Page 123 of Gates of Rapture
She wasn’t sure yet what she meant to do or even what she could do, but before she could act or even contact her obsidian sisters, Greaves threw something at her and a searing pain sliced through her shoulder.
She turned to look at the source of the pain, but movement was incredibly difficult and hurt like hell.
Her right shoulder was now pinned to the wood headboard with a long thick dagger.
A loud, heavy growl flowed through the room, a beast enraged, and Leto began flinging powerful hand-blasts at Greaves one after the other.But Greaves barely broke a sweat as he met each one with the open palms of his hands, apparently absorbing all that energy.
My God, the power Greaves had.
Get out of here, Grace!Leto shouted within her mind.Do what you can to escape.Now.
She reached for the knife and, grinding her teeth, pulled it out.She screamed and fell forward.She tried to fold but couldn’t, just as Greaves promised.She didn’t know what to do, or what else she could do given the situation.And she was in so much pain her mind had turned to mush.
But she had to focus.She worked at ordering her thoughts.What about her power to acquire abilities?Could she somehow make use of it now, in this terrible situation?
Maybe if she joined forces with Leto, but my God her shoulder her hurt.She could barely move her arm.
She reached deep for her healing abilities.Her obsidian power amplified them so that the wound began to close.She whimpered in relief.
And what of obsidian flame?Could she bring her obsidian sisters through Greaves’s shroud?
She sent a telepathic message to Fiona, but even though her obsidian power was in play, it couldn’t pass through the shroud.The same with Marguerite.
She looked up.Leto seemed to be holding his ground, still flinging hand-blasts, but for how long?
***
Leto hurled the hand-blasts one after the other, as though his desperation to keep Grace safe had amplified his power.But for all that, Greaves met each blast effortlessly.At least the swiftness of the blasts did keep Greaves from attacking Grace again.But why did she remain on the bed?
“I see you have a new form,” Greaves said.
Leto didn’t answer.Anger fed his power, and he flicked his wrist three times and rushed power at Greaves.
But his former master shunted them aside.“Your abilities have expanded.”
“Yes.So has my motivation.I want to live now.I didn’t before.”
“You should always be prepared to die.”
“Fuck off.”He shunted a couple of Greaves’s hits aside while powering up.But he felt Grace’s presence suddenly and simply allowed her to enter his soul very deep.He knew what she was after and felt her acquire the same power.
Good thinking,he sent as he flipped another blast at Greaves.
As soon as she left, and he could sense her reshaping her powers, he hit Greaves with all he had.Grace joined him.
Grace’s unexpected blasts struck Greaves in the chest, and he flew back against the wall by the fireplace.Leto knew better than to stop, and Grace must have had the same idea because they advanced on him and rained hand-blasts at him in quick succession.His body jerked and started to smoke until finally he fell limp.
Leto moved to stand over him.Was this possible?Had he and Grace together defeated the monster?
Grace approached him.“Is he dead?I can’t believe we might have actually killed him?Is he dead?”
The answer came swiftly as the body vanished and Greaves called to them.“Come, come, my children.Did you think killing me would be so simple?Or that even together you had enough combined power to destroy me?”
As Leto turned, Grace with him, the next blast flowed over Leto’s body like a sheet of molten ore, heavy and burning hot.This time he was thrown against the same wall, and Grace with him.He had no illusions about what had just happened.This blow would finish them both.All Greaves had to do now was bring in his death vampires.
So was this how it would end for him and for his woman, smashed up against the wall, in the same place Greaves had just inhabited?
He opened his eyes to slits.He could manage nothing more.Grace was in a heap next to him, her limbs bent at weird angles and blood flowing from her nose and mouth.He smelled burning flesh.He tried to reach her mind, but nothing was there.
