Page 73 of Soulmarked

These things were learning our moves, adapting to each attack faster than we could change tactics. My usual approach of silver blades dipped in holy water and decapitation strikes wasn't working—I'd take one down only to find the next had already adapted to defend against that exact attack. Silver wasn'tholding them, blessed weapons barely slowed them down. We needed something more than my arsenal of weapons and brute-force killing techniques.

“Cade, any bright ideas?” I called out, slicing through another Fetch that got too close. “Now would be a good time for that big brain of yours to kick in!”

But he was focused on Chen, who now floated several inches above the scorched pentagram, arms spread wide as power crackled around her like dark lightning.

“This vessel,” she declared, voice resonating with unnatural depth, “will serve. For now.”

“Move!” Cade tackled me sideways as Chen gestured and the concrete where we'd stood exploded upward, twisting into spears that would have impaled us both. We rolled together behind a fallen support column, coming up ready as more Fetches poured into the chamber.

“Thanks for the save,” I managed between breaths, reloading my gun with practiced efficiency.

The creature inhabiting Chen radiated a power that felt primordial.

“I've been watching you, marked one,” Chen, no, the thing inside her, said, attention fixed on Cade with predatory focus. “Watching you run from what you are. What you were made to be.”

Cade's jaw tightened. “I'm not running from anything.”

I caught movement in my peripheral vision, a Fetch trying to flank us. My blade flashed out, catching it mid-leap and nearly severing its head. Black ichor sprayed across the concrete as it collapsed.

“Not now you're not,” I muttered, positioning myself slightly in front of him.

The creature wearing Chen laughed. “Such loyal dogs, these hunters. But they can't protect you from what's coming. From what's already begun.”

More Fetches closed in, their movements becoming more coordinated, more deliberate. They weren't just attacking randomly, they were herding us, forcing us away from the exits and toward Chen.

“Ideas?” I asked, reloading with practiced efficiency. “I'm running low on blessed ammunition, and these fugly bastards aren't staying dead like they should.”

“We need to exorcise whatever's inside her,” Cade replied, his eyes never leaving Chen's hovering form. “Drive it back where it came from.”

Chen's body twisted unnaturally as she tilted her head, blue eyes glowing with unnatural light. “Exorcise me?” She laughed, the sound echoing with multiple voices layered beneath her own. “This vessel is quite comfortable. Dr. Chen was so eager to understand what waits beyond. Now she understands all too well.”

“Oh, you've had quite enough time in this realm.” I reached for the flask of holy water in my jacket. “Back to hell you go, you blue-eyed freak.”

She gestured almost lazily, and the flask in my hand frosted over, the blessed water inside crystallizing to ice in an instant. The cold burned my palm, forcing me to drop it with a curse.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Your petty weapons cannot touch me,” she said, power crackling around her like a corona. “I am beyond such things now.”

Cade stepped forward, and something about his stance changed. The mark on his chest pulsed visibly through his shirt, resonating with whatever power the creature was emitting.

“You want me,” he said, voice steady despite everything. “Not them. Let them go, and we can talk.”

“Cade, don't...” I started, but he silenced me with a look.

“What are you doing?” I hissed. “We don't negotiate with monsters!”

The creature's electric blue eyes narrowed with interest. “And what would we talk about, marked one? Your purpose? Your potential? The destiny written in your blood before you were born?”

“About who marked me,” Cade replied. “About what it really means.”

I moved closer to him, not liking where this was heading. “We're not separating,” I growled. “Whatever this thing wants, we face it together.”

“How touching,” The creature said, amusement rippling through its layered voice. “The hunter thinks he has a choice.”

It brought its hands together with a sound like thunder, and reality fractured around us.

The concrete floor buckled upward, twisting like living tissue. The air itself seemed to tear along invisible seams, bleeding colors that defied natural spectrum. I caught a glimpse of Cade being thrown one way while I was hurled in the opposite direction, our unified defense shattered by forces that rewrote physics between one heartbeat and the next.

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