No more gunfire. But I could feel more hearts, more people coming, rushing this way. Maybe with bombs, maybe with magic.
They weren’t here yet. And when they were, I’d kill them too.
I had to get the hell out of here.
“Shame!” Dash yelled.
I didn’t look, didn’t answer, too afraid I’d lose control and drink him down.
I jogged to the bars of the cage and wrapped my hands around them. They were filthy with magic, spells tied to spells that refreshed and renewed the current of magic that powered the spells carved into the bars.
It was horrifyingly beautiful. Genius. Someone knew his shit. Knew how to make magic bend to his will.
Eli Collins. He’d made this cage, set this magic. He’d been here.
I searched for his heart, didn’t feel it. Not near.
I couldn’t break magic and make it do what I wanted. Not without Terric using magic with me. Using the Death inside me was a very bad idea.
But there were other forces that could break a lock. Guns, for instance. I pulled the Glock Sunny had given me . . .
...don’t think about Sunny. Don’t think about what Death did to her . . .
...took aim at the lock, and fired.
Unloaded half the clip. Enough bullets, it broke metal and interrupted the stream of spells.
And then it was just a metal cage in the center of a warehouse.
With two men bleeding on the floor.
Davy Silvers.
Terric Conley.
Oh God. No. Terric.
The Bind spell in my head wavered as my concentration slipped.
One step at a time. Get them out of here before the Death magic in my head broke free, or the rush of people coming our way with guns showed up and killed us.
I couldn’t carry them both out. Wasn’t sure if I could even carry one out. Probably shouldn’t touch them at all.
I should get Davy. I’d promised Sunny I would find him, bring him to her.
She was counting on me to come through for her.
... her eyes wide, as Death pressed my hand over her hand and she crumpled to the floor . . .
I looked around for her.
“Sunny?”
She stood a short distance from me, next to Eleanor. who had gained some slack on her rope. Sunny seemed a little faded, a little see-through, just like Eleanor. Her eyes were wild, and a black rope around her neck tied her to my arm.
I’d caught up her soul just like Eleanor, which meant I’d used her, killed her, and stood aside while Death magic ate her alive.
Fuck. Me.
Eleanor floated over to me and pressed her fingers against my cheek. Save them, she said.
Right. Davy and Terric. My guilt, my horror would have to wait.
I walked over to Terric. He was curled on his side, bullet holes in his chest. The pool of blood beneath him was not new.
I knelt, the knees of my jeans soaking up blood, his blood. Turned him onto his back. His face was swollen, bruised. His shirt was bulky from bandages soaked in blood. His bare arms were burned, cut, and bloody.
Not just shot. Torn apart.
Tortured.
Fury caught fire in my chest and burned through me. Not a clean anger. This was a ragged, tearing rage. A rage that would break my hold on Death.
I pressed my hand against Terric’s heart, felt the stagnant beat there.
He was alive.
Still alive.
Death magic wasn’t going to make him better. Death magic was the worst thing to have around him right now.
I was the worst thing to have around him.
He was dying, even though he carried Life magic. He was in too much pain to heal himself.
I could take that on. Some of that pain. Give the Life magic inside him a chance to work.
I’d never done it before. Never heard of anyone taking on another’s wounds like this. Back in the old days, we Proxied pain all the time.
But I was . . . different now. A small part of my mind—probably that thing called “reason”— knew this was a bad idea. A very bad idea.
I didn’t care.
I drew a Proxy spell in the air between us, tying it tight. His pain was my pain. Enough of it was mine that his heart could beat. Enough that he could breathe.
I relaxed my hold on Death magic, just enough it could feed the spell, then tightened my fist around that Bind spell again.
The glyph between Terric and me crackled with black lightning. His pain rushed into me.
Holy mother of God, that hurt.
But I’d just killed a few dozen people. Like it or not, I was filled with their lives. I was strong enough to endure his pain.
I pulled Terric’s arm up over my shoulder, got him sitting.
Dash was yelling again. I still couldn’t understand what he was saying. Caught a couple of words: hurry, and out, and now.
Someone ran up to me. It was Dash. That, finally, brought me out of the shock I’d been wading through.
Dash gathered up Davy, helping him to his feet. Davy was solid, though blue magic pulsed from his bare chest like broken neon. That was good, I guessed. It meant he was alive. But he wasn’t conscious.
And then Cody limped over. Cody had blood running down his face, and one of his eyes was filled with it. He stopped next to Sunny, gave me an accusatory glare but didn’t ask. Of course, he didn’t have to.
I didn’t want to answer anyway.
He picked up Sunny, her unbreathing body. Her empty shell. He stayed as far out of my reach as he could.
I got Terric standing and walked with him out of the cage. He was barely conscious. “Stay close,” I said. Or I hoped I said. Because I was going to burn this place down to the ground, and I didn’t want them in it when it went to ash and cinders.
They stayed close, Dash supporting Davy, Cody carrying Sunny.
It felt like it took a year to walk out of that hellhole. One foot in front of the other, dragging Terric at my side, enduring his pain, begging him to hold on until we got out, got away while I tried to hold Death down inside me.
“That is far enough,” a voice rang out across the rafters. “Mr. Flynn. You will not take a single step more. Not with my property.”
I knew that voice. It was Krogher. The man who had used Eli as his very own pet psychopath. The man who had been stockpiling drones, using people as walking bombs charged with magic.
The man who I assumed had killed two Soul Complements and hadn’t even gotten to the meaty center of his plans.
I blinked. Focused on my surroundings. We were in the outer section of the warehouse, fully stocked shelves and crates around and behind us. Krogher was not there. I knew that bastard’s heart too. He was off-site, not even close enough for me to get a hook on his pulse.
But this was his facility. He had cameras. He knew exactly what was going on.
And what was going on was this: There were half a dozen drones standing at the front of the warehouse blocking our only way out. Men, women, young and old, blank-eyed and silent.
Easy to kill. But I was tired of killing. Terrified to let loose Death’s chain and not be able to pull it tight again. Killing was the fastest and easiest way out of this. The only way out of this.
Hell.
I sucked in a breath, loosened my grip. Death magic lashed out.
Nothing happened. It was like throwing a feather with all my strength. Lots of windup, zero results.
Eli must have done something with the spells he carved into those people to keep them safe from magical attack, to keep them safe from me.
Son of a bitch, that was smart.
As one, they raised their hands. As one, they released the magic stored in the spells carved into their flesh.
Holy shit.