“It’s not going to be enough!” Kimber shouts. “We were right!”
“Don’t say that like it’s a good thing right now, because Karma and I still can’t figure out how to fuse and Ella is psychotically blazing a trail through the—”
Fire sprays from overhead, shadows wafting over us with such power that I struggle harder to remain on my feet as Leah’s body lifts from the ground. The dragonites are late.
I can feel my energy waning, and I grit my teeth, forcing out every ounce I have on reserve.
Leah screams—but I have no idea if it’s her or the fucking demon inside her.
“Zee, don’t! She can take it!” I hear Kimber shouting from somewhere.
More fire blazes from overhead, just as two new streaks of power blast into Leah.
Kane and Alyssa walk up, eyes blazing as they hit her with all they have, but it’s not enough. I can feel Hannah inside her as she fights against it, her power pulsing back, weakening but not dying.
“We have to hurry! I don’t know how long Leah can wrestle for control!” someone is shouting near me.
I feel like I’m the only fucking one who doesn’t know what’s going on.
That’s when the beast takes over, and power rumbles through me, something inside me pouring out like I’ve never felt.
Chapter 38
LEAH
One step at a time, I listen to my breaths as I look out at the disaster that is happening differently from what we planned.
I twirl, letting my sword slash through one mindless drone after another, my heartbeat thudding in my ears as I recount every step of my life.
There’s a point in someone’s existence where they question everything they thought they knew. A point where they realize destiny isn’t written in the stars.
Now I realize destiny is just a chain of unavoidable circumstances we’re forced to face, regardless of the variables that may or may not change. It’s the decisions we make in those circumstances that decide our paths.
One thousand and one times, I chose the wrong path.
I became my ancestors.
But in the only time that matters, my eyes are colliding with a set I find vaguely familiar as I stare at the monster who was once my father. His soul is gone. All that remains in him is the blood of the First Aquarius.
It’s what I keep reminding myself as I charge him, sliding under his swinging sword that narrowly miss my throat.
With a quick spin, I turn, kicking out my foot, catching him in the back and sending him toppling forward. Pain shoots up my leg from the impact, but I block it out, concentrating only on him.
“Got your attention, you soulless freak,” I say under my breath, then wink at him. “That’s right. Eyes on me.”
He charges again, but before I can dodge him this time, something pulses out of him, momentarily paralyzing me, and in the next instant I’m airborne as agony rages through my body from the hit he delivers to my face.
Stars line the feathered edges of my dimming vision, and I heave for air as I slowly lift myself off the ground.
“Way stronger than calculated,” I wheeze, then roll away from him before he can stomp my head.
His grayish, bare foot lands next to me, and even though my body is aching all over from just one hit, I dematerialize and land behind him, sword in hand. But he hits me again before I can stab him, and I’m launched back, hitting the ground hard again.
Cursing as I bounce back to my feet, I try to shake it off, barely dodging his next attack.
“Where the fuck is Ella?” I shout to anyone close enough to answer me. But no one does.
A blur of motion distracts me for just a second, then suddenly I see a flash of blonde hair before the beast in front of me stops mid-swing, his eyes widening, and a choked sound escapes his lips.