Page 78 of Unbound

Fuck.

I can’t fight him like this. Our best option is getting out. But I can’t leave my brothers unconscious on the ground. I gather everything inside me and throw out both hands. A wall of telekinetic force slams into Vivian. Her body flies backward several yards and rolls across the pavement.

I turn toward Antonio and Leo. Maybe I can hit them with enough energy to wake them— Then it hits me. Marie said Vaelric needs a conduit. He has the power. Someone else has to wield it. My heart stops.

If his power can flow through someone else… Then maybe I can take it. The thought is reckless.

Possibly suicidal.

But I don’t have another option. I don’t need enough to kill him. I just need enough to hurt him. Enough to break his hold. Enough to get us out of here alive.

“Stay down,” I tell Claire.

I straighten as Vaelric gets back on his feet. He raises both hands. Dark clouds of magic gather around his palms. Then he throws them at me. I put up my hands and summon a shield.

The black energy slams into it and ricochets toward the ground, sizzling against the pavement before dissolving into smoke. I have no idea how to siphon someone else’s power. I don’t know how to wield dark magic. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.

All I know is there’s rage inside me. Fear. Desperation. And I let all of it guide me. I throw my hands forward and open myself the same way I do when I summon energy from around me.

Only this time, I reach for him.

Not Vivian.

The thing inside her.

I stare directly into her eyes.

Past her.

Words form in my mind. A spell I’ve never learned. I say them anyway. “Potestas tua, ad me veni. Quod tenes, mihi da. Vinculum frange. Tenebras tuas ad me trahe. Per me fluat. Per me pareat.” Whispers rise around me. Not one voice. Dozens.

Vivian’s body goes rigid. My breath catches. I have him. I step closer. Grab Vivian’s hand and keep chanting. Dark power pours into me. My entire body starts to hum. It feels wrong. Cold and electric at the same time. Too much. Then I feel something else.

A heartbeat. It’s weak, but it’s there. Vivian. She’s alive. Really alive. And suddenly I understand exactly what I’m doing. The power I’m pulling from Vaelric is moving through her. And every bit I take is taking something from Vivian too.

Her life.

What Marie said the Crone did: death magic. She stole life for selfish reasons. For power. For immortality. I’m doing it to save us. To save Claire. To keep the Crone locked inside the Bellamy prison. But that doesn’t erase the cost.

Vivian’s pulse weakens beneath my fingers.

I know I should stop. I don’t. I let go of her hand and stumble backward. Dark clouds of energy swirl around my body. I spread my arms and let it build. Then I throw everything forward. The force slams into Vivian’s chest. Her body arches violently, like she’s been struck by lightning. The smell of sulfur fills the air. She convulses once. Then collapses. But Vaelric doesn’t fall with her.

A dark, smoky shape tears free from her body.

For the first time, I see him without a human face. Not clearly. Just an outline. Something massive and wrong. I take whatever power remains inside me and throw it at him. I bring my hands together and then rip them apart, like tearing something open from the inside.

The shadow bursts. Black smoke explodes around us, and the smell of sulfur becomes overwhelming. Vaelric lets out a screech that seems to vibrate through my bones.

Then he disappears.

Vivian lies motionless on the ground.

“Is he dead?” Claire asks.

Her voice is barely above a whisper.

“No.”