I noticed a ring on his finger with a string attached, which meant he had thrown something to grab the gun from my hand and pull it to him.
Humans and their technology.
I placed my hand on my chest to calm my racing heart. I may not have been able to feel it in this form, but I knew it was beating like crazy. Even though the man didn't have any magical energy, it was somehow clear to me that he wasn't human.
“I'm sorry,” he rasped. “This isn’t what I want to do. I know you're in here still. Rebeka told me about your power, which was a mistake, because this body is greedy and wants the soul within the relic again. But I don't want it. I just want my soul to be free so I can die. I can't fight the urge to protect my soul. I'm sorry.”
I allowed my mouth to become corporeal so I could speak. “Just give me the gun, please.”
His wrinkled hands shook with it before he pointed it at my mouth and shot.
I fell back out of the way and forced my mouth to become incorporeal again. Disbelief flooded my veins. If that shot had hit me, it would have killed me instantly.
“You're not evil,” I stated, running around the room in a bunch of little zigzags so he couldn’t shoot me again, but he tried.
The contraption went off every time I made my mouth visible, and fear paralyzed me from trying it again. There was obviously no talking him down. Whatever will possessing him to protect the relic wasn’t lining up with what he actually wanted.
I ran my hands over my head, pushing the fallen strands of my hair back up into the bun that was falling apart in my frazzled state. Maybe I didn’t have to talk to him at all, and with his rash actions, there was no way he would’ve listened to me anyway. I dug around my bag until I found the paralytic and a syringe that I carried around with me, filling it with the paralytic—a little more than I’d use on a regular supernatural.
My magical energy depleted quickly so I went up behind him, where he couldn't see me or hear me because he was moving around erratically, knowing that I could be anywhere at any time.
I moved the syringe into his neck before I made it and my hand corporeal and pushed the plunger in.
His arm swiveled, pointing the gun right at my corporeal hand, but before he hit the trigger, he fell over, the contraption hitting the floor and sliding toward the relic.
“Thank you,” he croaked.
His body was tense, but his eyes were soft and relaxed.
I went over to the gun and let my hand become corporeal again as I picked it up.
Aiming it at the crystal within the relic, I pulled the trigger without any hesitation. Black streaked toward it before encompassing the relic fully, and then it cracked.
The crystal inside the relic shattered, and a phantom force flew out of it, catching my hand and the contraption and throwing us airborne before I made myself and the gun incorporeal again, landing on the floor.
The door had opened as the force exploded, and I saw a glimpse of Samson before he was thrown back out of the room.
My heart stuttered. I hadn’t known that he would come here, but if he was hit by that force, I wasn't sure what had happened to him.
The relic was in bits and pieces throughout the room, and magical energy had destroyed everything around it as it broke free. I blew out a heavy breath and stuffed the contraption back in my bag as I got to my feet.
The necromancer on the ground groaned, still paralyzed from the tincture I’d injected into him. He’d been thrown by the blast too, but he seemed okay enough.
I carefully tested myself, slowly becoming corporeal to be sure that the relic was truly destroyed.
Then I rushed out of the room and into the hallway where Samson leaned against the wall with blood trickling down his chin.
“Oh my Fates! Are you okay?” I dropped my knees, knowing how much this would hurt Callie for him to be hurt like that.
“I'm fine,” he said before he coughed and blood splattered on his chest.
“You're not fine. Do you still have your powers?”
The corners of his mouth quirked up into a smile as he shook his head. “No, I'm not a phoenix anymore. And there's no way that I can heal what happened. It feels like my organs are all melted.”
A hand grabbed me before the scent of cinnamon and blood wrapped around me, and I was pulled backwards into Alister’s chest as a sob wracked out of me.
Tears poured out of my eyes as I stared at Samson. “I’m so sorry.”
