by Coralee June
I took a shaky breath. “Okay,” I whispered, but what I really meant was goodbye.
“Good,” Braxton said, stepping between my mother and me. When I noticed his hand come down to her waist, my lip curled in disgust. I should’ve known.
“I’m glad you’ve come around, Miss Cainson,” Judge Braxton said. “But remember, you so much as breathe wrong, Banner will neutralize you, and your human friend will be without a throat.”
My dark eyes rose up to meet his. “I don’t need the added threats. I know what’s at stake.”
Braxton studied me for a moment before looking over my shoulder to Banner. He nodded, and the neutralizer let go of his hold that was on my arm. Since he’d taken my amulet, my Void immediately started slinking off my skin like darkened steam. It was sluggish at first, from whatever magical drug had been in my system, but soon, I had a better handle on it. The other council members in the room were practically buzzing with excitement. Greed for power was like an opiate in the room, and they were all getting high off each other’s hopeful fumes.
My eyes fluttered back to Reed and the vampires holding him. His face was pale and terrified, his reddish hair matted to his forehead with sweat. He pleaded with me silently, and I gave him a small nod to reassure him.
I cleared my throat and looked back at Judge Braxton. “If you want me to do this, I need to touch you both. I have more control that way,” I said. I’d gained so much control that touching wasn’t even necessary, but I wanted to be closer to my paragons, and this was the only way. If my plan failed, then this would be the last time I’d see them, because Braxton would either kill me or imprison me.
The judge adjusted his tie. “Fine. Let’s go,” he said before holding out his hand to me. I took it with a wince, paling at the feel of his bony hands and tight, cold grip.
We made our way to the paragons, and I felt my eyes mist over with unshed tears at the sight of them. Quade and Render were still passed out, but Hyde was watching us, that crazed smile still on his face, except he wasn’t looking at me. He was watching Banner. The maniacal, murderous look on his face was only for the neutralizer.
When we stopped in front of Gritt, I forced my gaze up to meet him in the eye. It took everything in me not to react to the expression on his face. “Don’t do this, Dev. Don’t take my animals from me.”
I winced at the plea in his gruff tone, my eyes tracing over his handsome, feral face and the split lip where someone had hit him. I wanted to reach up and trace my finger over the hard line of his jaw, but I was all too aware of the eyes watching me. “I’m so sorry.”
“Dev…”
“You hurt me,” I choked out as tears filled my red-lined eyes. I didn’t have to fake the emotion. I was heartbroken and terrified, and I knew that no matter how this played out, none of us would ever be the same. My powers curled up within me, churning with my inner turmoil. “You didn’t want me, remember? You didn’t care.”
I watched Gritt’s eyes widen as he stared at me. The last time we saw each other, I’d asked for space. I said I couldn’t handle all four paragons being suddenly mated to me. But I wished now that I’d stayed. “Please understand, Gritt. I might have a chance at a normal life if I do what they say,” I whispered softly, forcing believability into my tone.
For a moment, I wondered if he saw through me. I wondered if he knew the protectiveness I felt for the men in front of me, the fierce, determined need to rip the chains from their bodies and save them. I hoped Gritt sensed that through our bond. I hoped that he recognized my true intention and played along. We stared at one another for a good few seconds, an impatient Judge Braxton at my side.
Finally, Gritt spat at my feet. “You’re an unworthy mate,” he sneered before licking his bloodied lip in disdain. My heart dropped. He wasn’t acting. He didn’t sense my truth. He thought I really would strip him of his animals, just like I’d done to his brother.
I knew how it looked to him. I knew that he saw me as the enemy, the person doing exactly what I swore to never do. I tried to tell him with my eyes that I was on his side, but I couldn’t, because he wouldn’t even look at me.
“You’re a fool for bonding with a Void,” Judge Braxton cut in with a roll of his eyes before turning his attention back to me. “Do it. I want all of his animals.”
“Fine,” I said, my tone lifeless and even.
The judge beamed, not doubting for even a moment. Why would he fear a bite from a dog who’d always eaten out of his hand?
“You might feel weak for a moment.” I lied to the scrawny judge.
“Just do it. I’m ready.”
Raising my hands, I pressed a finger to his wrist, while cupping my hand around Gritt’s arm. Then I lashed my Void out like a whip, and a crack rang through the air. Council members made little noises of surprise, but I ignored every single one of them. With the most control I’d ever had in my life, I directed my Void like a conductor directs his symphony. We were completely in tune with each other, our will in perfect harmony.
Smoke wrapped around Judge Braxton and brushed up against Gritt. As soon as I had it where I wanted it, I focused on my intent. Emilia had been right. It was just like breathing. It had taken me nearly a decade, but I’d finally stopped fearing my own power. Because Emilia had been right about that too—I wasn’t just a Void. And it was time they all learned that.
I watched as Gritt’s eyes widened in confusion while my smoke billowed with black. I’d fed from him enough times that he knew exactly what it felt like, and this was not it. But what he didn’t know was that, as my mate, I couldn’t hurt him—couldn’t drain him. It was physically impossible. He was my fated match, meant to sustain me and understand a piece of me that only he could—that wild, snarling part of me that wanted to tear apart my enemies.
“It’s happening! I can feel the Void!” Judge Braxton exclaimed. My eyes moved over him, noting his excited face and clenched teeth. My power sucked in his necromancer abilities embarrassingly quickly. He thought he was powerful, but he was nothing to my paragons. My paragons, who were all awake now and staring at me with wide eyes. When Gritt realized that I wasn’t taking power from him at all, his lip tilted up.
Render flashed his fangs and strained against the chains holding him in place. Gritt hunched over, mimicking the pain that Braxton was experiencing for our captivated audience, then he roared and jerked against his bindings. Little by little, I took all of Judge Braxton’s powers while slowly creeping my smoke out to Banner.
When he saw my smoke coming for him, he threw up his neutralizing shield. “Her smoke should be blue, remember?” he yelled in panic.
But he was too late to warn Braxton. The judge’s knees gave out, and he fell against the ground with a hard thud. Council members started shouting, and I shoved my power out, filling the entire room with swirling, seething clouds, trapping them in my darkness.
At the same time, my smoke finally sucked the last of the magical curse that was bound to the chains that held Gritt before moving on to the others. Council members were panicked, trying to get to the exits, but I made sure that there was so much smoke that they were blinded by it. Shouts bounced off the walls, and some of them tried to use their powers, but I was already drinking from them, weakening every single one.
Behind me, Judge Braxton tried to stand up, but before he could get back to his feet, Gritt finally broke free of his chains with a roar and shifted into his lion. In the blink of an eye, he launched himself at the judge, mauling him with his bared teeth. I winced as blood splattered across my cheek, but I didn’t have time to stop. My mother was screaming at the vampires holding Reed to do something. But my Void lashed out and fed from them, draining them dry with one punishing gulp. They collapsed in a heap, sending Reed toppling onto the ground beside them.
“Run!” I screamed at my best friend before turning and starting to suck the power from the chains that held the rest of my paragons. I pushed out power to Render at the same time, funneling it i
nto my vampire mate. With my power to bolster his, and the weakened chains, he immediately broke free.
My Void was a mass of destruction, and soon, the shouts of the other council members started to grow fainter as they succumbed. My legs began to tremble, and sweat poured down my face and back. It was too much. I was expending way more energy and power than ever before, but I knew I wasn’t done yet. My smoke fed on them like a plague of locusts.
Quade and Hyde had just gotten free from their chains too when I saw Banner coming for me out of the smoke. Hands raised, his power crashed against mine, trying to neutralize me, snuff me out like a blanket over a flame. But before he could, Hyde was suddenly on him.
Red magic rushed out of Hyde’s palms and slammed into Banner’s body. I watched as it drained him of life. Right before my eyes, Hyde’s magic aged Banner, turning him from a twenty-something super to an emaciated, wrinkled husk, until his body fell to the floor, crumbling in a pile of weakened bones and dried out flesh. Without ever laying a finger on Banner, Hyde had turned him into a corpse.
I moved toward Hyde, but I got cut off by shards of ice shooting in front of me, thrown from a council elemental. Hyde nodded and turned into the smoke, and I looked around, finding Quade breaking the chains off the other kidnapped supernaturals.
Gritt had already finished with Judge Braxton and was attacking another council member who’d tried to throw fireballs at him. Render flashed toward the necro councilman who’d bent over Braxton and was trying to resurrect him, taking care of him by tearing out his throat.
Despite how strong they were, I could feel them all weakening, so I fed all four of my paragons the last bit of strength I had, knowing that they needed it in order to clean out the magic they’d been drugged with and keep the upper hand.
Everything was chaos and darkness, and I just drained and drained and drained from the council members in the room. But the more power I took in, the more I felt myself slipping into the darkness. The hunger was angry and volatile. It didn’t want to stop until they were all dead. I was slowly losing hold of myself, and in its place, the Void was taking over.
“Devicka!” My mother screamed, her voice hoarse as she threw her hands up to block Render. He’d surged forward and was holding her by her neck, but I didn’t care. I wanted her to pay. I wanted them all to pay.
I was filled to the brim. One by one, the council members dropped, and the sound of their screams tapered off. I left behind empty shells of humanity in my wake. I wanted more. Needed more. Craved it all.
I fell to my knees, unable to stay upright anymore, but I didn’t even feel the impact.
“Devicka, you have to stop. You have to come back,” Hyde said in a calm voice before reaching out to grab my wrist. Smoke started circling around his body, but it didn’t drain him. My Void would never hurt its mate.
“I can’t come back. I knew I wouldn’t,” I replied in a grave tone, my blonde hair whipping around me at the force of my power. The more I took, the more I lost myself. I was dying, and I didn’t even care. The Void was all that mattered. The safety of my mates and Reed had been my only objective.
“Devicka,” Quade shouted. But I didn’t feel like Devicka anymore. Devicka had been weak for too long. Unloved. Unwanted. She’d let me starve. No, being the Void was better. The Void could take care of everyone and break the chains of emotions.
“Don’t say that name,” a dark voice rose from my chest. It felt warm. It felt right.
“Devicka, baby, please stop. Please come back to us,” Quade whispered in my ear as Hyde started blowing red mist all over me. I knew that the threat was gone. There was no one left. But still, my smoke searched. It reached. It rose out of me like a cloud from an atom bomb.
“What’s wrong with her?” a timid voice said from behind me. I recognized that, it was a soft reminder of who I wanted to be. No. No, I didn’t want that. “Dev? It’s Reed. I’m safe now,” he said again. “You can stop...whatever this is.”
I turned around, and Quade touched my arm. I flinched at the touch before throwing him back with a hand to his chest. I didn’t even react when his back slammed into the wall and his body crumbled to the ground in a heap of limbs and defeat. Reed gave me a terrified once-over as more red mist filled my vision, coaxing me back.
“Devicka is gone,” I whispered, though it didn’t feel as authentic this time.
“Why aren’t your powers working?” Render asked Hyde, whose face was twisted in pain. “You should be bringing her back.”
“She’s too strong,” Hyde gritted. “She’s too far lost to the Void.”
I took another step toward Reed, the unfamiliar friendship pulling at something deeper within me. Gritt’s lion pounced between us to protect him, making my Void lash out in anger. I was too powerful. I was power. We were one and the same.
My Void wrapped around the lion like a whip and tossed him away as I marched closer to my best friend. “Reed?” I asked in a small voice, not quite sure why I felt so dizzy or angry or...full.
“Devicka, you saved me. Stop...whatever it is you’re doing, just stop,” he pleaded. I closed my eyes, feeling the overwhelming sense of power. It didn’t feel like nothing anymore, it felt like toxic turmoil boiling me up from the inside out, changing me. I only had a few moments of clarity, but that was all I needed. My eyes widened in horror. A tear fell down my cheek.
Whirling around, I stretched my palms out, looking at my mates. Then I took all the power inside of me and fed it into my bonded. One last gift. They told me I’d always take, but this time I’d give. This time I’d give it all.
I poured out every drop. My body coiled in pain, each muscle tensing on painful exhales. I gave them every last ounce of power from the council members, the neutralizer, and lastly...myself. I poured into them until I wasn’t even a cup anymore.
I poured until I wasn’t the Void anymore. I funneled the last of myself until the world was black and the Void was dead.
Chapter 27
I was moving. I knew that much. Every muscle, every nerve in my body had a hollow achiness to it that was making me feel sick. People were talking, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I wanted to fall back into oblivion, but the jarring movement wouldn’t let me.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a tear-stricken Reed shaking my shoulders, screaming at me to wake up. It took me a moment to orient myself. I didn’t feel...like myself. I didn’t feel whole. Something was wrong. Reed’s sobs sounded as if they were traveling down a tunnel, echoing off the walls and bouncing against my ears.
“What’s happening?” I finally croaked out as Reed wiped snot from his nose. I’d noticed that we were in a moving car, night shadows passing by in the window.
“Fuck, I’m so glad you’re awake!” he sobbed before wrapping his shaking arms around me. Reed smelled like blood and wine.
I looked at him, but I felt...empty. Something wasn’t right. I patted myself down, touching the soft material of the dress someone had put me in with a wince. It was like a part of me was missing. Where was I? What happened?
I looked up to see who was driving while Reed cried against my neck, surprised to see that it was Render weaving through the traffic at frantic speeds. “What’s going on?” I asked him. He looked at me through the rearview mirror with sad eyes as I clutched the leather seats.
“The vamp is taking us away. You...you drained them all,” Reed whispered in answer while pulling away from me.
I blinked, trying to clear the webs in my head. “What?”
And then the pieces fell into place, and my memory started knitting together. I remembered the dinner party, the unconscious supers. My paragons. I remembered Banner’s betrayal and my mother’s greed. I remembered what I did. I still felt the residual need buzzing under my skin. I took them all. I took all their powers. And I’d do it again.
“So, you know now?” I asked Reed tentatively while keeping my eyes on Render. He honked the horn at a car in his way before driving on the
shoulder of the road to get around it.
“The details are fuzzy, but I get the gist. Right now, we’re headed to a private airport to get the hell out of here while your harem of hotties smooths things over.”
Smooths things over? Oh shit.
I looked back at Render again. Why couldn’t I feel the pull to him? It was like nothing was there anymore. “Render?” I asked in a small voice. I needed to hear him talk. Needed to know he was okay. A headlight flashed through the windshield, and I noticed that he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly it looked like it would break. “Render, what’s going on?” I asked again.
My voice was unsure as I stared at him from the backseat of whatever car we were in. I had so many questions, but most of all I had doubts. The council finally turned me into the monster I was afraid of. They’d wanted to use me to make them stronger, and in the end, they were left with nothing. And for some reason, it felt like I was left with nothing, too. Did my paragons hate me now? Did they hate me for what I was capable of?
“What about my mom?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“She’s fine. Bitching about you. God, Devi, I had no idea how awful she was,” Reed said, patting my knee. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to chase away the hurt. My own mother sold me out and had been willing to steal from Quade to get powers again. She’d been willing to use me, to endanger me, her own daughter.
“We’re almost there,” Render said in a solemn tone, speaking for the first time. He turned right off the shadowed street we were on. The moment his tires went from gravel to pavement, I felt my heart plummet to my stomach. “Where are we going?” I asked.
Once again, he didn’t answer me directly. I felt like I was going to be sick. It wasn’t until he parked and opened the driver’s side door that I realized there was finality in the air. I got out of the car and took quick steps over to him. He hadn’t said much of anything during the drive, and his silence had anxiety coiling up in me like a snake.