"You're killing her," he said. "She never did anything to you."
"She's a means to an end. A perfect conduit." Jasper shrugged, utterly indifferent. "Her druid blood makes her useful. Once I've drained everything through her, I won't need the connection anymore. She'll probably survive. Probably."
Corin lunged but stayed human, using speed instead of mass. He tackled Jasper around the waist, driving him back toward the well, away from Chloe. They grappled in the frozen mud, Corin's hands finding Jasper's throat, squeezing.
Dark energy crackled around them. Corin felt it burning against his skin, trying to force him back, but he held on. His bear lent him strength, primal and furious, and for a moment he thought he might actually be winning.
Jasper laughed. "You think you can fight magic with muscle?" His voice came out strangled but amused. "You're strong, bear. But I've got centuries of power flowing through me now. The well is empty. I am the source."
The energy exploded outward.
Corin flew backward, hitting the crumbling stones of the well hard enough to crack them further. His vision went white, then red, then slowly cleared to show Jasper standing over him, dark power coiling around his arms like serpents.
"I was going to let you live," Jasper said conversationally. "Kill the girl, drain the land, and on to the next town where I can show my strength, really build something. All while everyone here assumed the disease stopped because the girl is dead. But you keep getting in the way." He raised one hand, darkness gathering at his fingertips. "Time to end this."
"Why now?" Corin gasped, buying time, trying to think. "Fifteen years and you never made a move. What changed?"
Jasper paused. The darkness didn't fade, but his attention shifted, considering the question.
"The Veil crisis," he said finally. "Three years ago, when everything nearly came undone. I felt it. Felt the old magics stirring, the seals weakening. I realized that if I didn't act, someone else would. Someone who didn't deserve it."
"So you started breaking the seal."
"Slowly. Carefully. A crack here, a leak there. Let the contamination spread, let the town get scared, let them look for someone to blame." His smile was cruel. "And then your little druid showed up. A gift I never expected. Pure blood, untrained, vulnerable. The perfect scapegoat and the perfect battery, all in one convenient package."
"She's not yours to use."
"She's whatever I say she is." Jasper's hand came down.
Corin rolled.
The dark energy hit the stones where he'd been lying, shattering them into fragments. He scrambled to his feet, putting the ruined well between them, and shifted again. His bear burst forth with a roar of pain and fury, muscles burning, bones screaming.
He threw himself at Jasper one more time.
They collided in a tangle of claws and shadow, Corin tearing at anything he could reach while Jasper's magic burned against his fur. The smell of singed hair filled the air. Blood, his and Jasper's, splattered across the frozen ground.
But Jasper was right. Muscle couldn't beat magic. Not magic this strong, this old, this concentrated.
Every blow Corin landed, Jasper healed. Every wound he inflicted closed before his eyes. The power flowing through the dark druid was regenerating him faster than Corin could hurt him.
And Corin was slowing down.
His bear was exhausted. The repeated shifts, the magical attacks, the physical battering, it was all taking its toll. He couldfeel his movements growing sluggish, his reactions dulling. His body was giving out.
Jasper caught him with a blast of dark energy that sent him tumbling across the clearing. This time, Corin couldn't get up. He lay on his side, chest heaving, and watched as Jasper straightened his jacket and walked toward where Chloe lay.
"No." The word came out as a growl, barely human.
"It's over, bear." Jasper didn't even look at him. "You fought well. But some things can't be stopped with teeth and claws."
Corin tried to rise. His legs wouldn't cooperate. The shifter magic that had always been his greatest strength was spent, drained by Jasper's attacks, and all he had left was brute force that couldn't reach its target.
He watched Jasper approach Chloe. Watched Freya stand between them, her small body shaking with fear but refusing to move. Watched the dark energy gather in Jasper's hands, ready to finish what he'd started.
"Chloe." Her name tore from his throat. "Chloe, please."
She wasn't moving. Wasn't responding. The dark veins had spread to her neck now, her face twisted in silent agony.
