He heard the crackle of electricity behind him and turned to see Damiana stagger back a few steps before screaming her fury. Anger filled her eyes; he instinctively knew that she would not accept Sofia’s betrayal. She raised her hands and aimed them at his daughter. He knew exactly what she intended, but he would not allow her to succeed. This time, he would follow his daughter’s lead and stand up to her.
“No!” he screamed and dove in the path of her electricity. It hit him straight in the chest.
Damiana’s eyes widened in disbelief right before he felt his body fall to the ground. He took great pleasure in knowing that not only had he thwarted her plan to harm his children, but he had also taken away the only person she had ever loved…him.
The pain of her electricity was the worst pain that he had ever felt. He could feel his insides sizzling to shreds while his body convulsed. Each convulsion brought a flash of a past memory to mind. He saw the first time Valerie smiled at him with acceptance in her eyes. He saw Rafe embracing him with love and happiness. He remembered Sofia sitting on the sofa and listening to him share his story with her. His final image was of his daughter drawing strength from the woman he loved while his son stood by her side.
Drake felt his heart stop beating. He knew he would not survive. He took comfort in knowing that he had saved those he loved most until he realized that, with his death, no one could protect them from Damiana’s wrath. He tried to command his heart to beat, but nothing happened. With his vision fading, he prayed, Please, protect them. He wasn’t sure to whom he was praying, but he hoped that someone was listening.
-o-
Damiana saw Drake fall to the ground, convulse a few times, and then lie still. The whole world seemed to freeze. Silence filled the dead space. She couldn’t breathe. She took one painstaking step after another to his lifeless body and then fell to her knees in front of him.
She shook her head repeatedly, refusing to believe what her eyes were showing her. Her trembling hand reached out to touch him, hoping beyond all hope, that her mere touch could change the truth that lay before her. As she caressed his face, electricity jumped from his check to her fingertips.
She let out an agonizing wail. How could he do this to her! Even in his death, he betrayed her love for him. She had given her entire mind, body, heart, and soul to him, and instead of treasuring her and adoring her, he had betrayed her. Time and time again, he had put her last, but he always found a way to put Valerie first.
She looked past his body across the field at the shocked masses. They would pay for this. She would not stop until every single one of them suffered. She stood and said, “Raizyns, your king is dead. Kill them all!”
The demons and deminions roared and ran toward their enemies, eager for blood. All ran except two. She turned to see Martin urging Harmony to engage, but she refused to move.
Damiana walked over to them and looked at him, “What is the meaning of this?”
“My queen, she’s just in shock. Everything is fine. Just give me a moment, please,” he replied.
She stood directly in front of Harmony and said, “By the power vested in me by Lucifer, I order you to fight.” Harmony’s eyes turned feral yellow and she began to growl. An evil smile spread across Damiana’s face. “Good,” she said. “Now, I order you to kill your daughter. Do not stop fighting until Mel is dead.”
Martin began to beg her to reconsider, but before he could say a word, Harmony’s eyes locked onto her target and ran. Damiana smiled as Martin ran after her. No one would escape her wrath. No one.
-o-
Martin knew that no Raizyn could go against a direct order from Damiana. In that moment, he realized that he never had the freedom that he thought he had. He had thought that by joining the Raizyns he could control his own fate, but he realized too late that he had given his fate, and Harmony’s fate, over to Damiana. He ran after Harmony, hoping to distract her or maybe knock her out and take her somewhere safe until the war was over. He could not allow the love of his life to kill their daughter because he knew that she could not live with the pain afterward. He also could not allow his daughter to kill his wife because he would never forgive himself. He had to prevent Harmony from finding Mel somehow, even if he died trying.
-o-
Mel watched Damiana fall to her knees in front of Drake. She looked over to Sofia and saw disbelief etched across her face.
“Father,” Rafe whispered in shock and fear.
She looked at him. Tears streamed down his face. “What just happened?” she asked aloud.
“I think Drake just saved my life,” Sofia said and looked over to Rafe. “I’m sorry.”
She knew Sofia didn’t cause his death, and she doubted that Rafe blamed her, either. Even she struggled with believing what she had just seen. Never in a million years would she have thought that Drake would sacrifice himself for anyone, let alone the daughter who wanted nothing to do with him. “So, now what?” she asked.
“We wait to see what Damiana’s next move is,” Nolan said.
“So much anger and hatred and despair,” Angel said. She saw Angel looking at Damiana and knew that he channeled her emotions.
“Can we use our powers now?” she asked. She itched to change forms and kill some demons.
Nolan shook his head. “She technically used her powers on her own kind. The laws are still in place.”
Damiana stood and order the Raizyns to attack. Mel’s heart began racing, praying that she had practiced enough to survive. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other and leaned forward, anticipating the command to fight.
“Diasodz, engage!” Lucas shouted.
Nolan turned to his family and said, “May the Goddess be with us all.”
The Diasodz ran to meet the Raizyns. Ar’ch pulled Sofia backward, and they all formed a wall around her. Mel knew that Sofia had to be protected at all costs. She also knew that the boys would take care of her, leaving her to attack their enemy. The Raizyns came toward them. One set of eyes in particular made a beeline for her. It was her mother!
She had not been sure if Damiana would even allow her mother to come to the war, but there she was. She ran toward her, hoping that her mother had escaped, but the closer they got, the less hope she felt. Harmony screamed and raised her sword to attack her. She blocked the attack at the last minute. She couldn’t believe that her mother would be angry enough with her to kill her. Just because she left Damiana’s house didn’t mean she had stopped loving her mother.
“Mom! Mom, it’s me, Mel, your daughter!” she screamed between Harmony’s attacks. She couldn’t bring herself to attack her own mother, so she skillfully blocked her brutal but clumsy strikes. “Mom, stop. You’re safe now. You don’t have to fight anymore. I’ll protect you from Damiana.”
Harmony’s yellow eyes glowed and tears fell down her cheeks. Mel had a difficult time looking at those transformed eyes. She missed her mother’s orange-speckled, light brown eyes that once had held so much happiness. Now, her eyes were filled with fear, which Mel could not understand. Why would her mother ever have to be afraid of her? She would never hurt her. Her mother attacked her again with all her strength.
“Mel, I can’t stop. Damiana ordered me to kill you. I can’t stop until you are dead,” she said and struck out again. “Please, Mel, I beg of you, kill me.”
“No, Mom! I can’t do that,” she cried and blocked her mother’s strike. “Sofia defied Damiana. You can, too. Please, Mom. You have to try.”
Harmony yelled and swung her sword toward her chest. She jumped out of the way and tripped her mother, hoping that maybe that would buy her some time to get through to her. She hated Damiana even more in that moment. It didn’t surprise her that she would be so vindictive and evil as to force her own mother to attack her. Still, if Sofia, Damiana’s seed child, could break the bond between them, then there had to be a way to help her mother escape Damiana’s orders. She just needed time to think.
“I can’t! I sold
my soul to Lucifer to save you. Please, Mel, don’t let my sacrifice be in vain. Kill me!” she screamed and attacked her again.
Her attacks were sloppy, and Mel could tell that she had not put effort into any trainings that she must have been forced into. Her mother would not last long in this war. Had she been forced to attack any other Diasodz, she would already be dead. Mel’s love for her mother had been the only thing that had stopped her from killing her, but now her mother begged her to end her life.
Torment consumed her mother’s face, and Mel heard the heartache in her words. For her entire life, she had tried to save her mother from Damiana’s grip. She had failed; Damiana had completely stolen her mother from her, and now, she could do only one thing to free her.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” she whispered and drove her sword directly into Harmony’s heart. Blood slid down her sword, and she started crying hysterically.
Her mother stopped fighting the minute the sword hit home. She smiled and looked at her daughter and said, “Thank you.” And then, she turned to dust.
Mel fell to her knees in defeat. Her mother was gone, and it was all her fault. She just wanted to lay down and mourn her loss, but she couldn’t. She heard a cry of anguish and turned to see her father fighting with Kai.
She had been so wrapped up in her fight with her mother that she hadn’t realized that Kai had been fighting off Martin to prevent him from coming to Harmony’s aide. Her heart caught in her throat. She had no love for Martin; she had cut him out of her life years ago, when she had learned how and why he had abandoned them.
But she knew that he was an excellent swordsman, and no matter how good Kai was, she doubted that he could outfight Martin. She had already lost her mother, she could not handle losing Kai. She stood and ran toward Kai to help him defeat her father.
If it weren’t so frightening, their sword fight would have been beautiful. Kai matched her father’s stance and his strikes. Maybe Kai could take on her father, but she did not plan to wait to find out.
Martin tried to push away from Kai to come toward her. Mel had expected to see anger and hatred etched in his face, but grief consumed him. His pain was palpable. She stopped running and just stood there staring at him. He lowered his sword and opened his mouth to say something, and in that moment of distraction, Kai plunged his spear through her father’s side. He did not turn into dust as quickly as her mother had. He lasted a few seconds longer, and with his last breath, he mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
Mel once again fell to her knees. The shock of it all cemented her to the ground. Kai ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her, all the while keeping an eye out to make sure they were not in danger of another attack.
“I’m here, Mel,” he said. “I’m here, but I need you here with me. We gotta keep fighting, babe. We have to win this war so that your mom didn’t die in vain.”
She nodded and allowed him to help her stand. He was right. She didn’t have time to process what had just happened with her mother and why her father had stopped fighting to apologize to her, or even why he felt the need to apologize to her after all that had happened. Damiana had to die for what she did to her mother, and she would not stop fighting until she was dead.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Alexandra sliced effortlessly through a deminion as she charged directly at Damiana. She had watched Drake sacrifice himself for Sofia and Valerie. A part of her wanted to kill Valerie; she had always stood in the way of her being with Drake. But first, she would avenge his death by killing Damiana. Then, she would find her sister.
She killed another deminion who made the mistake of crossing her path, her rage propelling her forward with speed and agility. She had hoped to catch Damiana unaware while she possessively knelt over his body, but she looked up when Alexandra was still five steps away. Damiana stood with her sword in her hand just as she attacked her with her unbridled rage. Unfortunately, Damiana blocked her strike perfectly.
“You killed him!” she screamed and attacked again. “All you’ve ever done is hurt him.”
Damiana avoided her. “Oh, look who it is, the pathetic sister who could never find a man to love her.”
“Drake loved me more than he loved you. He hated you!” she tried to thrust her sword into Damiana’s side, but she once again blocked it.
“You know nothing about Drake,” Damiana seethed. She twisted around to avoid another stab from her and then lunged toward her with her own strike.
She blocked her blow. “I know he loved my sister most and absolutely loathed you,” she said, knowing it would anger Damiana. She hoped that she would make a mistake in her rage.
Damiana screamed and attacked. She blocked her and counterattacked again, but Damiana stood ready for her. She locked her sword with Alexandra’s and pulled her closer toward her. Alexandra tried to disengage, but her blade did not budge. She tried to back up, but Damiana pulled out a small, sharp blade and jammed it through her rib cage and into her heart.
She staggered backward. She tried to lift her sword to attack Damiana again, but she no longer had the strength. She felt a poison quickly travel through her body and realized that her blade had been laced with a venom to assure a fatal strike. She fell to her knees, clutching her chest. She looked over to where Drake lay and tried to crawl over to him, but Damiana kicked her away.
“Love is useless, Alexandra. Love makes you weak, and that is why I will win this war, and you will die,” Damiana said and began walking away.
She kept her eyes on Drake while her breathing slowed. Without him, there was no reason to continue. She had spent so many life years wanting to live her life with him, and now all that she could have was to die by his side. “I love you,” she mouthed and released her last breath.
-o-
Khameel ducked when one of Angel’s daggers went flying by him. He saw Rafe throwing his axes and could not help but be filled with pride, even if he fought for his enemy. He stabbed the Diasodz in front of him effortlessly and kept moving forward. He felt one of Valerie’s arrows whiz by his head and land between the eyes of the deminion running alongside him, who then turned to dust.
Another deminion struggled with a Diasodz, so he ran over to help him. As the fighting continued, he couldn’t stop thinking about Drake being dead. He had always thought of him as invincible, but he could not ignore his new reality. His almighty king was dead, and it had been at the hands of the woman who loved him most.
He bumped into someone and immediately turned around to determine if it was friend or foe. A barbed wire whipped near his ear right before he came face-to-face with Z.
“Well, hello, sexy,” he said and grinned. “We meet again.”
He took his fighting stance and waited for her attack. Had it been anyone else, he would have already attacked, but it was Z, and he just refused to hurt her unless she attacked first.
She put away her whip with a quick touch to her back. That whip of hers could have easily sliced him in two. She took out her sword and began circling him.
“It isn’t too late to join us,” she said.
He mimicked her circling. “It was never a choice for me.”
She attacked but he could tell she put very little effort in it, and he hoped that her weak attack meant that maybe, just maybe, their date hadn’t been just a way to distract him while her friends rescued Sofia. “Your king is dead. Your queen is crazy. You won’t win this war,” she said and circled him once again.
He struck back because she expected him to. He knew she spoke the truth, but he was a man of his word. “I won’t be a slave to your Goddess,” he said.
“I am no one’s slave. The Goddess would never enslave us the way your queen enslaves her demons.”
He struck again but looked around and saw so many Diasodz using their weapons to call while demons and deminions had their swords and their claws. It was an unfair battle, and if Lucifer had meant for them to win the war, he should have given his Raizyns better weapons.
S
he struck again. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she said and called her whip back into her hand to slash someone behind her without even turning around. “But I will if I have to. Just leave the war. Please.”
Khameel couldn’t do that without earning Damiana’s wrath. But if he were honest with himself, he had lost his desire to fight. The fact that she had asked him to leave encouraged him to believe she did care about him, but the fact remained that they were enemies in this war. “I will call a truce, but just with you. I don’t want your blood on my hands.”
With her whip and sword in hand, she stepped back and nodded. “May the Goddess protect you even if you don’t want her to,” she said before running off after a demon.
He watched with admiration as she fiercely attacked the demon. Why did they have to be on opposite sides? He turned and found Damiana still mourning over Drake’s body. He could leave. He could turn into a bird and just fly away.
He looked around and found Jade fighting against two Diasodz. His feet were moving before he could think. These were his friends; he couldn’t abandon them. He would fight, not because he still believed in the cause but because his friends were dying. They deserved his loyalty, and he would give them that. His commitment no longer belonged to Lucifer or Damiana but to the friends he had made and the deminions he had trained. He would not abandon them when they needed him most.
-o-
Rafe felt completely numb while he flung his axes into the myriad of demons and deminions that had not belonged to his father’s household. He couldn’t find it in his heart to attack those he had grown to care about while in his father’s house. He knew his father was dead, but it seemed surreal to him. He had spent his entire life looking forward to getting to know him and spending years and years making memories with him, and now that would never happen. He was gone, and Rafe would never be able to make up for all that lost time.
The One Awakened Page 25