“You’ve chosen your side, and that’s fine. I will respect that,” she replied. “But are you a killer?”
That had the mage blinking hard, looking down at me. I could read it in his eyes, see him considering it.
He might not have been a killer. But I had enough blood on my hands to not care anymore.
With him so close, I felt the tendrils of his power. I let my own magic slip out of me, a darkness I’d held onto for so long. It was almost a relief to allow it out. To let it feed on him.
There was no way to stop it once it touched his skin. From the corner of my eye, I watched it snake up his hand from where it brushed my own. At first, he didn’t even notice the shadows, not as he said something to the female, and tried pressing the gun further intomy flesh.
But when he choked on his next words, it had the witch moving towards him.
A spear of ice shot up from the ground, stopping her from reaching the mage as he stumbled back, the gun tumbling from his hand. It hit the ground with a sharpclankthat had the female behind me flinching, her hands covering her stomach.
Shock played in her eyes as the mage fell to his knees. With each laboured breath he took, I felt myself get stronger. With each slow beat of his heart, I felt my magic grow as I sucked the power from his body and into my own.
Unfortunately, it wouldn’t kill him. It would leave him immobilised for several days, weakened and useless. And for those days, I would be able to access what was his. I would be able to enter the minds of others. I would be able to stealtheirmemories.
And maybe, I might be able to recover my own.
I’d never borrowed the power of a mind mage or witch. Never tried, never gotten close enough to catch a whiff. I could sometimes steal small fractions of another’s power. Just enough for a few minutes of using their ability. So small they never even noticed the magic went missing.
For him, though, he felt it. He knew I was consuming his power.
And I wouldn’t release him until I had it all.
41
Ivy
To my horror, I watched as darkness entered the mind mage’s veins, running the length of his arm up to his exposed throat before swallowing his face in creeping lines of black.
One moment, he was fine.
The next…
I caught Hawk’s eye in the reflection of the mirror. It looked like the glass in a police interrogation room, which meant there was a chance someone was on the other side watching all of this unfold. If there was, they didn’t try to help.
Marion, though, stared at Hawk in horror. “Wraith,” she sneered, backing away from him. Before she could escape, another ice spear rose from the ground, trapping her in place.
Wraith.A type of demon I’d never encountered and didn’t know anything about. I thought they were tied to death, but as I watched Hawk’s reflection…
His eyes were completely black. Similar dark veins ran from his eyes down his cheeks without going further. And his lips…
They were just as black as his eyes.
A cold chill rolled down my spine, but I was locked in place, forced to watch as Hawk drained the mage.
When the male finally fell to the ground, Hawk groaned, the black veins disappearing. But his eyes and lips remainedstained, dark and ominous. “I hear everything,” he whispered, voice hoarse. “Ifeeleverything.”
My skin prickled as I stepped towards the chair he was strapped to. He was shirtless, sweat gleaming on his skin, which had taken on a pink, feverish tint. Sweat dripped down his nose onto his upper lip. There were cuffs holding his arms down, another set around his ankles. The strap of metal that crossed his forehead made me shudder.
It looked like a torture device. Something they would use to pry information out of a prisoner.
Well, it was, I supposed. And they’d stolen enough from Hawk.
He stared at me in the reflection, the black disappearing from his eyes like bloody tears. They dripped down his cheeks, lines of red staining his skin. But I couldn’t tear my eyes from his. They were eyes filled with confusion.
A lump formed in my throat as I turned to Marion, taking in the older woman. I couldn’t stop the waves of hatred that rushed through me at the sight of her.
