Page 58 of Eternal Sacrifice
I fell into a deep well of never-ending darkness.
Jace
“Huh,”Isaid,lookingover at Jax and shrugging my shoulder. “I really thought she would come out.”
Justice had headed for the bar the moment she said she planned on spending the rest of the night in bed, but all I wanted to do was join her. But, considering we had invited Ryan and his pack out for the evening, it would be rude to just leave.
“We give her enough time to herself, right?” Jax asked.
“Usually, she doesn’t want time to herself. But maybe we need to make it a point not to always have someone with her. She’s more than powerful enough,” I said, worried that we had been smothering her in our attempt to keep her safe.
Guess that meant we were staying for a little longer.
Justice came over with a beaming smile. His lips were painted in glowing yellow that pulsed in time with the music.
“We will stay for another five minutes tops, then it’s time to crash Fox’s sleepover.”
“She wants time alone, Justice. We’ve been smothering her,” I said.
“Incorrect,” he said in an overly formal way. “She’s spent too much time with theotherdemons. She would have stayed in her gallery if she wanted more time away from us.”
I looked at Jax. He leaned back against a wall, his rune-covered arms across his chest. He raised an eyebrow at me as if asking if we wanted to accept Justice’s theory and head back to the palace now.
“Go get Jasper,” Jax said to Justice.
Justice smiled, his glowing lips spreading wide across his face like the smirk of a clown. He skipped away, his arms swinging as demons lunged out of his way as he cut through the middle of the room.
“Jasper is right there,” I pointed toward the bar. The opposite direction Justice went.
Jasper said something to Ryan before downing the rest of his drink. His eyes found Jax and me as he put the glass on the bar and started toward us.
“Justice said,” Jasper started, pointing to his head, “last one there only gets to watch.”
Jasper smiled before turning to run through the middle of the crowd the same way Justice had.
Jax and I looked at each other, and I realized that herealized;I was the fastest.
“Sorry, brother,” he said before digging his fingers into one of the spells inked on his skin. He pulled a bubble out and tossed it in my direction.
My hand shot out, but the bubble wrapped around me and sealed me inside. I looked out of it and noticed Jax was already gone. The demons in the room still stood with a path between them. They looked at me, knowing I would follow the moment I broke free.
I hit the shield with my fist, powering the strike with every mixture of power and ability I owned. My hand bounced off the surface as if it were made of rubber.
“Fuck this,” I breathed as the vibrating of my hand rattled some sense back into my mind. I turned to shadow and could pass through the shield and zip through the crowd before reforming.
I stepped out of DÆD and saw a narrow bridge leading straight into the palace. Jax was running at full demon speed, and I could faintly see the white of Justice’s hair fighting to stay in the lead.
Fire rained down on the path in front of Justice, causing him to slide to a stop. I saw Cole swooping through the air with Jasper on his back, taking the lead. Shaking my head, I laughed, knowing the demons were about to be beaten. Pulling on my vampire-given skill and using the deep well of power I now possessed, time stopped.
I ran.
I sped past Jax, his face frozen in determination, with his eyes fixed on Justice’s back. Justice’s eyes were wide, his yellow lips in a large “O” as he faced a ball of fire.
I jumped over Cole’s stiff flames blocking the path, running underneath the dragon that hung in the air. My shoes struck the ground in the lead, and time lurched into place.
I heard Justice’s garbled yell as the flame impacted his face.
Now all I needed to do was run, and I would beat them all. The doors to the palace opened for me as if Hell recognized I didn’t plan to slow. A thud sounded from behind as Jasper jumped off Cole’s back. The dragon continued its way through the palace doors.
