Page 28 of A Touch of Gold and Madness

“Godsdamnit!”

I locked the Kinetic tight between my knees as he struggled underneath me. With my freed hand, I patted the areas of his body that the thick leather of the warrior gear shielded and began to slice in quick, strategic movements across any unprotected surface. I didn’t stop. Not when sharp stabs to my thigh, arm, shoulder, and side exploded in pain from his desperate frenzy to escape my hold.

As my vision came into focus from his death, I made out the blurry outlines of a marred and mutilated body. Once it cleared, the shredded face and neck of the warrior were painted a deep ruby. The beast within me jeered at the carnage, but he wasn’t satisfied. He wantedmore.

I had minutes at best before the poison of the Kinetic blade crippled me. I could already feel its effects burning through my veins, scorching a wildfire of hatred through my body. But I shook it off like I had so many times before, forcing myself to climb off the dead Kinetic and then slide the knife back up my sleeve.

Standing, I took in the widened alleyway. Dizziness unsteadied me from the injuries and blood loss of the stab wounds, but a dark viciousness made my heart sing at the sight I left behind. A beheaded corpse sprawled in thick, dark blood lay feet away from me, his unblinking eyes frozen wide with fear.

I bent to retrieve my sword and swiped the bloody blade on my pants before tucking it back in its sheath.

Another blade clanged free, and I snapped my attention to the lone figure slumped against the wall. He groaned as he cupped his neck with one hand. His life force gushed down his neck and soaked into his black uniform. He wielded a Kinetic knife in his fist, preparing to throw it at me.

I cocked my head to the side as I studied him. “Ah,” I said, my voice hoarse. “You’re still alive, I see.” The dying Kinetic scrambled to sit straighter, wincing as he did. I scrunched my face at his predicament. “Well, isn’t that little wound just adyingpity?”

“Fuck you,” the warrior spat, his words garbled. With the redfern from my Elemental blade surging in his veins, his magic was subdued, so it didn’t concern me about his blasts.

I took slow measured steps toward him, mainly because I felt myself weakening with each passing second, but at least I was still upright, despite all the injuries. I needed to recoup—and fast. “So, I presume you recognize me.”

The warrior’s labored breaths wheezed and huffed. And as I neared him, his paling skin made it evident that the single strike across his neck would be fatal. “You’re dead.” A mixture of fear, hatred, and confusion twisted across his features as he assessed me.

I came to a stop before him and dropped to a squat, ignoring the excruciating pain in my thigh and side. It would soon be healed, anyways. “It would appear that I am, in fact,notdead, wouldn’t it?” I chuckled. “You, on the other hand, won’t be able to say the same in a moment.”

With what little strength he had left, he aimed a careless swipe at me with his blade. I dodged it before grabbing his wrist, apprehending the blade formyself. I tsked and held the knife flat in both my palms as I observed its sharp, angular sigils.

“I bet your king doesn’t provide any of you with the crushed nickel antidote for the redfern that’s poisoning your bloodstream, hm?” I asked, keeping my hazy gaze on the knife in my hands.

“He’s gonna kill you,” the warrior rasped. I snapped my focus to land on the man inches away from me. Short navy-blue hair blurred in my sight, a jarring contrast to the crimson staining his neck and hands.

“Not if I kill him first.”

I adjusted my stance to reach into a well-guarded pocket in my black cargos. After digging with my shaking hand, I sighed in relief when it landed on the last remaining syringe containing the antidote. I shook it in front of him. “Too bad it’s not your brand. We could’ve dueled over it. Now, that would’ve been quite the sight.” I laughed at my own remark as I removed the plastic encasement covering the needle.

“No wonder he’s wanted you dead. You’re a fucking monster.”

“Yes,” I said as I thumped the container while watching the air bubbles rise to the surface. “I am. And none of you should ever forget that.” I pushed the exposed needle into the major vein protruding in my neck, just as I had done with the princess, and mashed down with my thumb to empty the contents into my bloodstream.

Within seconds, I could feel the sweltering inferno begin to cool while I gasped from the instant relief. The darkness that craved death and suffering still harbored its cold rage within me. Soon enough, though, the heat of the black crystal eased to a simmer, leaving only the welcomed pain from the open wounds behind. I inhaled a dramatic breath. “Godsdamn that feels good. You should try it…”

My sight finally restored to its heightened clarity, and I saw just how ashen the Kinetic had grown. He had minutes left, at best. “Just kill me already,” he whispered, his head lolling to the side to rest on his shoulder.

I pretended to ponder the thought because, truly, I wanted nothing more than another excuse to take his life, but I couldn’t grant him what he wanted. He needed to suffer.

Or did he?

Ah! The decisions…

After several moments of pondering the difficult choice, I sighed with my final verdict. “I think,” I said, shoving the empty syringe into a pocket and pulling out another dagger from my weapons belt, “you caught me on a good day. Don’t say I never did anything for you.” I shuffled closer until my lips were at his ear, and I murmured, “Send her all my love.”

I clenched my jaw as I stabbed my dagger up through his ribcage before pulling it out, only to jam the blade deep into his chest, piercing his heart.

The darkness soaked up the brutality of my acts. It loved every second, savoring every drop of blood spilled, but it wasn’t enough. It never would be, no matter how many had to die at my hands. But for now, it was satiated to offer me a slight mental reprieve from the incessant drumbeat of death as it dulled to a low hum.

I braced a hand against the wall to stand, pushing through the pain in my thigh and oblique. Now that the last of my antidote was gone, I had to be careful from here on. I couldn’t afford any more wounds from a Kinetic blade.

A deafening crack of a gunshot shattered the darkened silence of the abandoned city. I whipped my head in its direction, remembering Dash. A shock of fear jolted through my chest. With the beast calmed and the adrenaline from the fight waning, the pain from the wounds came to the forefront of my mind, as well as the dizzying blood loss.

I shoved off the wall and staggered out of the alleyway in search of the sixteen-year-old human boy. We’d split up to flank opposite sides of the nearby perimeter of the King’s Palace. I needed to get to a place far enough away to remove my bracelet so I could heal faster.

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