Giselle’s voice in my mind approved. Good, she thought. You’re learning. They’re the monsters. You have every right to use the powers you were given.
I pushed her out of my thoughts, too intent on what I had to do. Chanelle doubled her assault. Both of us tried to get to our partners but unable to do so with an obstacle in the way. She’s been a pain in my ass for too long.
I knew now there was nothing I could do to get the Nephilim to accept me. Screw acceptance. If they wanted something to fear, I would give it to them. She was no less determined to kill me. We parried across the arena. Strike. Block. Strike. Block.
Chanelle was miles faster than some of the demons I’d fought, but she had barely any of the intensity. The demons came at me with unadulterated fury and greed. Chanelle thought she had me dead to rights. She wanted to drag this out for as long as humanly possible. Her sword arm arched over my head. I leaned into her instead of evading and drove my knee into her solar plexus. The impact felt like I’d shattered my kneecap. But the way she doubled over made it all worth it.
I hopped back, trying not to let the pain display on my face. The crowd was cheering once more. I blocked it all out. None of it mattered anymore. They could jeer at me all they wanted. I was done trying to be good for them. Chanelle recovered quickly. It wasn’t a surprise. Her cherubic face twisted. I pumped my eyebrows at her.
“What’s the matter?” I said. “You seem incapable of killing a little human all of a sudden.”
The echo of amusement bounced around in my head. I tried to bat Giselle aside, but she wouldn’t leave me alone.
Behind Chanelle’s shoulder, I registered Kai’s figure clutching at his side. He should have come for me by now, but he seemed content to let Chanelle play with me. That was perfectly fine. I’d return his bond mate to him in pieces.
Wary that I’d suddenly grown thorns, Chanelle paced in a small line across the mat. She wasn’t winded, but the slow inhale and the expansion of her chest told me she was either trying to rein in her emotions, or she was injured somehow. Since neither I nor Andrei had gotten anything near a critical hit, I wasn’t sure why she would be breathing so hard. Pushing aside the Nephilim half of her, I scrambled for an explanation.
When a mage became tapped out, they had to rest just like low-magic users. It must have cost her a tonne of power to heal herself.
Andrei groaned. My eyes latched on to the light amulet Chanelle had tucked into her waistband. We needed to finish this. If Andrei became any more exposed, he was going to die. Sensing where my thoughts were directed, Chanelle slipped the amulet out and held it in front of her. She raised her hand to the sky as though in tribute to the arena. I saw it the moment her fingers flexed. She was going to crumble it into shards.
I took off running. Or limping, really. Grabbing the Ley lines around me, I forced every scrap of will I had into making time stop. Chanelle’s eyes widened as she stood there. Her gaze was locked on something over my shoulder as though she could no longer see me. A metre away from her, Chanelle’s mouth opened wide. She raised her rapier, but it was too late. I leaped into the air and sliced.
The hand that held the light amulet came clean off. Her agonising scream became the only source of noise in the world. She dropped her rapier to clutch at the blood-soaked stub. In the panic, her wings unfurled. I had come to understand that it was Nephilim instinct to grow wings and fly away when cornered. Her wings fluttered. They were so strikingly beautiful. I wanted to stroke them and see if they were as soft as they looked. It almost made me hold back. Almost.
Leaping into the air once more. I grabbed hold of her left wing and cut down into the joint that held it attached to her shoulder. Once a wing was injured, it couldn’t be dematerialised. The sound of metal scraping against bone filled my ears. The artery that ran to her wing burst open. Blood squirted all over my hands and chest.
She dropped to her knees in front of me. In my periphery, I saw Kai diving towards us. For the first time ever, he would be too slow. I turned Morning Star in my grip. Furious glee hummed from the blade’s will. It wanted so badly to taste the last beat of her heart. The demon blade wanted to do the thing it had been made for. It urged me on. Kill her, I heard. I wasn’t sure if it was the blade or Giselle.
All I knew was that it was yet another force in my life that tried to control me. With a ferocious growl, I kicked Chanelle in the back. She fell forward. I stepped over her body and grabbed the light amulet from her severed hand.
Time sped up again. Her wailing mixed with the deafening call of the crowd. I gave them the finger before dropping down next to Andrei.
A siren sounded. The barriers came down as Nephilim medical personnel crawled onto the mat like ants. They converged on Chanelle even though Kai was already performing healing magic on her. What happened to nobody leaving the arena until the bout was over? Bloody double standards.
Not a single one of them had any regard for Andrei. His eyes had turned black. I pressed the light amulet to his bared chest, but it wasn’t enough. He was too far gone
