Page 28 of To Crave Madly
Cassian tried to tackle the middle goon, who seemed to be the main one in this little group. I had the sudden thought of what a group of goons was actually called. Were they like a herd of cows or gaggle of geese? I snorted. A gaggle of goons sounded quite fitting actually.
“Lori! Look out!” Cassian called across the room as another green light headed my way. Right, back to fighting the gaggle of goons.
The next moments passed in a blur. Rae and Sukie sent their spells out into the room; Cassian ducked and dived, trying to avoid the magic and tackle the lesser goons; while the main goon seemed to be fixated on catching me. Iveri and I were doing pretty well. She helped me move faster, made my actions more precise, and my mage side seemed to have finally crawled out of the woodwork now that my life seemed to be threatened by actual fucking magic. My thoughts turned to Fenris and our little magic sessions. Maybe we needed to make them more physical. Iveri snorted deep in my mind. Not that kind of physical. Although… Nope. No time for that I thought as I avoided yet another blue ball of death. These guys just weren’t giving up.
Something ploughed into my side and, all of a sudden, I was flying.
No, not flying. Falling. I was falling through the fucking window. I twisted through the air like a cat and managed to land on my feet. The goon followed me out the window and landed awkwardly in front of me. There was a snap of bone and he glanced down at his leg which was now at a rather stomach-churning angle. His dead eyes looked back at me and there was no hint of pain there. Fuck. How was I supposed to fight a guy that couldn’t feel anything?
A shimmering white light caught my eye and I saw the rest of the team appear out of nowhere. Was that a portal? Cool. Magic was fricking awesome. Except for right now, when this goon was trying to kidnap me and cart me off somewhere. The other goons ran out of the house closely followed by Cassian, Rae and Sukie. Ooh, street party!
In my momentary distraction of the team arriving, the main goon had caught me by surprise and tackled me to the ground. I wrestled with him, but he managed to pin me with his weight. His dead eyes and greasy hair filled my vision. Jeez, how long had this guy been a puppet?
His breath was foul and I retched.
Let me feed,Iveri called viciously from the back of my mind.
I could feel the heat of the magic in the goon’s hand. He was going to blast me with something, and I knew I wouldn’t survive it. I could feel Iveri’s need to consume his soul and taste the desperation with which she craved to devour the darkness currently wrestling me. I didn’t like it. I hated the way it made me feel, just as much as I knew I’d love the taste of his pain. I’d love it just as much as Iveri would.
I mentally let go of the reins keeping me in control and let Iveri take the lead. My hands found the side of the goon’s face and then the Sin Reaper feasted. My mind connected with his and I could taste the suffering, the pain and all the rage. I forced my way deep into his mind to find the darkness that consumed him. His soul was mine to feast upon, and I pulled the ribbon that tied it to this man, swallowing his soul in one mouthful. But still, there was more. Usually, when we ate a soul, all the light vanished from the person and they fell into eternal darkness. That’s what had happened to Flint, the guy who had briefly killed Fenris in that alley, and to the monsters that Lucifer had sent to distract the team so he could steal me away. The goon had stilled but there was still a glow twinkling under layers of darkness in his mind. Something unexpected. Something different.
I peeled back the layers of his mind until I got closer to whatever it was that was buried in there. There was a barrier, something stopping me from getting it.
Perhaps this was something left behind that linked to whoever was responsible for controlling these people. I needed to know more. It was so pretty, all gold and sparkling, and I wanted it.
Something switched inside me and I was suddenly consumed by an unquenchable desire to have whatever this new thing was. I was going to go mad if I didn’t get it. I pushed harder, throwing all my strength behind the attack. Again and again, I slammed into the barrier until it finally cracked. I was aware of someone screaming in the distance. I didn’t know who it was; I was too focussed on getting to the pretty gold shimmer. I reached out toward it and swallowed it whole.
I’d never tasted anything like it. There were no words to describe the glory of whatever it was I had just consumed. There was so much power, but it was different from what I had consumed before. It didn’t taste dark or sinful. It tasted… pure.
“I underestimated you, little Reaper. I won’t make that mistake again.” A voice boomed inside my mind, but it wasn’t Lucifer. This presence in my mind was new. If more people were going to start turning up in my mind, I was going to have to start setting some serious ground rules. Maybe I should start with a schedule or a policy that stated that if you were going to enter my mind, you must declare your name first. That would help avoid some fucking confusion.
“Who are you?”
“I’m the one who will save the world. I’m the one who will destroy you.”His tone was elegant and authoritative. His voice was deep and magnificent to listen to but also incredibly terrifying. It made me want to kneel and bow down, to prostrate myself on the floor to this voice that commanded with such majesty. What the fuck?
“Really?” He was just a voice. A voice controlling a few goons. Was it possible he was like Lucifer? Unable to manifest on the mortal plane? I didn’t know enough about the demon realm or the Under Realm, or any fucking realm for that matter, to know if that thought even made sense. “You and what army, pal?”
A deep rumble filled my mind as he laughed. “You’ll see, little Reaper. You’ll see.” And with those final words, he was gone.
I brushed the goon off me and stood up from the ground to find everyone staring at me like I’d grown an extra head. I took a step towards them but stopped as the world tilted precariously and swam sickeningly before my eyes.
“Are you alright?” Fenris asked, taking a cautious step toward me.
“I’m…” The blood rushed around my head and I stumbled. No, I wasn’t alright. Something was very wrong.
“Lori?” Fenris’ voice was so far away. A low buzzing noise filled my ears and electricity hummed through my veins. Oh, god. I’d consumed too much energy and I needed to expel it. I was instantly regretting devouring the pretty gold sparkle. Fuck. What had I done?
Intense pain suddenly flared along my skin, like thousands of little needles piercing my flesh over and over again. I could hear Iveri screaming deep in my mind as the dark energy built up and swirled deep in my core. I could feel it building into some sort of crescendo and panic gripped me at the fear of what that might mean.
I didn’t know what to do.Think, Lori. Think.Why hadn’t this happened before?
Black spots danced across my vision. Fuck. I was running out of time.
Lucifer. Last time I’d pulled Lucifer to me with this power. Could I do it again? Would that even work?
Fuck. It was worth a try. It wasn’t like I had much to lose at this point.
“Lucifer...?” I called out with my mind. “Can you hear me?”
