18. Livana

Chapter 18

Livana

B alan grabs my hips again, drawing me toward him?—

Hot blood splatters over my face.

My eyes widen as I glance down. A hand is sticking through the middle of Balan's chest. A powerful hand holding a still-beating heart.

It jerks backward, and Balan's body falls lifeless to the floor, revealing Zev still clutching his heart behind him.

I don't have the strength to move, but unbearable relief washes over me in a painful rush.

Zev tosses Balan's heart to the side, hurrying toward me. His normally rough hands are so damn gentle as he unshackles me. I fall against him in a heap, and he scoops me up in one easy move, cradling me to his chest.

"Didn't...run," I gasp, my chaotic heartbeat making it hard to breathe.

I can hear the screams of the other drifters who are no doubt meeting their end at Jagger's hand outside of the hut.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper as Zev moves toward the door. "I didn't hear them. I didn't run, Zev. I promise I didn't run."

"I know you didn't," he says as he moves us outside, his golden eyes searing in the night as he takes stock of the fight happening before us.

Jagger is handling his own just fine, his furious rage rippling across his face as he partially shifts to the creature that prowls beneath his skin. It's terrifying but beautiful. His braids have shifted into tentacles, his teal eyes glowing, and his usual straight, white teeth are now razor-sharp points.

Zev turns his golden eyes down to me. "Breathe," he demands. "I've got you. I've got you."

I swallow hard. "Meds," I rasp. "I need my meds."

Zev nods, reaching down for something I can't see at his hip, and I nearly sob as he brings the vial to his lips, tearing the cork out with his teeth before bringing the vial to my mouth.

I take one swallow and breathe deeply.

He tries to take it away, but I shake my head. "They injected me with silver," I say, and a low growl rips from his chest. "I need more." He brings the vial back, and I take another swallow. I silently thank Sirius for weaving in healing properties into my medication that go beyond stopping my attacks.

By the time Zev recorks the bottle and puts it back into the satchel, I can already feel the medicine work its way through my body, doing its best to rid me of the effects of the liquid silver. And since I'm not chained up anymore, my vision is clearing right alongside my mind.

The last drifter falls at the hands of Jagger's blade.

Zev holds me as Jagger looks our way, his partially shifted form melting away to his everyday face. His eyes meet mine with a fury. "Is she okay?" he calls to us from where he stands near the bank of a...

Swamp . It's crystalized with frost but still unmistakable.

Fear overwhelms me as an eerie silence descends around us. I gasp, clinging to Zev. "We have to get out of here?—"

An animalistic screech cuts over my words, followed by no less than a dozen Banachs leaping out of the swampy water and surrounding Jagger.

They bare their sharp, venomous fangs, looking more horrifying than any illustration I've ever seen before. They stand no more than three feet tall, but they're covered in muscles. Their bodies are slick with seaweed and other swampy bits—no lips to be found, just rows of razor-sharp teeth dripping with black, viscous goop. And their eyes, Goddess, their gleaming black eyes are too big for their skeletal heads.

"Fuck," Zev growls, clearly torn between helping Jagger and getting me to safety.

"Put me the fuck down," I snap, wiggling enough to show him that I have strength coming back to me. "Go help him!"

Zev hesitates for a second before gently setting me on the ground and racing to help Jagger. Rain clops over to me, standing near and whinnying at the commotion.

Zev draws his great sword from where he keeps it strapped on his back and slices through three of them the second he joins the fray.

Jagger takes down one after the other, and it doesn't take long for them to eliminate the threat.

I sigh, my head sinking to the earth as my muscles twitch, my body coming back to life?—

More screeches crack the air as at least thirty Banachs leap from the water, all of them aiming for Jagger and Zev.

I force myself upward, willing my legs to move so I can help, so I can fight and even the odds, but they aren't working. The medicine is working, just not fast enough.

"Jagger!" I scream as he's taken to the ground by ten of the ruthless creatures.

Zev goes down next. They're doing their best to slice and punch and beat them down before those deadly teeth connect with their flesh. But it's only a matter of time before they tire, before they slip and a Banach will finally sink its teeth into them and then that will be it .

There will be no more Zev.

There will be no more Jagger.

And it's in that moment, in that split second of panic and chaos that I realize I can't live in a world where they don't exist.

My legs may not work, but my mind is clear.

And my powers are within my grasp.

I spare half a thought at what will happen after this.

Spare half a thought to mourn the short relationship that's developed between the three of us. Because after this, there will be no more relationship. After this, they'll want to kill me themselves.

But I no longer care.

I grip the power that's been fighting its way to the surface for so long and unleash it on the Banachs trying to kill my drifters.

A pure, sparkling green magic bursts from my fingertips, the veins of power spearing directly where my mind wills them.

The Banachs turn to dust the second my magic touches them, their bodies disintegrating into ash that flutters in black flecks to the muddy earth.

I push myself further, creating a bright green wall of magic to line the swamp, ensuring no other Banachs can attack.

It's agony , using so much power after being so weak, but I don't dare stop.

I don't stop until I know that wall of energy will hold and nothing will break through.

I don't stop even when I feel like my head may split open and my heart may shatter.

I don't stop until I know Zev and Jagger are, without a doubt, safe .

Exhaustion claims me, and I drop my hands and mental hold on my magic. Blood trickles out of my nose from the use of power.

I'm out of practice, clearly, but they're safe.

Jagger and Zev scramble to their feet, their gazes snapping to me, their features drenched in abject horror.

"She's a tress," Jagger barks before I collapse to the ground, my power leaching out of me in a surge that makes everything go black.