Page 147 of The Star's Sword

I saw a tendril of light extend out to me from one of them, and even though I dodged back, it locked on.

I screamed, instantly, at the pain that went through me, at the light I saw moving down the inside of my arm and into the beam toward the creature.

I jerked back, flying through the creatures behind me.

But suddenly I fell into something solid and hard. I turned to see that one of the light balls hadn’t moved or split for me, and the person inside it had grabbed me by the shoulders.

So they did have forms.

I shoved my night sword forward into their chest, and the light in them flared, and then faded.

Leaving them just a figure made of void.

It was hard to explain it. Like an outline of a person made of utter nothingness and darkness.

And a sick feeling instantly hit me being close.

I reached out, wanting to touch this void-like substance that was in a humanoid shape with wings.

The instant my finger hit, I was cold all over, like for a second, I was instantly dead.

Then images flooded me, things so dark and twisted I instantly screamed at the horror of them.

I saw this creature descending, taking human form. I saw it moving through demon lines, destroying cities, moving with others like it.

I saw the camps.

I closed my eyes and pulled back, knowing I would never recover from what I’d been exposed to, just getting a flash of the memories of one of them.

The void figure slowly began to brighten again, light showing around its edges and then enveloping it.

“You are not the Morningstar, wolf,” a deep voice echoed, as an even bigger light ball came toward me, blocking my view of Samael. “He has ninth realm blood and demon blood. He is.”

I shook my head. “I think your brain has gone goofy from eating your children.”

The light flared then faded, and the other stars laughed.

“Youth serves no purpose but to give life to the powerful,” the light ball in front of me said. “Demon young would only grow into demons, wasting powerful lifeblood.”

I looked at the light balls around me. There looked to be at least a hundred, lit up all around the sky around me.

There had to be a way to end them.

I thought of Cayne, who wanted me to use my lasers. Zadis, who had given Samael serum. Simon, who hoped to restore his body.

But still, my body hesitated, every cell in me wanting to die rather than even think of causing harm to Samael.

But I could sense already that there might only be one thing inside me that could defeat them.

And to do that, I’d have to be willing, and want, to see ninth realm power be completely erased.

And Samael was passed out. There wasn’t even time to say goodbye. If this went bad, if I couldn’t have him, if I couldn’t save him…

My heart was pounding, pain filling my entire body at the thought of what I had to do next.

What I had no way to avoid, if I wanted to have freedom in our world.

If I hesitated, Samael might die anyway. If I didn’t hesitate, it might be the end of the only person that ever made me happy.

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