“I guess I can set something on fire?” The look she gave me was murderous.
Over where Kai had dropped to the ground, he was now doubled over. He spat blood and thumped himself on the temple. My throat became tight when the undead around him lurched back, as though he was giving off bad vibes.
“Shit,” Harlow cried. “If the circle breaks....”
There were too many answers to that question. Threats lurked all around us. My heart wanted to explode out of my chest when the necromancer to my left reached where the first body of the supernatural mage lay. I didn’t know him personally. But I’d seen him at one of the insane orgies Eugenia threw in their mansion at Ravenhall.
Deviant though they were, Ravenhall had come to the defence of their world when it counted. And now, they were going to die for nothing.
Too late. We were always too late.
Something slugged me in the chest. My head snapped all around me, fearing that the circle had broken or one of the necromancers was attacking us. But all I saw was the exhausted Sisterhood. Another spear lanced through my chest.
My back bent as I gasped.
Looking inside, I watched as the mating link sparked like a live wire. The next time the thump occurred, I sank my consciousness into the link and heard the furious roar of a lion ready to kill.
Max?
Where are you? he screamed.
I didn’t understand how I could hear him, but in that moment, I didn’t care. Surrendering to the link, I projected a mental image of the courtyard. Golden sparks appeared in the air around us. It was chased behind by midnight blue and pink.
“Dammit!” Winnie said. “He’s coming! What do we do?” and then, “What the heck is happening?”
Another explosion shook the courtyard. Harlow shrieked. My eyes flicked open to the sight of Kai, black-eyed now, charging towards me. A second before he could have smashed right through the soul circle, something heavy collided with him and pushed him aside. And then I lay back in relief as shifters, Fae, and para-humans raced through the hole in the force field that Max had torn open.
50
Max and Kai rolled for a moment and then came to an abrupt stop. Max’s golden skin rippled with the instinct to shift, but the sight of his best friend short circuited some of Max’s thought process. I didn’t blame him. The dead stare that Kai gave off was enough to make me want to burst into tears. Those eyes that had always been watchful and kind were now devoid of all emotion.
I knew Max understood that the thing in front of him didn’t recognise him, but inside the mating link, I felt the fragile heart of a nine-year-old boy stutter as he grasped for something to save his best friend.
But the moment Kai came at him, Max’s rage kicked in and they went for it. Always before when they had fought, both of them held back out of love. Now Kai was a wraith without emotion and Max was overwhelmed with it. They traded deadly blows that broke skin and drew blood. When Kai swung his fist at Max’s head, I winced and curled into a ball. I wasn’t even sure how Max evaded it and slammed his knee into Kai’s gut, but then Harlow was in front of me.
All around us, supernaturals were fighting with undead. Giselle broke the circle and Harlow helped me to my feet. “Where are the necromancers?” I hissed. A quick scan of the field yielded no results.
“They disappeared when the wards were broken,” Harlow said. I didn’t like the sound of that one bit.
Somebody else grabbed me and I looked up into Noah’s yellow-eyed gaze. “How,” he said, his mouth full of sharpened teeth, “do you manage to always get stuck in the middle of things?”
“Lucky, I guess.” I allowed him to help me over to the outer wall of the ballroom where Doctor Thorne was administering aid. Noah sat me down as other supernaturals picked up the Sisterhood.
My attention would not waver from where Max and Kai were still beating the living daylights out of each other. A year ago, Max would have been at a disadvantage because he couldn’t teleport or fly. But something had gone terribly strange since his ascension and now he rippled with a kind of unearthly stamina. The problem was, Kai didn’t have a soul. No matter how many time Max beat him down, Kai would get back up, until his body was broken. And in his heart, Max wouldn’t be able to kill Kai. Unless he posed a direct threat to me, Max would just keep beating him down until eventually, Max would tire.
A groan drew my attention away from them momentarily. Basil rubbed at the side of his head as he staggered into consciousness. He blinked a few times and his face slackened at the sight in front of us.
Max threw a deafening blow at Kai that had the crack of bones splintering across the courtyard. When Kai opened his mouth and roared, another ball of golden hair shot out from the side and impaled him through the chest. Charles sank the demon blade in so deep it came out of Kai’s back.
The smell of charred flesh filled my nose. Kai’s wound began to smoke.
I screamed. So did half the courtyard. Despite the fact that he no longer possessed a soul, that was still Malachi Pendragon with a demon blade lodged in his chest. I had thought the first time I’d see that would be when Lex lost her tempter with him.
Ignoring the distressed wails around him, Charles steamrolled forward until he hit the brick wall of the ballroom. He head-butted Kai as he sank the demon blade into the brick. When he jumped back, reluctantly letting go of the demon blade for the first time in
