This had to work. Itwouldwork.
Gage gave me a nod, and then slipped through the opening in the boulders and onto the dry cracked earth of the flatlands in front of the black tower.
Without a speech, or any fancy words, we all followed suit.
Gage growled, and I didn’t get more than ten feet before everything around me changed.
Oh no. Oh, please don’t be real.
It was as if we had crossed some invisible shield that was hiding a full army of demonic warriors. Gage was right, there must have been over a hundred of them, mostly hellhounds. They’d been lying in wait this entire time, protected by some ward that we had just crossed through.
“Gage! Turn back!” I screamed, but he didn’t listen to me. He was already in a battle with two hellhounds, and dozens more were running at him.
I looked at Drea, panicked, hoping to see strength in her gaze.
I didn’t find it. Instead my panic was mirrored on her face.
“Do something before they rip him apart!” she told me.
Jacob and Dash had taken to the skies, and I froze, unsure what I could do with such a large number of demons.
“I… I can’t…” My hands shook as I tried to pull on my power, thinking of what to do. In the back of my mind I was still concentrating on the portal and Indigo and feeding her power to keep it open.
Drea grabbed the base of my chin and forced me to look at her. “Do you know what my mom said about you the day you got back from Avalon?”
I shook my head.
Drea looked at the marks swirling on my arms. “She said she’d never seen a warrior with so much power at their disposal. That we could support you and build your confidence, but in the end you probably wouldn’t even need us. You’ve. Got. This.”
Her words shocked me. I didn’t even know what half of the symbols and marks all over my body meant, but if Aurelia said that about me, maybe I could do something. If I directed a blast of energy to the hellhounds attacking Gage to the right, and then the ones to the left, it would give him enough time—
“Gage!” Marlow’s scream of terror ripped me from my thoughts.
I followed her gaze just as half a dozen beasts piled onto Gage and he fell to the ground, disappearing under them.
Something within me snapped. One second I was staring in shock at my boyfriend being no doubt ripped limb from limb, and the next it was as if I had touched a live wire. A current ripped through my body and I screamed as everything in front of me was swallowed up with purple light.
This power was raw, unbridled, and somewhat dark. It wasn’t my portal power, this power sought to destroy, to kill, to have revenge. It flowed through me effortlessly, and in that moment I didn’t think about anything else. It was as if the very flow of time had stopped and all that existed was this power.
It spread throughout the field, consuming everything in its path, and pride swelled in my chest.
Kill them all. My revenge will extend to anyone who even looks at Gage wrong. Every single hellhound, demon, or person who has ill intentions for him will burn alive.
Pure, unbridled rage consumed me as I stared at the ocean of purple flooding the valley, and grinned.
“Tatum, enough! You’ll kill us all!” Drea’s voice pierced the power that held me enthralled and I gasped, realizing that something had taken over me.
Shaking myself, I tightened every muscle in my body as if turning off a tap, and the power shut off all at once, leaving behind an emptiness in my chest.
When the purple glow was gone, I blinked at the carnage of Devil’s Meadow.
Every single hellhound was incinerated. All except for Gage, who lay panting on the ground now in his human form. Large gashes raked along his back, but he otherwise looked okay as he lumbered to his feet.
I glanced at Drea with excitement over what I’d just done and recoiled when I saw the fear in her gaze. She was holding her arm to her chest. Along the top was a red blistering burn.
A gasp ripped from my throat as guilt threaded through me. “Did I…? I’m so sorry,” I whimpered.
She nodded, curtly. “It’s okay. Go get your mom. I’ll get Gage through the portal back home.” Her words were reassuring, but her voice held reservations. I’d hurt my friend.
