We failed.
His shadows were swift as they curled around the screaming daemon and latched onto their skin. Hands smacked and rubbed frantically to dispel the darkness calling for their death.The group fell silent as the living extensions of his soul twined around their necks and pressed them to the wall. It would go faster if they didn’t fight.
Brooks closed his eyes and exhaled a breath with intention. He would do the females a mercy and make sure their conscious mind was unaware of the pain and fear of death. An emptiness echoed in his chest as the well of chaos in his veins emptied save a few drops. Their eyes closed as their bodies fell limp. No wrinkles gathered on their foreheads and the tracks of glistening tears dried.
The males, however, continued to scream and beg for their lives. They stared in horror at the limp women and fought uselessly against his shadowy restraints.
It would do them no good.
“You’re disgusting, craven gods who don’t deserve the gift I’ve given. You spineless pieces of shit will die as cowards, and my sentence is the wrath your kind will learn to fear.” Chaos’ voice entwined with his own, their tone low and ethereal.
Upon his last words, the shadows burst forward and funneled down the throats of the men in a violent, punishing wave. Their frantic screams were muffled as his darkness forced its waydown into their chests and up into the brain. Curls of inky black left their noses as he shredded them apart from the inside out. He was going to pull every last drop of chaos from their tainted souls.
Brooks’ shadow grew darker as it pulled the chaos out of the writhing group. It was a slow drain at first, but once he had his claws in, the power flowed back in a rush.
Fuck,he thought, hair raising along his arms as the tingling high flowed through his veins. Brooks closed his eyes once more and inhaled, welcoming the rush. It was nowhere near enough to bring him back to full strength, but it would be enough to take him to her.
It had to be.
When there was nothing left but marrow and sinew, he recalled the shadows and ignored the thud as the bodies dropped to the ground. Milky eyes stared at the ceiling, their hollow cheeks frozen in a scream.
Something cool and wet soaked his shoes, pulling him back to the task at hand. The hallway was completely flooded and the water level was rising fast. He bent down to wet his fingers and touched them to his tongue.
Salt water.
She is calling forth the sea. We must hurry.
Another ripple of power echoed through the world and he tasted her in every wave. Chaos stirred in his veins and reached for the sunshine that sang to his very soul. Xia awoke a beast that had been sleeping since the dawn of time, and it was ravenous.
He was desperate to have her.
Hungry to taste her.
Todevourher.
Brooks closed his eyes and urged his mind, body and soul to follow that ripple back to the source. His scattered pieces clungto hers and reached desperate hands toward the light calling him home.
She is our beacon.
Molecules spread and rode the trail of power back to the one thing that promised to make him whole. He traveled through darkness until the bitter brine of sea water hit his scattered senses and static electricity thickened the air. Light pierced the darkness in jagged bolts and illuminated the black sandy beach in bursts of brilliance.
Brooks threw himself from the shadows and bid the chaos to piece his daemon form back together. His feet crunched on the sand as the clouds ripped open and poured their rage upon the surface.
Two silhouettes stood stark against the flashes of lightning– one cowered on the ground while the other… His pulse jumped as his heart lodged itself in his throat.
Xia.
She stood over the slumped form on the ground in a menacing stance as the tumultuous waves reached and crashed against the cliff face. He didn’t know where exactly they were. Club Hel was somewhere above them but they weren’t on the strip of sand he’d seen in his dreams all those weeks ago.
It didn’t fucking matter.
He ran to them, his feet kicking up sand as his arms pumped at his sides. Rain stung his face and battered his eyes, but he wouldn’t stop.
“Xia!” he shouted, his voice booming as deep as the thunder rumbling around them. Her spine stiffened and she looked up, those glowing green eyes like a beacon to his soul.
Their stare never faltered as he ran. When he was a few paces away, he slowed to a jog. The last thing he wanted to do was crash into her and send them both flying from the cliff. If he were a good man, he would stop. If he were a patient man,he would let her come to him. Brooks stood before the raging tempest his Siren had become and reveled in her twisted beauty. He yearned for her more than the moon longed for the rising tide.
We are not men. We are neither good nor patient. We are God. Nowgo.
