“The only problem I have with burns,” he said slowly as he lifted the knife from the table and pressed it to my skin. “Is that I don’t get to see you bleed.”
A scream lodged in my throat as the knife bit into my flesh and he drew a line of agony beneath his name, spilling the blood he was so eager to see.
I almost blacked out and when he drew the bloody knife away, I fell back against the table once more with my chest heaving as I fought to regain control of my thoughts.
The smile he gave me was one of pure glee as he moved to my side and slid his fingers across my stomach in a gentle caress which was somehow even worse than the kiss of the blade.
“You will scream for me, Roxanya,” he promised as he lifted the knife and brushed it across my ribs, painting my flesh with my own blood. “It’s only a matter of time.”
My muscles clenched as he lifted the blade once more and my eyes rolled back in my head as the pain of his torture began all over again.
I clamped my eyes shut and I thought of my sister, focusing on the fact that she wasn’t here and was safe away from this monster. That knowledge gave me strength as the pain ripped into me and the shadows begged for me to slip into them to escape it.
But I wouldn’t. I refused. No matter what he did to me, I wouldn’t become his puppet.
So I gritted my teeth against the agony of him carving into my body and branding me with his fire again and fought with all my strength not to scream.
We ran through the thick woodland at the edge of the property, racing toward the house somewhere ahead. None of us dared cast a Faelight in case we drew attention to ourselves.
In my heart, I was sure Tory was close. I could practically feel her presence calling to me as I raced over the uneven dusty ground, the scent of pine filling my nose. Rage tangled with hate inside me at knowing Lionel had her. And the images of what he might be doing to her made me almost drown in a sea of fury inside me. If he’d hurt my sister, I was going to kill him. I’d bring every ounce of my Phoenix fire down on his head and burn him out of this world forever.
The hoot of an owl sent a bolt of adrenaline through me as we weaved between the trees, sprinting along within a silencing bubble in the dark wood, growing ever closer to Tory.
“Wait,” Caleb hissed from up ahead, pressing his back to a tree and we slowed before him as he turned his ear towards the house. We’d all decided to stay together, figuring we were stronger as a team. And if there was danger ahead, better to face it in a group than alone.
“What is it?” Darius growled impatiently, flexing his fingers as if his magic was aching to be set loose.
“I can hear crackling.”
“Fire,” Seth growled, sniffing the air and the scent of smoke reached me too.
“Yes and…there’s movement out here, back the way we came. Beyond the perimeter,” Caleb said, shutting his eyes as he focused. “It’s far off, but it’s headed this way.”
“What is it?” I asked, glancing toward the house anxiously. I didn’t want to linger here a moment longer, but if Caleb was concerned, I had to wait.
“Footsteps,” he breathed. “A lot of them. They’re heavy too….”
“Nymphs,” Max growled and my heart lurched.
“We need to move before we’re surrounded then,” Darius snarled and Caleb nodded, but caught his arm before he could run ahead.
“Think with your head not your heart,” he warned, then looked to me. “Both of you. We can’t storm in there unprepared.”
Darius pulled out of his grip. “I know what I’m doing. We’re wasting time here.”
He ran on and anxiety danced through me as I raced after him, my pulse pounding solidly against the base of my throat. With the four Heirs here, we were strong enough to save Tory, I just knew it.
I caught sight of the house through the trees, embers glimmering by one end as smoke spiralled up towards the star spangled sky like the fire had just been put out. It was a clear night, though there was no moon out to offer us much light. But that just meant we remained well hidden from our enemies. And Lionel may have lured Tory here, but he didn’t expect us to show up and tear his plans to shit. We had the advantage, we just had to keep a hold of it.
Darius reached the edge of the trees and I hurried to his side as he paused beside a large pine, seeming to wield the darkness around us with an illusion to keep us concealed. I sensed the Heirs gathering close behind us and tension prickled up my spine.
“We should split up now,” Seth suggested. “Once we locate Tory, we can get inside without Lionel knowing we’re all here.”
“We can keep coming at him in a wave,” Max agreed.
“Isn’t it safer to stick together?” Caleb growled.
Tory’s scream pierced the air, making my heart burst with fear and I took off running towards the house without a second thought. Darius tore along at my side, outpacing me as he sprinted toward the back door, his arms powering back and forth beside him.
The shadows suddenly reared up inside me, the pull of them overwhelmingly strong as they crashed against my thoughts and made my vision blur.
What’s happening?!
My legs locked tight and I slammed to the ground, my voice clamped deep down inside my chest, unable to break free to shout out to Darius.
Caleb was at my side in a blur, pulling me into his arms and racing back into the trees as I convulsed, agony cutting deep into my soul.
He laid me down between the three of them, cursing as he pressed healing light into my flesh, his eyes wild with panic.
“What’s wrong with her?” Seth asked in alarm.
“Fuck, I don’t know,” Max hissed.
“Darius ran on,” Caleb hissed. “He’s almost at the house.”
They continued to try and heal me, but I couldn’t be healed of this and my lips were locked tight, stopping me from telling them. The shadows were ripping at my chest, burrowing into every inch of my body and taking root. Pain blinded me as they clawed at my head and made my insides churn and ache.
“Hang in there, Darcy,” Seth whimpered, clutching my hand as he offered more healing light.
Max pressed a palm to my forehead and I felt him try to pull at my emotions and sense what was happening. But he couldn’t get into the fortress of my body as the shadows locked me in place on the ground. I would have screamed if my body had allowed it, but it didn’t feel like it belonged to me anymore. Like I was trapped in a cell, tortured within my own flesh.
“I can help her,” Clara’s voice reached my ears, filling me with a dread so keen that it set my blood alight. But all I could do was lay there, hunting the darkness between the trees as I searched for her. The Heirs got to their feet, forming a protective wall in front of me as Clara’s laughter rang out within the woods. “Did you come all this way to see little old me, boys?”
“Show yourself!” Max barked, ice encasing his palms as he prepared to fight.
Caleb was braced to move, his eye flitting back and forth as he hunted the darkness for her, a predator ready to pounce.
Ice dripped into my veins as the shadows pulled at me like puppet strings, drawing me to my feet, my vision shrouded in a black fog that slowly cleared away until my gaze was fixed on the backs of the Heirs’ heads.
My hands raised of their own accord and I tried to call out in warning as I was forced to bend to Clara’s will, her grip on the shadows that plagued me absolute.
Smoke swirled in my palms and I battled with all my might as I tried to make a single sound to warn them, but it was no use.
“Let’s play a game,” Clara sang. “First one to die wins!”
I ran towards Lance’s childhood home like the demons of hell were chasing me. There was a fissure tearing through my chest, ripping me apart and peeling away all the layers of my flesh until there wasn’t anything left in me but the monster my father had worked so tirelessly for me to become.
But he hadn’t counted on the beast he’d trained turning on him.
Hadn’t counted on the wrath I’d rain down on him for touching one of the only good things in my life.
I’d been training to take him down for years and all he’d done was force my hand. This ended tonight.
Roxy’s screams echoed out over the grounds and I felt the agony of them like a dagger to my heart.
I was going to fucking kill him. Enough was enough.
The others had fallen behind, but I couldn’t slow down to find out why. Roxy needed me. Whatever the fuck was happening in that house, it was bad. And the chain which bound my heart to hers couldn’t let her suffer for a single moment longer.
I half ripped the back door off of its hinges as I burst into the house and I tore inside where the scent of smoke from a recently doused fire caught in my throat.
But as I ran on, I realised that wasn’t the only thing I was inhaling. My Dragon slipped from my grasp as it was locked in chains of steel beneath my flesh and I snarled loud enough to make my chest rumble as I realised the place had been filled with Order Suppressant to stop Roxy from using her Phoenix against the madman who’d sired me.
It didn’t matter. I didn’t need to rip him apart with teeth and claws, I’d happily tear him limb from limb with my bare hands.
Roxy screamed again just as I made it into the hallway and light from the dining hall drew my gaze to it as the sound of her agony broke something in me.
I threw the door open and cast water in the same breath, directing it at my father as I found him standing over Roxy where she was pinned to the dining table by cords of twisting air magic.
A roar burst from my lips as he fought to shield himself and I spotted the blood coating her skin, the words burned into her flesh countless times. Acrux. His name. My name. Decorating her perfect skin in red.
Father was yelling something at me, but I couldn’t hear it. I couldn’t grasp anything aside from the girl I loved pinned down on that table like a slab of meat for him to toy with.
He’d done countless things like that to me over the years. He’d beaten my brother into submission too. But not her. I wouldn’t let him touch her ever again.
I charged across the room with my fists coated in ice, slamming into his shield with the force of a charging Minotaur.
Father’s lips drew back in a savage snarl as he fought to maintain his magic, but nothing could match the rage in me as I threw my fists against it again and again.
His shield cracked and he stole the air from my lungs as he tried to stop me. I didn’t even flinch as I threw every last bit of my magic into my next punch.
Father’s shield shattered and my fist collided with his face, breaking his concentration so that air returned to my lungs once more.
I knocked him to the ground beneath me and he growled with the full ferocity of his Dragon as he fought back with fists coated in fire, slamming them into my sides and burning the flesh from my bones.
Roxy was calling my name and the rough edge her voice had gained from screaming was enough to break what little restraint I had left.
Father managed to throw me off of him but I hit back instantly, a wave of pure fire crashing into him before he could get a new shield in place, hot enough to boil him alive.
I ignored the pain of my own wounds as I clenched my fist and daggers of ice shot towards him, slicing into his flesh as he bellowed in fury.
He shoved himself to his feet and ran at me, but I cast ice on the floor before him, throwing my fist into his gut as he slipped and smiling savagely as I felt his ribs snap.
He wrapped his arms around me and took me down with a cry of rage. “Stay down!” he bellowed in my face, his voice laced with Dark Coercion as he slammed a fist into my jaw. “And watch me break the girl who broke your heart.”
I fell still as he pushed himself upright, stalking away from me as the new brand on my arm flared with heat and the Phoenix flame Roxy had gifted me swept through my limbs and hunted down those commands. Her power burned away his dark magic like it was nothing and as he raised the knife above her again, my gaze locked with hers.
She was looking at me like my pain hurt her more than her own and the rage in me grew to new heights at the thought of what he’d done to her.
Father stood with his back to me as he focused on his work, raising the blade to cut into her flesh once more.
I was up in a heartbeat, my muscles bunching with power as magic coiled in my limbs with deadly intent.
“You should really stop underestimating me, Father,” I snarled and he whipped around towards me, eyes wild in confusion as his dark magic failed to hold me.
“How?” he gasped, but I didn’t bother to give him an answer.
I hit him with so much power that he was launched across the room before slamming into the wall in the midst of an inferno.
I stalked after him as I willed the flames to devour him and he fought with all he had to try and put them out.
When he launched himself from the fire and collided with me again, I was ready for it. We hit the floor in a tangle of fists and fury, each of us determined to beat the other into submission and paint the walls red with our victory. But for the first time ever, I could feel the cracks in his defences, I was gaining the upper hand. This beast in me had the scent of his blood now and it wouldn’t relent until its bloodlust was sated.
Today was the last day Lionel Acrux would hurt someone I loved.
I’d been born to rule.
And I was going to claim my place in blood.
Shadows exploded from my palms, crashing into the shield Seth was casting around the three Heirs, but the force of the blow sent them tumbling to the ground. Clara gave me my voice back just in time to let me scream.
The three of them were on their feet again in seconds, turning towards me and backing up as they took in the sight of my raised hands and the shadows which were swirling ominously between my fingers.
“I can’t stop it,” I gasped, my heart drumming to a powerful beat. “Get away from me.”
“Fuck,” Seth spat, securing his shield around them.
“Come out and face us yourself, you coward!” Caleb roared into the trees just as another wave of power exploded from me.
The three of them were knocked apart, crashing into the undergrowth and my body turned sharply towards Max, striding forward as my palms raised. Shadows blasted from my hands and terror bound me as I begged him to move. His body dissolved to nothing and I realised it was an illusion he’d left there, making my heart squeeze with relief as I spotted him darting between the trees ahead of me.
Clara pressed her will into me once more and suddenly I was running towards Seth, blasting the shadows at him so he was forced to stand his ground and shield with all his might. Tendrils of darkness wrapped around his bubble of safety, squeezing and squeezing like a python around a jar. He roared as he threw all of his effort into maintaining it and I feared what would happen if I got past his defences.
“Stop it!” I screamed at Clara as her laughter rang out from somewhere in the canopy above us.
Caleb moved in a blur, climbing the tree at speed as he hunted her down and disappeared amongst the branches.
“Can’t catch me!” Clara sang, her voice carrying away from us, but her grip on me never faltered.
The shadows wrapped tighter and tighter around Seth’s shield and I felt it beginning to buckle, the magic barely holding under the intensity of the Fifth Element.
A weight collided with me and I hit the ground beneath the full weight of Max as he grabbed my wrists and bound my hands in ice, locking them above my head.
“It’s alright, I won’t let her have you,” he growled, his eyes shining with that promise and giving me an inch of hope to hold onto.
“Tie her down,” Seth demanded as he ran to my side.
“Hurry,” I begged as shadows built in my palms, bubbling against the ice as they struggled to break through.
“Shit.” Max shifted back onto his knees, holding out his hands and casting my hands i
n more and more ice.
A blur behind him made my heart jolt in terror. “Watch out!”
Clara slashed a knife across Max’s back and he roared as he fell off of me, blood oozing through his white shirt. Seth cast a net of vines to try and catch her, but she was gone in a flash with Caleb racing after her. She was throwing everything she could into his way, blasting the forest apart and making the trees around us groan as their trunks nearly snapped under the force of her power.
Seth dove forward to heal Max and the ice started splintering and cracking around my fingers.
“Seth,” I begged, my heart hammering. “Get away from here.”
The ice exploded from my palms and I was forced to launch myself at them, latching two ropes of shadow around their throats and making them choke.
Seth threw out a palm and wind blasted into me, sending me flying away before he caught me on a cushion of air, saving me from the impact of the hard earth. The air continued to press me down, but he was half focused on healing Max and as another wave of shadows coiled from my body, his magic gave way.
I was forced to my feet, racing toward them and Clara sped by again, placing an ice cold dagger in my hand. Horror consumed me as her voice called back to me. “Let’s carve up some Heirs, Darcy!” she laughed again like we were having fun in some game.
I gritted my teeth as she made my grip tighten around the blade and I strode towards Max and Seth as they hurriedly got up, raising their hands to fight me off.
“Don’t hold back,” I begged, my heart pounding to a terrifying beat as tension lined their features. “You have to stop me.”
I shot away from Darcy as she threw shadows at Seth and Max and they yelled out at her to stop. I kept my focus on my target, carving a trail through the trees and circling back to the bitch responsible for this.
I bared my fangs as I shot towards Clara Orion, her shadowy eyes darting my way as I came for her, and a smile twisting her lips as if my arrival had made her damn day.
Zodiac Academy 5: Cursed Fates: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 76