Page 43 of Of Flame and Fury
The vampire throws his head back laughing, the viciousness behind it telling me more than I want to know.
Oh, God…
“Stupid whore,” he tells her. “They’ve been dead for weeks.”
Bridette falls still, and so does the air around us.
The Nytes look high and low, noting something is different. Darkness is approaching, they just don’t realize it’s coming from Bridette.
Something evil fires deep within her, born of a mother’s broken heart.
“Muerte,” she spits.
My fist comes down against the earth as Celia screams my name. Ripples of power burn through the wet grass and into the ground surrounding us, sending blue and white flames shooting toward the sky.
It’s a beacon of beautiful and brilliant light, and our sole protection against Bridette’s death curse.
My teeth ache from what it costs me to maintain my flame and shield us against Bridette’s final spell. The Nytes are reduced to puddles of black liquid. The god the vamp claimed to be doesn’t fare much better. His wings dry and crumble, falling to the moist grass in portions. His stunned face follows, then his body, the remains covering Bridette’s naked corpse. One by one, everything dies around us, including the nearby foliage and the enchanted plants in the greenhouse.
In life, Bridette was weak in mind and in spirit. But she wasn’t too weak to avenge her family.
Chapter Fifteen
I maintain my shield for several minutes. I’m not sure how long a death curse of this caliber can last. So, I hold it, long after everything stops withering and dying around us.
By the time I finally drop it, we’re soaked with sweat, my sisters from my fire and me from the energy it took to hold it.
The salty sting across my eyes worsens when I wipe them. “Sorry,” I say. “That just really sucked.”
They swipe their faces, doing their best not to look anywhere near Bridette.
Celia’s big wavy hair is stuck to her face. “Don’t apologize, Taran,” she says. “If it wasn’t for you, we’d be dead.”
“Yeah.” I take a step, and man, does it cost me. I’ve been part of other fights that last for days. This is different. There’s no end and no time to rest. That little break on the concrete floor earlier was it. Even then, we didn’t exactly relax.
“We have to get out of here,” I say. “If the Nytes didn’t know where we were, they know now.” I motion to the sky. “No one can snag attention like me.”
“I hate what she did.” Emme’s quiet voice draws our attention.
My youngest sister is beyond exhausted. She wraps her arms around her body, protecting her cooling skin against the frigid temperature. She looks slightly beyond Bridette’s unmoving body and where her blank stare gazes in our direction.
“I hate it too,” I reply. We don’t have time to waste being sad, yet here we are. “But I hate what happened to her family more.”
Shayna flicks the knives at her waist in the air and juggles them. I can’t blame her. She doesn’t have to look at Bridette this way, and should another scary monster approach, she’s armed and ready to defend us.
“Here’s the thing, dudettes,” she says. “There’s going to be a lot of Bridettes and Johnnies. Whoever is really in charge targets the weaklings all the time; they’re the easiest to submit.” She catches a knife behind her back and pockets it without losing her stride. “The ones with power are harder. The baddies can’t beat them down, but they can threaten their families and all that power they love.” She catches each knife, sheathing them one by one without dropping them. “That’s what I hate. It was Puppy’s biggest gripe about getting the super monsters together. Sure, they can agree to help Ceel, but we can’t trust it’ll happen. Look at how many of her sisters Bridette took out. And her wife?” Shayna shudders. “This whole war that’s coming will be the worst one yet. I say, we hole Ceel away somewhere where nothing can touch her.”
“There’s no place like that, Shayna,” Celia says. “Not if Aric stays with me.”
She walks toward the greenhouse, pausing to look at the dead trees, their dry and brittle branches leaning heavily against the glass. “Aric’s power makes everyone aware of his presence, even humans blind to our existence.” Her hands smooth across her belly. “I don’t want him to leave us, but it’s an avenue he’s exploring.”
“You’re kidding?” I say. Back when Aric was a butthead and left Celia to report to his pureblood duties, neither held up well. No one could get near Aric without risking their limbs being torn off, and Celia fell into a horrible depression that almost broke her. “Ceel, do you really think either of you can handle the separation right now? Since learning you’re knocked up, he won’t even let you go to the bathroom by yourself.”
“That’s not true,” Celia says.
“Dude,” Shayna interrupts. “We’ve seen him standing by the door to the loo. He practically spins around in circles, wagging his big ol’ tail when you emerge.”
“I’m not saying it will be easy, on either of us,” Celia replies. “But we’re running out of options, and after tonight…”