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Before I could call out into the dark beyond me, panicked that my power had in fact reached him, a force of shadow slammed into my stomach. I dropped to the ground, winded, clawing at my neck and chest in hopes that it would help hold onto breath.
“So it is me and you. You have got what you want, now it is my turn to play my part.”
Another slamming of power collided into me, this time knocking me to the sodden ground. My hands fumbled pathetically to soften the fall but failed miserably.
Laid on my back now, I could hardly keep my eyes open against the rain that crashed upon me. One blink followed by another.
Then the force of a body pressed down above me and a face leaned over me, protecting me from the rain. I finally blinked the water from my eyes.
“I will savour every drop and stop only when you are entirely empty.”
I could not use my hands and call forth the fire for his weight kept me pinned to the ground, his hands gripping like shackles onto my wrists, preventing me from lashing out with flames.
Sucking in an inhale of air, Marius clamped a hand down over my mouth to prevent me from exhaling. The gust of air that barrelled within my chest burned me from the inside out, an energy in need of escape that stormed through me.
Marius did not speak again, instead leaning his split mouth towards the curve of my neck. There was no fighting, no kicking or punching, no strength I could muster.
So I did what he longed to do and bit down into his skin. The flesh of his hand was tough, but soon broke to my desperation. A wash of cold blood filled my mouth, threatening to choke me. Taste of copper and, something sweet, like honey. It exploded in my mouth, trailing down my tongue and cheek as though I had no choice but to devour it.
Energy flooded back into my being as his blood entered me. Fuelling me.
Marius threw his head back in a roar, releasing his hold enough for me to heave a blow.
The gust of wind that followed threw him from me as though his body was a feather. Forgotten and light. I forced every ounce of breath from my body until my head tightened and my chest spasmed with longing. The cold droplets of his blood spread down my chin, tickling as it covered my neck and chest.
I did not wait to see where Marius was thrown to. I forced myself from the ground once again, wet with his blood, and bolted.
Towards the barrier at the edge of the castle I ran, blindly throwing my free hands behind me, commanding the ground to split, the air to scream, and the rain to become shards of frozen glass, my attempts to keep him from me.
I did not stop until the barrier was before me, the invisible ending of the castle and where the world beyond began. I stopped only when I collided with the rippling surface of the barrier, slamming panicked, urgent fists against it.
Yet it stayed strong, impenetrable. I turned to face the world behind me, pressing my back against the cold layering of shadow that kept me from leaving.
The castle burned. Now a skeleton of brick and stone. Materialising from the shadows, Marius stalked towards me, a grin cut across his pale, deathly face.
“Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Jak, you will not be able to keep this up. Not for long. You have power, enough from the starved witches that had stayed empty since the curse was laid upon me. But even you will have your limits. And I am ready to discover where they begin. And end.”
29
Ithrew everything I had at him. Every ounce of magic and energy. With each, thin and quick breath, I commanded the elements as my soldiers. My guard. And it listened, willingly. Volleys of wind, fire and water. Time slipped through my fingers as I lost the ability to think of anything but keeping him from me. It was easy at first, manipulating the emotion that roiled inside of me, feeding it to the elements as they raged as my protection. All whilst my back was pressed to the wall of shadows keeping me, and him, from leaving this cursed place.
I watched in horror as the skin melted from Marius’s face as a wave of flame raced across him. It was a moment of tiredness. A lax in my judgement as I did not keep the element from harming him. All control slipped from my hands as I watched, a rasped scream echoing between us, as the fire devoured his skin.
My stomach jerked and twisted, bile creeping up my throat as I pulled the flame back. But I was too late.
Marius was caught in a roar, hand raised to do little as the wave of fire cascaded over him. As he lowered his hand, skin had been burned back to reveal bone. The side of his face less fortunate against the brunt of my wild power exposed the skull beneath, gleaming and pristine, dripping with melted flesh.
I wanted to call his name but my voice was a muddle of rasps and croaks. My throat so dry that each inhale and exhale seemed to encourage a symphony of knifes to cut across it.
His cry of pain and shock soon ceased. One moment it filled the night, next not even my power dared make a noise. The world was silenced. Had I gone too far? Even as I blinked I could not rid myself of the image of melting flesh against charred bone. Had I completed what I had been fated to do?
Marius raised his hand before us and we both watched as skin creeped back over bone. His pale flesh was like a small wave of water lapping back across a sand bank, leaving moisture in its wake.
He was healing, fast, before my eyes.
Marius twisted his wrist, displaying the feat with pride. My focus was entirely on the miracle before me. Dead and burned flesh, healing over, new and fresh.
When he lowered his hand, it revealed his fang filled grin, the last of the skin knitting back across his sharpened cheekbone. “You had me for a moment.” Marius clicked his head to the side, the sound painfully loud over the thundering of rain that persisted around us. “I admit, even I was frightened.”
