaking groan escaped from the invisible realm.
“Again?” Her gaze riveted on the white legendary beast now flanking Onyx. Dominus growled, and the plates along his chest rumbled. He shot one cursory look toward Leena for direction before following Onyx’s lead and sinking his fangs into the neck of an assassin. Blood surged from ruptured veins and coated the ground in a sickly red.
Calem’s ears stood on end, and he abandoned the man he’d been tossing around like a rag doll to target Dominus and Onyx. Hackles shot upward in his mindless rage, and he crouched low to the ground. He leapt into the air and snared Onyx’s wings with his teeth, smacking him to the ground and dragging him through the dirt.
“Onyx!” Leena made a move to run to him, but I anchored her to my side before she could put herself in danger. Wild eyes pinned me with fear and rage. “Let me go!”
“You’ll get yourself killed if you get in the middle of that.” I hated the way she damned me with her stare, but I couldn’t put her at risk. Between Calem and the assassins, there was no telling who would strike first—or when.
Dominus yowled and rammed into Calem’s side, dislodging his jaw and setting Onyx free. Both legendary beasts hissed and spit, circling Calem with quivering muscles and otherworldly fury.
“Noc, on your left!” Kost moved to join us, but a red-haired assassin appeared and kicked him to the ground.
Shadows detonated in my peripheral vision. A blade pierced Leena’s shoulder from behind, and the sharpened point broke free just beneath her collarbone. Her pained cry echoed through the air and stoked the fire building in my core. Pure rivers of red chased away the shadows in my mind, leaving me with nothing more than the desire to kill.
Heat flooded my fingertips, and I willed my blood to form into a deadly serrated blade. And then I struck. Hard. The weapon sawed through flesh and bone, coating the ground in a spray of tantalizing red. Sick happiness flooded my senses, and I fought against the urge to smile.
But then Leena’s soft whimper grabbed my attention. Clutching her wound, she stumbled but remained standing. A clean strike and not life-ending.Why not go for the kill?She pulled her bloody fingers away from the hole in her shoulder, and fresh anger swelled in my veins. Drowned my thoughts. Carried me on a swift current to a place of sheer chaos, and in that moment I didn’t give a damn if I ever found my way back. Slipping into the shadows, I manifested by Kost’s side where he was still locked in combat with one of our former brothers.
The traitor froze when he saw me. I stuck him right through the gut and lifted him in the air until his feet skated above the ground.
“Wait.” Leena followed, her focus divided between the clashing of beasts and the red-haired assassin in my grasp. “He ran into me on the way out. He must have told someone we were here.”
Kill.The feminine drawl in my mind shook the very essence of my reality. My body went stock-still. My gaze raced over the clearing as I tried to find the source of the sound, to find the woman who was begging me to end this man’s life. Who was she? Why? A dull ache formed at the base of my skull, and my panic deepened. No one was here.
Kill.Just a whisper, and yet so powerfully tantalizing that my fingers twitched on their own. The man squirmed. With a shaky breath, I tried to ignore the allure of her command. To focus and find control.
“It’s Brody, right?” I managed to rasp.
