32. Thirty-Two

Thirty-Two

“What are you doing here?” I cleared my throat. “I wasn’t aware you were allowed to wander the great hall.”

Ren stepped closer. “I couldn’t sleep, so I took a walk around the compound. That’s when I saw a very interesting flash of light coming from the upstairs window. Thought I’d investigate.”

“Well, you did.” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to appear calmer than I felt. The staff’s resonance still vibrated through my body. “It’s just me.” Ren didn’t move, so I raised my eyebrows. “You can return to your insomnia now.”

“I’m actually glad I caught you alone.” Ren’s eyes raked over my body. His attention made my skin crawl. I crossed my arms over my stomach. “You carry the blood of the Morgan family, and the dark gift runs strong in your veins.”

“And?” I didn’t like where this was going.

Ren crossed the distance to me. I stepped back. My butt hit the desk.

“Come back to Japan with me. With you by my side, my father will have no choice but to make me the heir of the Takahashi family.”

I snorted. That was the funniest thing I’d heard in months.

Ren pressed his lips together.

“Oh, gods.” I covered my mouth with my hand. “You’re serious.”

Ren’s nostrils flared. “You bitch.”

“Now, Ren. Is that the way you speak to prospective brides?” I tapped my finger on my lip. “Actually, for you, I guess it is.”

“I suggest you consider my offer. I wonder what Sebastian will do to you when I tell him why you’re really here.” Ren laughed arrogantly. So he had heard the plan after all. “You have no choice here.”

Ren took another step closer, and I lifted my elbow, nailing him in the face.

He staggered back, covering his broken nose with his hands. He spat out blood. “You’ve fucked up now.”

“No, Ren. You’ve fucked up.” A giddy laugh bubbled out of me. Unrestrained energy ricocheted through my body like bolts of electricity. “Sebastian took off my iron.”

Ren’s hands hovered over his daggers.

I walked the short distance to the staff and gripped the engraved silver shaft. “I fed. And now I have a reaper weapon which rips people’s souls from their bodies.”

“You’re lying.” Ren looked between the staff and me.

I couldn’t let him live. He’d hurt Genny. He knew about the plan. He’d ruin everything.

This time, Ren stepped back as I stalked toward him.

A smile pulled at my lips. “Try me.”

Ren charged. I stepped to the side and slammed the end of the staff against the back of his neck. A shimmer spread over the black surface as Ren’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed with a thud to the ground.

His soul didn’t slowly flow up from his body like every other life I’d seen snuffed out. It had been absorbed by the staff.

There was no going back now.

I rushed out of the room and down the hall, ignoring the creaking and thudding of the old floor under my boots. I took the stairs two at a time but slid to a stop halfway down.

Valeria’s powerful magic saturated the air. She stood between me and the exit. Half a dozen dark hunters flanked her, dressed in hunter leathers and brandishing swords.

Purple mana boiled around Valeria. Her golden mask concealed the emotions on her face, but her aura gave it away. She was pissed.

“You’re awake!” I hid the staff behind my back. The black tip still poked out above my head. “Is this the way to the bathroom?”

I could have sworn Valeria’s mask frowned. “You had Sebastian convinced you’d turned, but I’m not so easy to fool.”

“Really? So, the dunce cap was just an unconventional fashion choice?” I moved slowly backwards up the steps. Maybe I could jump out a window.

“Hunters may be able to slip through wards, but your corruption gave you away.” She held out her hand. “Now, give back the staff and I may even let Sebastian keep you alive.”

I hugged the staff. “But it’s a family heirloom.”

Valeria sighed. “I’m tired of this. You were much more helpful to me when you were dead.” Valeria tilted her head. The movement was inhuman. “When Sebastian resurrects you, you’ll be nothing but a pliable little puppet.”

Shit. I had to get the wards down quick. I had to signal the others and let them in.

She waved her hand. “Kill her.”

The dark hunters attacked. I kicked the first in the chest as she reached me on the stairs. She flew back, sliding on the table and knocking down some bowls of fruit. I spun the staff, hitting the next two hunters on the cheeks in one arc. Their souls shimmered over the surface before being sucked into the void-like metal.

“Whoa.” Corruption flowed through me. I was strong. Fast. Unstoppable .

The remaining hunters charged. My staff met a leather forearm. Clever. I had to find skin, and hunter leathers didn’t leave much bare. I jumped back, narrowly avoiding a sword.

The others blocked my swings with their leathers. I drew a dagger in my other hand and sent it at the nearest hunter.

She dodged my blade as it sailed in front of her face. The movement exposed the side of her neck. I raised the staff, striking her skin.

I danced with the last two standing. The same trick wouldn’t work again. I baited one into striking far out of his range. He tried to pull his hand back, but he wasn’t quick enough.

The last hunter turned to run. I thrust the staff, catching his ear. He collapsed.

Then, it was just Valeria. Blood pounded in my ears. Pain throbbed in my jaw from my clenched teeth. I jumped to the bottom of the stairs and advanced on her.

“All of this is your fault.” I barely heard my voice over my own heartbeat. “I wonder what it feels like to have your soul ripped from your body.”

She stumbled back. Her foot caught on her expensive rug, and she fell backwards.

“I bet it hurts.” I bent over. Valeria flinched as I tore the golden mask from her face. I threw it and it clanged against the wall.

Valeria’s bare face stared back at me. A white scar sliced her cheek. “You won’t kill me. The Aegis always takes prisoners to give them a trial in Niaras.”

“I’m not the Aegis.” I raised the staff.

“Please. Wait!” She raised her palms in front of her. “You want the Wraith back, right?”

I hesitated.

“I know how to raise the dead,” Valeria said quickly. “Besides the Luminary, we’re the only ones who have returned souls to bodies. You need me.”

I needed to save Ari.

But Sebastian said they’d never been able to bind a soul to a body. That they’d tried but been unsuccessful. Cyrus and Enoch had bound a soul to a body. Ari’s body.

“You’re lying,” I growled.

“W-well,” Valeria stuttered. “He won’t be right when you return his soul. We’ve raised thousands of undead. Their minds crumble within moments of being separated from their soul.” She licked her lips. “Only I can help you.”

Doubt clouded my resolve. No. She would say anything to save herself.

“No more lies.” I raised the staff again, but this time Valeria didn’t cower. She raised her chin.

A sadistic smile stretched across her face. “That one wasn’t a lie, hunter. You may be able to return his soul to his body, but I know the undead mind like no other. He will return insane. The only lie was that I could fix him. No one can save your Wraith.”

“Shut up.”

She was wrong. She had to be.

Noises came from the hallway. Daeva auras. Valeria’s servants.

Valeria laughed. “If you truly love him, you will kill him. You’ll finally free him.”

“Shut up!” I screamed, slamming the staff into her skull. Her blood splattered the wall as a shimmer passed over the tip.

Wails and yells filtered through the dark haze in my mind. If we hadn’t already woken up the whole compound, that would do it.

My breath came easier as the wards collapsed around the compound.

I rolled my shoulders. “Well, that’s one way to do it.”

Hopefully, Quillon felt that, and the others were charging in. But surely everyone in the compound felt that, too.

I had to move quickly.

I ran out of the great hall and came to an abrupt halt. A battle already raged outside, but it wasn’t the Aegis or our reinforcements. Hunters in rags clashed with their dark counterparts.

A freed hunter raised a piece of wood to block a sword. Her arms shook under the force.

They wouldn’t last long. They were still weak.

Where were Cyrus and the others?

Genny’s magic brushed against my barriers, and I spotted her across the yard. She used her knife to saw through the bindings of the prisoner I’d passed yesterday. Genny grabbed the woman by the shoulders and Genny’s aura dimmed as some of her mana flowed to the freed hunter.

She’d been busy.

But Elias still knelt, tied to the sacrificial posts. I ran for him as a dark presence pressed at my back.

“Stop.”

Sebastian’s voice congealed my blood. It was a command.

I was almost to Elias. Just a little farther.

The corruption seized my muscles. I fought it, but my legs wouldn’t move. I pulled the dagger from my sheath and threw it. The blade cut through one of Elias’s bindings and stuck in the sacrificial post. The golden roaring lion on the hilt caught the first rays of daybreak.

Elias fell to the dirt, held up only by his other wrist, still tied to the post.

“Elias!” I yelled.

He raised his head weakly, but his eyes struggled to focused.

Sebastian’s magic whipped against my skin as he moved in front of me. He looked devastated. He still wore the T-shirt and sweatpants he’d fallen asleep in. His hair was messy from sleep.

“Why?” Sebastian’s voice cracked on the word.

The hunter Genny had freed jumped into the fray as another was cut down.

Where were the Aegis?

“Tell me,” Sebastian commanded. Magic laced his words, and my corruption rose to heed his command.

“You already know why,” I ground out.

“You’re choosing them over me?”

“It’s more than that. I’m choosing their vision of the world.” I hadn’t realized it before. I’d changed so much from the cynical runaway hunter they’d met in Haven a year ago.

If Sebastian had found me then, would I have given into his darkness? Would I have embraced his vision of a world remade on its ashes?

“I see.” Sebastian’s lip quivered. “Drop the staff.”

I forced my hand to grip harder, but one by one, my fingers straightened. The staff clattered to the packed dirt. I reached for the last knife I had on my belt, but Sebastian caught my hands.

“Don’t move.” Sebastian stepped closer until the toes of our boots touched. His callused hand cupped my face. He ran his thumb over my cheek. “I can’t live without you, Syn.” A tear slid down his cheek. “If we can’t be together in life, we’ll be together in death.”

His hands curled around my throat. I tried to thrash, but my movements stilled. My muscles shook as I willed my fingers to dig my nails into his skin. But my body obeyed Sebastian’s command.

He was the seed of all this corruption. My corruption was an extension of his magic. His sin. He created it. It answered only to him.

“Get your hands off my daughter!” Elias bellowed. I saw him through my watering eyes. His aura was stronger, but he was still weak. He finished cutting his other binding and stumbled toward us but crashed to the mud.

Pressure built in my head. Blood rushed in my ears as I gasped for air.

Sebastian didn’t even look at Elias. “You’re pathetic. What can you do to me?”

Silver streaked across my darkening vision. Sebastian staggered back. I fell to my hands and knees, gasping and choking as air rushed into my burning lungs.

Black blood dripped from a slash on Sebastian’s arm. His aura shuddered. He turned to Genny, brandishing her hunter swords. She attacked again, but Sebastian swatted her away like a pesky fly. She kept coming, finally landing another slice across his side. He sucked in a breath and glared at her.

“I must deal with this pest,” he growled. “Arsyn.” My corruption rose to obey him, waiting. “Pull your knife and stab your heart.”

Tremors racked my body as his command took hold. My hand crept toward my blade.

“No!” Genny cried. She ran for me, but Sebastian caught her, tossing her to the dirt.

I tried to pull my hand away. Sweat poured down my face.

My hand wrapped around the hilt of my knife.

A big, callused hand wrapped around my own, pushing it down. I looked up. Elias. Dried blood spattered his face and still oozed from dozens of wounds.

His other hand wrapped around mine as the blade rose from its sheath. But he was still weak, and I was juiced up from the corruption. The knife turned in my grip until the tip pointed at my heart.

“Arsyn!” Elias yelled. “Fight it!”

“I can’t.” Tears welled in my eyes.

The guys would come soon and save the others. I had the staff.

Enoch would honor his promise and return Ari’s soul. They would be okay.

“It’s the corruption?” Elias’s arms shook as he strained against my strength.

“Yes.” The word scraped my raw throat. “I can’t resist his command.”

The tip of my dagger pressed against my ribcage.

Genny still fought Sebastian. She was weakened from giving the others mana, but she was still nimble. She dodged his attacks, leading him away.

Elias grunted. “Bloodforged iron?”

“Sebastian took it.”

The tip pierced my skin over my heart. I sucked a breath through my teeth at the pain. The hunter blood that soaked my blade entered my veins like liquid fire.

“The Aegis is coming,” I said. I let my head fall back. The stars were already fading as the sun rose above the horizon. “They’ll be here soon.”

I never got to tell them I loved them.

Maybe that was for the best.

Elias’s grip slipped, and the dagger plunged further, slicing easily through my flesh.

I clenched my teeth against the burning pain. “Please,” I ground out. “Tell them I’m sorry. That I tried.” A dark chuckle escaped me. “Tell the bennu man I never was good at following orders.”

“I’d never speak to a bennu. You know that.”

Elias let go with one hand. I cried out as the blade dug deeper. Another moment, another slip, and it would pierce my heart.

Elias removed his bloodforged rings.

I shook my head. “It won’t be enough.”

It took an entire jewelry store to contain my corruption, and that was before Sebastian shared his mana with me.

But Elias didn’t try to put them on my fingers. He dropped them on the ground and grasped my hands again.

I felt it instantly. My corruption clawed at my insides, resisting his pull.

My eyes widened. “No! You don’t understand what you’re doing.”

“I know what I’m doing.” The pull increased, tearing the corruption from my blood. “I’ve lived my life. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve hurt you and—and Katlyn—the most. I put the Morgan name before my family. Let me be a proper father to you now.”

Elias was an old Morgan. He’d drained hundreds of otherworlders. He targeted the dark mana with surgical precision. The corruption fought him, but slowly it drained from my body and into his.

Inch by inch, we wrestled the knife down.

Elias pried it from my hands. My muscles cramped. I was so weak without the corruption fueling me. But it was finally gone. I felt so light. Like my very blood had been made of lead.

I gathered the strength to raise my head. Elias stared back at me with black eyes. His aura was like a black storm cloud around him. All of the corruption that had infected me now ran through his veins.

I didn’t know that was possible.

Elias let the blade drop and grasped my hands in his. “Take my raw mana. Whatever’s left.”

“No,” I said, but Elias squeezed my hands.

“Don’t argue with me. You’ll be helpless without it, and I don’t need it anymore.”

I bit my lip. He was right. With so much corruption, Elias would be stronger than anyone, except maybe Sebastian.

“I’ll hold the corruption back as much as I can.”

I drew on his raw mana, and it flowed to me easily. I sighed as some of the ache went away and strength returned to my body. I surveyed the battlefield. There was still no sign of the guys. And as more dark hunters woke up, we were losing.

The hunters Genny had freed were fighting hard, but there weren’t enough of them. The dark hunters were gaining the upper hand.

I could no longer see Genny. I reached out with my awareness, spotting Sebastian’s darkness near the wall on the other side of a cottage. I could only hope she was holding her own.

I held my hand over the wound in my chest. The bleeding had slowed. I glanced at Elias and cleared my throat. “Uh ... thanks. I didn’t know Morgans could take corruption like that. I’ll take it back after the battle.”

For now, my muscles itched to move. To join the fight.

“No, you won’t.” Elias sat up straight. “Now kill me.”

My jaw dropped. “What?”

“Sebastian can control the corruption inside me like he did with you. He can turn me against you.” He said it flatly. A fact. A strategic decision.

“No.” I shook my head. “I ... I can’t ...”

Elias set his hand on my shoulder. “You’re more like your mother every day. I used to think her gentleness was a weakness, but I’ve seen your strength.”

A blade flashed in the morning light. The roaring lion decorated its hilt. I reached for it, but he was too fast. The blade plunged into his chest.

The world spun.

“You are the Morgan heir.” He lurched forward. I caught him, but he slid to the dirt. I cradled his head in my lap. The black receded from his eyes, leaving them clear and silver. “Lead with that gentle strength.”

“I’m not … I can’t.” My tears fell on his cheeks. “Please …”

He wiped them away. “Don’t cry for me. I’ll finally be with Katlyn again.” His gaze turned to the sky. Black blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. “I have a lot more to do before she’ll forgive me.”

He went still in my arms. His weight pressed into my thighs. The battle slowed and melted into darkness around me.

“Dad?” I whispered.

A blast shook the air. Dust and smoke billowed from the compound’s wall. A sharp gust of wind swept it away, and Quillon’s form became clear, dressed in a long coat and holding a round daeva bomb.

“Catch!” he shouted as he tossed it to a dark hunter. It exploded, sending pieces of her across the compound.

A black rhino appeared behind him, charging into the compound. He impaled a dark hunter on his horn without slowing.

Cyrus followed, emerging from the smoke in his polished armor, glowing gold with the light of his runes.

Skye and Shael were right on his heels lobbing powerful spells. The dark hunters slowly came to their senses and turned their attention to the newcomers. One attacked from the side, aiming his sword at Shael. Skye froze the mud beneath the dark hunter’s feet. The man slipped, and Shael ignited him with a touch.

His screams filled the battlefield as Quillon pulled his rifle and aimed it at a woman rushing him. She stepped to the side and the bullet hit her in the shoulder. Her aura dimmed, and she clutched her wound, eyes wide. Quillon winked at her as Max stepped around him, sword raised to finish the job.

Hundreds of auras filled the air behind them. More hunters, demons, druids, elementals, and daeva. The reinforcements were here. They spread through the compound attacking dark hunters.

Was that Donald? The imp rode on the back of a druid in tiger form. He jumped off as the tiger pounced on a hunter, flapping his leathery wings to soften his fall. The hunter shoved the tiger away, but Donald’s mouth stretched open and he mercifully ate the hunter head-first.

A familiar pair of air elemental twins picked their way through the rubble. Alani turned green at the sight of Donald devouring the hunter, but Inala charged into the fray, letting out a wobbly battle cry.

Cyrus’s eyes seemed to burn with golden fire as he gave me a once-over, searching my body, catching on the bloody hole in my shirt before finally seeing Elias. My men gathered around us. Their auras pressed at my sides.

“Is that ...” Shael’s red eyebrows knitted together.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks. Max knelt in front of me. She closed Elias’s eyes.

“Help Genny.” I gently set Elias’s head on the ground and picked up the staff before rising to my feet. “I’ll take care of Sebastian.”