Within heartbeats, I’ve reached the men. The claws of my right hand slice through their blades—and their guns as they attempt to reload—while my left hand brushes their skin.
Death rushes across their faces and they crumple to the floor; all five bear shifters quickly downed, leaving only the demon standing.
Sometimes, I prefer to spill blood, but in this case, I would rather avoid any further trauma for the women in the cages.
The blood drains from the demon’s face as he backpedals as fast as he can. “Ultima Nostra.”
His finger continues squeezing the trigger of his revolver.
Click, click, click.As if bullets will magically appear in the empty cylinder.
“You know why I’m here,” I say.
Words spew from his mouth as he attempts to use his power of compulsion on me. “Stay back. You don’t want to hurt me. I haven’t done anything wrong. I haven’t?—”
With a quick dart forward, my left hand closes around his throat.
His speech stops.
His life is instantly gone.
I lower him to the floor before I release him and flex my fingers.
My crown is wrapped neatly around my left palm, its impulses quieted by the death I’ve unleashed.
Ordinarily, I wear the crown like a bracelet around my left wrist, its spokes facing up toward my biceps. It adjusts its size according to my touch. If I want to, I can slip it all the way to my fingertips and then back onto one of my fingers like a ring.
It never leaves my body, and there isn’t a blade in the world that can cut it off me.
At least so far. I know this because many have already tried.
I gave them swift deaths.
Before turning to the cages, I take control of my impulses. They are cold and unfeeling. But the darkness within my heart balances out their cruelty. As I came to understand, darkness is not the same as evil.
Anarchy and her brothers step quietly into the room behind me as I finally approach the women in the cages.
I don’t let them out yet. Captives tend to run as fast as they can once freed—and why wouldn’t they?—but it makes it much harder to get them back to their families.
“Answer my questions and you’ll soon be free,” I say to them. “Where are your homes located? Tell me, and my people will ensure you return safely to them.”
Two of the women shrink away from me, as afraid of me as they should be. One of them glares.
I can respect that.
“You first,” I say to her.
One by one, they tell me where they’re from. I know that Anarchy and her brothers will be taking mental notes in the background, figuring out how to escort these women back to their homes as quickly as possible.
But I have one more thing to say. “Your freedom comes with one condition,” I say. “Your captor is dead, and so are his accomplices. You will not seek vengeance against other dark creatures because of the wrong that was done to you. Others are not responsible for what happened here. You will accept that my justice is the end of it.”
I don’t wait for their agreement. I can’t guarantee they’ll give it, anyway.
I make way for the dark elves, then, stepping back toward the door.
Several men now stand in the hallway, their backs to me as they guard the door. One of them is the human who stood in my way at the White Wing Tavern.
He has proven very useful to me in the months since then.
