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"Be done with her before she can fight," Dragona says, dismissing me as a threat as she throws out power toward my mother, striking her and my cousin with one almost-fatal blow. "Kill them all. I need to save my strength if we're ever going to claim what's ours."
Amari and the many others try to fight off ours, willing to complete any morbid task assigned, and Damon roughly jerks my head back by my hair, smiling down at me with a wry grin.
"So powerful. That's what they foretold. Yet here you are—on your knees—bowing at my feet like the scrap you really are."
I look at Gage as Damon pulls my hair harder, forcing a garbled cry from me. Kane yelps when he becomes distracted. I can almost feel his pain from here, and I feel a stir deep within me, the monster trapped inside that is begging to break free. So why won't it?
The Thad twin tries to tell me something with his eyes, pointing down at my chest, but my eyes move to Gage, begging him to find a way to get out of here before they kill him, too.
He shakes his head as he struggles in vain, held back by the power in his restraints, and thoroughly cemented to the ground by an invisible force.
Suddenly, Frankie appears from out of nowhere, and with a strong, almost blinding blast, frees Gage from the restraints.
"I hope you're as fucking powerful as you claim," he growls, seconds before he's launched backwards by a red orb cast from Damon's hand.
Another red ball charges Gage, but he extinguishes it with a blue and red orb of his own, the two colliding powers consuming each other until they dissipate.
"Well well well," Damon says with an eerie grin. "What do we have here?"
Gage doesn't answer as he pulls off his gag. Then he dives, making Damon strike at him, but instead of hitting Damon, Gage rips the necklace from its place on my neck and falls to the ground, blood pouring out from his side as he lands with a thud.
The only reaction I have is a deep internal explosion that bubbles over with more fury than I've ever felt. An ominous chuckle taints the air as I slowly drift toward the power I crave, desperate to savor every drop.
"Dragona!" Damon yells as I rise to my feet, easily fighting off his hold on me as though he's nothing more than a speck of dust.
The air starts spiraling out of control, trees bow and break, and the water around us pushes back even farther, making the lake seem as though it's trying to escape us—escape me.
I turn to face the terror in his dark eyes. He's seen his fate—it's me.
Fire spreads from my hands, spins around on the ground to make an arena-ring for warriors in battle. And then blackness steals my sight as I stare into his heart. He has to die—again.
My dark laughter fills the air when he's knocked backwards, but then my laughter is shattered when I'm suddenly out of breath, falling to my knees. Dragona smirks as she hovers over me, hand outstretched as she tries to draw the air from my lungs.
"You're not strong enough while mortal, young one."
Shots of power come from every angle and Gage steps in front of me, absorbing some of the magic she's pushing out. She struggles to stand as he launches one attack after another, but she's so much stronger than Damon. And Gage isn't strong enough to continue to endure her.
My ribs crack inside me, my head bangs as my skull tries to cave, and my breath tries to give out completely. As my blood starts dripping from my eyes, nose, and ears, I hear a scream, drawing me to look at anything other than the red moon that offers me no extra strength tonight.
Castine folds and falls, withering to nothing, and silver eyes emerge on my night stalker. A deep growl in his throat sounds out seconds before I feel something gloriously divine attack me with a rapturous promise of hope.
He's suddenly gone and then he reappears in front of me, hitting Dragona with a silver orb just like mine. She cries out, stumbling for balance, and then she hisses at the man she overlooked as a threat.
"No," she snarls, and then she hits him with streaks of spiraling purple and red, throwing him and Gage backwards in unison, and leaving me on my own.
But I'm not trembling in fear when my bones crack back into place, or when my drops of blood slide in reverse, returning to their proper placement inside me. My breaths become easy and crisp, rejuvenating me and my wrath. Something inside me snaps and mends in the same breath. I taste the darkness, I feel the light, and it all comes together in a seamless bond.
Her eyes widen in sheer terror, and I stand, not affected by her force anymore. When Damon takes her side, Kane finds his way back to me. They're strong, but we're stronger.
"Put them back!" Thad says, making me narrow my eyes at him.
Kane launches a massive stack of orbs at once, slinging them toward the couple, and I turn my attention back to do the same. Dragona and Damon stumble and bleed, but spirits are harder to kill—even if they are corporeal now. Stubborn bastards.
"You have to put them back!" Thad says again. "They're too strong to kill. They'll escape! Put them back while you can."
Kane starts toward them, but I stop him with a hand to his chest, smiling as I stare at their wavering strength the posing changer has overestimated—souls as black as night, hearts that don't exist, and intentions that will destroy the world. A soul killed twice ceases to exist—they have to die.
"No," I murmur, summoning every bit of strength deep within, and then it pours free, running through them by way of every opening it can find.
