Page 82 of Called By Fate

Chills explode down my spine when I hear a familiar sound, a throat clearing, announcing their arrival. My head snaps in his direction and my intuition screamsdanger.My fears are confirmed when I find Mickey smiling at me with a triumphant look on his face and a dagger pressed against Vogt’s throat.

What the hell? I thought they were working together…

“Well, well, niece. It looks like you’re holding your own quite nicely,” he says, and every single part of me wants to recoil at the sight of him.

He’s never been normal looking per se, but right now he looks plain mad, drunk on power as he holds the knife to Vogt’s throat, who is too weak to defend himself because he’s been busy zapping all his power to protect the orb. He hasn’t let it go though, as it’s still floating, hovering above the ground.

Something about Mickey is… off. More so than usual. Which is saying something. Borrowing Elian’s ability to read auras, I look at his and find it’s a sickly brownish-green color. There's a gold cord running from him to Vogt, Vald, and Reginald and my stomach churns when I realize what that cord is doing. He’s siphoning their magic. No wonder they look like death.

“I hate to break it to you, Uncle,” I say, refocusing on the moment. “But the Elders are untouchable, remember?”

I don’t clue him in that I know he’s taking their power. Yet.

Hemsworth bursts through the crowd and sits beside me, snarling at Mickey in a show of support. With the blood dripping from his snout, he looks wild and menacing. He definitely deserves ten steaks after this.

“Darling niece, you’ve forgotten they’ve allowed me into their Circle and that will ultimately be their downfall.” Oh, so we’re going there, huh? Guess he doesn’t care if they know he’s sucking them dry anymore. “I tried this whole playing nice business, but it’s no fun. I don’t want to have to share power with these idiots.”

Vogt startles like Mickey slapped him. “What the hell are you doing?” he hisses and steadily lowers the orb to the ground beside them. “We had a deal, Sinclair.”

“And I’m reneging on it, you fucking fool,” Mickey says simply. He shoves Vogt to the ground and heads for the orb.

I burst into action, the draw of the souls tugging at me, making me move faster than I ever have before as I pump power into my legs. I reach the orb before Mickey does and bring up the hilt of the shadestone dagger down to shatter the glass, the need to free the souls overwhelming me and making me act without thought.

The souls rise out into the night, beginning to scatter, and it’s like all the tension I’ve been feeling around them fades. The draw they were holding on me snaps in one go—my heart feeling as weightless as those souls.

I send up a silent prayer for them.Goddess, help them find their way back to the afterlife.

The souls are finally free from their prison.

But I should know better by now things are never that simple.

Instead, Mickey laughs, fucking laughs as his sickly green power bursts out of him. He starts absorbing souls before they can get away. They fight to escape him, but he’s like a damn vacuum, sucking them to him.

“Mercedes, Mercedes, Mercedes. You always need to save everyone, don't you?” His mouth twists in what should be a smile but looks more like a grimace. “But you couldn't save Skylar and now you can’t save these souls. You see, I needed you to release them. No one else could do it. It had to be you and how easily you played into my plans, you stupid fucking girl.”

Shit, fuck, shit.He tricked me.

Panicked, I glance around the field and find my mates, trying to figure out what to do next, but they’re facing off with Vald and Reginald, buying me time to sort through what to do with my uncle. I cock my head at the sight of the Elders’ movements slowing. It doesn’t look like my Sworn are going to have to do much.

“Now you get to watch me kill each of your mates one by one,” Mickey snarls. “And there's nothing you can do to save them either,Shadowbringer.”He spits out my given title like it's a curse and turns his attention to the Elders and my mates battling them, glee dancing in his eyes.

Now that the souls are free from their prison, the Elders look like they’re withering away, all the color draining from their bodies, and I realize I was right, and the souls must’ve been their power source or protection. Mickey is draining them dry on top of it, absorbing their life source and powers.

“No!” Reginald screams as Mickey ups how much power he’s taking from a trickle to a full-blown waterfall. Reginald’s face goes from young and youthful to old and wrinkled in a matter of seconds. “How dare you”—he coughs—“betray us.”

Vin’s wolf tackles him to the ground and bites off his head before he can say anything else. I find it extremely fitting that he’s the one to take Reginald down. Elian rams his dagger into Vald’s heart while Reed lights Vogt up from the inside, much like I did to Savannah at the challenge, and his burned husk slumps to the ground. Their deaths are over far too quickly in my opinion, but there’s no time to dwell on it.

The souls scream and recoil when they touch Mickey’s nasty green magic as he sucks them into him. And as if that’s not bad enough, Mickey immediately reanimates the Elders’ corpses, including a headless Reginald and Vogt’s burnt husk. He spreads his arms out wide, cackling as that same green power spreads out over the battlefield—raising the dead from all directions. They’re mindless, soulless husks, but they’re relentless.

With grim looks on their faces, my mates make their way to me.What Mickey is doing is wrong, vile, and it’s up to us to stop him,I project to them, watching as more and more of the dead rise around us.

“Why are you doing this, Mickey?” I ask and sneakily try to feel him out with my shadows, but they slide right off him much like with the Elders. I’m assuming he found a way to steal their invincibility through their Circle bond. This maniac knew exactly what he was doing. How long has he planned this?

Mickey laughs again and the sound of it grates on my nerves. “Since you’ll be dead soon, I guess it won’t hurt to tell you everything.”

While he’s distracted, I turn my focus to the chaos around us. Most of those loyal to the Elders are either dead or have decided to jump ship since Mickey is reanimating everyone around them, and they’re forced to fight the people they once knew to stay alive. It doesn’t matter how they cut them down, Mickey’s magic reanimates anything left. It’s twisted, honestly. The screams and cries are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

A fierce need for vengeance stirs in my belly, the strongest one I’ve ever had. I must figure out a way to get us out of this. I have to. I tune back into Mickey’s words. “Your father and I were blood, and he threw me away for some half Light Weaver bitch?” He breathes in the power he’s taking in, so much so, his eyes turn green like the magic he’s wielding. “He thought he could alter my memories, he made me think he was dead,” he snarls. “Imagine my surprise when something triggered my memories and I found him alive, shacked up with some fraud he called amate.”

---