Page 33 of Darkness Colliding
Chapter Eighteen
On the Edge of Living
Violence
My gaze veers up high, but the top of the towering light seems endless. The blinding lines of it strike down into the hard earth, and it isn’t until I pull my gaze to the bottom that I see her. Pale blonde hair, always a shade lighter than my own, and bright eyes that always captivated an audience make up the woman before me. She was the falsely sweet one. The kind one. The reasonable one. And yet, here we are. She stands among the swirling souls like an angel waiting to save them.
The dirty ends of her dress swirl in the breeze blowing up from the unknown place below, and still she teeters on that dangerous edge.
I don’t know why, but all the memories of our youth trickle through my mind. Guilt and regret sting through me as I remember who we used to be.
“Amandria,” I lift a cautious hand to her, but I keep the several yards of space that separate her and me.
She turns with the winds pulling at her hair and dress, and she pins me with a look of pure hatred. I hate that we’re like this. There was a time she was my big sister, and she was perfect in my eyes. She was everything I wanted to be. But life warped that vision of her. Her actions, and her jealousy, and her simple, vile ambitions changed the way I looked at the pretty, innocent girl who took care of me when we were little.
We’re not little girls anymore. If I could change our lives into simplicity, I would. But I can’t. We have to live with the mistakes we’ve made.
And the heavy guilt turning in my stomach feels like a prediction of what’s to come.
“You should go, Violence.” Her gaze trails across my appearance. “If you stay, you’ll get hurt.” It isn’t a sweet kindness in her tone. It’s a blunt threat.
“Amandria, you need to think about whatever it is you’re about to do.”
Her laughter spews from her mouth like crackling embers. She’s a terrifying picture of beauty when she smiles.
I notice the way her fingers arch against her palm, and power bows between her slender fingers. I feel it hiss against the air, sparking with energy. She’s powerful. We both are in our own right. We’ve never tested who was stronger, but I have a feeling we’re about to find out.
The golden mass of color snaps into her fingertips and she hurls the force of energy right at me. The hilt of Link’s sword is in my hands in an instant, and I slash the blade up just in time to disperse the energy into a puff of glittering air. I stalk around her, and I can feel the three men behind me watching every single step I take. Wide eyes are focused solely on me.
None of them move though. This is my war. The book of Severed Souls may be what started all of this, but my terrible family is the source of everything in this moment.
With a heavy gust of wind, I shove down on her. She stumbles back from me, and I cock my head at the simple misstep as if I’m the not one who caused it. My spine holds perfect posture as I saunter around her, tingling energy swirls all through me, demanding release. I keep a close hold on it as I wait for her next move.
“Your little wind manipulation is impressive, sister.” Another arching of her fingers gives her away. “Can it do this?” As she grips another fist full of magic, my fingers tighten on the hilt, prepared for her strike, but she turns at the last second.
In a flash, that beautiful glittering magic strikes through the air. It collides with a burst of streaming colors as it hits hard against Nollix’s chest. Pain grips my heart as his hands cover the wound, and his sweet features shift from aggression to shock. His lips part as he stares down at the black circle burnt into his shirt, charring his flesh. Gasps of short, panicked breaths make his chest rise and fall in rapid waves. Link grips his friends arm as the half Demon starts to stumble, dropping his sword.
A mixture of fear and rage like I’ve never felt before rips through my chest. The breeze shifts so abruptly it pulls the air right from my lungs and clashes hard against the thin woman before me. I shove, and shove, and shove until she’s balancing once more at the edge of that glittering mass of souls. Fear strikes across her soft features. Just as I give one more final push, Jeriko bursts into apparition. The sparkling dust settles his form just behind my sister and he lets the light of the souls wash over his face like he’s breathing it all in. The intimate way he holds her against him makes me wonder how much he really cares about her. If he loved her, would he really let her risk her life for all of this?
“Do the spell, my love.” The scarred side of his face nuzzles into her hair as he whispers sweetly to her. My attention flickers to Nollix and he lies on his back, his eyes shift over the charred wound that’s smoking as it heals slowly. I only spare a second to check on him before I’m focused on the two Fae in front of me. “Release the souls and we’ll take what’s ours,” Jeriko murmurs.
Amandria’s breathing is this quick pace like she’s stunned I almost killed her.
He lifts his hand and there between his index finger and thumb is a folded and crinkled page of paper. The tattered edges and crisp page makes me tense. The scrawling ink from the other side bleeds through, and I just know what it is.
It’s the last remaining page of the book of Severed Souls.
My jaw clenches, and before I can stop myself, my body tears apart into sparkling particles. I swirl recklessly through the air, and I don’t reappear into a solid form until my palms are flat against her shoulders, pushing her toward the cylinder of souls. Jeriko’s fist connects hard with my jaw, and he shoves my sister forcefully aside until she hits the ground. Pain stings through mouth but it’s an afterthought because lashing out at him is more important. Before my magic even surfaces, he slams me down into the dirt and the blade in my hand tumbles away.
“You fucking bitch. I always knew I’d get to kill you someday.” With strength ripping through him, he heaves me from the ground just to throw me down, my back arching against the edge of the earth, my head tilting up into the blinding shades of swirling souls. The energy of the souls pulls at something within me. It hurts as if they’re trying to pull the life right out of me. A ringing sound fills my ears as hundreds of translucent souls fly past me, swirling down into the nothingness like water down a drain.
Jeriko’s big hands clamp around my throat as he holds me there for just a moment. The air clamps within my lungs, and I can’t manage a breath as he tightens his hold against my throat. My fingers dig into his forearms, but I can’t reach the air around me, it’s as if the breeze doesn’t fully exist anymore.
I often considered how I’d kill Jeriko. I never really thought he’d ever accomplish killing me.
How stupid of me to think I was so invincible. My lashes flutter, and I refuse to let go without a fight. I kick and claw at him, but it happens very suddenly when he releases me. I nearly fall right into the dark emptiness below when and a hand pulls at mine, pulling me away from the bright lights.
When I exit the mass energy of souls, I come face to face with Cameron. His hand pushes down my arm as he kneels down to look at me.
