“Alexa, are you ready?” Hysterian asked.
He slammed his hand into Raphael’s forcefield without waiting for an answer. Electricity exploded, overwhelming his systems, setting him on fire. Hysterian pushed through, melting the skin off his fingers, his hand. His suit sparked, catching the electricity. The smell of hot metal and meat eclipsed the old stench of sex in the room.
Alexa screamed.
“Not yet,” he gritted.
“Hysterian, what happened? I don’t know what I’ve done to anger you, but we can work this out, can’t we?” Raphael begged.
Hysterian winced as Raphael’s shield repelled him.
“Like the old ways, right?” Raphael continued. “I know what makes you happy, what helps take away the pressure.”
“Shut up,” Hysterian growled.
“I can bring you girls. I can drown you in them. Money, too. I need someone to help me manage my business. You could do that job. We could rule Elyria together!”
Hysterian shifted his feet and braced his legs, feeling his hair curl and crisp around his ears. A crackle split the room, and his hand jerked forward.
Raphael startled, pushing into the corner. Hysterian’s fingertips brushed Raphael’s cheek.
“I know how to cure you!” Raphael screamed.
With a grunt, Hysterian sprang up and slammed the entirety of his weight down on the shield. The forcefield shattered, and he spun and coiled his body around Raphael, stopping the inevitable blast of electricity from reaching Alexa.
It hit him instead.
Hysterian seized and tore off Raphael before he killed the fucker with his own gore.
“Alexa,” he murmured, jittering with each spike of electricity. He dropped his arm with his gun, uncurling his fingers from it. “It’s time.”
Twenty-Eight
Alexa staredat the half-burned body. One eye twitched, the other was bloodshot and sparking. Organic matter sizzled, bubbled, and melted off metal plates and wires. With his hair half gone, Hysterian’s scalded eyes rolled her way.
He’d found her. Her throat clogged.
She could barely believe he was here at all.
“Alexa, it’s time,” he croaked, his arm falling outward, his fingers unfurling around a firearm. It snapped her out of her daze.
She rushed forward and snatched the gun. She aimed it at Raphael.
Blubbering, staring outward, Raphael didn’t see her or the gun. She pulled the trigger. The blast eclipsed the pounding at the door, the music. Alexa closed her eyes, dropped her arm, and sighed.
It was done.
He’s dead.
Then the ringing in her ears stopped, the pounding, screaming and music returned. Her eyes opened to find Hysterian struggling to rise to his feet. She rushed to his side.
“Don’t!” he ordered, holding out his hand, stopping her. “I’ll kill you.”
She halted, staring helplessly as blood and other unknown liquids squirted out of organs and tubes. “What can I do to help? Oh, God, you’re hurt. Why did you do that? Why did you do that?” Alexa could do nothing but watch as guilt choked her. She’d never felt more useless.
Hysterian, pressing his hand to the wall, steadied himself. “I would do anything for you.” His mouth smoked as he said it. He blinked, and his eyes miraculously cleared. They cut to the door. “I’m fine, but staying that way will be hard if they get through.”
“Fine?” she warbled. Hysterian looked closer to death than anything resemblingfine.
