I want to point out the obvious manipulation, but I know Oliver won’t see it. Nor do I care, considering the amount of hurt he’s inflicted on those I love. “Neither one of you will get away with this.” I look back at Constantine. “You haven’t won.”
His eyes narrow, and I know I’ve hit a mark. “I will grow strong enough to access these volumes and feed from them soon enough. Sooner still once you offer me another taste of your power.”
“I’m not giving you anything else,” I say.
“I don’t need you to give it. Not when I can take it.”
When he takes a step toward me, the rage and fury that’s built inside me snaps. Power explodes. Blinding light flashes, and the ground beneath my feet shudders then cracks. A fissure opens, an earthquake shaking the library hard enough that books and shelves rain down around me.
Everything begins to blur, the memory world crumbling before my eyes.
Constantine yells at Oliver to create a portal out. Oliver does it, and both of them run toward it. Before they can reach it, the ground splits and swallows Oliver up.
Constantine doesn’t even look over as Oliver disappears. His attention remains intently focused on his own escape. At the last minute, he stumbles, nearly toppling over the edge into the cavern before instead tossing himself through the portal Oliver left us.
I throw myself through the portal after Constantine, determined to end him once and for all. I owe that much to my family, to Hoc, and to myself. If I can create, I can also destroy. And that’s exactly what I intend to do to him.
Chapter22
Aries
Blood slicks my skin as I use my partially shifted hands to tear apart my enemies. The twisted keepers Constantine brought forth just won’t fucking stop coming, though. They’re completely unfazed by anything we throw at them.
Mag has shifted into his gargoyle form, using his body to shield Blossom as she wields her sword. The more we cut down, the more come. Like they’re literally growing from the fallen.
Bingo’s gnashing jaws are covered in blood and torn flesh while the gnomes throw spears and blades from where they perch above the shelves.
We’re barely holding our own. And soon, there will be no holding it.
I keep my attention focused on the fight, though my mind is on Paige and the horrors she’s undoubtedly facing on her own. I use that fear, that rage, to fuel my fight. Letting loose a roar, I drive my claws into the chest of a harpy and tear, sending her in all directions at once.
“We can’t hold them off much longer!” Mag roars.
“We have to! We can’t leave until we get Paige back!”
“She doesn’t have a tattoo!” he yells back to me. “Which means—”
“I know what that fucking means!” I bellow back, spinning to drive my claws into the werewolf trying to sneak up behind me.
A bright portal appears, and hope gives me a fresh wave of strength. That is until Constantine rushes through. His face pale, he stumbles into the library, and I beeline for him. But not before I see Paige come through, the portal winking out behind her.
“You will pay!” she screams.
“Not before they do!” he yells back then waves his hand, and another portal appears. More creatures wait on the other side, their bloodthirsty expressions visible even before they come through.
Paige falters. She whirls, and we lock gazes. Her power emanates from her more strongly than I’ve ever felt before. Whatever happened while she was gone, something has changed in her. She’s accessed her magic—finally. And one look at her tells me she wants to use it to end Constantine, consequences be damned. As I look back at her, everything freezes for the breath of a second. Her eyes are full of tears, her face twisted in rage. But there’s a choice playing out, and I know it’s whether she should seek vengeance…
Or save us.
Chapter23
Paige
Monsters and villains pour from the portal behind Constantine. A winged horse with eyes the color of crimson and teeth sharpened to points; a man dressed in battle armor and covered in scars; a gray-haired hag with power crackling from her fingers and hatred in her eyes. One look at their bodies and I note the keeper tattoo marking each of them. He’s extracted and converted them all, turned them into guards. Chosen monsters to roam these halls, governing over other monsters.
It’s chaos in the making.
And this is only the beginning. Once he’s strong enough, he’ll enter each of these worlds and drain them one by one until there’s nothing and no one left. Athenaeum hasn’t shown herself, and I can only hope she’s all right after whatever twisted magic he’s used to take this place over. Either way, it’s on us. On me. I have to save them. No one else is coming to do it. I have never wanted vengeance more, but I also know I have only seconds to save the ones who matter most to me—the only family I have left in this world or any other.