“I’m going to guess that you’ve been using it too long,” I said, backing up even more. “Considering your present behavior.”
“Ach, boy,” he said with a grin. “I rarely find the need for it. I brought this out special…for you.”
“Really?” I said. “There’s no need to go through all that trouble.”
“Trouble? That’s all you’ve been since you met Tristan.”
“All I’ve been?” I snapped back, raising my voice. “Now I know that thing is baking your brain.”
“Every time I used this weapon,” Dex said. “You know what they called me?”
“You mean besides crazy?”
“Harbinger. The Harbinger of Destruction.”
“You’re a Montague,” I said, trying to step off at an angle, putting even more distance between us. “Destruction is a feature with your family. Why not choose a peaceful resolution? You could transform that into the Harbinger of Goodwill or Strong Coffee.”
He smiled.
“I can smell your fear, boy,” Dex said with a short nod. “I know you’re scared. No one wants to die, but this has to happen. You have to pay for your failure.”
“I didn’t fail,” I said. “Monty made a choice, and I’m here to help him, even if you’re not.”
“No matter,” Dex said, looking down at his weapon. “It all ends today.”
The runes along its haft pulsed green as he gave it a practice swing. The shrieks sounded like someone was strangling a group of angry cats, while clawing nails down a chalkboard. It was blood-curdling.
Nemain made Monty’s Sorrows sound like an angelic choir in comparison. I tried to block the noise out, but it cut through me on a visceral level. If I hadn’t been exposed to the Sorrows, I’d probably be running away in fear and panic. As it stood, the sound of Nemain was assaulting my limbic brain and pushing for a strong case of flight while screaming in fright.
I slid back to the nearest wall as Dex began to close the distance. I reached for my mala bracelet, only to remember, Kali had disintegrated it.
I pressed my mark.
Nothing happened.
No reaction. No flash of power or light, Karma didn’t appear, and time didn’t stop.
“Well, shit.”
“Out of tricks, boy?” Dex asked over the shrieks of Nemain. “Your hellhound is napping, and my nephew is otherwise occupied. No one is coming to save you. You’re going to die…alone.”
The small voice that had been so brave at the outset, was slowly backing up with me, when it whispered one last, defiant word…Ebonsoul.
In a few seconds, Dex was going to cut me down to size…literally. I was mortal, with no shield, and no way to freeze time. I only had one option left. I reached inside and felt for the power of my weapon. The energy of Ebonsoul exploded in my mind, as the blade began forming. The silver mist wrapped itself around my hand as a transparent, violet dome, five feet in diameter formed around me.
“A dawnward isn’t going to save you, boy,” Dex said, slamming Nemain down on the dome of violet energy. “Nemain can cut through anything.”
He sliced through the dome with some effort, as I raised the newly formed Ebonsoul to parry his strike. Violet and green energy flashed between us as I held up Ebonsoul, stopping his downward swing, even as the force of his momentum brought me to one knee. The look of surprise on his face was only matched by the surprise I felt.
“Not anything,” I said, recovering quickly and driving a kick into his midsection. “Maybe you should check the warranty.”
Dex backpedaled several feet out of the violet dome of energy and chuckled, unfazed by my strike, which had been designed to break all of his ribs. I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“I’m going to enjoy ending you, boy,” he said, swinging Nemain. “Come, show me you have the courage to die.”
I stayed crouched inside the dawnward and remembered Rey’s words again: The source of energy is all around you. All you’re doing is aligning to the flow and channeling it.
I thought about Monty going dark and being hunted. About Peaches, and Dex putting him down, Roxanne in danger for being close to Monty, Chi for caring about me. All the people who depended on us, and were knowingly or not, protected by what we did or who we stood against. If I failed here, they were all in danger.
I got to my feet and let myself step into the power around me. It felt like jumping into a freezing lake. I saw Dex’s expression harden as I tapped into the power. He began gesturing with his free hand as the ambient energy in the courtyard crashed into me.
I returned his glare and whispered one word.
Ignisvitae.
TWENTY-SIX
Fear will make you do some amazingly stupid things.
After I whispered the word of power, the dome compressed into Ebonsoul, wrapping the blade in violet energy as the red runes along its blade exploded with power.
The energy raced through my body, looking for an outlet. I extended an arm in Dex’s direction. I felt the power travel down my arm and blast out of my hand in a violet beam.
Heading straight for Dex.
I let all the anger and fear I felt race into that beam, and it took on a darker undertone. The power smelled like burning flesh, which I found strange.
Why would it smell like burning flesh?
I looked at my arm, enveloped in a violet-black cocoon of energy and answered my own question.
My arm was ablaze with violet flames.
I didn’t have much time to ponder burning my arm off as the beam slammed into Dex. He held up Nemain as a shield, and it worked…for about two seconds, before knocking it out of his hands and punching into his chest.
Dex rolled with the blow, and twisted his body, raising a hand to deflect the beam. The violet energy
