by Jessica Gunn
Kinder flew all of three feet before shackles made from the cement below grabbed on to her ankles and held her in place. She recovered quickly, shooting cement discuses at me, which I tossed out of the way with my telekinesis.
The ceiling above us shook and the walls buckled. Heat rushed over me, a tingling that lit my veins on fire. The cianza.
I looked for Shawn in the chaos. Many of Kinder’s henchmen demons still fought our Hunters, but the odds were very much in our favor now. He met my gaze from across the room, his face paling. If the cianza reached the point it did the other night, we’d have to leave no matter what.
But so far, I was still standing. I’d continue to fight.
I swung my sword, slashing at Kinder over and over again as the floor beneath us cracked and splintered across the room. The Hunters began unlocking their comrades from the cells and taking down the rest of the demons. But enough demons remained to keep my team busy. To keep them away from me when I needed them most.
Because the longer I held back on using my magik, the longer I fought Kinder with a sword—to keep my distance from her—but unable to get in a requirem, the more this situation would delve into city-destroying bedlam.
Kinder got inside my defense space again, but I threw up my palm and stopped her from touching me.
“Use your magik,” she hissed.
I lifted my sword. “I’m not helping you blow up this cianza.”
“Oh, but you will.” She faked me out again, moving too quickly, but I raised my sword and swung for her head. She caught the movement, clutching the blade with one hand and my arm with her other.
It was the latter I should have seen coming.
Palm bleeding, blood running down her arm, Kinder closed her eyes and grinned. My body froze, chills overcoming every inch of me as all the warmth in my body drained completely. I watched as my skin paled to almost full translucence before Kinder let me go. I stumbled to the ground, weak and shaky.
She’d taken my magik.
“Hmm,” she said as she stared at the hand that’d done the deed. It glowed red some, but it wasn’t like back at the bowling alley. “Still not the Alzanian magik, but it’ll do.”
Kinder shot out her hand and everyone in the room—demon and Hunter alike—flew to the outside perimeter. She walked into the center of the space and looked around until she found what she was seeking. Shawn.
“There you are,” she said to him and she used my magik to drag him into the center of the room. “I need something from you.” She made a quick fist and yanked, pulling the crystal from around his neck to herself and crushing it all in one move.
Shawn’s eyes flashed orange for a second. As the Hunters and demons started to get up from the floor and resume fighting, Shawn stood, facing off with Kinder.
“Bad idea,” he said to her. “Or did you forget what happened last time?”
“I wasn’t ready for you then,” Kinder said. “You surprised me; I’ll give you that.”
He grinned. “Good.”
But as soon as he shot an attack of orange flame-ether, the building shook violently. The ceiling above them caved in, but they got out of the way in time.
Kinder laughed, the sound drifting closer to where I sat on the floor, unsure if I could even stand in this state of weakness. My head spun and my breaths came quickly, too shallow.
“One last item on the list,” Kinder said as she approached me. She used my telekinesis to lift me into the air. There was nothing I could do to stop her. I could barely breathe.
She looked at me, genuine concern wrinkling her eyes, and said, “This might hurt a little.”
Kinder lifted her free hand. It glowed a rainbow of colors, like actual little fires and waterfalls and landslides and ether were wrapped around each of her fingers. Each magik, each ability she’d stolen over the years… it’d stayed within her.
Kinder splayed her fingers in the air and slammed her open palm against my chest.
My heart burned, unable to compensate for the amount of magik flooding my system. My lungs gasped for air as I was burned alive from the inside out by magik both good and evil, elemental and ether—power, pure power. Uncontrolled, like Giyano had done. Untamed. Wild. Magik in its rawest form. A white-hot burning that slid along my veins all the way from my heart to my fingers and toes and back again until only a single thread of magik remained.
Only that thread ran along every inch of my body. And Kinder held the end of it.
That was when another wave of demons landed in the crumbling room with us, a familiar leather-clad woman standing in the lead.
Tatiana Viynar.
Chapter 21
Ben
I wasn’t sure which was worse: Tatiana Viynar, one of Landshaft’s top bounty hunters, and her sudden appearance, demon entourage and all, or whatever Kinder had done to Krystin.
Krystin stood there, frozen, as her skin flashed color after color, as if she stood beneath concert lights at a rock show.
Kinder turned to face Tatiana, a sneer on her face. “Retreat now and I’ll let you escape with your life.”
My body tensed as I thought through our options. Retreat didn’t sound like a bad idea. But attacking both of them, killing both, sounded even better.
Rachel grabbed on to my arm and squeezed. “Don’t.”
“Krystin—”
“Isn’t on Tatiana’s list,” Rachel hissed. “Kinder is. She’s on everyone’s.”
Tatiana mostly hunted Ember witches. Which was exactly why Hydron had set up this trap for her. But with Kinder here, I wasn’t sure if Tatiana would go after Shawn or Kinder or anyone valuable.
I watched as Shawn inched away, using Tatiana’s temporary fixation on Kinder to back up. How’d she even find us here? She hadn’t attacked when Shawn’s magik hadn’t been bound a few days ago. Why now?
Unless she really was after Kinder.
“Kinder,” Tatiana said. “Betrayer of Darkness. And the Fire Circle.” She reached for a glowing knife sheathed at her waist. “I wonder who will pay more for your head, the Fire Circle or the husband you left behind?”
Dust and debris continued to fall from the ceiling, the walls shaking. I wasn’t sure how much time we had left before the whole structure came down, but it couldn’t be long. And we still had to get all the Hunters out of here, most of whom were unconscious or severely wounded.
My heart raced, too many plans of action racing through my mind. I should get the others out first. Avery had to be thinking the same thing. But all I could focus on was Kinder and Tatiana about to square off—with half of my team directly in the line of fire.
Nate. Where’d he go? I glanced around the room and spotted him crouched behind a fallen chunk of cement, not ten feet from Krystin. Waiting. For what? Ether swarmed around his hands.
Kinder watched Tatiana, her eyes narrowing. Kinder could take us alone, but I had no idea how powerful the bounty hunter was. Kinder must not have known either because she paused for way too long. “My business is my own. Leave, bounty hunter.”
Tatiana lifted her glowing knife in front of her. “And leave you to wander free? Your head alone would let me retire in excess comfort for the rest of my life.” She chuckled darkly. “If I turned you in to Aloysius alive, well… he might just make me immortal, too.”
Kinder’s gaze turned into a fiery glare as her body went rigid. “You will never take me alive.”
Tatiana tilted her head. “Guess we’ll see about that.” She lunged for Kinder, moving much faster than a normal person or demon should have. Gusts of wind picked up around her. She was an air-elemental. That was the only explanation.
“Go!” I yelled to Nate. With both of those powerhouses distracted, now was the perfect time to collect our teammates. To Avery, I shouted, “Get everyone out of here now. This building is coming down.”
As if on cue, another chunk of ceiling fell, but Kinder moved it aside, throwing it into a nearby wall as she traded blows with Tatiana. I wasn’t
sure what sort of magik was on her knife, but whatever it was had scared Kinder half to death. And that was enough to terrify me into never wanting to know.
Avery moved, collecting Hunters as he went, telling them to teleportante to the Guild or Fire Circle Headquarters for safety as the earthquake grew from tremors to violent shaking.
Rachel and I rushed to Shawn, who’d moved for cover. “Are you okay?”
He nodded quickly. “I’m fine. She originally came for me. I don’t think she expected to find Kinder.”
“Good for us then,” I said. “Nate’s going to get Krystin. Then we’re out of here—”
A scream cut through all the chaos and fighting, straight down to my bones. Pain and power and fear all wrapped into one. Krystin’s scream.
Krystin shoved Nate off of her, her hands wielding magik. Multiple magiks. Earth and water, ether and fire. Dark veins ran up her arms and throat, an inky map leading to nowhere. Just like what Giyano’s magik had done, except it hadn’t been him this time.
I ran for Krystin, although I was unsure how to help her. She turned on me and tossed fire my way, cackling with joy. I dodged the attack and fell back with Shawn. “What the hell?”
He shook his head, eyes widening. “Kinder shoved magik into her. All the powers she’s collected recently. It’s the only explanation.”
“So what do we do?” I asked him.
He paused. Then he jumped up. “Me. Only I can help her. The Alzan magik—it’s the only thing keeping her alive right now.”
Shawn leapt from our hiding space and ran toward Krystin, dodging each of her attacks until he was in close range. “It’s me,” he said to her. “I know you’re still in there, Krystin, behind all that magik.”
“Back the hell away,” she screamed at him, then her expression softened. “I can’t—Shawn, it’s too much, I—” She lifted her hands and shot fire at him, her skin flashing red.
Shawn closed his eyes and a glowing orange shield appeared in front of him, diverting Krystin’s attack. His hands radiated the same color. He reached through the shield and touched Krystin’s arm. A sizzling rang out and he whipped his hand back, a dark magik burning his skin.
He looked up. “I don’t know why I can’t—the Alzanian magik isn’t enough.”
“It’s not there,” Krystin grunted. “Impostor. Liar. Coward.” She swung her hand and Shawn sailed backward twenty feet. Krystin looked down at her hands and cackled again. “But I have it. I have the power—all of it. All magik. All energy. All the answers.” Her face fell and her chest heaved. “Make it stop. Make it stop!”
It was as if she were two people—warring with herself.
“Krystin!” I shouted over Tatiana’s and Kinder’s fight, still going blow for blow. “Calm down. We’re going to help you, we’re—”
Krystin shook her head and closed her eyes. A wave of bright pink energy pulsed from her body and coated everyone in the room. Everyone fell, even Kinder and Tatiana. I pushed myself back up again as I looked around the room. Only Krystin had remained standing.
Another wave of power pulsed through the room; this time the ether was green.
I glared at Kinder. Anger swelled within me at this lack of control as a raging desire for safety built until lightning crackled around my entire body, a full shield of it. I lunged for Kinder, shouting, “What did you do to her?”
Tatiana’s knife hand whipped forward while Kinder was distracted, slicing into her arm. I landed next to Kinder and wrapped my hands around her throat. Lightning zapped around me, lashing out at Tatiana as I squeezed Kinder’s throat with all I had.
Kinder’s body convulsed beneath mine, also falling target to the lightning storm blazing around me, but only for a second before she reached a hand up and clasped mine, drawing my power from my body. She threw me off of her once the transfer was complete.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, as weakness seeped into my bones.
Kinder rose, lightning surrounding her now, and she struck Tatiana. Shawn appeared and threw that orange ether at Tatiana, slamming her into the ground.
Nate pounced, a whip made from his own ether slapping against the bounty hunter. “Asanak,” he snarled as the whip sliced through Tatiana’s soul.
She turned gray and Shawn landed a final blow, a shot of orange ether straight through her chest.
Kinder’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t realized your ether-shaper was so powerful.”
“You’re next, bitch,” Nate snapped as he turned on her. He raised his hand, but Krystin whipped around and swiped her hand in the air in front of her. Nate sailed across the room and landed with a sickening thud.
Krystin’s eyes went wide, filled with utter horror. “I-I… Nate! I’m sorry. I can’t. I can’t.” Her shoulders rose and fell with heavy, panicked breaths as she stared down at her hands once more.
The floor shifted, falling an inch at first, then almost an entire foot.
Kinder backpedaled away from everyone. Her gaze jumped from Krystin to Shawn, then to the ceiling and beyond. I struggled to stand. If we didn’t leave now, the entire building would come down on top of us.
Rachel appeared at my side and hauled me up. She slung one of my arms around her shoulder. Shawn disappeared in a teleportante and reappeared next to Nate.
I looked around. In the pandemonium, Avery had evacuated all the survivors, it seemed, though three dozen bodies remained. Dead. Hunters. Demons. It didn’t matter. Three dozen was too many. Even if the mission had been what it had been meant to be, we’d only needed to get the demons out of here and stop the Landshaft operation, not kill them all.
But that was exactly what we’d done at the demon nest on the other side of the city days ago. Except this time, we’d killed Hunters. Krystin had murdered a lot of them on her own with her crazed magik.
“We need to go!” Nate shouted. “Get Krystin and move.”
He disappeared in the next breath, gone like Avery and the survivors. Which left only Kinder, Krystin, Rachel, and me. And half of Tatiana Viynar’s entourage, who appeared utterly lost without their leader. They focused their fury on Kinder and Krystin, lobbing magik attacks their way.
There was no way to get to Krystin without her attacking us thanks to Kinder, especially now that the demons had focused them.
I shook my head. I had to get Rachel out no matter what. But I didn’t want to leave anyone behind. “Go,” I told Rachel. “I’ll get out soon.”
“Your magik’s gone,” she said.
“I can still teleport out.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
She thought I was going to do something stupid. But there was nothing stupid left to do tonight. It’d all already been done by others.
“Go,” I said again.
But before she did, Jaffrin and the Ether Head Circle escort appeared in a shimmer of teleportante. They formed a barrier between Krystin and Kinder and the remaining demons, firing off magik attacks that instantly incapacitated the demons.
What the hell? If they were that powerful, why the fuck didn’t they help us to begin with? I hated their holier-than-thou ways. And voiced that, loudly.
Jaffrin spun on me. “We were dealing with this building collapsing, Ben. We thought you had this handled.”
I raged up to him and pointed at Krystin. “She’s going fucking crazy because of you. All of you.” And because of me. Because I’d singled her out from day one for being different. And because she hadn’t trusted me or the others with what had been going on, she’d gone to Giyano for answers. Making her a bigger target than she’d been before.
Jaffrin turned, but it was too late. Krystin had settled herself between Kinder and the Ether Head Circle escort as a human shield. They froze, unwilling to attack the Daughter of Alzan with the prophecy seeming to be so close to coming true.
My heart thundered in my chest and behind my ears, my lungs racing to catch up to the oxygen they so desperately needed.
“Stop prot
ecting the Betrayer!” one of the Ether Circle representatives ordered.
“I…” Krystin’s gaze jumped between them, then landed on me. “Ben—”
“Move now or you’ll be taken down as well,” the representative continued.
“Jaffrin, she’s under Kinder’s control,” I told him. “Tell them to stand down. She can’t control herself or her magik right now.”
“See?” Kinder said, her voice cutting through despite the orders being barked around. She turned her head slightly toward Krystin. “It’s so easy to turn Hunter against Hunter. Here you are, thinking they’ll never turn against you, but when it’s clear you’re not in your right mind, when it’s obvious you’re too powerful for them to control, too special, they lock you out. They isolate you and push you away. The Hunter Circles turn on you unless they can use you as a weapon. And you’re too good for that, Krystin. You’re just like me. Too unable to be tamed. Too wild to keep around, despite your prophesized destiny.”
She moved in front of Krystin, forcing the Ether Circle escort to raise their magik-hands and weapons, but they didn’t fire.
“So,” Kinder said, “I think I’ll exact revenge for both of us tonight.”
Kinder’s eyes glowed as lightning built around her, a whole swarm of it so powerful that the hairs on my arms stood on end. Electricity scattered into the air, sparks bouncing off of every surface. The storm built and built, humidity growing thick in the air, abilities I hadn’t even known were possible with this power, until it was too much. I couldn’t breathe. The air seemed to squeeze in around me, suffocating me.
Kinder lobbed the lightning at the Ether Circle escort, burning them with magik. Then a figure appeared—Nate.
He used teleportante to bring himself right before Kinder and he shouted, “Asanak!” The soul-slicing ether whip appeared in his hand and he brought it down on Kinder’s back before she could turn to block the move.