Page 176 of Vengeance of the Gods

Vega nodded, watching him go. Halo stepped out of the shadows, unfolding his arms as his frosty-green eyes met hers.

“You coming or what, Caelum?” Helena called, waiting for her in the ring.

Halo followed Bridger out of the training center, disappearing behind the closing doors.

With Bridger out of sight, Vega turned and reached for the doorway between their minds. It was open.

That settled her enough for Vega to ground her powers and step into the ring, rolling her shoulders and wiggling her fingers. Her lightning hissed to life in her hands, ready to play.

Someone from the outside hit the button, and the shield traveled from the floor to the ceiling, locking into place.

Helena’s bright orange flame sparked to life, fire creeping from the palm of her hand. She reached out for a handshake, fire sliding to her wrist. Her perfectly straight teeth made her smile sparkle, but Vega knew better than to trust a friendly mask.

Death turned the tips of Vega’s fingers black as she reached out, her lightning copying Helena’s flames, wrapping around her wrist too.

Helena’s cocky confidence fell when her eyes flicked to Vega’s fingertips. It only took a half-second for Helena to look back up, but everything had changed in her stare.

Vega didn’t wait for her to strike. She grabbed her hand, only letting Death nip at her palm as a warning.

Helena jumped back, snatching her hand out of Vega’s. She flicked her wrist like a match, sending her flame back to her palm.

Vega answered with her wind, sending Helena tumbling. She was back on her feet in seconds, wrapped up in the clouds Vega pulled from thin air.

The ring fed abilities, allowing everyone an equal opportunity.

Vega couldn’t see Helena through the fluffy vapor of her clouds, but she could feel her. It should have been because her clouds parted around Helena’s body, making space for her as she passed through.

But that wasn’t why Vega could feel her.

A warmth so unlike the electricity she was used to spiked somewhere inside her mind.

A fireball flew past Vega’s head, inches from colliding directly with her face. A buzz of need grazed the side of her cheek as it whizzed by.

Seconds. That was how long it took for Vega to realize her body craved the new power she was suppressing.

She could have stopped the fight right away. Sent down a torrent of rain to drown out Helena’s power.

Fire-wielders were strong, and some of them, like Meyer and Leo, could still work with their flames in most storms… but Vega could create more than what most storms were capable of.

If she wanted to asphyxiate Helena’s power, she could. Something in her wanted more.

Something… no, someone.

The rush in her head almost completely drowned out Death’s voiceless begging for her to stop.

Helena stepped through the clouds, making them glow with orange. Another flame whizzed past Vega’s head, but Vega watched the way her eyes gave away her next move.

She looks where she’s going to strike first.

Watching where her eyes landed, a bolt of her lightning struck Helena, making her screech with pain. Her body seized, and by the time she hit the floor, she was already coming to, an animalistic snarl rupturing in her chest as she picked herself up.

“Fuck you” she growled, throwing another ball of flames as she hurtled herself towards Vega.

Vega unsheathed the dagger strapped at her thigh, slicing a line down the side of Helena’s training suit, her only intention to make the surface cut sting for a second.

“I thought you were going to give me a challenge?” Vega tapped over her mouth as she fake yawned, flipping the dagger in her other hand before returning it to its sheath. Her thunder rumbled the shield, vibrating like glass in the wake of a storm.

Vega wanted to get her hands on Helena—to see if the god inside her would react.