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I wasn’t worried she would try to escape because I’d seen the crazy in her eyes. She couldn’t let me win. Beating me mattered more to her than her own safety or her getting away.
Sure enough, she materialized on top of a nearby car. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath, but I didn’t wait. I blurred toward her, but she blinked at the last second.
I licked the edge of my knives, soaking them with my venom. Our bodies met mid-air and slammed hard enough into the pavement to leave a two-meter-deep hole. Around us, the sky had darkened, turning day into night. Lightning cracked around us, sending sparks showering down on the streets.
At a speed faster than human or supernatural could track, I tried to stab my blades at her. But the Lure was quick to defend its mistress, deflecting my blows while also stabbing out at me with its pointed tendrils. I dodged the blows, but my blades were knocked from my hand. I rolled away and called a streak of lightning from the sky. At the last moment, Lexi disappeared.
Jumping to my feet, I moved to call my blades to me. But Lexi reappeared before I had the chance. She dropped a merman at her feet, while in her hand, she gripped the hair of a terrified mermaid. “If you so much as twitch, I will turn her to ash.”
I froze. I knew both these mers, just as I knew all my people. They were a newly bonded couple who’d been excited to start a family. Both mers were so young, with so much life ahead of them.
“That’s a good little half-breed,” Lexi mocked. The dark evil of the Lure billowed around her like an imposing black gown. “Now, just so you know I’m serious…”
She glanced down at the angry merman, a vicious smile on her lips. And in the next instant, his body had turned to stone.
The mermaid let out an anguished wail that would haunt me for the rest of my life. Tears burned my eyes as I stared in disbelief at the statue. The merman’s expression was one of proud defiance.
“Here’s what’s going to happen—”
I didn’t let her finish the sentence.
The girl disappeared.
“Where did she go?” Lexi screeched.
I remained calm, not bothering to answer her. The girl was safely back in the ocean where she belonged, out of this demoness’ clutches.
Lexi rushed at me, only to be crushed against the concrete as a wave from the ocean slammed into her. Instead of receding, the water curled around her, constricting her body as it lifted her to stand in front of me.
I blurred to her side, and there it was, the opening I was looking for. I sank my fangs into her arm. Her blood tasted of ash and rotten flesh, and I gagged as the taste of decay touched my tongue. Still, I refused to pull away.
The Lure’s pointed tentacles stabbed at me, fighting me with the desperation of a wild animal. She was the original host, and it was her magik that provided magik for the Lure. With her death, the Lure would cease to exist. But that also meant this part of the Lure was stronger than all the others.
I refused to move even when I felt the first slicing pain in my stomach. Nor did I move when the second tentacle stabbed into my chest, slicing at the side of my heart. The third tentacle punctured my lung. Each time the Lure ripped through my body, it left a trail of its darkness behind to try to sear into my soul. With a hard slap, I was knocked to the ground.
I fell to my knees, and my grip on the saltwater released. Lexi fell to her knees beside me. Smoke rose from her skin as the Lure desperately tried to burn away my venom running through her veins.
My magik surged through my body, frantically working to slow my bleeding and stitch multiple organs back together. I knew I needed to get to her while she was weakened, but my power was too busy trying to repair lethal wounds.
Summoning my strength, I prepared to stop my healing process so I could use that energy to give Lexi the fatal blow. My heartbeat was slowing, and I knew that if I pulled the magik away from my wounds, I was going to die within minutes. But I also knew that I would take this evil out with me. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
I stopped in shock when Lokene appeared behind her. A streak of brilliant lightning reflected in the twin blades he held. My venom coated the blades. Without any hesitation, he slit Lexi’s throat and embedded both blades into her flesh.
Lexi tried to speak, but only a strange gurgling sound came out as blood trickled from her mouth.
It was too much for even the Lure to repair, and her dead body tumbled to the cracked pavement.
“You might be willing to sacrifice yourself, but I will not allow it, Soyale. I don’t care what law I must break or what the consequences are. I will never again stand by while you are under attack.”
Tears burned my eyes. Lokene had just broken the Ancients’ oath. He’d killed his mom, an Ancient, to save my life. But at what cost?
* * *
The moment Lexi died,so did the Lure. Without its creator, it shriveled and turned to ash, ceasing to exist. The world was free. Those who’d only recently been tainted had a chance at survival. Those who’d been infected long enough to have the majority of their souls eaten away would have died along with Lexi.
The pounding in my head stopped, and for three blessed minutes, there was absolute silence in the world.
Lokene pressed his hands to my chest, pouring magik into my chest.
