Page 40 of V for Vengeance

“Guess we’re on our own,” I grumbled angrily. Her face twisted with confusion, but I grabbed her by the jaw and forced our eyes to meet. “I need you to listen carefully, V. We have oneshot at this. You’ll need to use all that incredible power inside you to get us out of this alive. I’ve…Well, I’ve used too much of mine already.”

V seemed genuinely surprised to hear it. “That can happen to you? Wait, what do you mean? How?”

I licked my lips, uncomfortable and running out of time. “I’ll explain after we get through this, but I need you to focus. Do you see that cloaked line and the woman with pale blonde hair in the dead center of it? She’s the one we want to kill. She’s…like you and me, a Chaos Fae.”

“You and me?” Her eyes widened with recognition. “You’re a Chaos Fae?!”

“V, focus. We can talk about all of that later. All you need to know is that she controls the dead. Those cloaked figures are likely Fae she’s already killed. She can use their power, and you’ll never know what they can do until it’s happening to you. So, I need you to use that awesome power of yours and freeze time.”

V didn’t speak, just listened. I was so glad that unlike that dolt of a mentor of hers who ran his mouth every chance he got, she knew when to be quiet and listen.

“We’ll need everything—the hellfire and deactivation ability. She’s got Siren skin, so physical attacks are pointless. First, use your hellfire to burn the dead and deactivate her Siren skin. Then we’ll be able to decapitate her and end the battle before it starts. It’s risky to use everything, but anything less and she’ll kill you. Stop time now.”

Her hazel eyes were wide with shock, but like she was trained to do, it was only a moment before she moved into action. The world around us came to a halt. Except, something was different this time as V flitted through the crowd like lightning.

I followed, my whip out just in case. V focused on Serine, her face distorted with concentration.

“Have you deactivated—” I started to ask, but before I could finish my question, time moved again.

It wasn’t clear what happened at first or why V was suddenly behind Cassius, but the line of cloaked Fae were brought to their knees. Smoky magic wrapped around each one and bound them to their black prison. A blink later, each one caught fire. I didn’t have time to question it. Hellfire burned Serine’s cloaked army to ash in seconds, and V removed a dagger from her belt. Her fangs caught the light, and I knew by the look she gave Serine she was ready to do whatever it took to kill her.

Now was the time to act. I’d leave my questions for later.

Serine looked left and right, confused, but she wasn’t one to let a moment get to her. Lime-green magic washed the crowd and every single creature in that room was taken to the floor.

Weight hit my stomach.

V hadn’t managed to deactivate her abilities. The lethal Chaos Fae still had control over the dead. It was clear she’d do whatever it took to get her hands on V.

Fucking shit.

I barely reacted with a shield in time to reflect Serine’s magical attack. Both Cassius and V seemed unharmed when the green died out and everyone collapsed onto the floor. It was just the four of us facing off, but I knew all too well what came next—and it wasn’t fucking good. She’d used the last of her power to get the edge, and if we didn’t act quickly, we’d be fucked by numbers alone.

“V!” I yelled out, trying to warn her before everyone who’d come to that underground space was on their feet and attacking us.

All two hundred of them.

Chapter 21

Smooshing & Dior

I’d gotten used to being battered with more information than my head could process. I mean, at the end of the day, I was still just a girl out of high school. But it’d apparently hit me so hard that I couldn’t make my abilities work.

And I’d nearly paid for it.

Maybe most surprising was how quickly Cash appeared to do what I couldn’t. He hadn’t run like Jo claimed. He was nearby plotting. But a part of me always knew he wouldn’t leave me in a deadly situation, not after tonight. It was hard to explain, but our night had changed the way I saw him.

Weirder things have happened to me, I guess.

Looking over at the platinum-blonde fashionista, I barely caught a word he said, “Love, it’s simple. Set every single one of them on fire. Like that she-devil said, they’re dead. Fire’s the only way. I’ve got them bound, but I can’t promise it’ll be for long. That devil Fae is stronger than she looks.”

Where’s Jo?

I wanted to look around to locate the woman who’d dropped her true identity like it wasn’t a big fucking deal. I’d hoped todisable the Chaos Fae before things went to shit, but I wasn’t successful. I needed to warn her that I’d failed to do the one thing she asked me to do.

“V, now!” Cash growled, straining to keep the twenty cloaked figures bound by his black magic.

Even in the midst of battle, the light-haired bad boy looked like his picture could be taken at any moment. Like this was a fucking GQ shoot. Honestly, if I wasn’t so caught up in a life-or-death battle, I might take a minute to be impressed. But when he yelled for me to “Get on with it, love! Now’s not the time to twiddle your thumbs,” I finally got my head together.

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