Page 165 of Scars Like Wings

“You are not laying a finger on her.” I could feel the muscles in Quinn’s arm coiled and prepared for anything. “I would love to see you try.”

“Now, now, Quinn. We all know who was the better fighter when we were together.”

“Yeah, because I held back so I didn’t kill you. Don’t worry, I have learned from those mistakes.” Quinn lunged at Zaria so fast that she was just a blur in front of me.

They crashed into the wall causing it to dent and crack from the force. The two of them moved so quickly I could barely keep up with who had the advantage. Still, there was a grace, fluidity, and practice to Quinn’s moves. She had done this before. Many times, at least. She was good at it. While Zaria lacked the same precision, she was still able to keep up with Quinn and even stay one step ahead of her. Quinn and Zaria left broken furniture and holes in the wall in their wake.

I was frozen watching the two of them fight. I wasn’t sure what to do. Do I go and get help? With all the commotion and noise, I would think that someone was awake by now. But thatwas only if they were here. When Quinn and I had gone to bed, it was still early and the group had only just made it to their first club. I had no idea where my phone was to check the time.

Even still, I couldn’t leave Quinn behind. I had done that once before with the energy vampire on my birthday weekend. My heart couldn’t bear to do it again. But what could I do? These two were blurring around my room at speeds I could barely keep up with. Meanwhile, my necklace was, for sure, burning a mark into me, and my back was starting to itch in a way that was becoming distracting?—

“Byrdie!” I turned away from the fighting pair to find Simone and Maisie at the door. They were both disheveled and sleepy-eyed, having clearly just gotten out of bed. But the scene before them was quick to wake them up.

“I didn’t know you both were home!” I said, relieved to see them.

“Yeah, we got in a couple of hours ago, I think,” Simone said. “Maisie heard the commotion. But when she couldn’t wake up Cody, she got me. When we couldn’t wake up Cole or the others, we knew something was wrong. What’s going on?”

“Quinn’s ex-girlfriend’s dying to meet me?”

The three of us jumped when Quinn and Zaria crashed into the bed, making it collapse into itself. Zaria was on top of Quinn now, straddling her. Quinn was trying to stave off Zaria from stabbing her. They both had torn clothes with wounds in differing stages of healing. Zaria smirked, full of snark. “Now, this is like old times.”

I growled loudly. A plume of jealousy blossomed in me, seeing Zaria’s position on Quinn. Zaria glanced at me for a brief moment. Her smirk blossomed into a full smile full of nothing but menace. “Aww, your new little girlfriend is feeling left out. We wouldn’t want that, now would we?”

Quinn roared. She punched Zaria hard enough to draw blood and send Zaria flying off the bed. Quinn turned to me, her face scratched and bruised but actively healing. “Byrd, you have to get out of here!”

“Why? So she can get help?” Zaria slowly sat up. She spat out a mouthful of blood, but her smile remained dripping red. “In case you haven’t noticed, no one else is coming to that fat whore’s rescue. The house has been magicked to ensure everyone related to you stays asleep. I couldn’t have you calling for backup, after all.”

“Youwhat?” Quinn’s jaw dropped. “What kind of job is this?”

“The one where I get to have some fun for once.”

It all happened so fast then. Zaria darted toward me. Quinn was a blur of motion, already moving to intercept her. She pulled at her ankles to keep her in place, but Zaria had a grip on my own ankles. She yanked with a supernatural strength, sending me falling to the ground. I tried my best to kick and scramble away from her while Quinn tried to pull her away from me. Somehow, though, Zaria still managed to hit her mark. Searing pain tore through me. It burned and stung like acid in my veins. I didn’t know if there was poison on the blade or not, but it felt like I was being torn apart.

All I could do was scream.

“No!” I heard Quinn yell. It was like a battlecry.

“I hope you enjoy that blade. It’s special just for you—” Zaria’s snark ended in a grunt before there was more noise and crashing. I couldn’t look for all the blinding pain. Why wasn’t I blacking out? This was too much to bear.

“Byrdie! Ohmigods, there’s so much blood and it’s… changing? What is going on?” Simone said as she and Maisie bent down beside me.

The blade! Get the blade out! It’s cursed!The voice in my head roared in pain along with my screams.

I reached down and tried to touch the handle. I immediately pulled my hand back with a loud hiss. It was covered in burns. I screamed again.

“Holy shit, did that justburnyou?” Simone used her powers to summon water from my bathroom’s faucet to heal my hand like she had done before.

“The blade! It needs to come out!” I yelled through my clenched teeth as another torrent of pain struck me.

“Simone, this blade is magicked with some heavy power. I can’t decipher it, but I know that it has an essence that is hurting Byrd. I will pull it out, but you need to use your powers on the wound to get the magic out, okay?” Simone must have nodded to Maisie’s words because she spoke to me next. “Byrd, this is going to hurt like a fucking bitch. I’m so sorry.”

“Just get it out please!” I roared. The agony was killing me, and I wanted it to. I just wanted it to end.

Maisie gripped the blade and pulled it out. I cried out again as the blade was pulled out, but the venom or whatever it was from it remained flowing in my system and intensified for a moment. The flames in my blood grew, threatening to scorch me from the inside out. Just as I was ready to accept Death’s embrace, I felt coolness flood my system. The fires of pain from the blade died out.

But something else took its place.

“Simone? What is that? What’s happening to her?”

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