“He’s here now,” she hissed, her voice carrying like metal dragged across glass. “My master is here.”
Lucy felt the air drop. Instinctively, she pushed Corey and Barnaby toward the corner. “Stay down,” she ordered.
For once, they didn’t argue. They dropped, crouching behind a broken table leg, both silent.
Jared’s voice sliced through the thick air. “Your master has no place here.”
He clapped his hands once. The sound was deafening, a shockwave rippled outward. The entire manor seemed to shudder. Furniture trembled. The pressure made Lucy’s ears ring.
Whatever was trying to come through hit an invisible wall and recoiled with a shriek.
Davina laughed. “As long as I am here,” she said, her voice no longer her own, “he will always have passage.”
Jared stepped forward, like a predator closing in. “Then let us unmake your door.”
He moved faster than the eye could track, one hand pressing against her chest, the other stretching, thinning, the fingers bending and twisting until they lookedwrong.They snaked forward, spectral and sharp, sliding into her open mouth.
Davina’s back hit the wall with a violent crack. Her eyes rolled white, her body jerking as Jared began topull.
The sound that came out was inhuman a deep, dragging growl followed by a thousand whispers all screaming at once. A darkmist started to pour from her throat, thick as tar, whipping and thrashing as it took form.
The lights flickered violently, the room pulsing between darkness and light.
Barnaby ducked, shielding his head. “What thefuckis that?”
Davina was sliding down the wall, gasping for breath. Corey didn’t think, he bolted across the room, grabbing her just before she hit the floor. He lifted her effortlessly and sprinted back to Barnaby’s side.
Jared was holding this entity in his hands. The entity was long and serpentine, it twisted and struggled to break free from Jared's grip, screeching in a tone that clawed the inside of their skulls.
Lucy’s right hand burned suddenly, hot as fire. She gasped as the light burst from her palm, not white, not gold, but violet,bright and alive, taking shape into a blade of pure energy.
Jared’s head snapped toward her. “Cut it. Now!” he commanded. Lucy didn’t hesitate.
She swung the blade in a clean arc.
The sword sliced straight through the centre of the entity. The sound was deafening. It convulsed, split apart, and then it was, gone.
The lights flickered back on.
Davina lay motionless but breathing. Corey set her down gently, brushing her hair from her face.
Everyone stood in stunned silence; the only sound was their collective breathing.
Jared straightened, his expression unreadable. The faint glow faded from his eyes. “Now,” he said quietly, “we wait.”
He turned slowly to Lucy, studying her. “But first, you and I need to talk.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
Lucy swallowed. “About what?”
“Aboutyou.”
He stepped closer, voice lowering to a whisper that curled against her mind. “There are not many who can forge light from instinct. I am intrigued.”
Chapter 10
Lucy and Jared left the room to talk, the conversation got going before they even reached the dining room.
