Page 56 of Darkness and Deceit
Vaskyr just laughs.
He always laughs before the worst parts.
Blue fire erupts from his palms—serpents of living flame that twist and snap through the air. One misses Savina’s panther by a breath and Vaughn barely dodges the second blast.
They fight in tandem like the deadly fuckers they are—but I know the truth.
He’s toying with them.
And he wants me to watch.
Fuck. That.
With every ounce of strength I have left, I force myself upright, screaming through clenched teeth. My body threatens to buckle. My vision blurs. Every nerve in my body screams in protest. I stagger. Almost fall. But I don’t.
Because I won’t go back.
I call my snake.
It takes longer than it ever has before—its body flickering like a dying flame—but it answers. Corrupted. Fading. But still mine.
Vaskyr turns, teeth flashing in a fucked up grin. “Didn’t expect anything less from you, Stray,” he murmurs, voice slick as oil.
I don’t give him time to say anything else.
My snake lunges, coiling around him, just long enough for me to slam into him and drive us both to the ground. I straddle his chest, fists already flying. My knees dig into his ribs. He just laughs.
And I break.
The world narrows to nothing more than his face. His scarred, twisted, all-too-human face. And Ihatethat it looks human.
My hands find his throat.
And Isqueeze.
“You don’t have the strength,” he chokes, blood bubbling up his throat. “You’re still mine.”
I scream—a raw, feral sound as I slam his skull into the dirt. Once. Twice. Again. Until the ground is red and bone begins to give.
“You took everything,” I snarl. “My name. My mind. My fucking soul.”
Blood runs from his mouth. He grins through it.
“You’re too late. The end’s already started.”
“Then you won’t live to see it.”
His grin doesn’t fade. “She’ll be the one who burns it all down.”
I freeze.
Lilith.
I don’t need to ask who he means.
I already know.
But whatever prophecy he thinks he’s delivering—whatever poison he’s trying to plant—it dies with him.
