Chapter 21

21

DEVA

I hadn’t realizedit at the time, but the protection runes I placed on my men did more than just protect them from outside threats—they protected them from my magic as well.

The minute Ozul commanded his soldiers to grab me, my magic surged out in a controlled lethal wave as if it had been waiting under my skin. I watched as it slammed into the forces trying to move forward, instantly throwing half of them back against the surrounding buildings.

Unconscious almost instantly.

Unfortunately, the surge, while not hurting my men, did strip away their cloaking spells. I didn’t risk looking back at them, but Grancent and Ozul, along with several of the other commanders, looked a mixture of pissed and shocked.

“You won’t win that way,” I warned. “I’m not going to waste time fighting them. Not now.” In the cemetery when we first left DIA, it had been a different circumstance. Now the stakes were higher.

“You should contact Astaroth,” Alek said, instructing his father.

“Absolutely not,” Ozul bit back, but Grancent seemed to ignore him, continuing to stare at me, gauging the situation.

“You say I’m nothing to him, that we don’t matter.” Grancent sounded amused. “But how is that possible when we know so much about you, Deva?”

I inhaled sharply but kept steady. “You can claim to know whatever you want about my past⁠—”

A loud whistle cut off my words as Grancent sent some sort of signal. Rage like I’d never experienced filled me as soldiers from a nearby house led out a line of children, all around ten or older, blindfolded and with their hands tied—tears streaking down their faces as they trembled uncontrollably.

“Your past, while interesting,” Grancent mused as Ozul rounded the table where the children now stood, threatening them with vibrant sparks of lunar magic that danced off his fingertips in electric bolts, “isn’t nearly as interesting as what you’re willing to die for. What your weakness is.”

“Others,” Ozul provided, tipping up the chin of a trembling young boy. “I think Astroth was surprised to find, after watching you at that damn academy, that his once great weapon had developed such a strong sense of justice…such an intense need to protect others. Ironic, almost.”

“I’m going to kill this fucker.” Grim’s voice was dark and heavy.

I stepped forward, my feet moving without my permission. “Ozul,” I said, careful to keep my voice steady, “you know Astaroth wouldn’t want you to kill a potential future soldier.”

“Well, good thing this one is unblessed then. We killed several of them in this village already—or have you not seen?” He nodded to the right, between two buildings.

I moved my gaze away from the children momentarily to the upside-down bodies, carved and posted like welcome signs for any other sadistic meatheads who wanted to join their crusade. My throat tightened and my head pulsed, my magic threatening to take over. I was going to savor killing this bastard. But no matter how disgusted I was, I had to keep myself under control—if my magic took over, I wouldn’t be able to protect anyone.

“They have nothing to do with this,” I responded, returning my attention to the current threat. “If you have to hide behind a line of children rather than face me⁠—”

Ozul turned sharply and moved towards me, his face turning red with anger. “I do not hide behind anyone, Deva. You’re the one who ran. You’re the one who’s hidden for years. You can’t hide behind anyone now, though. The truth has already been revealed—we sent word this evening.”

One of my men made a feral noise, and Alek’s father shook his head in what appeared to be frustration. A cold calm ran over my skin as I approached Ozul, having literally nothing to lose right now. “Sent word?” I asked sweetly. “To who? About what? What do you think I’ve been hiding, Ozul?”

He smiled, an expression that didn’t match the anger in his eyes. “Your past—the killer that you are. By now the Society, the academy, and all of Carmina will know that your face belongs to the assassin who slaughtered hundreds of unblessed witches. Isn’t that right, Ayla?”

The sky cracked with thunder and lightning, the streets beginning to fill with the whispered realization of those around us as they put together his meaning. I tried to ignore the fury radiating from my men and instead focused on what I needed to do. When I stood right in front of Ozul, I offered him a smile that seemed to make him extremely uneasy.

Good.

“Well, that makes things a lot easier on me,” I said softly.

“And how’s that?”

“I don’t have to hide what I planned on doing to you.” The words left my mouth as I buried my athame right in the center of his chest, ripping it down to his navel.

Ozul’s scream nearly burst my eardrums as blood spurted from the wound, soaking my clothes. The wind howled in satisfaction as my shadows stopped his attempt to blast his magic in my direction, the smoky tendrils collapsing over him. I heard a snap, then his body dropped to the ground.

Not dead, but bleeding out. Profusely.

I was so captured by the sight of it—enthralled in the satisfaction and thrill that this type of killing gave me over what I’d done before—that I didn’t realize the town square had turned into a battlefield. I snapped to attention as I realized my men were fighting against large groups of soldiers, magic and weapons flying as the scent of blood and sound of screams filled the air.

“Get the kids,” Grim shouted as his shadows slammed into a wall of ten men, their wails causing a shiver of pleasure to roll over me. That wasn’t healthy, but I also didn’t have time to think about that…

I nodded in understanding, turning towards the line of children. Grancent was ordering them back inside, and I flashed forward to block his path, the child closest to me letting out a stifled shriek as she sensed my sudden appearance.

With my gaze on Grancent, I peeled her blindfold off before cutting the ropes on her wrists and handing her the athame. “Quickly now, all of you.”

My lunar magic danced in a circle around the kids as the girl efficiently removed the blindfolds and restraints from the other children. As Alek’s father stalked forward, a cold lethality infected every part of me. I hadn’t felt this way in so long, the clinical nature of killing causing everything around me to resolve into clear, sharp lines, turning the world into a place where emotion no longer played a part.

“You dumb girl. You have no idea how powerful Astaroth has grown. Even if these brats escape, there are hundreds more in Carmina he can get his hands on. You are saving no one; you are only making the situation worse⁠—”

A shot of magic flew over my head and Grancent immediately countered it, his enraged scream making me realize that it was Alek who’d attacked him. The girl returned the athame, placing it in my hand, and I directed her to an escape path through the woods. I coated the children in shadows, portalling them on the spot. The minute they disappeared, soldiers surged forward, converging on me.

I found myself craving the violence like never before. For once I was able to seek retribution and use my training, my pain, and my past…for good.

In fact, my body was so keyed up for battle that I was moving and in action before I even had a chance to think about it. My athame came out, and I used a mixture of magic and weapons to easily cut the throats of three men before knocking the next unconscious. Through all of it I kept my gaze on Grancent, who was pacing and shouting at two commanders that reported to him. The fear growing on his face as the screams of acolytes filled the air only emboldened me.

My magic flew out from me again, clearing the crowd around me as I jumped onto the table between him and me, an energy surging through the space that I recognized as shadow magic. It was either Grim or possibly some of his family, but I couldn’t focus on that. All I could focus on was Alek’s father.

“Call Astaroth. Now.”

There was no point to any of this if he didn’t show up.

“Absolutely not.”

I launched myself at the bastard, pinning him to the wall and lodging my dagger right in his leg. He snarled, trying to push me off. Using my shadows like weights, I secured him there as his face flushed purple with fury.

“You can’t stop this, Deva. I was trying to offer you the most peaceful way to handle this, but you’ve already lost. The bodies of the unblessed will cover Carmina, their blood soaking into the water supplies as a sacrifice—fueling the worthy with the essence of the unworthy.”

The wind was roaring so loud I knew it was in response to my magic somehow, and I was nearly trembling in fury at the image he painted, and he wasn’t even finished. “Even if you kill every single one of us, there are ten of us for every one of you. The unblessed will cease to exist, and this purge will bring a new dawn to Carmina.”

Instead of responding, unable to form a verbal response over the pure unadulterated rage coursing through me, I put my hand out and drew hard on my blood magic. His face paled, becoming gaunt as red mist swirled around my fingers and I felt his life essence drain. I shouldn’t have taken as much pleasure as I did, but the bastard wasn’t going to live to see another day.

Unfortunately, right before I could pull the last ounce of life from him, everything changed.

I released my blood magic, the wind and sounds of battle suddenly going silent. Grancent let out a gasp of air in relief before chuckling, color returning to his face as I looked back towards the center of the village. My men, splattered in blood, were spread out throughout the bodies, staring skyward. as I followed their gazes, expecting to see a vortex of shadows, but instead I was met with a moon…or what appeared to be a moon.

“Well, you got your wish, Deva.” Grancent laughed hysterically. I dropped my shadow magic and his frame collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

Stepping around the table, I watched the orb of silver descend, the eerie silence and beauty of it causing everyone to stare in awe. My men tried to move towards me and around it, but the magic carried its own signature and vibration, holding everyone on the spot like a gravitational force. I tightened my fists, my nails digging into my palms, as Grancent’s words really hit me.

I got my wish.

Did that mean…I stared as the orb grew larger, a black swirling vortex emerging from the middle, signaling an arrival. I knew it wasn’t an ally. No, I knew who this was.

“My, my, my…” The voice filled the air like the cruelest of songs and vibrated with power as a surge of magic that felt both familiar and so insanely strong that it was impossible, slammed into me. I stumbled back but held strong, the magic pushing away all of my men and even the soldiers—although the first managed to fight against it like myself.

“Isn’t this a lovely scene?”

Astaroth.

The silver-eyed bastard stepped through the portal, and my knees felt weak as pure fear trickled up my spine. Only this psychopathic bastard could make me scared from just his entrance alone. My skin felt like it was itching as the runes underneath it lit up in reaction. His gaze held mine, a sickening amount of pride growing there.

In some ways he hadn’t changed at all over the years, dressed completely in black with his dark hair pulled back to expose his critical yet manic gaze. But in other ways it was like he had transformed into another person completely. His skin was glowing silver, runes lighting it from beneath. As the portal collapsed, every soldier fell to their knees around him. Bile threatened to rise, and a nearly feral sound left my throat.

His magic was nothing like I remembered it. Something had changed, and it meant we had greatly miscalculated this situation.

“Ayla, my little Dead Doll, you’ve finally decided to call on me to bring you home,” he said as he walked towards me, his tone a vile mockery of fatherly concern. I felt my men’s fury and even fear at him approaching me. A few of them tried to move forward, but like it was the easiest thing in the world, Astaroth held them off with a ward that vibrated around us, making me want to cover my ears.

“That is not why I called on you,” I hissed, my entire body tense. His magic tried to pull on mine in a coaxing, friendly way I didn’t fucking believe for a minute.

“Oh?” he mused, arching a brow. “Did you think you could call me out here and convince me to stop this little attack I have planned? Is that what you told yourself?”

I swallowed, dread pooling in my stomach as he threw his head back and laughed. “I’ve known where you were since you stepped foot into the academy and subsequently left it. Even before then I could feel you scurrying through the city like a mouse. I knew what you had planned for tonight, and do you know why? Do you know why it’s so easy to predict your actions? Your noble efforts that lie in a falsehood of attempted redemption for everyone you’ve slain?”

“Why.”

“Because you and I are connected.” He flashed a smile. “Not only by magic, but by blood. But you already knew that, didn’t you? I can tell you figured it out, and now you feel like you have a personal obligation to rid the world of me—is that it?”

“You’re a piece of shit,” I bit out, feeling so incredibly small in the face of his patronizing amusement.

I’d thought I was strong…I’d thought I knew so much. But now that he was here…

His smile grew. “It’s a shame, all the effort you’ve put into creating this illusion around yourself that lets you believe you could be anything normal. No, you serve a far greater purpose, Ayla, and you will soon see that.”

When he turned his back to me, I launched forward, the clawing urge to drive my athame into his back overwhelming—but I was immediately stopped.

Astaroth chuckled as shadows converged over me, locking me into place and preventing even the slightest movement. He turned and raised a brow of amusement before looking to the rest of the clearing. “So many dead. I’ll need to replace them. The more bodies, the better…a thought for later, of course. We have somewhere to be.”

The dark swirling vortex within the silver orb opened again, creating a glow that had me shielding my eyes as I realized what was happening.

Fuck.

“Deva!” Grim roared. I tried to seek them out, our bond filling with so many emotions that it nearly brought tears to my eyes, but Astaroth wasn’t letting them move. He wasn’t killing them, but he sure as hell wasn’t letting them intervene.

“Normally I would dispose of them,” he said conversationally, his shadows propelling me forward. “but I rather like the idea of having formidable enemies. Maybe they’ll even make it interesting and come after you. It seems like something they would do.”

I couldn’t even argue as shadows swarmed most of my face, my body trembling with pure and unadulterated fury.

“Time to go home, Ayla.”

As I was tugged through the portal, my vision nearly blinded by the moonlight surrounding the black vortex at the center, Astaroth’s magic released the crowd. I watched as my men blindly pushed forward—before everything went dark, causing me to surrender to the abyss.