Page 68 of Psycho Gods

Scorpius abruptly stood up straight and buried his dagger in the heart of his victim. He didn’t bother to kill the ungodly that sprang from the corpse; instead, he whirled around and stalked toward the far corner of the room.

I killed the ungodly as the four of us followed him.

When he got to the corner of the room, Scorpius pushed his ear up against the brick wall beside the broken paintings.

We waited.

“I can hear her breathing!” he yelled over the fighting. “There must be a different corridor along the perimeter of this side of the room. I think we should—”

Corvus slammed his fists through the bricks, and debris fell from the ceiling as he pummeled through the wall with nothing but brute strength and rage. He slammed his body forward.

The wall exploded, and he stumbled into a dimly lit hall.

We followed.

Scorpius shoved past him and stilled with his mask-covered head cocked to the side as he listened.

We all heard a scream.

Corvus exploded with unbelievable speed, and the rest of us followed close behind.

Up ahead, he turned into a room.

A few seconds later, we followed him inside.

A dozen infected clustered in the corner, hiding, and an enchanted sword pointed toward us, dripping red.

I stilled.

Inhaled.

The copper scent was underlaid with something familiar, an icy scent tinged with power and death. It tasted like adrenaline on my tongue.

It was Arabella’s blood.

I opened my mouth to scream as cherry blossoms floated in the air around me. Before I could unleash my voice, the room’s inhabitants exploded in red flames.

If I weren’t shaking with fear and rage, I would have been amazed that Corvus had unleashed so much fire outside of our powers being activated.

There wasn’t time to think.

Ungodly shrieked as they ripped from the flaming corpses, and we launched forward as a group, slaughtering them.

There was movement in my peripheral vision, and my heart stopped beating.

I ran toward the figure.

Crouching low, I screamed as I applied pressure to Arabella’s sliced-open abdomen.

No. No. No.

The original plan was not to leave the compound until the last ungodly was slaughtered.

My Ignis lifted Arabella in his arms and sprinted down the halls, faster than he’d ever moved, as if death himself chased us.

We broke protocol and followed behind him.

The battle was almost won anyway.