Fire streamed toward our group and we broke apart. My hand was on the trigger, systemically squeezing at anything that looked like a whacked-out version of a minotaur. And they returned fire with… uh, fire.
Flames spread across the ground and I darted around the blaze. The automatons raced toward us, spitting fire, then fighting.
The first one reached Marcus, hitting him with the broadside of its beefy arm. Marcus flew back several feet, landing in a groaning heap. Another was before me and I dipped under its flying arm. Springing up, I leveled the gun at the back of the automaton’s head and let loose. Silvery-colored blood and gore splattered the low bushes as the automaton dropped and then turned to dust.
Well, that was one way to kill them. Sort of like zombies…
I swung around, realizing the daggers were absolutely useless and the Glocks were only helpful if we were able to sneak up behind one. Heart pounding, I hit the ground as another fireball shot straight at me. Crap. This was bad—beyond bad. This was a nightmare come to life. Horrified to the core, I froze for an instant on the dry, burnt ground. Tiny stones prodded my stomach and thighs. Oddly, I felt every one as if it were the prick of a hot knife.
Everything slowed down and the air halted in my lungs.
Marcus was back on his feet and he fought back-to-back with Lea, darting forward with their sickles blades, lobbing off an automaton’s arms. But the thing kept coming at them. Solos was trying to keep Laadan out of the line of fire. Soot covered Aiden’s flushed cheeks as he delivered a blast of fire at the creatures. Deacon actually had a gun in his hand as he stayed near Luke. Olivia was cornered in some trees.
In a rush, I recalled the premonition I’d had earlier. They were going to die, all of them. Like those well-done bodies in the cars, they would be char-broiled and that would be the end of them.
Something snapped inside me—something primitive and absolute. Power rushed through me and my skin tingled with the appearance of the marks. The shadowy battlefield was suddenly tinted with shades of amber. I welcomed the almost-foreign surge of energy, even though it was like poison in my veins. My brain clicked off and I was no longer Alex.
I was the Apollyon. Iwas the beginning and the end.
Loose strands of hair began to rise above my head, and I’d swear that for a moment time really did stop as I rose to my feet. The sickle blade and dagger fell from my fingers, and then I curled my hands into fists.
Oh, it was on like Donkey Kong.
I flew over the barren land toward Olivia as she tried to fend the thing off. I dipped under the automaton, springing up between it and Olivia, slamming my foot into its hairy stomach. He went down on one knee, rattling the nearby trees.
Absolute power—unforgiving and hard, pure as it was deadly—coursed over my skin. I reared back, summoning the fifth and final element. Intense blue light erupted from my palm.
Akasha ripped from me, arcing through the air like cloud-to-cloud lightning, homing in on its target and striking true. The sky crackled and heated. One second, the automaton was on his knee, and the next he was nothing but a pile of shimmery dust.
“Good gods,” came Olivia’s hoarse whisper.
Another automaton took the fallen one’s place, swinging out with a metal hand that clinked and clicked. Fire sparked from its open mouth. I spun, catching the broad side of his arm and twisting. The hoarse shout of pain was lost in the clash of metal, the thunder of bullets finding another automaton.
It raised its bull face and snapped at me with massive jaws.
“ Please” I placed my hand on the massive forehead.
Blue light coursed over the head and down the body, lightening up the metallic skull and bone structure. For a moment, it was like a pretty x-ray or ajellyfish—a really disturbing jellyfish—and then cobalt light radiated from its eyes and open mouth. It imploded—caved in on itself, turning to nothing but dust.
And then the crap really hit the fan.
The automatons—every last one of the freaky bull things—turned on me. They moved quickly, metal legs rattling and clinking. Fire spewed from their mouths like the poor man’s version of a dragon. They came from all directions, Apollyon-seeking missiles with “Kill Alex” stamped all over them.
Fire came from them, blinding and intense. Nothing existed outside the flames. No sound. No sight. My world was red and orange…
And my world was tinted in amber.
Alex? His voice came through the thrumming connection.
I ignored him and the way his consciousness slid in alongside mine.
What are you up to?
Still I ignored the pull of the First. Instinct on a deep, ancient level I wasn’t familiar with had taken over. The marks of the Apollyon flowed across my skin as I lifted my hands. The fire stopped inches from me, forming a fiery circle. Heat fell back on me but did not burn. I blew out a soft, steady breath and the fire flickered once, twice, and then faded out.
The automatons drew up short, puffing and snorting loudly.
My arms rose to my sides, my finger splayed out, and the air hummed with power and anticipation. Blue light crackled over my fingertips, waiting… wanting…
One of the automatons, the biggest of those remaining, charged. At the sound of the dark roar, akasha pulled tight and constricted just like the bond between Seth and me.
I let it go.
The blast of power rushed from me, rolling like storm-tossed waves. The surge smacked into the automaton nearest me. Blue light flared from the creature’s eye sockets and open jaws. A second later, it imploded. The swell crashed into four more, taking them out before the outpouring of akasha eased off.
As the shimmering dust settled onto the dry soil, exhaustion swept through me. The bond to Seth still felt open, even though the world was shaded in deep blue and black again. Being that this was my first time using akasha like a flyswatter, I wasn’t prepared for the exhaustion that followed. My legs trembled under my weight as I struggled to hold myself up. I reached for my daggers and realized, like a total tool, I’d thrown them somewhere over yonder in a fit of an “I am so awesome” and “who needs daggers when I have akasha fingers of power?” ego trip.
Luckily, others still held their weapons, and the automatons were distracted with me. Marcus took out one with a point-blank shot to the back of the skull. Aiden wielded his sickle blade like an executioner, lopping off the head of another.
One of the automatons reached for me and I darted—er, stumbled—to the side and plopped down on my rear. And once I was down on my butt, I really didn’t want to get up. I was like a toddler, all tuckered out. Pathetic—I needed to learn to pace myself.
The automaton uttered a guttural growl.
I crab-walked backward, putting very little distance between us. Just when I was pretty sure I was about to end up with a deep tan, Lea came out of freaking nowhere, shoved the sharp end of her Covenant dagger through the back of the automaton’s neck, and then wrenched her arm to the side.
My eyes widened as the shimmery dust fell near the toes of my boots. “Wow.”
Lea cocked her head to the side as she frowned at the gore dripping from the blade. “Well, that was gross.”
“Yeah,” I said slowly, looking around. I counted eight and then Lea. Nine. All of us were still standing. Bruised and exhausted, but we were still fighting. I let out a weak laugh. “Gods.”
The sound of metal crunching, along with the wet, fleshy give of bone and muscle, continued as the rest of the automatons were taken out in less explosive displays.
Lea reached down and wiggled her fingers. “You gonna sit there the rest of the night or get up? Because I’m sure as hell not carrying your ass. You probably weigh a ton.”
Grinning weakly, I lifted my hand just as a dark shadow appeared behind Lea. My heart leapt into my throat as fear balled in my chest. The extreme burst of emotion had Seth in a tizzy, and I could tell he was paying close attention even though he was put-out from me ignoring him.