I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to find some more comforting words, but then her voice changed. “Lies, lies, lies!” she growled, her voice thick and dark, as her eyes began glowing.
“Keep it down!” I tried, using my hands to signal her in case she had lost her hearing in the explosion. But she didn’t stop.
I stumbled backwards, roots tossed the boulder aside. Shadows crept up from the ground and surrounded her. I heard awful cracking sounds from her leg, as it twitched and jerked back into its original shape and she pushed herself up.
“No,” I breathed, taking another step back.
She chuckled, but the voice wasn’t hers, something echoed inside of it, someone giving her the strength she needed to survive in her most desperate moment.
A demon.
Someone flashed before my eyes, blue robes flying in the wind as he swept in. A squelch sounded and Nicron plunged a dagger right into the woman’s heart. She gasped, choking on blood as she stared wide-eyed at him.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “But you can’t invite demons like that, it’s reckless.”
Her hand tugged desperately at his arm, before it fell back and her eyes went dark, lifeless.
He dropped her, like a sack of flour on the ground, staring in silence.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Don’t be,” he answered flatly. “It was her choice to resort to summoning a demon.”
“Area secured!” Nate shouted somewhere behind us.
“No movement or trails,” Ashley confirmed from the opposite direction.
A groan sounded, not far from us. I froze for a brief second as I saw Nicron mourning his fallen, before I moved away towards the sound. There was a tree that had fallen across the field as a result of the blast. Underneath the very top of it, where the branches were thinner, I found a wounded Michlael.
One of the thicker branches had broken off and stabbed him through the shoulder, pinning him to the ground. It didn’t look too bad, considering, but perhaps it had burrowed deep into the ground, making it impossible for him to move. Or maybe he had feared that the attackers would come to finish him off if he had displayed any signs of life.
“Ethalyn,” he breathed as his brown eyes landed on me. The desperation shone through, his determination to keep living.
“I’m here, tell me how I can help.” I began snapping off branches, opening up enough space for me to be able to pull him out. But I needed to remove the one pinning him down first.
“It’s stuck into the ground,” he explained, his words slow. “I’ll have to pull myself up from it, but…”
“You need my fire to not bleed out,” I nodded.
He gave me a look, and then his gaze travelled behind me, his face stiffening.
I looked back and saw Malakai looming, guarding us, his eyes glowing slightly.
“Get thatthingaway from me,” Michlael hissed.
“Thisthingis keeping your blood inside of your body right now,” Malakai snapped, clenching his teeth.
“What?”
“Not convinced?” Malakai lifted a brow, and I saw blush spreading across Michlael’s face. “Is this awkward enough, or should I tryharder?” His voice was taunting, as a wicked grin spread.
“Blood-wielder,” Michlael whispered, his eyes widening slightly. “It’s impossible.”
“Call me athingagain, and I’ll show you just how possible it is,” Malakai growled.
CHAPTER
35
