51. FORTY-SIX

FORTY-SIX

Wren

Magicthrummedthroughmy veins as I stepped through the thick steel door with an array of locks on it.

My breath hitched in my throat as I stared at the supernatural relic. It was just as beautiful as it was at the dig site. The soft glow of the crystal inside illuminated the room in blue. The lights in the room were off, and yet everything was so clear.

Nerves fluttered in my belly as I moved closer, thankful I truly was unaffected in this form. I scanned the room for all possible threats.

There were five other humans in the room, and I was hesitant to allow my shadow to go corporeal near the relic, but Blair had told me to listen to my instincts over anything. It was my role, and I would do everything I could to do it right.

I glided behind one guard and noticed that none of the humans spoke to each other.

Focusing on my chest and the mark between my breasts, I allowed it to become corporeal at the same time I thrust the shadow into the guard’s neck and made it incorporeal again.

“What was that?” one of the guards barked, rushing over.

Another one ran beside him and peered down at the dead guard. “There’s blood. Fuck! He’s been stabbed.”

“How the fuck could that happen?”

Panic erupted around the room.

I noticed that my magical energy drained more than usual when using my shadow, but it definitely wasn’t draining.

My shadow danced between corporeal and incorporeal to take out the rest of the guards, getting close and letting my shadow tendril stab into their throats, draining the life out of them.

Guilt swirled around me before I pushed it away. They had chosen their side, and I would not feel guilty about the approach I took in their deaths.

Stealth was my strength, and I was going to lean into it. It may not necessarily be fair because war was not fair.

I rummaged in my bag slung around me before my hand slid across the cold metal of the contraption Norman had made from what the good humans had given him.

An unwelcome shiver wracked my body as I thought of using it. The only time I had ever seen guns was when I was shot or when those I loved were.

To think about actually holding it sent chills down my spine. I probably should have taken Norman up on his offer to teach me how to use it properly, but it was simple enough. Point and pull the trigger.

My head blurred as I stumbled a bit. It was taking a lot of magical energy to hold my bag and all of the objects within it in this form with me.

I needed to make this quick. I adjusted the gun in my hand and pointed it toward the crystal embedded into the relic, letting it go corporeal.

Just as the muscle in my finger twitched to pull the trigger, the gun flew from my hand and ended up in the hands of a man I had seen once before. My skin crawled as I stared at him, letting my hand go incorporeal again.

He was the former wizard who had created the relic.

I noticed a ring on his finger with a string attached, which meant he had thrown something to grab the gun from my hand and pull it to him.

Humans and their technology.

I placed my hand on my chest to calm my racing heart. I may not have been able to feel it in this form, but I knew it was beating like crazy. Even though the man didn’t have any magical energy, it was somehow clear to me that he wasn’t human.

“I’m sorry,” he rasped. “This isn’t what I want to do. I know you’re in here still. Rebeka told me about your power, which was a mistake, because this body is greedy and wants the soul within the relic again. But I don’t want it. I just want my soul to be free so I can die. I can’t fight the urge to protect my soul. I’m sorry.”

I allowed my mouth to become corporeal so I could speak. “Just give me the gun, please.”

His wrinkled hands shook with it before he pointed it at my mouth and shot.

I fell back out of the way and forced my mouth to become incorporeal again. Disbelief flooded my veins. If that shot had hit me, it would have killed me instantly.

“You’re not evil,” I stated, running around the room in a bunch of little zigzags so he couldn’t shoot me again, but he tried.

The contraption went off every time I made my mouth visible, and fear paralyzed me from trying it again. There was obviously no talking him down. Whatever will possessing him to protect the relic wasn’t lining up with what he actually wanted.

I ran my hands over my head, pushing the fallen strands of my hair back up into the bun that was falling apart in my frazzled state. Maybe I didn’t have to talk to him at all, and with his rash actions, there was no way he would’ve listened to me anyway. I dug around my bag until I found the paralytic and a syringe that I carried around with me, filling it with the paralytic—a little more than I’d use on a regular supernatural.

My magical energy depleted quickly so I went up behind him, where he couldn’t see me or hear me because he was moving around erratically, knowing that I could be anywhere at any time.

I moved the syringe into his neck before I made it and my hand corporeal and pushed the plunger in.

His arm swiveled, pointing the gun right at my corporeal hand, but before he hit the trigger, he fell over, the contraption hitting the floor and sliding toward the relic.

“Thank you,” he croaked.

His body was tense, but his eyes were soft and relaxed.

I went over to the gun and let my hand become corporeal again as I picked it up.

Aiming it at the crystal within the relic, I pulled the trigger without any hesitation. Black streaked toward it before encompassing the relic fully, and then it cracked.

The crystal inside the relic shattered, and a phantom force flew out of it, catching my hand and the contraption and throwing us airborne before I made myself and the gun incorporeal again, landing on the floor.

The door had opened as the force exploded, and I saw a glimpse of Samson before he was thrown back out of the room.

My heart stuttered. I hadn’t known that he would come here, but if he was hit by that force, I wasn’t sure what had happened to him.

The relic was in bits and pieces throughout the room, and magical energy had destroyed everything around it as it broke free. I blew out a heavy breath and stuffed the contraption back in my bag as I got to my feet.

The necromancer on the ground groaned, still paralyzed from the tincture I’d injected into him. He’d been thrown by the blast too, but he seemed okay enough.

I carefully tested myself, slowly becoming corporeal to be sure that the relic was truly destroyed.

Then I rushed out of the room and into the hallway where Samson leaned against the wall with blood trickling down his chin.

“Oh my Fates! Are you okay?” I dropped my knees, knowing how much this would hurt Callie for him to be hurt like that.

“I’m fine,” he said before he coughed and blood splattered on his chest.

“You’re not fine. Do you still have your powers?”

The corners of his mouth quirked up into a smile as he shook his head. “No, I’m not a phoenix anymore. And there’s no way that I can heal what happened. It feels like my organs are all melted.”

A hand grabbed me before the scent of cinnamon and blood wrapped around me, and I was pulled backwards into Alister’s chest as a sob wracked out of me.

Tears poured out of my eyes as I stared at Samson. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ll get to be with her again.” he said with a choked sob, then a serene smile spread across his face.

Sadness welled up in my throat. “She’s going to be so happy to be reunited with you again.”

“I’ll never have to live a day without her again.” He took one last crackled breath.

I turned my face into Alister’s neck and wrapped my arms tightly around him.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but what happened? Where is he?” Rebeka asked, wringing her hands as she glanced up and down the halls.

I slammed my eyes shut and breathed Alister in. “I used a paralytic on him. He tried to stop me.”

“Is he in there?”

I nodded as silent tears dripped down my cheeks.

I heard her quick footsteps enter the room.

“My soul is mine again,” the warlock told her in a croak.

A few agents of the Supernatural Council rushed down the hall and took a look at Samson before their expressions crumbled.

“We’ll take care of him and do a proper burial,” one said.

Alister and I nodded, and Alister picked me up and carried me back into the room where the necromancer’s body was aging rapidly.

“What’s happening?” Rebeka asked, tears slipping down her face.

“My soul has returned, and it’s my time.”

She grabbed his hand and held it tightly before bending down and putting her ear to his mouth. He whispered something in her ear before her eyes widened.

Rebeka turned to us sharply. “Alister, get your mate back to the academy infirmary right now. Her magical energy is flickering, and it’s almost completely drained.”

Bone-deep exhaustion plowed into me from nowhere as Alister shouted at me, rushing out of that room. That was all I remembered before I woke up in the infirmary surrounded by each one of my mates.