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I felt free.
So I unleashed every ounce of the darkness I’d bottled up, images of that fateful day ten years ago flooding into my mind.
Narrowing my eyes to size up the nearest enemy, I noted how sluggishly the remaining creatures were moving. As though wading through molasses, they inched closer, silent screams ripping through their gaping mouths. Either time had slowed, or I had become faster.
I felt different from the last time I used my powers in the Mist, when my chaotic emotions ruled. Then, my powers had snuck up on me, bursting forth without my control.
This time, I welcomed them.
Acceptedthem as a part of me.
I snarled, my faithful shadows rising to graze my fingertips. Rushing toward a creature on my right, I sliced cleanly through the decayed skin of his throat, slaughtering him like the one before. He was still falling, his hands clutching at the gaping wound, when I chose my next victim, delivering an identical blow. All the while, a frigid breeze seemed to carry my feet forward, into the fight, and to the creatures threatening those I loved.
Sweat seeped through every pore as I killed and slew without mercy. Less than five seconds later, I’d brought three more down, my dagger dripping with the blood of the felled.
There was nothing but black and noiseless screams, my limbs relentless as I gracefully moved between bodies like I was exchanging dance partners.
Two left.
Gods, the cold.It caused my teeth to chatter and my knees to tremble, but I was too damn close to stop and give in to the agony and crumble.
Propelled on that frozen wind of vengeance, I swept the legs out from under the second-to-last beast. As he began to fall, his lethargic eyes widening, I pierced his chest and kicked out my leg, driving him into the ground. The creature’s body plowed through the soil and earth, the force of my supernatural kick, aided by a wave of shadows, burying him in the bloodstained dirt.
So much power…and all at once.
The sensation of such brute strength surged, the coldness inside my chest nearly unbearable at this point. It was beginning to ache, to sting. With a yelp, I clutched at my pounding heart, my entire body drenched in the blood of my enemies.
I realized with sheer terror that time had started to speed up again, to resume its natural pace.
Whatever power had taken hold of me was waning.
I tumbled to my knees as my vision blurred, black dots dancing before my eyes. I couldn’t retain the force of it any longer, and my human body was shattering beneath the pressure.
A figure approached, the final creature but feet away… And yet, I couldn’t move. I was too weak, too drained by a wicked magic I’d never dared to practice.
Micah had made sure of that.
“Don’t give in to its perverse whispers, child,” he’d told me after he arrived in our village, days following the attack in the forest. Mother and Father had merely exchanged worried glances while Grandmother had clutched at her throat, her scarred thumb rubbing anxious circles. I’d never met the man before, but Mother claimed he was her older brother and here to help me. “Don’t resort to the dark when you could hold the very sun in your hands.”
He’d been wrong. The darkness was the only reason I’d made it this far, allowing my friends time to flee. Giving Jude a chance to escape…and to find the key to ending the curse once and for all.
The creature’s scuffed boots filled my vision. They were as black as a moonless sky, human bones decorating the sides. My hands fisted the dirt as I peered up beneath my lashes, greeting the face of my demise. When my eyes met the steel ones of the masked leader, the one who’d devoured Alec right in front of me, I flinched.
Of course I’d have to face him.
My shoulders slumped as the creature let out a chilling cackle, the sound penetrating my pores, digging its way through flesh and bone. A skeletal hand snatched my tunic, yanking me from the ground, holding my body in midair as I went limp. A pathetic squeal escaped before I could swallow it down.
All of his teeth were on display, no cloth in sight. This close, I could spot flecks of dried blood tipping the pointed ends—the remains of my fallen brother.
I struggled to free myself from his viselike grip, my legs kicking feebly in the air. But I was grievously weakened, no match against the leader’s abnormal strength.
I held his lifeless eyes, refusing to bend, just as Alec had refused to cower before he’d met his end. My defiance seemed to excite the beast, who unhinged his jaw, his sharpened teeth inches away from my skin. Lowering his hooded head, he let out one final howl at the moon, right before he sank his teeth deep into my throat.
I might have screamed—I probably did—but all I could hear was the blood rushing into my ears, my pounding heartbeat hammering in my skull.
Taking his time, enjoying himself, the leader drank from me, warmth spreading down my neck and staining the dried earth. My world spun as I lifted to the expanse of black, my eyes consuming the soothing glow of the moon. The final thing I would ever see.
Just as my eyes fluttered shut, as my body began to lose all sensation of life, the familiar rush of frozen wind whooshed past my ears.
