Page 51 of The Fallen
Reaching back, I wrap my arm around Ben, making sure he’s on his feet. If we have to run, I can’t be wasting seconds pulling him up.
Ben plasters himself to my back, burying his face between my shoulder blades. His fingers dig into my side, and he’s shaking so hard it feels like I have a body-sized tuning fork behind me.
“Ben is mine,” Dimitri screams. “You do not touch what is mine.”
Magic shoots toward us, that oily blackness snapping forward, and I throw up my arms, protection glyphs flaring brightly, but Dimitri is too strong. The warding buckles,pressure building inside my skull as the black tentacles hammer against my magic.
Asenath streaks forward, claws fully extending as he goes for a full-frontal attack. The tether between us thrums with power, and I can practically feel the lust pouring off Asenath. At first, I think he’s slashing at Dimitri, but then I realize he’s trying to get close enough to the man to get skin-to-skin contact.
Because clearly lusty Dimitri is better than homicidal Dimitri? I’m not going to disagree on that.
I push Ben to the side, away from the fight going on around the woman’s body, and then freeze, my gaze falling on the slowly breathing form on the ground. Any time Asenath gets close to the woman, Dimitri’s tentacles drive him away.
A lone tentacle tries to penetrate my shielding, agony lancing through my temple at the onslaught. No one warned me that shields will channel all attacks into literal physical pain.
My attention darts between Asenath and the woman, and I make up my mind. I lean Ben against the wall, even though ignoring the panic in his eyes is like getting a punch straight to the stomach.
Keeping an eye on the fight, which has made its way off the platform and into the center aisle of the nave, I dash over to the woman. Bile fills my mouth as I stare down at her, the metallic scent of blood very noticeable now that I’m leaning over her.
Her one eye that I can see is staring up at me, pleading. I can’t let her down. She doesn’t deserve this horror and there’s definitely no way to save her. Adrenaline rushes through me, making my heart feel like it’s tripping over itself as I figure out a way to end this. And there’s only one way that I can see.
I have to end the woman’s suffering. She’s the catalyst for Dimitri’s power, giving him what he needs to complete his spell. And I can’t let that happen. But how? There’s nothing closeenough to use as a weapon and I can’t see myself ripping her heart in two.
One of the pews near the front of the nave explodes, and I flinch away as splintered wood rains down on me. Well, guess when I ask, the universe is going to supply. An arm’s length away is a piece of the pew, one side ending in a jagged tip.
I grab it, ignoring the splinters digging into my palm as I position it above the open chest of the woman, her beating heart mere inches from the end of the wood.
I glance over at the fight, my stomach clenching to see Asenath wrapped in those shadow tentacles, one set of claws burying themselves into Dimitri’s side. The tentacles are hurting him, I can feel an echo of the pain through our bond, and the anger that’s been simmering in my chest bursts out.
“Hey Dimitri,” I say loudly, my fury giving me far more confidence than I actually have. “Go fuck yourself.” Yeah, not original, but it gets his attention.
His eyes widen comically and he drops Asenath, rushing forward to stop me.
But my hands are already moving, driving the wood downward. The tip pierces the woman’s heart, and I’m momentarily surprised at how tough it is to get the impromptu stake into the muscle. I figure it would be no different than stabbing a steak, but it is. I push down with all my strength, twisting the piece of wood to ensure as much damage as possible.
“What have you done?” Dimitri screams, just as the power being stored within the woman explodes outward.
I skid backward, hitting the wall as a wind whips through the church.
Asenath jumps away from Dimitri, blood spraying outward as he rips his claws from the mage’s stomach. Dimitri doesn’tnotice, his neon green eyes widening as the gale circles him, a roar growing louder.
Asenath reaches my side, one hand grasping my arm as he tugs me back. “Run. We have to run,” he yells into my ear.
I can’t tear my gaze away from Dimitri. Those glowing eyes meet mine, narrowing in fury, but an ear-splitting ripping noise grabs his attention.
A black tear opens behind him, the wind howling louder as if it’s getting sucked into that void. Inhuman screams echo from the other side of the tear, guttural cries that sound hungry and very, very angry.
Dimitri takes a step towards us, but Asenath wraps one arm around my waist and jerks me backward. In a panic, I grab hold of Ben’s arm, pulling him with me as Asenath drags us off the platform and through the door we originally entered.
Dimitri screams, the cacophony coming from the tear drowning out his words. I’m sort of thankful for that. I have no interest in hearing what he has to say.
The noise gets louder, making it impossible to hear what Asenath is saying. All I do is keep my death grip on Ben as we stumble farther down the hallway.
Then there’s silence.
I didn’t realize how much of a physical burden that oily magic had been until the sudden absence of it has me falling to my knees. And Dimitri was tapped into that power. No wonder he was crazy.
Ben pulls away from me and I let him, my body shaking as the adrenaline dissipates. Fuck, I feel like I’m going to crash.
