Their screams echo in my ears.
“Izara.”
“I don’t think…”
But it’s too late. Wings burst from my back, tearing through muscle and flesh. I scream as the power consumes me. I stagger on shaking knees and try to walk away, to leave before I explode, but in the blink of an eye, they’re in front of me, a long line of standing bodies regarding me with concern.
I blink again and their faces no longer belong to strangers, but to my men. Malek stands in front of them all. Quiet, gentle Malek, with his thick-framed glasses sliding down the ridge of his prominent nose. He smiles wolfishly at me.
“You can do it, mi corazón.” His voice carries with it a haunting whisper.
“Malek… I…” Before I can say anything else, I explode, shards of magic fragmenting through Malek’s skin. He opens his mouth and blood bursts past his lips, and I watch as the life leaves his honey-colored eyes and he falls to a heap at my feet.
Dead.
Because I killed him.
“No.” I reach for him, but his body disappears into wisps of smoke and I’m left alone.
* * *
“Coax out your Prod.”
“No!” I jerk away from Professor Shade and his concerned expression. Too many cruel memories lash at my mind. I have to leave. Now. Panic settles in until I’m hyperventilating.
Before I make it to the door, Saint is standing there, flashing a fanged grin.
“Leave me alone!”
I grab my head as my Prod explodes
This time, Saint dies first.
One by one, it doesn’t stop. It overwhelms me, consumes me, this power. It kills them all, over and over again.
Malek.
Saint.
Phoenix.
Syko.
My father.
Kayos.
Heaven.
Sasha.
I kill them all, over and over again in different ways. Slow, fast... my Prod does it all to them and I can only watch, trapped within myself as I murder everyone I love.
* * *
“Coax out your Prod.”
I’ve lost count how many times that voice urges me to kill them. I’ve stopped trying to fight it, and now I just sit there with my head lowered, my fingers twitching against the sides of the chair.
