My fires flickered, and he noticed.
“What, you’re abandoning us when we’re in need?” Nicron tilted his head towards me, grin spreading.
“Don’t listen to him,” I snapped. “He’s a demon.”
The mages seemed taken aback, before bursting into laughter. The Ashen Corps tightened their grips of their weapons, not letting my words go by unnoticed.
“Ah, I see,” Nicron chuckled dryly. “Your demon betrayed you, so now you’re trying to take back control by pointing out the next in line?”
“Hey,” Ashley snapped. “You look awfully happy for someone who lost their leader.”
“This is my battle-face, darling,” Nicron chuckled. “People fear those who laugh at danger.”
A shot sounded from the Ashen Corps, but Nicron pushed it away with his water. “How rude to interrupt.” He furrowed his brows in disappointment, as he summoned a tall wave to crash over the soldiers, separating them, disorienting them.
I whipped my flames at him, but they hissed and shrunk back as they collided with the water that was now swirling around him.
Shit, I didn’t stand a chance against him with my element.
“I can’t touch him,” I blurted.
“Let me handle that,” Ashley nodded, plucking a few small bombs from her bag as she began throwing them. At impact a grey cloud instantly enveloped the area, obscuring the view.
“Hiding, are we?” Nicron chuckled tauntingly.
A thick wave came right at me, and I had to throw myself to the side to avoid getting caught inside it. He had separated Ashley and me.
“Where’s Nate?” I shot out, pushing up on my feet to keep moving.
Guns began firing, and I felt fear building up. It was one thing obscuring the mages, preventing them from finding their targets. It was another having the Ashen Corps fire blindly into the cloud in hopes to strike anything at all.
One bullet scraped my thigh and I hissed, revealing my location again as another wave came crashing down on me. I barely had time to take a sharp breath before it sucked me in. I pressed everything I had into my flames, forcing the water to vaporize, creating room for me to breathe once again.
“Clever little girl,” Nicron mused, hiding within the smoke.
Another cracking sound—Ashley was probably keeping the smoke alive to make it harder for him to find me.
Water formed into arms, whipping wildly against the ground, searching for purchase. I quickly moved, turning my flames into extensions of myself, keeping debris and bullets off of me the best I could.
Another bullet slashed my upper arm, and I burrowed my teeth in my lower lip to not cry out in pain.
I tasted blood and my head felt a little dizzy as I realised I had already lost blood to Malakai right before this began.
“There you are,” Nicron whispered, as he lunged at me from the shadows. I felt him through my fires, granting me a brief second to spin out of his attempt to grapple me. He cackled like a madman, enjoying the hunt.
I flared my fires at him, but he easily brushed them off with his water once again.
“How long are we going to keep up these charades?” He tilted his head, with a wicked grin on his lips.
I threw a kick at him and he ducked away. But I didn’t stop, I kept pushing, sending one attack after the other, spinning around him, trying to land a single blow, but he deflected my strikes as if he already knew my next move before I knew it myself.
He grew tired of the game, as he grabbed my foot in the middle of an attack, tugging at it before shoving me away, forcing me to fight for balance. When I spun again he was already coming at me. I rolled to the side as his fist slammed hard against the ground where I had been standing mere seconds earlier.
“I guess I can see why Malakai fancied you,” he chuckled darkly.
The mere sound of his name from those lips made rage curl inside of me, causing my flames to engulf me.
“Shut up,” I hissed, throwing my flames at him, as they hungered for something to devour to fuel them further.
