Page 83 of Called By Fate

Kaos, Dante, Elian, Vin, and Reed keep the dead off me while Mickey rants. I feel their anguish radiating down the bond as they fight people they know and the Elders’ mangled corpses. I think I catch a flash of Malachi and Merri’s faces among the dead and my heart squeezes.

“My mother was not a fraud,” I respond, watching him carefully, searching for any openings he might give me, but I’m at a loss.

“Do not interrupt me, girl,” he snaps, and a small part of me is young again, remembering when he used that tone of voice and the pain that came after, but I’m no longer that girl. I’m no longer defenseless, and I am no longer alone, but I let him continue anyway because I need to think of a plan.Think, dammit.

“Your father tried to send me off again, like I was nothing, so I killed his mate and fled with my grief. My only family shirked me like our bond didn’t meananything.”

Mickey begins to pace. “I plotted my revenge on your father and that’s when I found out he had two kids. Triads at that. Your mother and father went through a lot of trouble trying to erase your existence so you would be safe. But they couldn’t erase everything. I found out about you both and how much stronger you are because you’re a Triad, and I thought to myself… What if I took that from him? It would be the ultimate blow.”

The souls are slowly trickling into him now. He’s almost absorbed them all, and I really don’t want to find out what happens when he finishes. Another wave of the undead surge upon my mates and Hemsworth leaves my side to help them. It’s just me, Mickey, and my ever-growing tide of vengeance.

Mickey scowls. “But they thought ahead and had your powers locked away. I thought you both were useless for so long… until that fateful night Skylar’s powers emerged to protect you, and I sucked them right out of his lifeless body.”

That admission is a blow straight to my heart and he knows it. Grief sweeps me up into its toxic embrace, even though I know he was fine in the In-Between. It doesn’t matter. I feel his loss all over again, remembering his blond hair splayed around him, his angelic face. I’m drowning once more, feeling the same emotions of when I first lost him.

“That’s right,” he says. “I took your brother’s magic, but he was nothing compared to you and your stupid Goddess-blessed powers. That damn prophecy won’t mean shit when you're dead, will it?”

The grief and the blackness swirling inside me is replaced by vengeance, far more blinding and stronger than before. It makes me more confident. I must do this. For everyone we’ve lost. “Or it could be your downfall.”

“What did I say about interrupting me!” he shouts and pulls at his face. He has taken in so much power that even his veins are starting to glow green underneath his skin, casting an eerie glow around him.

I’m running out of time. “See, this whole plan of yours doesn’t work for me, Mickey. You can straight get fuc—”

He flings his hand toward me, sending out a bright blast of his magic. It hits me straight in the mouth, cutting off my sentence and choking me simultaneously.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for so long. You never knew your place. How does it feel to be at the bottom of the food chain? Goddess-blessed, and I still have more power than you.” If I thought my uncle looked mad before, he is absolutely insane right now. The veins crawling up his neck are pulsing green. He has too much magic for any one person to have.

My own magic flares up inside of me in my defense and tries to protect me, but everything slides right off his slimy, green magic. I struggle against the bind around my neck, but nothing happens, and I can’t breathe.

Looking around I find my mates and Hemsworth desperately trying to get to me. Their movements are coordinated, corded muscles moving in sync with one another, magic flying. Hems’ teeth are lashing, snarling, but they’re vastly outnumbered, completely surrounded by the undead. Every time they cut one down another appears in its place.

With Mickey’s magic reanimating everyone, they’re fighting literal hordes of people. Malachi and Merri among them, even though I never really liked the latter, she didn’t deserve to die. And Malachi… I’ll never hear him call me Shadow Girl again.

My chest constricts when I feel my mates’ pain and worry through our bond. I continue to claw at my throat, the edges of my vision starting to grow darker with the lack of oxygen.

Closing my eyes, I fight the rising urge to freak out as the need to breathe becomes stronger and stronger. My heart feels like it’s going to pump out of my chest.Think, Sadie, think.Dammit. Of all the ways I thought this day was going to go down, this wasn’t even a thought.

"Sadie!" a familiar voice screams.Ash.My eyes pop open, and I spin toward the direction of the sound. One of the undead managed to get through my mates and is gunning straight for me.

Time seems to slow as Ash dives for him and tackles him straight to the ground. The undead asshole is stronger than I expect for him to be, well, dead, and flips their positions. I make a break for her and stumble, but Carter appears with a battle cry, soaked in blood, and cuts his head clean off.

That doesn't stop the body from getting right back up, but at least he can't see anymore. We stare at each other, and he gives me a nod likefocus on yourself, I got thisbefore diving back into the fray taking Ash with him.

Mickey laughs, drawing my focus back to him. He's no longer paying attention to me, too lost in the madness because of the sheer amount of souls he has inside him. The man is drunk on it, though you’d think he’d be used to the feeling. His feet leave the ground as he pulls in more and more of them. Instinctively, I know he’s about to let out another blast, and I can’t let him do that. Something tells me he won't just be reanimating the undead with it.

The Elders wanted me alive, Mickey doesn’t. Apparently, he can take the power straight out of my corpse, per his letter. He wants us all dead, but I would very much like to live. I have so many things left to live for. Five mates I love more than anything, a best friend I need to make up with, a snarky familiar who deserves way more steak. So much that I didn’t have six months ago.

But life doesn’t always work the way we want it to. Sometimes life is unfair and unjust, and my air has run out. Fate is wonderful but can also be a cruel bitch. My feet carry me closer to Mickey and the path I need to take suddenly becomes clear.

If I’m going down, he’s going down with me.

* * *

Dante

If I’m going down,he’s going down with me.Sadie’s thought pops into my mind, interrupting my fight with an undead Elite. It fuels me to fight harder, to swing faster, to send more flames flying in every direction I can without hitting an ally. The need to get to her is overwhelming. I can’t lose her. I can’t.

But first, I have to take this fucker down before he kills me. I don’t recognize him, but it doesn’t make it any easier, and I can’t say the same for the others. Reed clashes with that Light Weaver who didn’t like Sadie at first, Merri, I think, while Kaos cuts down Malachi for the second time, looking more and more haunted.

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