Ristan shuddered and suddenly became still as more blood poured from his mouth. His eyes stared blankly. The patterns in his eyes didn’t move, swirl, or shift for the first time since I’d met him. I pressed my head to his chest—nothing.
I lifted my hands that were covered in blood, and met Danu’s eyes which were welling with tears that slid down her face. “Now, Synthia. Now will you accept me? Please.”
It was the first time she’d called me by my chosen name.
“I accept,” I growled, finding the fight I had left in me, even as tears fell freely from my eyes. They’d sent Joseph to my home, they killed innocents indiscriminately, and now they had killed Ristan to get to me.
They needed to die, and in a really bad way.
I opened myself to her.
“I want it now.”
“You have it, child; you always have.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
I shook my head at Danu. I couldn’t feel shit, and I had a sinking feeling she’d wanted me to feel helpless and scared. “Help me!” I growled at her, but mid-growl I felt it. I felt it inside my bones, down to my very being. A warm rush of pleasure, that tingled and mixed with pain.
Danu sifted to me, even as the shield vibrated with the force of Ryder’s assault. His men were behind him, fighting against the Blood Fae and Mages that had emerged from the crowd. They had appeared from nowhere, and Ryder’s men were now fighting behind him in a protective semi-circle as he continued his assault on the barrier. “You can do this, Synthia! You need to accept me, really accept what I am trying to give you!” she screamed as something sailed toward us, and Ryder knocked it out of the way easily.
“They are coming after you. Dammit, child, accept me. I can’t hold them back or it is considered interfering. Even I have rules I must follow,” she warned crossly.
I wasn’t listening anymore. I had closed my eyes and extended my arms—shedding the last of my fears, misgivings and accept that I had to stop trying to escape my destiny, and embrace it with open arms. I had to do this to save what I treasured; my new friends and my growing wee little beasties.
I could feel the pull to Darkness. The taste of light on my face, as the Light came in and settled. The Blood Fae in me, it wanted blood. The Horde wanted everything dead who threatened me, or my soon to be family.
“That’s it, daughter,” she encouraged.
“I need a moment,” I said through the power as it radiated through me and around me.
“You don’t have a moment,” she said, shaking her head. “You need to focus, and figure out how to fight them. Ristan didn’t deserve what they did to him, any more than the rest who have been slain from getting in their way. They need to die. You need to do this so that they can’t hurt anyone else.” She smiled sadly.
“They are going to die screaming. I promise you that,” I said, but I was no longer worried about what I had to do. I knew it deep in my bones how to use my powers, and how to make them pay. I took a second to peek at Ryder, who was now issuing orders to those around him as he pointed at the weak points of the barrier. Smart, he’d found them fast in the utter chaos around him.
I smiled sadly and turned to face those who had thought to harm my unborn children. All at once the power I’d been denying surged forth and the air crackled with the power and electrical charge. Thin lines of silver, black, and gold shot along my crimson brands and spread over my flesh as my vision became blurry, and then crystal clear. I blinked and I could see all of the different types of aural signatures from everyone in the room. I could see the Horde Fae shining gold, Adam radiated green, and the Blood Fae radiated a deep crimson color. The Mages radiated black, as if their souls were corrupted and it had stained their auras.
There were four Mages that were still using a type of invisibility glamour, one moving closer to me as I watched. Ryder broke through, shattering the shield’s spell. The wicked taint of it drifted to my nose. It was the same scent that had radiated through the barrier when they’d taken Ristan down. As I watched, the four mages shed their glamour and became fully visible before me.
I wasted no time before moving into action. I sifted behind the closest Mage, and pulled him against me until his back was against my chest. I lifted my hands to his neck, and twisted. I didn’t flinch at the cracking or snapping of his bones. Instead, I closed my eyes and smiled.
I opened my eyes and met Ryder’s shocked face, and smiled. His eyes were taking me in, and I watched as his eyes grew large with surprise as I reached out and held him immobile with my power. Well, at least for a moment before he shook free with a blinding grin.