by Olivia Ash
Kaiser thought for a second and nodded.
“Good. There might be some in the library,” Steele said through clenched teeth. “Run like you’ve never run before.”
Kaiser kicked the sternum of the skeleton running toward him and turned to give it a kick to its head. He punched through the skeleton’s ribs and it exploded into pieces of bone.
Once he had the room, he flew toward the fortress. Landing on the ramparts, he ran the length to a tower and jumped inside. He ran through the halls so fast that the walls blurred. Once he reached the double doors leading to the library, he flung them open and quickly scanned the massive book cases.
Where the hell is that map?
Chapter Forty-Seven
Sadie
Sadie’s knees hit the ground. She held her arms out to protect herself from the harsh landing, but it didn’t do any good, especially with her already-cut palm and exhausted body. The mageblade clattered on the cold stone, not far from where she had landed. She scrambled to her feet, wincing as she stood, and prepared for Mara’s next attack.
But the demoness didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry. Instead, she leaned against the back wall, calmly staring at her. The demoness seemed unfazed by the cuts on her arm, calf, and sides, and the blood soaking though the fabric of her robe.
Mara smirked. “No one to save you now.”
Whatever makes you sleep at night…
She lifted her palms in front of her and summoned a torrent of fire, aiming it toward Mara. But the demoness flicked her wrist and the fire Sadie had casted sputtered out like it was nothing.
Sadie stared wide-eyed at her hands and tried again. She summoned another beam of fire and urged the flames to grow brighter, for the temperature to rise. The color changed from red to blue.
Mara held her palm up again. Sadie’s casting faltered. The flames died in her hand.
Sadie gasped. “What—”
Mara snarled. “You’re in my domain now.”
I’m in the Vale?
Sadie’s gaze quickly raked over the area. The cavern had dark gaping tunnel entrances lining its walls. Its ceiling was covered with light blue and green crystals, much like the crystal-filled ceiling above her fortress but fewer and with a less variety of colors.
For some reason, the light that emanated from them wasn’t blue or green, but red, and it cast them in blood-colored light. She supposed it was because the entire cavern was hewn of red stone.
She could feel the crystals pulsing with magic. But it wasn’t the kind of magic she felt with her pendant. This magic felt weak, diminishing, and reluctant. It felt like it wanted to break free from the constraints of the crystals.
In the spaces between the tunnels, numerous swords and daggers adorned the walls. At least she would have a weapon if she lost her dagger. But that meant Mara did too.
She took in a steadying breath as Mara smiled at her.
“Do you like my collection?” she gestured around her.
“It’s okay. I’ve seen better though.”
Mara walked away from the cavern wall and Sadie took note of a circular space behind the demoness. It was framed with smaller blue and green crystals.
Sadie peered at the odd frame. It looked like it was meant to house something. Inside the circle of wall, there was a small shape embossed in it. Her eyebrows shot up when she realized it was exactly the same size as the ruby on her chest.
Mara followed her gaze to the strange area and traced her fingers along the empty, teardrop-shaped hole.
“It should have already been complete.” Mara glared at her. “But you Blackwoods are the worst.”
Sadie subtly walked to her left, in the direction the dagger had fallen. She taunted Mara to distract her. “You don’t deserve to be queen.”
Mara laughed. “Tell me, who exactly deserves to be the demon queen? It’s such a rotten world down here. Violence, torture, darkness. It’s all there is in the underworld.” She crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow. “And you’re cocky for a weak human. You deserve the title even less than me.”
Sadie balled her hands into fists but didn’t speak.
Mara didn’t seem to notice. The demoness kept tracing the outline of the ruby with her fingers. “You know, I can end this, Sadie.”
“Yeah? How?” Sadie asked, her tone sounding more curious than she felt. She only had to keep Mara talking anyway. She crept closer to the mageblade.
Mara gazed at the space she had meant to put the amulet in, caressing the edges as she would a lover.
“I can make you wake up at home with no memory of this.” Mara paused and smiled. “I can even give Blair back.”
“Right,” Sadie said, curling her lips.
“Oh, you don’t believe me?” Mara asked and stood straighter.
Mara rolled her head and, as she did so, her face morphed, her features gradually shifting into Blair’s. The demoness’s height shrank, and her wings and tail subsided, until they completely disappeared. She transformed, and it resembled Blair’s exact physique. Even her tattered and bloody robe changed into the sweatshirt from earlier.
“Don’t you miss me, Sadie?” her sister asked. “Don’t you want to have your old life back? Don’t you want me back?”
But the woman wasn’t her sister. Still, her throat tightened. This person’s eyes looked at her, pleaded with her, as if she wanted to be free—to be with her.
Oh, Blair.
The woman standing before her looked exactly like her sister. She sounded exactly like her sister.
But this was all wrong. This wasn’t Blair. And although Sadie’s heart broke, she wasn’t tempted by Mara’s offer at all. Her sister had never felt so unreachable as she did now. Sadie also knew that the underworld, even the human world, would suffer if Mara got ahold of the power in the amulet.
“No,” she said, holding her head up high. “You will never be queen. Not on my watch.”
She threw herself to the side, closing the remaining distance between her and the dagger. She picked it up and stood in time to see Blair’s face twisted in an ugly snarl, baring her teeth at her.
“Then you should know that your sister suffered. Even more than your ifrit bitches.”
Blair yanked one longsword from the wall and advanced on Sadie. When Blair reached her, she swung the sword at her neck.
Sadie held up her dagger. Her arm shook with the impact as she parried the blow. She relaxed her arm, giving into the sword’s weight, and twisted aside. She jabbed her dagger at Blair, aiming for her already-wounded side, but Blair blocked it. She swung again, aiming for her abdomen this time.
But, again, Blair blocked the blow.
Sadie couldn’t believe she fought her own sister. Although she knew that this wasn’t really Blair, it still shattered her inside, seeing her sister’s face, knowing that Blair died in her apartment, alone and in tremendous pain. That she died at the hands of this vile woman.
She bit the inside of her cheek, trying to keep the tears from falling. She would let them fall later. Right now, she needed to focus on defeating this impostor, so she could avenge her sister and herself.
She held out her hand and cast fire toward Blair’s face, but Blair ducked and dodged the fire. She tried again, shooting out bolts of fire here and there, but the magic in the room seemed to help her opponent.
Mara in Blair’s form swung the sword at Sadie’s head, and she crouched to avoid getting decapitated. She cast fire again and hit her stomach, but it didn’t seem to hurt. The sweater caught fire and eventually died, exposing fake-Blair’s midriff, but the skin remained smooth and unharmed.
She swung again, and Sadie held up her dagger, her arm getting closer to Blair’s weapon every time she parried a blow. This time, Blair’s weapon cut her hand. She winced. It was difficult fighting with a dagger when one’s opponent fought with a sword. And a pretty long one at that.
Blair swung again, aiming for her neck. Sadie turned around in time to avoid getting her throa
t slit but not in time to prevent her cheek from getting gashed by Blair’s blade. A lock of her dark hair fell to the ground. She definitely needed a longer weapon.
While dodging and blocking all of her fake sister’s advances, she retreated toward the weapons. She reached to grab a weapon from the wall when Mara in Blair’s form stopped moving and held out her arms to the side. Numerous daggers from the wall shook, dislodged from where they hung, and shot toward Sadie. Their glinting tips were aimed straight at her.
Her eyes widened. She reflexively dropped face-first to the ground and rolled aside to where the least daggers flew. A blade whizzed past her and cut her shoulder. She flinched.
She stood and looked at Blair’s form who held out her hands again. Sadie prepared herself this time. As Blair caught a flying dagger with her hand, Sadie raised her own dagger. Blair dashed toward her.
She blocked the first swing from Blair’s sword but not the second one from the dagger which sliced her left thigh. She stepped back and jabbed at her fake sister’s chest, but her attack was parried.
It was difficult enough blocking blows from a longsword. Blocking attacks from both a longsword and a dagger wasn’t much easier. She barely held her own. And in contrast, Mara seemed to grow stronger. Whatever magic this cavern contained, it was obviously helping the demoness.
Mara tirelessly wielded her sword, swinging it at her constantly. Sadie was pushed back as she labored to fend off the blows.
When the demoness swung her sword in an overhead swipe, Sadie ducked and raised her sword to block it. At the same time, Blair thrust her dagger hilt-deep into Sadie’s thigh. She cried out as her legs failed her and she fell on her back.
Blair struck again, so Sadie held up the mageblade. She blocked the blow, but the tip of Blair’s sword sliced her wrist. Her grip on her dagger failed, and it clattered on the floor beside her. She reached out for it, but Blair stepped on her wounded wrist. Sadie screamed as the pain rocked through her entire body. Her thigh throbbed from the dagger stuck in her flesh.
Blair bent down to pick up the mageblade and examined it with a snarl.
“This weapon really stings, huh?” Blair looked down on her and smirked. “I haven’t felt pain like this in years. I’m not used to it anymore.”
She twirled the mageblade with her fingers. She stopped playing with the only hope Sadie had of killing her and summoned energy from the cavern’s reserves of weird magic. Blue light streamed from the crystals to Blair’s hands and collected on the iridescent metal of the dagger. It filled the dagger completely until the mageblade shattered into pieces.
“Poof,” Blair said. “No more.”
Sadie’s breathing grew ragged as she looked up at her sister’s likeness.
“Enough talk,” Blair said, smiling like a deranged serial killer, and raised her sword to strike the final blow.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Sadie
Sadie wrapped her free hand around Blair’s ankle and yanked as hard as she could. She threw Blair off balance, knocking her to the ground.
She promptly rolled aside, away from Blair’s sword. With the dagger still embedded in her leg, she stood and limped toward the cavern wall. She removed two swords and held them in front of her.
Blair recovered, glaring at her, and ran to her with sword held high. She screamed. “Why won’t you just die?”
Sadie parried her blow with the sword on her right hand. Her sister swung again, and she blocked it. Through clenched teeth, she said, “Maybe you’re supposed to die first.”
She swung her sword and hit Blair’s shoulder. She swung again and struck Blair’s neck. She jabbed her sword at Blair’s chest, but it felt like she was hitting hard stone. Her sister winced but wasn’t really wounded.
Meanwhile, she blocked Blair’s blows with increasing effort. She kept her mind away from the stinging wound on her thigh, trying her best to focus on not dying. She gritted her teeth as she parried more of Blair’s blows.
This isn’t working.
She had to think of another plan. She couldn’t defend herself like this forever. She was rapidly losing what strength she had. Besides, her injured leg affected her concentration and limited her movements. And the demoness’s strength showed no signs of wavering. She had to get out of there, catch her breath, and think of a new, effective plan.
Now that her mageblade was gone, she was in deep shit.
She quickly glanced at the numerous tunnels that shot off from the room she was in. Though she didn’t know where they led, since there were so many, maybe she could use them to play to her advantage. She could probably hide in one of them, assuming those tunnels wouldn’t just lead to dead ends. If they did lead to dead ends, well, then… she would just think about that when it happened. But for now, those tunnels were her best shot.
Staring at her sister’s form, she took a deep breath and hoped her MMA training wouldn’t fail her. As she blocked another blow, she retreated to collect momentum and sprinted toward Blair.
Roundhouse kick, here we go.
She jumped with her wounded leg, and the pain almost made her collapse to the ground. She screamed and pushed through the pain. She twisted in the air and kicked Blair’s head with her uninjured leg. Blair’s head snapped back, and she staggered.
Sadie landed on her good leg and ran to whatever tunnel she would end up reaching first. Well, it was more like half-limped, half-ran. As soon as she entered one, she cast a stream of fire behind her. She cast smoke, too, in hopes of blocking Blair’s vision.
Her pulse raced, and she fought to keep up with her breathing. Her leg throbbed as she ran, and warm liquid trickled down her leg. But even with the pain, she felt so relieved that the tunnel kept going on and on. There weren’t any signs of it being a dead end—yet.
With the ever-increasing pain in her leg, she reconsidered removing the blade and creating a makeshift tourniquet. But stopping now would give Mara the advantage and time to catch up. Plus, Sadie really didn’t have anything to use that would apply enough pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. She bit her cheek against the pain and forced herself to move faster.
Ahead of her, the tunnel split into two. She moved faster, reaching into the amulet’s magic reserve to shoot fire and smoke behind her. As she got closer to the entrance of the two tunnels, a dagger flew past her, dangerously close to her head. She ran faster.
When she reached the divergence, she entered the left tunnel with little thought. The tunnel bent to the left, and she came across another divergence. This time, there were three tunnels. She took the one in the middle and kept running.
The temperature rose the deeper she went. Warm smoke began to seep out of the dull-red ground and walls. Along the way, the number of cracks within the smooth surfaces gradually grew in number until they webbed the walls in semi-intricate designs. As she kept going, she noticed the end of the tunnel she ran through glowed a distinct orange.
That was when she allowed herself to slow down.
Panting, she crept toward the orange glow. It seemed like Mara wasn’t able to follow her here. Either that, or it was just a matter of time before she would creep out from the shadows, sauntering like a beast having finally trapped its prey.
But the tunnel behind her was only dark and quiet. There were no sounds or signs of pursuit. Her heart rammed against her chest. Warily, she approached the end of the tunnel turning out to be, yet again, another turn.
Turning the corner, the tunnel walls made of the same cracked stone, but the cracks were wider and filled with flowing magma. The ceiling had the exact same appearance. She wondered why the magma didn’t drip to the ground even though she was grateful it didn’t.
The floor of the tunnel was the odd one out, since it was made from the same dull-red granite of the tunnels she had run through to get here.
Her skin tingled as a sensation of déjà vu wiggled through her senses. The walls and heat felt familiar, though she didn’t know why.
The sou
nd of footsteps behind her pulled her from her thoughts. Following that came the sound of metal scratching stone, and Blair’s voice.
“Sadie,” she said in a singsong tone. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
So much for not being followed.
The screeching sound of metal against stone grew louder.
“You keep hiding from me,” she said, high-pitched and mocking.
Sadie walked faster, limping and following the magma-lined walls toward whatever lay waiting beyond the tunnel. She had only walked a few feet, but beads of sweat already dripped down her face, chest, and back. The heat made her light-headed. She had to find somewhere to hide fast. She needed to regroup, make a new plan, and hopefully surprise the demoness with an attack.
Meanwhile, Blair’s voice kept taunting her. “You can’t run forever, Sadie.”
There was another bend in the tunnel. When she turned it, she came across charred footprints on the ground.
At first, she stopped dead in her tracks, tightly clutching both swords in her hands. Her eyes darted from left to right, looking around for the beast that caused the prints. She remembered the day she had walked with Damien in the forest and met a hellhound.
That’s why they seemed familiar. The lines of magma were similar to the hellhound’s hide. Maybe there was one nearby.
Desperate for a plan, she reached out with her magic. She walked and searched using her connection to the amulet until she felt a tug on her magic. She hoped it was a hellhound responding. She strode deeper into the cave, keeping her weight on her good leg, following whatever force tugged on her pendant.
When she reached a small cavern with walls and ceilings filled with lines of flowing magma, a massive beast prowled toward her from the far wall. A grumble emanated from the hellhound’s chest. It looked far bigger than the creature she saw in the woods, and it stared at her with such piercing, orange eyes that she debated whether her plan was a good one.
Blair’s voice rang out from the tunnel behind her, and all she could do was pray she made the right decision. She already had one enemy that was nearly impossible to kill. If worse came to worst, she wouldn’t know how to kill a hellhound. She hoped her magic worked on the creature, because right now, she couldn’t think of any more plans.