Page 60 of Liberating Water

“You are not welcome here, Dantalion, nor is any other who plans to destroy my home or the people I love. Make sure to tell everyone in the pit of Hell you call home that the Elementi Knights will not fail in their mission and we will take on anyone who gets in our way,” I vowed, sending another surge of power crashing into to him. I felt all six of our powers flowing through me, casting Dantalion back to where he came from, severing him from his conduit. Unable to handle the power flowing through me, I released my sai and fell to the side, crying and shaking as I met Marvin’s gaze for the first time.

“You might have killed me, but I’m not the only one…” he gasped as I watched the light go out in his eyes.

Curling up, I took his still warm hand and let my grief take over, knowing I had done the right thing but also understanding that I was responsible for his death.

This was the thing that people who’ve been in war say you never understand until you’ve experienced it. Marvin Brown, evil as he may have been, was still a casualty of war. A man who had done unspeakable things, some I’m sure we still had yet to discover. I’d been charged with keeping this world and the people in it safe from men and demons like him, but his death would always be on my hands. The angels, the Elementi, and even my guys would forgive me and tell me I did nothing wrong—but I would carry it with me forever. That was the cost, and I was willing to pay it, but I prayed I didn’t need to do it often for the sake of my soul.

* * *

“We foundher and she’s alive!” Micah shouted, pulling me out of my haze to look up at him. “God, what have they done to you, sweetheart?”

Hudson came rushing out of the tunnel with the radio up to his face, talking quickly to someone on the other end. “Micah found her. We are by the underground river. Looks like the bridge collapsed. We are gonna need a medical team, though—she is covered in blood.”

“What do you mean she’s covered in blood?!” Brayden demanded. “I’m going to need a little more information than that after what we’ve been through. God, it wasn’t even happening to me and I thought I was gonna die.”

Micah gently pulled Marvin’s hand out of my grasp and lifted me up, bridal style, close to his chest. “Let’s get you out of here,” he murmured, pressing his lips to the top of my head.

I clutched onto the fabric of his t-shirt as he turned to head back into the tunnels. “Wait! There’s bombs! He had the detonator—we might need that.”

“Shh, it’s fine,” Micah soothed as he kept walking at a fairly quick pace.

“The other three disabled the bombs and have almost gotten everyone out. We were able to make a larger exit from a tunnel closer to the surface with the help of the teams on the outside,” Hudson informed, freeing me from the last thing I needed to worry about before I passed out again.

I was safe… for now. But the battle was far from over.

The End!