When I arrived at the forest, I kicked the door open and sprinted into the darkness, the hellfire inside me lighting the path like a beacon. The trees whipped back and forth, groaning under the assault of an unnatural gale, what few leaves they had left snapping from the branches and swirling around my legs. The veil had thinned to nearly nothing here, the low vibration of the Underworld seeping through, making the atmosphere heavy, sulfurous, and thick.
I burst into the clearing, skidding to a halt, my boots tearing up the earth. In the center of the chaos, a cyclone of debris and dust stretched toward the sky, and there, suspended in the eye of the storm, was Ember. Invisible bands of air pinned her arms to her sides, and her head lolled forward, her purple hair whipping around her face like a flag of surrender.
“Let her go!” I roared, the sound tearing through the wind.
Adrian floated near the top of the tree line. He looked down, a sneer twisting his lips until his gaze landed on my chest.
His eyes widened, greed eclipsing the malice in his expression. “You brought it. Excellent.”
“I brought your demise.” I reached for the hellfire inside me, and thanks to the amulet, it didn’t just spark; it exploded. A pillar of violet flames erupted from my body, incinerating the grass in a ten-foot radius.
Adrian laughed, the sound sharp and grating. “You think a little fire can stop a storm? I am the air, the wind, the wild…I am a hurricane.”
“Then I will burn the sky.” I launched myself at him, propelling my body upward with a blast of fire from my palms. Adrian’s eyes widened, and he flicked his wrist. A wall of compressed air slammed into me like a physical punch from a giant.
I grunted but didn’t stop. I punched through the barrier, the amulet feeding me strength I hadn’t felt in centuries as I grabbed Adrian’s ankle and yanked him downward.
He yelped, summoning a gust that drove me into the ground. I hit the dirt with a bone-jarring thud, but I rolled, dodging a blade of wind that sliced the earth where my head had been half a second before.
“Ember!” I shouted, scrambling to my feet.
Still floating a few feet from the ground, Adrian lashed a hand toward me, and another gust of wind knocked me from my feet. I caught myself, rolling and feinting right before plowing toward him.
He raised a hand again, but the amulet had increased my speed tenfold. I slammed into him, grasping his legs and yanking him to the ground. He grunted, losing his grip on Ember, and the tornado dissipated.
She dropped like a stone.
“No!” I lunged toward her, but she hit the dirt with a sickening thump, groaning as she rolled onto her side.
My breath came out in a rush. She was alive, and that was all that mattered.
“The amulet belongs to me!” Adrian flew upward before descending like a hawk, his hand outstretched, his body torpedoing toward my chest.
His fingers wrapped around the amulet, and he pulled, not with his arm, but with the wind. A sudden, concentrated updraft caught him, rocketing him toward the clouds, and because I wore the chain, I went with him.
He yanked his arm left and right, the metal cutting into my neck like a saw before catching beneath my chin and blocking my air. My legs kicked uselessly of their own accord as he dragged me higher and higher.
“Give it to me!” he screamed over the roaring wind.
He twisted his hand, tightening the necklace like a garrote. The links dug deeper into my throat, slicing skin. My vision blurred, the immense pressure threatening to sever my head from my shoulders. I clawed at the chain, at his hand, and he pinned my arms with his wind, holding me helpless.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t fight. I was about to be beheaded…yet again.
“Die,” he said, but I had no intention of following his order.
I looked down to find Ember pushing herself up, her eyes wide with terror as she watched me dangle.
I will not leave her.
The rage in the core of my being hit critical mass. It wasn’t simply hellfire anymore; it was pure, unadulterated destruction. My demon clawed its way to the surface, and I didn’t fight the transformation. I welcomed it.
A guttural roar ripped from my crushed throat, deeper than any sound a human form could make. My body morphed, doubling in size, horns sprouting from my skull as my tusks lengthened and sharpened. The expansion of my neck snapped the chain with a sound like a gunshot.
The sudden release sent Adrian tumbling backward in the air. The amulet, free from my neck, plummeted toward the ground as I fell. I shot a stream of hellfire at the scorched earth, the heat creating a pillow beneath my feet before they touched the clearing floor.
Adrian corrected his flight, his eyes darting frantically for the prize. He dove for it, but Ember was already moving.
Despite her injuries, she lunged, snatching the glowing pendant from the dirt seconds before Adrian could reach it. She rolled onto her back, clutching it to her chest, and lit a ball of fire in her other hand. With the amulet in her possession, her strength grew, the flames burning white-hot.
