“Yeah, I managed to hold him off. They’re just some scrapes.”
I pulled her up and gave her a hard hug. “Don’t scare me like that,” I murmured against her shoulder.
She chuckled.
“Sorry, Supes. Those little crap-kickers are fast.”
They were and, speaking of, I needed to end this before one of the girls really got hurt. Besides, we were wasting blood and energy. Both of which we needed for the ritual.
“Be back in a moment,” I said, glancing over my shoulder.
Before Fury could answer I traced away again and landed in front of the first.
He moved himself at the last moment so that we weren’t touching. Seems the effers already had an idea of what I was doing. I wouldn’t get close enough by tracing at him.
“Why do you fight? You cannot beat us. We are too powerful and cannot be killed.”
I grinned. It wasn’t a nice grin. It was full of anger and some sort of feral hatred that bubbled inside me. I was done. I was tired. I’d had enough of fighting against these friggin’ pains-in-my-ass. More importantly. I was sick of watching my friends and family get hurt and die.
I was so angry that I didn’t pay attention to the fact that the first wasn’t alone. That he was talk-distracting me while the white-haired Seventine moved up behind me.
I heard the scuff at the last second and twisted, but I was too late. He tackled me down to the ground and pinned my arms at my sides with incredible strength. Something else landed heavily on my legs, holding me down.
I shot forth power, trying to dislodge my attackers, but I couldn’t. The power rebounded off their energy and smashed straight back into me. Which really freaking hurt.
The first stood above me.
“I know what your plans are, and I can’t let you carry them out. You’re too strong. Too powerful. You must be stopped.”
He crouched closer and I fought harder, yelling and screaming, trying to reach him. I was bucking my body as hard as I could, but the Seventine were strong.
“I’m actually sorry to know that in moments the light will fade from your gem-like eyes. Gifted from the gods. You will find eternal rest now. You will be reborn in our new world. This is the peace I grant you.”
A burst of bright light erupted over the first, and the intensity was such that I couldn’t stare directly any longer. I tasted blood in my mouth, and realized my lips were all busted up from my struggle. I tried to trace, but they were negating that power somehow. Each time I tried, I felt the energy leave, but it never went far enough.
Instead it lay trapped against the heavy lumps on my back. The weight was warm on my body, and I wondered if it was just the Seventine there, or if something else – maybe a stone – also rested on me. Whatever it was, stone or Seventine, it caught my power and reversed it on me.
Brace! I screamed for him. If I ever needed help, now was the time.
Don’t move, Abby. I’m almost there.
“What are you doing?” I asked the first, hoping to distract and delay him.
“Severing your tether. The weakness of the half-Walkers is the fact that you have a tether tying you to the world of your birth. Walkers are the most difficult to steal energy from. They’re tied to very little, but you – my sweet little half – you’re tied to everyone. I’ll literally be able to take from you and the rest will follow.”
Oh, eff me!
He would use my conduit power and turn it back around to all the others. The girls and Brace would all fall.
I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let him touch me.
I tried to roll, to dislodge the weights on my back.
They’re holding you down with moonstale, Abby. Brace’s voice shattered through my mind. Violence rode him. It’s absorbing your energy. You can’t use it against them.
He was close. I could feel him in my blood, but he wasn’t going to get there in time. The first was already reaching for me, and there was no way I could stop him before he severed my tethers.
I screamed then, expelling every facet of anger and pain from inside me. This was it. It was going to be over for us all before I’d even had a chance. Just as that glowing hand grazed my cheek, something tan and weathered shot through and grabbed onto the first.
Pulling him away.
It took me a second to catch up – to comprehend what had just happened. Oh, gods, no! No! No!
“NOOOO!” My throat protested as more than one shriek ripped from my vocal cords.
I couldn’t stop screaming and thrashing, and finally I managed to dislodge the Seventine and stones from my back. I was up on my feet, kicking and fighting.
I took down the white-haired one, pretty much crushing his face with my high kick. My knees buckled as I scrambled across to my savior, the man who had been there for me for as long as I could remember. The one who had saved my life countless of times. Saved my life today. He had done his duty one last time.
My guardian.
Chapter 18