Page 152 of Walking in Darkness
Desperation echoing through the riot that had descended.
Horror filled my heart with the sounds, that this was happening in the flesh, but I pushed myself into the tumult because it was the only thing I could do.
Pax shifted away from me for a beat so he could fire off two shots at a man and a woman who came running toward us. He hit each of them with a bullet to the chest. Their bodies convulsed as they dropped to the ground.
A Kruen was ahead of me, rising high and whipping around in my direction when he sensed I was there. Its gruesome face twisted in a snarl as its thoughts filled my ears.
“She’s the one. She’s the one standing in the way. End her.”
It sped toward me rather than splitting apart and scattering into vapor to flee, the way they normally did in Faydor.
Its goal was no longer its survival, but to end me.
I gathered the same light I used when I tracked through Faydor and propelled it. A flash of energy rushed from my hands and struck the Kruen. It thrashed and wailed before it disintegrated.
Ash.
A slog of exhaustion threatened to drag me down, but I couldn’t sit idle or even contemplate it before Pax shouted, “Aria, behind you!”
On a jagged exhale, I spun around to find a man rushing up from behind.
No weapon in his hands, but hate on his face.
Refusing to slow, I hurtled toward him, drawing the light and letting it go when I was within two feet of him.
It flashed through the space, and when the light struck him, his body blew backward, flying through the air before it crashed down onto two other deviants who were moving toward a Laven twenty feet away.
Each toppled, limp when they smashed to the ground.
I gasped for air, for strength, and I focused on the light that I could feel lapping inside me.
Dulled but still real.
I willed it to build. I needed to be able to wield it. Over and over. For it not to fail.
To my right, Pax warred with a slew of the corrupt, fighting them off one after another.
My attention roved over the mass that battled and raged, searching for Ambrose in the middle of it.
I had to get to him. It was the only way.
Darkness sat heavy on the earth, and the whirling clouds continued to spit spikes of ice from above. I blinked through it, trying to find the monster who no longer stood on the gazebo steps.
Frantic, I searched.
There was no sign of him.
Though what I did see sent a buoy to my spirit.
Laven.
They’d begun to pair with their Nols. Their hands bound for a few moments before they would split apart.
And they were splitting apart to bind the Kruen that battered through the horde with their tendrils whipping as they lashed out at any Laven they passed.
But the Laven were prevailing.
Throughout the crowd, I saw it. The wails and writhing of the Kruen before they were left to dust.
