33. Thirty-Three

Thirty-Three

I swung my staff. A dark hunter crumpled to the ground. The captured hunter who had been fighting her nodded at me and moved to the next battle. I kept moving forward. Toward Sebastian’s dark aura. It was a concentrated dark cloud on the battlefield.

I cut down every dark hunter that was unlucky enough to be in my path. Demons flooded the compound on either side of me. Imps unhinged their jaws, engulfing limbs and heads.

An orc blew by me, wielding a hammer the size of a five-year-old child. A blazing fire in humanoid form followed behind. Liquid fire poured from the ifrit’s feet, pooling on the ground. It raised its arm, sending out a stream of molten lava. Screams rose above the sounds of battle.

Bird-like beings dove from the sky throwing stones. Even harpies were getting in on the action.

My men led the charge, carving a path through the compound.

Cyrus pointed his blazing runesword at a dark hunter. “Surrender.”

Her swords hit the ground, and Max pulled a bloodforged iron chain from her pocket, securing it around the dark hunter’s wrists.

With the backup from Haven, the battle was quickly turning in our favor.

I kept moving. Sebastian was somewhere behind the great hall. As I neared, I could sense his corruption. Goosebumps covered my arms, and my hair stood on end. Without it infecting my body, I could feel just how wrong it was. How twisted.

There was no one else this far from the compound gate. The sounds of the battle grew muted.

There.

Sebastian stood at the base of the wall, Genny at his feet. Silver blood stained the grass. Her aura was weak, pulsing with her slow heartbeat.

“Genny!” I cried.

“She’s dying.” Sebastian’s face twisted with anger. “And you’ll join her.”

Vines erupted from the ground, grasping for my feet. I jumped, pushing off the wall to the top of a roof. A barrage of ice shards and fireballs chased me.

I couldn’t absorb his magic without opening myself to the corruption again. My father’s sacrifice would be for nothing.

Sebastian followed me onto the roof. He clapped his hands together, sending a tempestuous wind at me. I braced myself, crouching low on the rotted shingles. I could use air magic to counter it. But when I reached for the spark of magic, it fizzled out.

Shit .

Sebastian pounced. I ducked at the last second. Fueled by corruption, his fist punched through the shingles.

I danced around him, but the little mana Elias had given me wasn’t enough. I couldn’t do this much longer. “In case you haven’t noticed,” I said, “you’re losing.”

Sebastian glanced at the battle below. The magic he’d been gathering around his hands dissipated.

“Valeria is dead.”

Sebastian jerked back. I seized the opportunity, slamming the staff into his ribcage. His T-shirt protected him from the staff’s magic, but it still packed one hell of a punch. Winded, he braced himself in a crouch.

“It’s over,” I said through clenched teeth.

His breath came in shallow pants as he looked up at me. His eyes were brilliant silver, like molten metal. “Kill me.”

“No!” I balked. “Gods! Why is everyone saying that today?”

“You don’t understand.” Sebastian buried his fingers in his hair and shook his head. “Please. You have to. Because if you don’t, I will kill you, Arsyn Morgan.” He stood, towering over me. Sebastian’s eyes turned black again. “I won’t be able to stop myself.”

“I …” My hands trembled. The staff suddenly felt heavy in my grip.

Sebastian’s face was inches from mine.

“Kill me!” he roared. Spittle hit my face.

I thought I could do it. But I couldn’t. Something in me still loved him.

Sebastian moved in a blur. He ripped the staff from my grip and took a fistful of my hair in his other hand. He wrenched my head back. I grasped for his hand, but he was too strong. Too quick.

I’d hesitated and lost my chance.

A bullet whizzed past my head, nailing Sebastian in the chest. He didn’t even flinch. Another bullet. Nothing.

A blazing runeblade sliced in an arc of golden light. The tension on my hair released as Sebastian’s severed hands fell and slid off the roof.

I flinched. Cyrus stood there, alight with runemagic. My avenging angel.

Sebastian screamed and fell to his knees. I thought my heart might break. He curled over his bleeding wrists.

My stomach churned, but I didn’t have time to be sick.

Max jumped onto the roof.

“Restrain him,” Cyrus said,’ low and deadly. He was barely holding onto his control.

“How?” Max raised an eyebrow. “Clasp some iron on his stumps?”

“Don’t worry, I hear they’ll grow back,” Genny said from below. Skye propped her up, and she held a bloody towel to her side.

“Gen!” Relief washed over me. “I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”

“Neither was I.” Genny jerked her chin to Skye. “He used his magic on me. Guess I absorbed the mana, and it helped me heal a bit.”

Skye helped a hunter? My lips parted. Skye hid his face behind his dark blue fringe.

“Is Enoch here?” I asked. Cyrus dipped his head. I didn’t need to ask where. If he was here, my magic would lead me right to him.

I spared one last look at Sebastian before climbing off the roof. Max was layering iron over his body, around his neck and encircling his arms. Sebastian never took his eyes off me.

Turning my back on him, I let my awareness guide me to Enoch.

I passed elementals and humans bandaging hunters. An orc carried two wounded hunters, one slung over each shoulder. A hunter howled in pain as two naked druids pulled pieces of shrapnel from his thigh.

“There,” one druid said. “I’ll find you some bandages.”

The other druid crossed her arms over her breasts. “I’m not giving him my blood.”

I followed the thread that wrapped around my center to the yard. Enoch stood by the sacrificial posts. His tattered robe was clean, no blood.

His white-silver eyes took in the compound. He didn’t look at me as I approached.

“Can you see them?” he asked.

“Who?”

He finally looked at me and the staff in my hand. “The souls.”

His impassive gaze gave Cyrus a run for his money. I supposed it was something that came with so many years of life. A battle like this must have seemed like a match flame to him. Quick to ignite. Quick to fizzle. Nothing in the grand scheme of things.

“Yes,” I said. “All hunters can see souls.”

“Interesting,” Enoch said.

I finally let my gaze fall to the body of my father on the ground at Enoch’s feet. “My corruption is gone.”

“How?”

“He took it.” I couldn’t tear my gaze away. “All of it.” I cleared my throat. “How do I return your gift?”

“You’re sure?” Enoch watched me.

I bit the inside of my cheek. I’d never been more certain of anything in my life. “What would you give to save someone you love?”

Enoch remained silent, but I could have sworn he grew sad.

Footsteps pounded on the dirt behind me, and the auras of my men brushed my skin.

Enoch nodded. “This will not be pleasant.”

“Okay.” It didn’t matter.

“We’re here with you.” Shael squeezed my shoulder. His burning aura warmed me like a cozy fire. It penetrated straight to my heart.

Enoch held out his hand, and I took it.

“The gift must be given.” Enoch’s voice was low and melodic. “Look deep inside yourself. To that which connects us.”

I closed my eyes. I’d always thought of the power that connects us as a sort of thread of magic. I followed it deeper. Far beyond my barriers. Past the spirits that gathered in my chest.

“Do you feel it?” Enoch said. “It’s a bond to your soul. One I created long ago.”

The thread ended at what must have been my soul.

My brow wrinkled. “There are three.”

Three threads were anchored there. The other two led in different directions. I gently tugged on one, like I did to find Enoch, but the connection was frayed. Weak.

Enoch made a pensive sound. “Your bonds to the other two reapers. One to Benoi, the soul embracer. The reaper your family owes their special powers to. The second must be your bond to Ildune, the soul eater. The first reaper to fall. I suspect every hunter shares that bond.”

“What do I do?”

“Sever the thread that connects your soul to me. That will return my powers.”

I nodded. Sounded easy enough.

I reached for that thread and pulled. The thread strained under my pressure. I gasped. It was like my heart was being ripped from my chest. I began to sweat, but I couldn’t give up.

A strangled cry escaped me. My knees buckled, but hands held me up.

I pulled harder.

The thread finally snapped. Magic pulsed like a shockwave, the wind knocked out of me.

Shael’s wild magic singed my skin. Even so, I felt ... empty.

It was an emptiness like I’d never felt before. Even with the bloodforged iron, my magic was there, just below the surface. But now, there was a piece of me missing. The world was suddenly a lot smaller. I could no longer feel the hundreds of beings in the compound.

Enoch’s eyes glowed white. “It is done.”

He let go of my hand and flexed his fingers; his scythe materialized in his grip. He turned to Elias. A shimmering orb floated slowly above Elias’s face.

“Wait!” I stood on shaking legs. “You can bring him back. Return his soul. Like Ari.”

With Sebastian captured, Elias wouldn’t have to worry about the corruption being used to control him.

“No,” Enoch said.

“But …” I grabbed his shoulder. His true power flooded me, unlike anything I’d felt before. Cyrus’s magic was the sun, but Enoch was an atom bomb. I pulled my hand away.

“Ari is a special case.” Enoch’s voice penetrated the ringing in my ears. “We must not upset the balance.”

The blade of his scythe sliced through Elias’s soul. It disappeared in a shimmer along the onyx blade.

I choked on a sob. Emotions flooded me, and I let them. For the first time in months, I knew for sure they were truly my own.

Someone collided with me. Her arms encircled me. Genny. Her tears wet my hair.

“He’s gone, Gen.” Elias had been my teacher, my protector, my mother’s killer, my enemy, almost my killer. But he was always my father.

Shael’s aura swept over my body again as he wiped my cheeks. “We’re your family, too.”

Cyrus nodded sagely. Felix turned back into human form and grinned at me. Quillon winked. Even Skye gave me a gentle smile.

“You didn’t forget about me, did ya, niece?” Max propped her sword on her shoulder.

I felt a tug on my pantleg and looked down. Donald smiled up at me, revealing rows of needle-like teeth. “I’ve always considered you to be like a stepsister to me.”

I snorted.

“Build a pyre.” Enoch’s scythe sliced through the soul above a nearby fallen hunter. He raised his hand over the body, likely harvesting whatever raw mana remained. “We must burn the bodies of the corrupted. Without an anchor, the corruption will dissipate.”

Max sheathed her sword and saluted him. “We’ll handle it. Hunter burials are rarely formal affairs, but we should take care of our own.”

Enoch nodded and looked at me. “Come. You will assist me.”

“M-me?” I stuttered.

“You have the gift and the vessel of a reaper.” Enoch nodded at the staff in my hand and moved to the next body. “Harvest.”