“Not at all.” Chloe smiled, sliding her free hand under Lucia’s chin, while her other one remained clamped around the back of the Empath’s neck. In one swift movement, Chloe jerked her hands in opposite directions, breaking the girl’s neck.
Liv and Necro gasped as Lucia’s body dropped in the dirt, her dark, lifeless eyes open as if she were staring at Angelique.
Chloe dusted off her hands casually. “I was never planning to fight her, Gigi. I just wanted you to watch her die. Consider it one last gift before you die.”
Angelique’s eyes changed from gold to bright yellow, like a comic book sun. “I’m going to burn the skin off your bones.”
“You made a mistake coming back here, Cataclyst. But I’ll enjoy adding your skull to my collection. You can keep your skin.” Chloe was only a few yards away now.
Angelique raised her arms skyward and began to chant. “From the mouth of the Dark Fire, bring me the heat of flame, the power of a nova, and the heat of a thousand burns. Give your Darkest daughter the power to control any fire.”
It sounded like a whole lot of Caster mumbo jumbo to Link, but something was happening, even if Link couldn’t figure out exactly what.
The Darkborns stopped moving. Every one of them—at exactly the same time.
They looked at one another, exchanging confused and questioning glances. And they weren’t the only ones.
“What are you doing?” Chloe shouted at them. “I didn’t tell you to stop!”
None of them moved or responded in any way, which made Link feel like he’d entered the Twilight Zone. Chloe opened her mouth to yell at them again, but her expression changed from anger to confusion before a single word left her lips. She was still coming, which was more than anyone could say about the rest of her Darkborns, but her movements were sluggish, like she was wading through swamp mud. The other Darkborns stood frozen in place, watching as Chloe pushed forward.
Chloe’s eyes met Angelique’s. “What are you doing, Caster? Is this one of your spells?” Chloe hissed.
“Wouldn’t you love to know? Unfortunately, I’m not in a sharing mood,” Angelique said, but judging by the expression on her face, she didn’t have any idea how she was controlling them, either.
“Get up!” Chloe screamed at her lackeys. A few of the more determined Darkborns struggled to sit up or stand, but none of them could move. “We are the most powerful Supernaturals that have ever walked the earth—born from the Dark Fire itself. Do not let her control you.”
The comment must’ve annoyed Angelique, because she closed her hands, then flung open her fingers again. The Darkborns’ bodies flew backward, some falling into the flames while others rolled into them across the ash-covered grass.
Angelique held up her hands and wiggled her fingers, as if she still couldn’t believe she was the cause of all this. “Well, that’s new.”
Sampson stared in shock. “No one can control a Darkborn.”
“Except me,” the Cataclyst said.
The Darkborns surrounding Floyd looked stunned, too. They were whispering to one another and backing away—taking her right along with them.
“Angelique!” Link pointed.
The Cataclyst closed her hand like she was the one strangling Floyd. Then she opened it again slowly, and the hand around Floyd’s neck opened along with hers.
Sampson threw his body forward to lunge for Floyd, but he was moving more slowly, too. But John still had his speed, and he caught Floyd’s arm, yanking her away from the Darkborns, who didn’t seem like they could move when Angelique aimed her fingers—and whatever power she was using—at them.
Sampson winced. “Would you mind aiming your tractor beam away from me?”
Angelique turned her wrist enough to allow Sam to step out of her path.
“She’s controlling their bodies,” Necro said. “Like they’re puppets.”
“You’re all my puppets,” Angelique purred. “Don’t feel left out. You’re equally pointless to me.”
“Well, one a your puppets is headed this way.” Link nodded in Chloe’s direction.
Chloe the Butcher was still trudging toward them, even though she wasn’t moving much faster than Ethan’s Great-Aunt Mercy, who was around a hundred years old by Link’s calculations.
“The Dark Fire,” Liv whispered to herself. “That has to be it.”
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Necro asked, leaning over Liv’s journal.
“I think I know why she can control them.”
Angelique raised an eyebrow and looked at Liv. “Do tell.”
Sampson waited anxiously for Liv’s answer. He looked like Superman after he opened a box and realized it was full of kryptonite.
“She’s not controlling the Darkborns,” Liv explained. “She’s controlling fire—the Dark Fire that’s part of them.”
Angelique smiled. “Clever girl. You might be worth keeping around.”
“You’re saying she can control our bodies because we were created by the Dark Fire?” Sam asked.
Necro looked up from the journal. “Exactly.”
It was all the information Angelique needed. She focused her gaze and her fingers at Chloe, opening and closing her hand like she was crushing a beer can.
Chloe’s knees buckled, and she cried out in pain. The Darkborn writhed on the ground, the flames rising up behind her. “I’m not afraid of you, Cataclyst.” She choked out the words. “Silas made you, and he can destroy you.”
“Just like I can destroy you.” The Dark Caster’s eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t have killed Lucia.”
“Enough with the threats. If you were going to kill me, you would’ve done it already,” Chloe said as her cheek hit the dirt.
Angelique laughed. “Don’t be silly. It’s never too late for murder.”
CHAPTER 24: NOX
Pull Me Under
Silas backed away from Ridley slowly, his confused expression replaced by a sadistic smile.
Seeing her standing outside the cell should’ve worried him, but Silas was taking something else away from all this—something Nox hadn’t figured out yet.
The Darkborns practically tripped over themselves trying to get away, and Nox couldn’t blame them. He’d never seen an illusion that realistic, one that actually made you feel like the walls were closing in on you.
Or one that actually made the walls close in on you.
Rid wasn’t just an Illusionist anymore.
Part Siren.
Part Shifter. Part Illusionist.
He wasn’t sure what else, but Silas hadn’t held back and it was a game changer. A new game for a New Order, with a new Ravenwood dealing a new deck.
Whatever Silas had done to Rid had amped up the normal level of Caster powers.
Silas tipped an imaginary hat to Ridley, who was still standing just outside her cell. “Imagine what you’ll be able to do after the next infusion, my dangerous girl.” He backed down the hallway, as if still under Rid’s influence. “So many different Casters to choose from … Palimpsest, Thaumaturge, Evo, Empath. The possibilities are endless.”
The thought of Silas shooting Ridley up with another set of powers made Nox shudder, but the expression on Ridley’s face made it clear that she didn’t share his revulsion.
With her violet eyes glowing and her lips parted, she looked almost euphoric.
We’ll be long gone before Silas gets his hands on you again. And I’ll find a way to fix all this.
Nox pulled himself up off the ground and stumbled toward Ridley.
She caught him as he fell against her. Silas’ guards had broken at least one of his ribs for sure.
Ridley touched his face. “Did they hurt you, Baby?”
The way she said Baby, like he was the only person she could’ve been talking about, made his heart race.
He nodded, wincing. “I’m okay. But we have to get out of here while we can. Whatever you did to Silas will wear off eventually, and then he’ll be back.”
She studied his face like she was trying to memorize every detail. “If he comes back, I’ll give him another taste of my powers. Trust me, Silas Ravenwood can’t hurt us. No one can.”
“Maybe that’s true, but we don’t need to stay down here locked up like animals to prove a point.” Nox turned toward the hallway that led away from the cells, her hand curled inside his.
Ridley’s fingers slipped from between his. Nox tried to catch them, but when he turned around, he realized it wasn’t an accident.
She was standing inside her cell again.
“Rid, no!” He started toward her, moving as fast as he could with his ribs jabbing him.