Page 107 of Crossing Between
"KENJI!" I screamed, a sound torn from the depths of my soul.
I tried to run to him, but another wave of psychic assault kept me frozen in place. Through my watering eyes, I saw Elias race to Kenji's side and drop to his knees beside the fallen oni. Tentacles erupted from Elias's back, forming a protective dome around them both as he frantically worked to heal Kenji.
Varon had disappeared from my peripheral vision, and panic surged through me. Where was he? Had the Essencefeaster already gotten to him?
The chamber began to pulse more rapidly, the walls contracting as if in pain. I felt a sudden, excruciating tearing sensation deep inside me, not physical but something deeper, more fundamental.
"What are you doing?" I gasped, doubling over as agony lanced through me.
"Cutting out the cancer," the Essencefeaster's voice was distorted with effort. "Severing those pretty little soul bonds you've formed. They don't belong there. They're in the way."
Another wave of pain crashed through me, and I felt as if I were being torn apart from the inside. Each bond, the connections I'd formed with Varon, Elias, and Kenji, was being attacked, spiritual hooks trying to rip them from my soul.
I screamed, a sound of pure anguish and terror, not just formyself but for Kenji, who lay wounded and vulnerable. For Elias, who was using all his power to protect and heal. For Varon, who was missing and possibly already fallen.
"STOP IT!" I shrieked, golden light flaring around me as my magic responded to my distress.
And then, suddenly, something changed in the creature's expression. The human side of Ryan's face contorted, tears welling in his eye. The draconic half seemed to recoil, as if fighting against itself.
"Zoey," Ryan's voice emerged, pure and untainted by the demon's influence. "Zoey, I'm so sorry."
I stared in disbelief as my brother's consciousness surfaced through the corruption.
"Ryan?" I whispered.
"Don't let him use me," Ryan pleaded, fighting to maintain control. "Don't let me become what I was trying to stop."
As he spoke, images flooded my mind, not an invasion this time, but memories freely given. I saw Ryan, alone and terrified, discovering what I was, or at least what I thought I was, and what that meant for both of us. I witnessed his desperate research into the supernatural, his frantic attempts to find a way to protect me from those who would use my power.
And then the final, terrible moment: Ryan, having discovered an ancient ritual he believed would give him the strength to be my guardian, willingly opened himself to the Essencefeaster's influence.
"It was supposed to make me strong enough to protect you," Ryan's voice broke. "But it consumed me instead. I thought I could control it, but I was wrong."
My heart shattered at the realization. This wasn't a simple case of possession. My little brother had sacrificed himself in a misguided attempt to keep me safe. A sacrifice that had backfiredhorribly.
"I'm going to save you," I promised, tears streaming down my face. "Just hold on, Ryan."
The Essencefeaster roared, fighting to regain control. Ryan's consciousness was being subsumed again, his expression twisting as the demon reasserted its dominance.
Then, from the shadows behind the creature, a blur of movement caught my eye. Varon materialized, his movements blindingly fast. Before the Essencefeaster could react, Varon's hand plunged through the creature's back, emerging from where a heart should be.
The Essencefeaster froze, then let out a chilling laugh. "You think that will stop me, vampire? I have no heart for you to stake."
The demon's attention shifted from me to Varon, momentarily releasing the crushing mental pressure. In that instant of clarity, I gathered my power, drawing deeply from the well of magic within me. Golden light erupted from my hands as I unleashed everything I had.
The blast hit both Varon and the Essencefeaster, the force of it sending Varon flying backward to crash against the pulsing wall. The demon dropped to its knees, howling in agony as my light burned through its corrupted form.
"ENOUGH!" the Essencefeaster bellowed, its voice shaking the very air.
I watched in horror as it gathered darkness between its hands, compressing it into a sphere of pure, concentrated malevolence. With a final roar of hatred, it hurled the magic directly at me.
Time seemed to slow. I saw Kenji struggling to his feet despite his wounds, Elias abandoning his healing efforts, both of them lunging toward me, desperate to shield me from the attack. Varon, though dazed from the impactwith the wall, was also moving in my direction, his face contorted with desperation.
In that suspended moment, I reached deep within myself, drawing on reserves of power I didn't know I possessed. I threw my hands up, golden light erupting from my palms to form a dome of protective energy around all of us. Kenji, Elias, Varon, and me.
The Essencefeaster's attack struck my shield with catastrophic force. Light and darkness collided in a blinding flash of power that consumed everything, sound, sensation, reality itself. I watched as the demon was struck with magic.
And then nothing.
