Page 80 of Awakened Gifts
I look into the savage eyes of the man I’ve loved for what feels like forever, and another stir vibrates through my veins, a burning inside me growing. When my eyes shift to the woman whose breathing is labored, I see her for who she really is. My mother who would face down her own mother in an attempt to save the ones who’ve loved her. She stood without fear, and I’m of her flesh. I can do the same.
As I wobble to my feet, Alice gets prepared to strike, and my blood pumps faster, hotter—an inferno growing in my core as my clothes start to singe. The wind stirs with untapped power, gracing my fingertips as the dark sky starts to swirl. May God save us all if this doesn’t work.
In a moment of pure abandon, I release myself to the beast within, letting the burn take me over, transform me, meld me with the power just out of reach, and my deadly wounds turn superficial in almost a blink, most of them sealing within an instant.
Jase sucks in a breath as he watches from beside me, unmoving and unafraid. My head swims as the power rumbles within me, giving me a piece of hope I’ve never before touched. My head falls back and I stare at the churning skies that represent the churning within my own body—the storm that matches my inner one. Then that dark smile curls up on my lips as my head lowers from the sky to find the woman who is seconds away from ending the army in front of her.
With one rush of adrenaline-fueled savage power, I push my hand out, and Alice is forced to the ground after a hammer of an attack drills into her. Without waiting, my power slices her arms with my second strike. She screams out, digging deep, and Jase yells to our army to get back.
Uncle Brazen rushes behind Alice to grab Mom and pull her to safety, and I meet the violet, worried eyes of a true mother; a real heroine.
“You just don’t know when to quit, do you?” she hisses, glaring at me as she stands once again. “You’re weak, pathetic, and undeserving of your power.”
Instead of letting her continue to stall, I throw my arms out just as Jase throws forth his fire, standing at my side like a true counter, fueling my power with his presence. Our strikes connect despite her frantic attempt to deflect them, and again she’s brought to the ground.
More reinforcements arrive, both with us and against our army, and her falsely created hybrids race toward us, ready to defend their queen with blind and unprecedented loyalty. She doesn’t care if they die or not.
“Can you take her?” Jase asks as he builds a wall of fire, separating us from the hybrids.
“I know I can.”
“Then go. I’ll deal with them. I’m strong enough, too.”
I grab him by the head just as Alice tries to hobble away in retreat, and I kiss him as hard as I can while he grabs me at the waist. Just when I think he’s going to deepen the untimely kiss, he shoves me back.
“Don’t kiss me like you’re saying goodbye. Go. Kill that bitch so we can have a honeymoon.”
With a deep breath and unshed tears, my body dissolves from sight, shifting into atoms and sweeping through the wind. The world around me becomes a shadow of its formal self as I become an element no different from the natural earth.
As I rematerialize, I’m met face to face with the monster who thought she could escape. Her lips curl back in defiance as a nasty growl escapes her mouth. She’s controlling her savage, probably from using Mom’s blood, but I’m a true hybrid.
“You’re not supposed to be able to hurt me!” she yells just as she lunges at me, tackling me to the ground.
Gifts become replaced by fists, both of us cracking bones with every furious hit that connects. But my body heals almost instantly, whereas hers continues to grow weaker with every blow. We roll around until I land on top of her, angling myself for the dominant strikes. The sickening sound of bone crunching continues to echo my ears, but I don’t hold back, knowing she’ll kill anyone and everyone around me.
She finally manages to hit me with a spurt of power that launches me off her and slices through me unexpectedly. I fall at least twelve feet away from her, and I haul myself to my knees as she gasps for air, also heaving herself up into a crawling position.
Humbled and furious, she glares at me. “You’re not supposed to be stronger than me!” she yells again, repeating her words from earlier. “You’re weak. You’ve yielded to the world and allowed yourself to be tethered to emotions that only offer suffering, not strength!”
I’m not sure if she’s ranting to herself or to me, but we both steadily rise to our feet, two separate generations of blood-tied family. But there’s no heart left inside her, and as much as I want to spare her, I know I can’t. She’ll never stop. Innocent people’s lives depend on this, and I refuse to lose someone else to her hands.
“Emotions don’t make us weak,” I bite out, fighting back a wince of pain as the wound on my side slowly starts to heal. “They empower us and give us a stronger reason to fight.”
She laughs, mocking me. “Who the hell do you think you are? You’re nobody. Nothing. You’re barely a shadow of the being I am. You cannot defeat me!”
Again, I’m not sure if she’s talking to me or herself, trying her best to convince one of us that she’s stronger.
“I’m the daughter of Araya Crush—the woman who will stand in front of anyone to keep the ones she loves safe.”
I strike, knocking her backwards and forcing her to once again stagger to her feet.
“I’m the daughter of Hale Banner—the man who sacrificed all he had for his nation and his family.”
I hit again, slicing her through the waist and forcing her to cry out as I summon all my strength. When she flings forth her own power, I manage to deflect it. The sky crackles and thunders, making way for the rain to fall and cleanse the ground of her tainted blood as I spill it.
“I’m the counter of Jason Ericson—the man who overcame the bitterness he should have had after the life dealt to him. The man who loved me instead of giving up, and who would die for me.”
When my next blow hits, she slaps the ground, and this time she doesn’t move. She stares at me, gritting her teeth as her blood continues to drip from her not-so-indestructible body. I stop when I’m standing above her, looking down on her the way she has looked down on all of us.