Page 58 of The Magic of Eternity
I’d already made my mind up to help him as I stormed my way closer. As I moved through the melee, the hair on the back of my neck began to prickle. I felt my palms getting slick. Something wasn’t right.
Our eyes collided at the exact same moment. Laurie was crawling on her hands and knees, remaining undetected from the men who were fighting above her. Slowly, her eyes looked over to where the needle was laying that Balor had dropped and then they came back to focus on me.
Oh, hell no.
Surging forward, it was a race to see who would get there first. I didn’t know why she wanted that vaccine, but I didn’t want her to have anything that she wanted ever again. I didn’t care if it was two-ply toilet paper—she wasn’t having it. My fingers closed around the barrel of the syringe, and she screeched in my face.
“Give it to me, you ungrateful little bitch.” She tried to snatch my wrist, but I was too quick.
“I don’t know why you want this, but you can fucking forget about it, you evil cunt.” The words flew from my mouth like fire. I was done with this sad excuse of a woman. Honestly, I didn’t know if she even possessed a shred of humanity anymore.
I used to assume that she harbored some type of feeling toward me, whether it was friendship or you know, just not wishing ill on somebody because they’re related to you. Her feelings toward me had never been motherly, but I’d accepted that a long time ago. She’d had me when she was young. She wasn’t prepared.
But knowing what I knew now, that changed everything. She deliberately got pregnant with me. She deliberately broke my father’s heart. She deliberately fucked up my childhood by letting me think that I didn’t have a father who wanted me, and letting me know for sure that I had a mother who couldn’t be bothered with me.
The vile creature who was staring at me with the hatred of a million souls didn’t feel anything about me at all. She wasn’t even seeing me in this moment. Her jealousy, her ego, her desire for power—that was all she cared about, and that was all it would ever be. It would never ever stop. Her gaze dipped to my stomach, and I snarled, the sound terrifying enough to get the attention of those around us. If she thought she was going to get her hands on my children… Fuck no. I’d do whatever I had to do to ensure that never happened. She’d abandoned me, and gods only knew what she’d done to my sister.
Laurie let out a wicked laugh at my words. “So,” she taunted with a sneer, “the good little witch has fangs after all. I always knew you were nothing but a fake. Everyone’s always so happy to see your smiling face. You’re always so eager to help everybody. Everybody just loves you, don’t they? They don’t know what’s really inside you, because for every bit of happiness and kindness that lives within you, I live in you also. It’s about damn time that you show your true colors.”
Laurie’s hand raised almost faster than I could track it, but I was able to throw my own arms up at the last second, causing her vine attack to collide with my own. She was definitely strong, and it wasn’t a natural magic. It felt dirty and tainted, synthetic. I didn’t know what she and Asrael had been up to, but whatever it was, it wasn’t supposed to exist. Still, even as pissed off as she was and with as much power as she was aiming my way, I wasmorepissed and I wasmorepowerful. It was about time that I showed her what I was really capable of.
“I don’t know why you want this, but you’re never getting it, Laurie. I will do everything in my power to make sure that anything you want, you’ll never get. Your days of making demands are over.”
She screeched and launched herself toward me, her face transforming into something horrific. Her teeth sharpened into needle-point fangs, while her jaw began to distend as if she was going to take a bite out of my body.
“What the fuck are you?” I squeaked as I dove out of the way. Thankfully, I was able to remain on my feet. The last thing I needed was to go down and accidentally hit my belly.
I saw Cam prowling behind her. When my eyes caught on his, I could see his anger surging. I swallowed thickly, knowing he was probably pretty pissed that I’d left my hiding spot, but there was no time to fight about it now. Laurie must have sensed the danger lurking behind her because she spun quickly, launching another attack. Thick vines—ones equipped with thorns for maximum damage—exploded from her hands. Cam was ready though. Electricity crackled in his palms as he sent a blast her way, hitting her square in the chest. She flew back with a shriek, hitting the platform hard.
“Asrael!” Laurie screamed as she rolled and hopped to her feet, quicker than I would have expected after the hit she’d just taken. “We need to go. Come on. It’s over.” I was surprised at her abrupt change in plans until I saw what she must have seen when she stood up.
The battle was over. The only people still fighting were us. It was Asrael and Laurie versus us on the platform. She’d realized there was no way they were going to win. She was like a cockroach. Always knowing when to run, when to escape, to ensure that she survived over everybody else.
Asrael snarled and a blast of bright fire flew from his mouth. I watched in frozen horror as it slammed right into Bram and Khol at the same time.
“No!” I screamed, taking a step toward them at the same time as Laurie moved toward me.
“Saige, no. Look out!” Cam yelled just in time for me to shift my gaze away from Bram and Khol, only to find Laurie inches away from me. She pulled back her fist and punched me right in the face.
Holy fucking shit, that hurt. A cry left my mouth, despite me trying to hold it in. I hated giving Laurie the satisfaction of knowing how much she’d harmed me. I returned her punch with one of my own, nailing her right in the windpipe. I took great joy in watching her gasping for air, and I wondered if—and hoped—she felt a little bit of what my Guppy had felt when she took the life from him.
A vine wrapped around my wrist, and she dragged me across the wooden beams. Cam was right there, firing electricity at her. Blast after blast, thunder exploding in the sky, but she was untouchable. There was something protecting her.
“Give me that fucking needle,” she snarled.
I felt like I was having a complete out-of-body experience. The sounds of my men yelling and fighting Asrael, the smell of fire in the air, the humidity of a storm rolling, and the roar of a panther. Everything slowed. All I could hear through that was the whooshing of my heartbeat in my ears as Laurie’s evil face grew closer and closer. I felt my girls kicking and moving wildly within my stomach like they were trying to help me get away from this evil bitch, and then I heard it.
‘A witch, a mix of green and red, save a race before they’re dead. Change, rise, manifest. A soul so pure. You almost pass the test. Many for the price of three. Hurry, witch. What will it be? In royal red, your strength renewed. Hurry, witch, or all are doomed.’
A prophecy. Another prophecy. Most of the lines were from the previous ones with subtle changes, but suddenly, I knew exactly what I needed to do. In a rush, I uncapped the syringe, watching as Laurie’s eyes grew wide, realization dawning. She knew what I was planning, and oh, she was pissed.
I watched as my gown magically turned from deep green to royal red. This was the moment. Everything had led to right now. Without a second thought, I sank the needle into the exposed skin in my forearm and pushed the plunger down. The serum hit my bloodstream like a jolt of pure energy. I couldn’t hear any longer—at least, not the sounds of the world around me. All I could hear were whispers of the past, the voices of my men.
Kai’s voice drifting through my ear, telling me how much he loved my shirt the first day we met in the store, how it cheered him up. Fischer telling me that I should never have to sacrifice who I was as a person to be worthy of someone’s love. Cam assuring me that he would protect me no matter what, that I was precious to him. Bram promising that I would be his, even before I knew what we were to each other. Faris, my sweet Faris, the way he told me how he wanted to fill me with babies and how he always wanted to please me. And Sloane, my broken dragon, confessing his devotion and love for me. All of their whispered words and sounds that we’d made together flooded my mind as I began to float above everybody else.
Asrael was staring at me in shock and anger, but I didn’t care. Whatever it was that was happening—this was destiny. I could feel it in my bones. This was a moment that needed to happen. It was predetermined, and I knew with absolute certainty that no matter the choices I’d made before, we still would have ended up here.
It was fate.
