I can’t shift!Oberi panicked.It’s some sort of compulsion!
Mad Dog had used vampire compulsion to kill Thaddeus, but back then, he’d used blood magic to do it. It seemed that his demigod powers were growing, and he could compel anyone, blood magic or not. I barely had a second to take it in before Ava screamed my name.
“Charlie!” Her panicked cry cut through the forest.
I felt the rush of air swirling through the clearing as Mad Dog raced toward her at super speed. I moved so fast that I crossed the impossible distance in less than a second. I threw my hands upward and caught him around the throat before he could go in for the kill. Magic swelled through me as I siphoned his super strength and held him back. The magic felt familiar, and it occurred to me that I moved so fast because I’d siphoned his super speed at a distance, before I consciously decided to. They didn’t know who the hell they were messing with.
Mad Dog hissed as his fangs protruded, pressing into the skin on my neck. He never got the chance to break the skin, because I used his super strength against him. I lifted him by the neck, then slammed him into the ground so hard that it left an impression. I forced the earth open beneath him, and it swallowed him whole as I buried him alive. It wouldn’t kill a vampire, but it’d hold him off for a bit.
Esther’s feathery wings continued to flap above us. She’d turned her sights on Kallie and Marcus as they shot spells inher direction. A clap of thunder rang out around us, and the air sizzled as we narrowly missed being struck by lightning. An explosion blasted off near Kallie and Marcus, and the whole earth rocked back and forth.
Fucking hell. Esther was one strong angel. She’d learned to manipulate energy to create electromagnetic blasts and bombs!
Kallie and Marcus were able to defend themselves— but barely. Deuce was killing their spells every chance he got and shattering their shields the moment they cast them. Esther aimed energy at them again, and they got out of the way just in time, their screams echoing through the trees. Dirt flew into the air and rained down on us.
Ava was casting whatever was in her arsenal— Fire, Water, Spirit magic— yet none of it had any effect. We were practically sitting ducks. A whine of agony sounded nearby, and I felt a slicing sensation across our bond as Oberi was cut open by one of Esther’s spells.
“Kallie, get us out of here!” I screamed.
I heard the snap of her fingers… then the strangest sensation surrounded me. The sounds of the forest vanished. The rustling of the trees was gone, and the dirt falling from above halted mid-air. I could still feel pebbles of dirt on my skin, and I knew Kallie had stopped time.
So why did I still hear the sound of beating wings above us?
“Charlie, duck!” Ava screamed.
A wave of Fire blasted past me as she went to defend me, but Esther got to me first. The angel hit me so hard I nearly blacked out. Angels were fucking strong— I knew, because I’d fought them in the ring. But Esther was one hell of an angel. We’d severely underestimated her power.
I went flying across the clearing and landed against a tree. I felt something snap, and at first I thought it was my back, until I sensed the tree waver above me. The sounds of theforest returned, and time began moving forward again. The tree groaned as it began to fall, but I levitated it with my Earth magic and threw it at Esther. She let out a heavyoofas it hit her and she toppled out of the sky.
“Ooh, what’s this?” Naya practically sang, sounding amused. “The fae princess can stop time?”
Fuck. Kallie had been learning how to stop time without influencing other demigods, but we were in too close proximity. She couldn’t pick and choose to take us and leave them behind. Now they knew what she was capable of, and we’d revealed one of our greatest assets.
“It changes nothing!” Esther roared. She was obviously getting impatient. “Our lord wanted them dead, and so they shall be!”
All at once, my friends let out a collective scream. Oberi yelped like he was in pain, and Rishi hissed. I didn’t know what had happened.
She’s blinding us with her light magic!Oberi cried.
Did this bitch forget that I was blind? I was unaffected, and I went in for the kill. I had Mad Dog’s super strength and speed, so I crossed the distance to Esther in a moment. I pummeled my fist into her face, and blood spurted over my shirt. Damn it all if that wasn’t satisfying.
Esther got a hold of my wrist. She wrapped her legs around my middle, then curled her wings around my entire body as she dragged me to the ground. “Submit to his will,” she demanded.
A familiar pain overcame my body, and my muscles seized up. I remembered it all too well. The Warden had used this power on me in Forevermore. It was a type of life-force manipulation angels had, a way to suck the life energy out of you by sheer will.
Back then, I couldn’t defend myself from it. But I was stronger now.
My magic warred against her, siphoning my energy back into me. I tugged even harder, trying to take her power for my own, but I couldn’t muster anything beyond her super strength. Her demigod powers were a match for mine, and I couldn’t take anything more than her weakest asset. She was powerful— I’d give her that. All her healing abilities and energy manipulation powers were beyond my reach.
I threw a punch, but she dodged it, and my fist met nothing but air. I went to sink the other fist into her gut, but she drew her knee upward and blocked the attack. It was like she knew what I was going to do before I did it.
That was her demigod power,I remembered. She always had a way of reading our weaknesses, and now she knew how to read us better than ever. She knew every attack we were going to throw at her before we even thought of it ourselves.
This bitch may have been at the Institute voluntarily, but she was the worst inmate they’d ever let in that place. There were only so many ways to kill an angel. Let’s see how well she functioned without a head.
I conjured a sword, and it pierced her wing. Esther screamed in pain as I yanked the sword downward, slicing through her wing. Esther leapt backward, and I jumped to my feet. I wasted no time aiming the sword at her head, but before it could make contact, it disappeared in my hands.
Shock must’ve crossed my features, because Deuce stood by the tree line, laughing maniacally.
