Fractured Souls by Ava Marie Salinger
44
Morgan felledwar demon after war demon, his arms aching as he carved their bodies into pieces with his Stark Steel sword and his blade of shadows. Still the monsters came, their numbers never ending. He panted and wiped the sweat from his brow. Relief flooded him when he caught a glimpse of Cassius’s pale hair and armored body where the Empyreal fought Chester by the altar.
Thank God! Chester can’t kill him easily when he’s in that form!
Jasper cursed as a war demon slashed his back with his claws. Reuben was there in the next second, his blade ripping through the enemy, a terrifying scowl darkening his face even as his skin throbbed with seraphic light.
Blood and sweat trickled down Adrianne’s left temple as she and Brianna strengthened Bailey’s defensive magic. The pale shield shuddered violently under the war demons’ attacks where it rose some ten feet above them. The humans Chester had wanted to sacrifice trembled and whimpered beneath it, their glazed eyes locked on the unholy battle unfolding around them.
Two winged shapes shot down from the cliff at the far end of the cave and smashed into a group of monsters trying to rip through the magical barrier.
“Where the hell have you guys been?!” Adrianne yelled at Zach and Julia.
“Having a picnic!” Zach cleaved a war demon’s head from its chest with his water-sheathed blade and glared at Adrianne. “What else did you think we were doing?!”
“There were sandwiches and lemonade!” Julia grunted as she squeezed a war demon’s throat with her bare hand. “And, oh yeah, a fuck load of sorcerers to take care of!” She looked grimly around the cavern. “Drinks are on me if we survive this.”
“Are you guys always this thrilled to see one another?” Brianna asked leadenly.
Bailey grimaced. “Sometimes, there are tears.”
“Yeah, tears of pain,” Adrianne muttered darkly.
“Will you assholes focus?!” Jasper roared, chest heaving and blood dripping off his sword. “There’s a sorcerer hiding somewhere in here. He’s the one summoning all these war demons. We need to find the bastard and kill him!”
Resonance throbbed across Morgan’s skin. The black wind trembled, the currents rising from his flesh to sniff the air for prey. Morgan’s gaze found a shadowy recess next to an outcrop some fifty feet to his left.
“Cover me!” he shouted at Julia.
* * *
Cassius smashed asidethe corrupt sphere Chester cast at him with a flick of his blazing sword, the blood in the pool sizzling and steaming under his armored boots as he advanced toward the warlock backpedaling across the ground.
This time, he was aware of who he was, just as he was faintly conscious that the raw energy coursing through him was not that of an angel. But here and now were not the right place and moment to ponder such things.
“Who is your master?” Cassius said.
His voice rang across the cave, raising faint cracks on the walls and bringing a shower of dirt down from the ceiling.
Terror widened the warlock’s eyes. It was replaced by rage.
“I will never reveal his name!” Chester snarled.
Sweat beaded his ashen face as he called on his dwindling soul-core magic. Another black spear left his hand.
Cassius shifted to the side, the lance flashing harmlessly past him. “This will not be like the alley, Chester. You will not win this fight. Now, tell me what I want to know!”
Lightning crackled as he raised his sword and brought it down. Chester yelped and darted behind the cover of the altar, the blade missing him by an inch.
“Your master has abandoned you.”Cassius frowned and walked around the dais. “You are on your—”
He stopped, his fist tightening on his blade. A triumphant sneer lit Chester’s face as he climbed shakily to his feet, Loki dangling limply from his hand.
“Stay back!” he snapped, holding the cat up defensively before him. “Stay back or I’ll kill the Keeper of the Key!”
Movement above the altar captured Cassius’s gaze. Something was happening to the fractured souls. The thirteen globes were throbbing and quivering. His eyes widened as they started to merge.
“Yes! Finally!” Chester hissed. “Come to me, Master!”
The warlock tilted his head back and closed his eyes, his expression turning rapturous. The shadows around him intensified.
Cassius tensed. He discerned the presence of another rising from within the warlock. One whose essence was made of pure darkness.
A faint whimper escaped Loki. Cassius met the imp’s slit-like gaze, his pulse thundering in his veins. The moment to act was now.
“Do you trust me?”
Loki blinked once.
Cassius frowned, drew his arm back, and drove his sword straight through Loki’s body and into Chester’s heart. Blood gushed from the cat’s mouth. He closed his eyes and sagged, motionless.
Chester stood frozen at the end of Cassius’s blade, his body rigid.
Cassius stiffened as the warlock released the body of the cat, gripped the lightning-wreathed sword with both hands, and slowly lowered his head. Awareness exploded inside Cassius’s consciousness as he met the warlock’s eyes.
The man staring at him was not Chester Moran.
“You should have destroyed his soul core,” the stranger said with a vicious smile through Chester’s mouth.
Pain stabbed Cassius’s temples at the sound of his voice, sharp and sudden. He sucked in air, his vision scattering with dark spots and his fingers growing weak on the handle of his sword.
What the—?!
“That’s the memory spell taking effect,” the man said conversationally. “It’s trying to stop you from remembering who I am.” He chuckled as he took the Eternity Key from the altar. “Oh, what sweet delight this is! I get to make you suffer once more!”
His last words came out a wicked hiss.
Cassius blinked sweat from his vision. The pounding in his head was getting worse. Bile flooded the back of his throat.
Darkness throbbed across the cave. Dread filled Cassius. He turned his head, his body moving sluggishly.
The fractured souls had merged and were sinking into the altar. The dais split, cleaved neatly in two by the power contained within the throbbing sphere. A thin, black spot exploded where the souls met the obsidian floor.
The blood on the altar and in the pool flowed toward the inky dot as it absorbed the bright globe. Cassius gagged as the phenomenon slurped up the crimson liquid, its hunger all too evident. The spot expanded and lengthened, forming a thin line that started to spread across the floor.
Fear twisted Cassius’s stomach.
The Nether! It’s opening!