Page 21 of The Clash of the Damned
My mind screams at me to stop and help my friends. I jerk as my arm is caught on something, my bracelet hooked on a piece of wood that looks like it could have been part of a chair. When I pull to release my arm, the bracelet stays behind. I picture Sloane putting the bracelet on me, and I remember needing to think it wasn’t important. I may be under her control now, but something is different. I’ve never remembered before. Either way, when I get out of this, I’m going to fucking kill her.
Jayden, Luca, and Amelia do their best to keep the humans at bay without getting overwhelmed. Jayden and Amelia resort to breaking necks and punching humans while they wait for weapons as Luca rips out the throat of anyone who gets too close. Druids, she’s lethal when she doesn’t hold back. Blood drips down her chin and coats her hands.
“You’re going to help me, Jude. You’re the most susceptible to influence. You’re worn out and emotional, which makes you easier to control. Your psyche is mine, and if you’re not careful, I’ll break it permanently. Using you to do our dirty work is poetic justice, really. No one will ever see it coming, and it gives my people a better chance of surviving this.”
Mentally, I scream in frustration as I trip over more humans crowding the room. I pick my wolf form and try to shift, but nothing happens. “This is like the warehouse!” Sebastian shouts at Amelia as he and Dom run back into the room. He throws Amelia a gun, and makes to throw one at Luca. She glares at him and holds up her bloodied hands in reminder. “My bad,” Sebastian says as he turns and fires at the approaching humans.
“While they may be human, they’re being controlled so you can’t reason with them,” Amelia explains in between shots from Luca and Dom. “Even if you kill them, they’ll keep coming.” She ducks before she continues firing and reloads a clip. “Since I imagine blowing up your house is not an option, Dom,” she shoots another human, “we need to cut the magic off at the source.” She looks around wildly, trying to come up with something and pauses for a moment too long. One of the humans grabs her arm, tearing into her skin. She screams in agony as Luca throws herself into the fray to defend her, ripping out the assailant’s throat in seconds.
“I would like to see them recover from a missing throat,” she says after spitting out the remains.
Luca helps Amelia up while Sebastian and Jayden cover them. Amelia tries her best to staunch the blood flow while reloading another clip. She turns to Dom. “They’re all wearing necklaces. I would bet my life that it’s what controls their movements. Find a spell to get rid of the necklaces! We will cover you!” Everyone moves to defend Dom, but they’re not quick enough as two humans get through the fray and tackle him.
“Dom!” Sebastian shouts, trying to get to him. We also underestimated Dom as he starts swinging fists, defending himself just fine. Throwing the last human off him through the window, Dom switches to magic. Waving his hands through the air, he creates multiple colors, shimmering in the air as bodies drop around us.
Finally, I’m close enough to my friends, and I lurch for Luca, but my movements lack their normal grace, the spell making my moves sluggish. I begin to understand the differences between Sloane’s and Dom’s magic. Because I’m no longer wearing her bracelet, her Siphoner magic is runningout, which means the spell will too, whereas her spells on me before were impossible to resist.
Luca hesitates in front of me. Normally, neither of us would fight each other, and this situation is something we’re unsure of how to handle. But the magic decides for me, and I lunge for her neck, but she dodges at the last moment. Giving up, I change tactics and set my sights on Amelia. “Bring it on, bitch. I’ve been waiting for this.” She holds her gun up and points it at my head. Sebastian pushes her out of the way and stands in my line of vision. The magic of the spell controlling me changes course for him. He holsters his gun and lifts his hands. The dead humans rise and come at us again, soundless, unstoppable.
Screaming in my head, I beg for him to fight, anything. But he doesn’t. I have some control back, but not enough. Sloane set us to kill, and I can do nothing to stop it. Instinctively, Sebastian seems to know this, and wants to embrace the death he’s been able to avoid until now. “No!” Amelia screams. “What are you doing? Fight, you bastard!” Luca grabs Amelia around her waist and pulls her away from us, but she keeps kicking and screaming, trying to get to us.
Staring into Sebastian’s eyes, I don’t see the pain he’s caused me. I only see the love we shared, the love that made me feel invincible, untouchable, like there was nothing I couldn’t do with him by my side. I know he won’t fight me. A tear escapes, seemingly of my own choice, and my hands shift to claws, lining up with his heart against his chest. “I love you, Jude. I never got the chance to tell you that. I understand why Kyla embraced death for those she loves now. Loving you has been the best part of my life, and I will never stop.” He stops talking as my claws cut through his muscle, into the chest cavity that protects his still beating heart. I imagine that gettinghis heart ripped out of his chest is excruciating, and his face is a grimace of pain. The only sign of pain as he doesn’t shout. I ignore everyone and see Sebastian’s face in front of me, the only thing in my world.
He mouths ‘I love you’ one last time before my world goes dark.
Chapter 16 | Bed Chem
Jude
Blinding light explodes across my closed eyes. Groaning, I turn and attempt to go back to sleep, except, the area below me is a lot harder than my bed, and my movement awakens the worst headache of my life. It feels like someone has taken a jackhammer to my temples. With my eyes still closed, I feel around with my hand, trying to get a sense of my surroundings. I crack one eye open, but that’s a mistake as pain shoots through my head. Shutting my eyes quickly, I wait for a few moments before I repeat the process a few times, until I’m able to withstand the pain. When I finally am able to keep my eyes open for longer than a few seconds, I see Sebastian sitting close to me, staring off into the distance.
“Where are we?” I manage to push myself into a sitting position. My fingers flex in the cool grass beneath me as I figure out where we are.
“You’re awake!” Sebastian exhales in relief. He runs his fingers through his hair. “We’re outside the city. Logan found this place for me when I needed to get away from all the death. It’s the one place that helps me fight off the darkness. I brought you here because I thought it could help you fight off some of your darkness too.”
Logan is the one part of Sebastian’s life we rarely discuss, like he can protect her from everyone that way. Even though I know I’m supposed to be angry at him, I remember that much, and I can’t help softening my face at his admission. “I take it you and Logan are closer than we all realize?”
“I don’t know if I would have made it this far without her.” Sebastian’s eyebrows crease. “Why didn’t you tell me about your memory issue? I would have helped you. I always will, no matter what.”
This is the first time he and I have been alone since the sitdown. No empire’s, no heirs, no one watching us. It’s like we can leave all the bullshit behind us, and just be us here. It doesn’t stop the sigh of frustration that escapes me. This is the last thing I want to deal with when it feels like I have a hangover from death. “It sends mixed messages to the Druids. I can’t keep running back to you when things get difficult. If I need help with something, I have to turn to Jayden now.” Sebastian’s jaw flexes, the only sign at how much he hates my answer, and I try to change the subject, in an effort to keep us from resorting to our normal bickering pattern. “What happened after Sloane ran? I’m struggling to remember.”
“Dom had to knock you out with his magic. He theorized that Sloane’s magic was running out, and if he forced his magic in, he could push whatever remained of hers out. We didn’t know how you would respond to the two types of magic fighting for control of you, along with your own abilities, so to be safe, we knocked you out.”
“That’s why I feel like I have the worst hangover of my life.” They had no way of knowing about the bracelet, and how their excessive amount of magic wasn’t needed. Sharing that won’t change the outcome, but I can’t help being impressed they were able to come up with that while underattack. It’s exactly the kind of thing leaders of an empire should be capable of.
Everything starts coming back to me with how I’ve been under Sloane’s control for weeks. The only reason last night wasn’t the same, was because the bracelet got torn off. That was what held her spell in place. But more importantly, I finally heard the words I have wanted to hear from Sebastian. He loved me then, and he still loves me now. There were times I was desperate to hear the words, and now that I know the truth, it’s enough to break me. Focusing on the beautiful blanket of pink and white flowers in the meadow in front of me, I search for a change of subject. “Are our friends even alive? Or did you kill them too, like you did to my parents?”
That’s a cheap shot, considering what we’ve just survived, but the words slip out before I can stop, and I can’t take them back.
He nods. “Once Dom was able to disintegrate all the totems, the humans that were still alive became themselves again. They had no idea how they got there, but we were able to convince them to go home through compulsion from Dom. He convinced them they went on a bender. Nothing to be done about the dead humans though, so Clark came in to help cover that up.”
He completely ignores my comment about the parents, and at first, I don’t know if I’m relieved to be given another chance, or annoyed that he isn’t answering me. I deserve answers after everything we’ve been through.
“Why didn’t you fight? How could you give up so easily?” I demand as I slam my hands against his chest and back down when I see him flinch. The tear marks in his shirt and blood stains on his chest are a reminder of how close I came to losing him for good.
“Sorry, I’m not fully healed yet. Your claws were close to my heart. The more severe the injury, the longer the healing time.” He pauses. “You really want to do this now?”
“You’re damn fucking right we’re doing it now. How can you give up after everything you’ve put us through?” I plead with him. I need to understand. “You broke us, Sebastian! Lie after lie comes out of your mouth.” I choke back a sob, refusing to let him take another one of my tears.
