“His soul is as black as the void.”That didn’t sound healthy.“But I’ll still eat him.”
“No.”
“Spoil sport.”
Michael’s cold eyes clamped on to Indigo’s position. It wasn’t like she was trying to hide. The crazy bitch was just standing proud as punch in the sunshine. Onlookers’ steps faltered as they gazed at Indigo. She refused to withdraw until the danger had passed. Michael tilted his head to the right and narrowed his gaze. I still looked enough like me to be recognizable, but his mind would be turning over what creature faced him.
“Your grandmother wants the book, Cora, nobody has to get hurt if you hand it over.”
He didn’t look surprised to see us here, making me wonder if they’d been waiting for us. “Your terms are unacceptable,” Indigo drawled. The cadence of her voice was otherworldly, and the two elementals at Michael’s back took a step back. Michael, the idiot, took a step forward. I felt indigo’s mouth stretch into a grin, he matched it. What happens when you get two psychos in a room? Nothing good is the answer.
Shadows moved in her periphery as Hudson and Sebastian widened their gap between us. They were closing in on the elementals refusing to let us go. Babu was behind us, giving Indigo the space she needed with those stupid giant wings.
Indigo ran her hand through the air and summoned a fireball in her hand, which she played with like a child’s toy—if that toy was a burning lump of destruction. Gasps surrounded us and people no longer side-eyed us, they had their phones out and a small crowd was gathering to watch us. What I’d give for a time when people fled from danger, not whipped their phones out to video the carnage.
“I will give you to the count of five to remove yourselves from our path,” Indigo said.
Michael laughed. The sound was as cold as his eyes, and as joyless as his life.
“One,” she started.
Michael snapped his fingers and another female elemental emerged from the crowd with a struggling woman in her arms who was clearly cursing. She dropped her at Michael’s feet and stepped back. Michael gripped her arm and yanked her up in front of him. She was a beautiful Egyptian woman and tears streamed down her face.
Babu pushed past Indigo. “Layla?” he shouted.
“Stop him,”I instructed.
Indigo snapped out her wing and prevented Babu from running into Michael’s trap. The crowd murmured at the sight of Indigo’s wings stretching. “Let go of my wife,” Babu shouted, causing poor Layla to start a round of sobbing. How long had they been here to kidnap Babu’s wife? A sickening lurch flipped my stomach into a knot.
“Last chance, Cora, give me the book and everyone lives,” Michael said. The gleam in his eyes was of wicked anticipation. He didn’t want me to give in, because then he couldn’t cause the destruction he was known for.
“Give him the book,” Babu snapped. He pulled at the satchel strapped across our chest. Indigo grabbed his wrist and let the power flow from her gaze.
“Be still,” she ordered. Babu froze, the weight of the words forcing his body to obey.
“Two,” Indigo snarled at Michael.
“I hope you know what you are doing,”I uttered.
Michael whispered something in Layla’s ear then shoved her forward as resignation seeped into her features. Indigo’s gaze lasered in on the woman as Babu made noises of distress.
“Three.”
The corner of Michael’s mouth lifted. When The Hound smirked, you ran. You didn’t stop even if there was a hundred dollar bill on the floor. That man only smiled when something utterly evil was about to occur and he was the cause of it.
Layla lifted her trembling hand to her throat. Michael had passed her a dagger. He raised a brow, daring Indigo to continue counting and defying him.
“You have to trust me,” Indigo said in my mind.
“Four.”
Michael made a motion across his own throat with his hand and Layla followed. Blood spilled down her simple pale blue dress, the contrast was startling. Michael took his time in slicing open her neck, making sure the horror of what was taking place fully sank into our veins. The crowd collectively took a step back and the mumblings paused as they watched the atrocity unfolding in front of them. Why weren’t they running and screaming? Was society this numb?
“Five,” Indigo shouted. She moved so fast, the world was a blur. Hudson and Sebastian launched at the surrounding elementals. Hudson’s claws ripped free and tore at the chest of the male in front him. Sebastian lunged for the female and snapped her neck. Indigo set her sights on Michael, stepping over Layla’s crumpled body to reach him. Michael looked shocked for a moment, clearly not heeding the warning that Cora Roberts was not in control, and no amount of threats would deter her. She didn’t weigh the value of human life like a normal person, and wasn’t bound by the emotional attachment most of us felt, and in that matter he had met his match.
Her claws extended and she wrapped her hand around his throat, while her free hand held something hot that I couldn’t see. It couldn’t be the fireball, Indigo was impervious to the effects of her own power. “I’m going to enjoy this,” she said with a tilt of her head.
“Cora, stop,” a familiar voice boomed from the crowd. Indigo squeezed Michael’s throat.
