I let the first blow strike my jaw. My head snapped to the side. After taking Chrome’s hits in training, all others landed weak.
I let the moment linger while I studied his movements in my periphery, allowing him to think he had me where he wanted me. As he went for another punch, I tensed. With the light emitting from my hand, I drove the bottom of my palm up into the Elemental’s nose. My magic illuminated his face in a garish light as blood gushed from his nostrils upon impact.
The Elemental cupped his nose in reaction, stepping back, his eyes rounded in surprise.
I reached for another blade in my weapons belt as I took the upper hand and stalked toward him, a vicious violence taking over as it usually did in a battle. I lived for the look that this man displayed.
“Where can I find Orion? Just wanna talk, dude,” I said as I closed in on him.
“Fuck off.” The Elemental’s voice was muffled by his hands cupping his nose and mouth.
I struck a quick jab at his sternum before he could react. It wouldn’t be fatal, but it would weaken him.
He gasped and then choked.
I landed another jab in the same spot. A crack rung through the empty street. I kept eye contact with the man, even as he closed his eyes in pain with a grunt.
I pounced. Clutching his throat in my left hand, I stabbed the Kinetic blade at his temple. As my knife’s tip poked the skin, someone snatched my wrist, halting my final kill.
“No.” An unusual and deep voice reached my ears.
My chest heaved. The light coming from my arms and hands showed the dark stain of blood coating my jacket in the shadows.
I growled at the interruption. My nostrils spasmed, and my upper lip twitched. “Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because the more Elementals you kill, the more you’ll regret it.” The deep male voice broke through my bloodlust. “Besides, I’m the only one who can offer you the answers you seek.”
Without taking my knife’s tip from the Elemental’s temple, I angled my head to meet who I presumed to be Valik. His hard stare sobered me.
“Let him go, Slate. You’re better than this,” he said, his voice firm but soothing. “There is much you need to know.”
Chapter 19
Chrome
Alcohol buzzed through my bloodstream, but it didn’t hinder my ability to drive. My eyesight remained sharp, and my senses remained attuned to my surroundings. Just as if I were leaping from one rooftop to the next or locked in a fight, it seemed my body could purge the inhibition from my system whenever the situation called for it. But more than anything, I wanted to succumb to exhaustion.
Peri drove back with Hazel on the back of her bike. She never got drunk, knowing she had to drive home, but I drove behind them anyway to ensure they made it back to the King’s Palace safely.
Throughout the entire ride back, my mind raced, making me ache to push my bike to outpace the tail-spinning thoughts.
Slate’s weirdness before I left the rooftop plagued me. I tried to piece together where he planned to go, but nothing came up. Something didn’t sit right with the whole exchange, as if he harbored secrets. But I trusted him. He was the only personbesides Peri I could trust wholeheartedly—more so, in some regard. He was like my brother. Slate would never betray me.
A red light slowed Peri to a stop, and I pulled up at her side. I glanced over at my sister, our helmets shielding our faces, but we had our own language. I nodded at her before she turned forward again, anticipating the light shifting to green.
Several moments passed as I waited for the traffic light to change, contemplating how I was going to get back into the King’s Palace without getting caught. There were times when I miraculously got spared, but there were others where I wasn’t so lucky. It was always a gamble. It helped that Grim was supposed to be out tonight.
The light flashed green.
Peri lurched forward, spurring Hazel to lean into my sister’s back, hugging her tighter around the torso as they took off down the nearly vacant street.
Only a second later, I followed suit, launching after them, speeding up to closely tail my sister as we raced back to the King’s Palace.
We roared into the parking deck, lodging our bikes side by side. I hesitated, a sour feeling twisting my gut at the empty spot on my right, indicating Slate’s absence.
The girls and I rushed to remove our helmets, dismounting from the bikes in silence. I met my sister’s eyes, the corners tightening as she sucked her cheeks inward to bite them, her tell that she was anxious.
“Come on,” Peri murmured lowly. “Maybe Mom’s asleep.”
