Kriegen snaps her fingers and a little wooden box carved with symbols on the side appears. When she opens it, there’s a black dagger. My heart races a little more because that’s the dagger that she used in the woods when she released the witch’s magic. I’ve seen what it can do, how it separates the magic from the witch. I guess it can be used on a demon too. Half demon.
“Think of the void as a watering hole. All demons are connected to it. It nourishes us. I’m going to carve it out of you.” She holds up the black dagger. “No more water. What happens when your body doesn’t get water, kitten?”
Kriegen turns back to me and lowers to my level, the black dagger inches from my chest. “Any messages for my son that I can pass along after?”
“Go to hell,” I say. Her eyes get wider, like she’s about to say something creative, but I raise my arm toward her chest before she can realize I’m free. In my hand, the army knife I took from the Nucleus House twists into her skin. Her skin burns, smokes from the point of impact. I know it’s not going to kill her, but it distracts her enough to make her lose concentration and drop the magic that held me down.
I rush toward Carter, determined to wake him up. There’s another little scream and then Kriegen is laughing. When I look at her, she’s removing the army knife from her chest.
“Nice trick, but it’s going to take more than that to kill me, kitten. I’m a little offended.”
I don’t think; I act. I connect to the void, and it refreshes me. I feel stronger than the Hulk. Magic shoots from me toward Kriegen. It pushes her back a couple feet and she staggers. I charge at her, throw my body at her full force, and release another shot of power. She falls to her feet at the impact of my magic. I roll over her, squatting in a corner.
Kriegen laughs again, swinging toward me with a kick. I clench my fists and block the kick so I can grab her by the arm. Kriegen is quick, ducking my counterattack and landing on one leg as the other sweeps me off my feet.
I roll as she moves toward me, her fist coming toward my face. I turn my head to the side, and she misses. I grasp her forearm and try to yank her down. She’s too strong. Her arm twists mine and I dare her to break it so I can break her freaking neck with my other one. I shift my stance as she leaps over me. Her foot isn’t as fast as the rest of her body. I take her down, but I go with her. That’s when I see it: the black dagger, on the floor.
Kriegen sees it, too. She grabs my hair and digs her knee into my spine. I scream. I hear Carter yell, but I don’t know what he says. All I know is she cannot get that dagger. I won’t let her have it.
I access the void again and pulse out some power. Not toward her—toward the dagger. It flies across the room. She growls right before she leaps toward the knife. I leap too. Kriegen punches me, and my head is spinning a little. I struggle under her, but I let her hit me again. This time, I move left. Her fist pounds the ground; I ram my knee into her chest. She falls flat, but her magic attack rushes out at me, sends me across the room toward the army knife. My back lands against the wall.
Kriegen races after me, limping on her leg. She stands over me. I kick up my leg; she falls to the ground again, this time landing on top of me. I ram the army knife back into her arm, and she screams. I take the advantage, kick her in the shin. She curses me and pins me to the ground, her hands strangling my neck.
“That doesn’t work on me,” she snaps again.
“No, but this does,” Carter says.
She barely turns to get a glance at him when he thrusts the black dagger into her heart and out again. She falls to the ground as Carter grabs me. She gasps in air, black blood oozing from her wound. It looks more like tar than blood. Carter drops the dagger and pulls me toward him.
“Next time, do that a couple minutes sooner,” I say.
He looks exhausted. I pick up the black dagger and hold it between us in the air. Crazy how a little thing can do so much damage. Carter’s eyes drift to his mother as she dies on the floor. His jaw clenches and he scrubs a hand over his neck. As evil as she was, she was still his mom.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
Carter shakes his head and kisses the top of my head. A few feet from us, Kriegen cries out. Neither of us looks away from her, watching as all the black tar drips out of her, and she convulses with a last breath of air. Tears fill Carter’s eyes; I know this must be hard for him. He’s spent all his energy looking for her.
Then, she lights up in flames—the sound of her crying replaced with this annoying whistle and the smell of burning eggs. Carter helps me to my feet and we move closer toward the door. The last thing I need is burning demon guts exploding all over me.
“What are you going to do with that?” Carter asks, nodding toward my hand. I hold up the black dagger. I stuff it down my boot.
The mauve demon appears in front of us, and I grasp Carter’s arm. The demon holds up its hands in defense. “I’m here to help you leave,” it says.
“Why are you helping us?” I ask. It gives me an annoyed look, like I just asked it where babies came from.
“Not all of us are evil. The two of you aren’t evil,” it says, pointing between Carter and me.
“We’re not one of you,” Carter says.
It shrugs. “Maybe evil and good isn’t black and white. Do you have an exit plan?”
I bite my lip. I didn’t. It’s not like I had time to think through every move I made. Carter looks at me and I can tell he knows. He shrugs—he doesn’t have a plan either. I’m rubbing off on him! I probably shouldn’t be proud of that, considering where we are.
“Look, if you don’t want my help then you can wander around here until you die.”
Carter gives me a look. He doesn’t trust it. I get it, but I want to get out of here and never come back. Ever.
“You aren’t very trusting, are you?” it asks.
“You’re a demon,” I say.
It hisses. “Good luck then, because this isn’t over. Kriegen wasn’t the top. She was mid-level management at best. You think she was bad? Just wait.”
She’s mid-level? Now that is pretty motivating.
“If you take us out, what will you want? Nothing is free. Not with demons,” Carter says.
It smiles. Yup, he was definitely right. “That’s a conversation for later. I promise you won’t have to give me your firstborn or anything.”
I must be delirious. Demon or not, I kind of like its sass.
“Get us out of here,” I say quickly.
The mauve demon nods and heads toward the door. I start to say something else when Carter’s face changes into confusion. I look toward Kriegen, and watch as her body turns to dust. What happens when your body doesn’t get water?
You burn.
Chapter Thirty-One
The mauve demon delivers us a mile away from the Nucleus House, saying it couldn’t get closer than that. We could probably have used magic, but we’re both tired. And honestly, walking gives me time to replay the whole thing in my head, and all that power was intoxicating.
“Do you think we’ll regret letting it help us?” I ask.
“Undoubtedly.” Carter is quiet for a moment. “We should think of a story.”
“What?”
“The Triad will ask us what happened, and we can’t tell them the whole truth. They can’t know about Kriegen, not that we went after her and—”
“—not that she’s your mom? Got it. She took us, that was all,” I say. “As far as I’m concerned, we are both completely normal witches who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I can’t believe you’re a halfling,” he says softly. “I felt really alone. My dad knew it would ruin us.”