Pain assaulted me, claws sinking into my mind, and something coiled around the frail organ in my chest. My body buckled, back straightening, as I cried out.
Damien’s olive skin paled. “Cas, what’s wrong?”
“It’s Eris!” I cried out, and Johnson stumbled back as I lurched.
Shut up, girl.
“She’s the voice! She’s the one who made me lose contro—”
SILENCE!
I gasped, my heart hammering, my skin burning and melting from within as Eris’ claws threatened to split my mind in two. I fought back as she tried to stop me from speaking further, invisible hands snaking around my throat.
“Take me to Selene! Now, Damien! Plea—”
26
DAMIEN
Cassie cried out, and her pupils expanded, eyes hazing over as she clutched her throat. My heart sank. She couldn’t breathe. Gods, she was suffocating. Eris was killing her.
Take me to Selene!
Her voice echoed one final plea through my mind, and I snapped from my terror, shoving Zephyr and Johnson away before wrapping my arms around her. Icy air and darkness descended around us, the medical room of The Complex melting into shadows. I didn’t have enough time to think, couldn’t focus on anything but Cassie in my arms as Eris assaulted her.
We slammed into the stone floor of Selene’s temple so violently my knees screamed at the contact, my body recoiling from the cost the magic demanded to pass through the veil. Cassie nearly spilled from my arms onto the floor before me as she gasped for air, body convulsing, fighting something I couldn’t see. I held her, eyes darting around the room for Selene.
“Selene!” I yelled, bracing myself as the room spun.
She stood on the dais at the head of the hall. She wasn’t alone, but I couldn’t care enough to see who it was as my eyes fell back on Cassie. Short bursts of panicked air slipped from her lips, and her back arched violently.
“Fight her, Cassie!”
“What’s happened, Damien?” Selene asked as she appeared beside us, her white silken gown and hair pooling around her as she fell to her knees.
“It’s Eris!” I took Cassie’s hand, her other one clutched at her chest.
Selene’s eyes went wild, and a fury I’d never felt rose off her. “Eris?”
The scent of her anger, like smoldering oak and jasmine, filled my lungs, but another scent faintly lingered beneath it, one sour and acrid. Fear?
“She’s killing her!”
Someone knelt beside me, and a strange hand shot out for Cassie. Something stirred in the dark void in my chest. My body reacted, grabbing his tanned arm, and my fangs unsheathed, instinct taking over to protect my mate no matter the cost.
“It’s ok, Damien. I mean her no harm.” His deep voice, powerful and deadly, yet calm and soothing, eased the instincts that had momentarily raged out of control. Still, I hesitated, dread crawling over my skin as the memories threatened to resurface.
“Erebus...”
My eyes met his, and the God of Darkness offered a smile of reassurance. Instinct nearly consumed me at the thought of his hands on her. My body resisted as I forced my grip to loosen, if only to give him the chance to save her.
An agonizing scream tore from Cassie’s throat, and my gaze darted to her. Erebus lowered his hand to her chest, darkness seeping out where they were connected, and his palm sank into the dark void that formed in her chest. Her body shot up, back arching. My heart sank. Black mist and inky darkness spilled out of that dark place Erebus had reached into, slipping over the marble floor.
Her body seized.
“Easy, Cas,” I pleaded, plastering my hands on her shoulders. Her body jerked, instinct for survival taking over, and I fought to hold her in place. Her eyes were unseeing, as if she wasn’t here, instead deep within her writhing body, fighting to live. Gods, she was dying. It pained me to no end that I couldn’t help her, that the only thing I could do was watch. Suddenly, I wasn’t holding Cassie, I was holding Lucia as the life slipped from her body, holding Elena after the darklings had ravaged her, watching Moira speak her last words as she...
I’m so sorry...
