Demon's Vengeance The Complete - Jocelynn Drake Page 0,142
The future could wait.
The unicorn was ready for me, instantly pummeling me with some threads of Death Magic he’d found a way to save. It either wasn’t as strong as what he’d used on Gideon and me, or the presence of Zyrus was making a significant difference, because the spell caused only a slight cramping before dissipating completely.
“Now it’s my turn,” I murmured, unleashing a series of spells that rolled off my fingertips like fat drops of rain. There was no need for remembering complicated words or symbols. With Zyrus I was tapped into the raw energy of the Underworld and I could twist it into doing my every whim. The power had become just an extension of who I was, like another hand or leg. Or maybe it was just a bit of my soul. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need to think about it and I didn’t want to.
Vincent’s maniacal laughter was replaced by his screams, which helped to ease some of the anger that had lit a fire in my brain. The horrible tension in my shoulders and the throbbing in my head slipped away with Vincent’s pain and blood.
“Gage!” Gideon shouted in my ear. His hand clamped down on my shoulder and he jerked me around so that I was half turned away from Vincent. I blinked, feeling slightly dazed. I’d lost track of time, as if my body had stepped outside the stream of seconds as they ticked by. I shook my head to clear it and Zyrus roared inside me at the interruption. I was confused. Why had the warlock stopped me? Why was he touching me? Why was he alive . . .
“Gage, you’ve got to stop this. There’s no reason to torture him,” Gideon argued. He was partially bent over as he stood and his face was deathly pale from blood loss. I could sense the pain that wracked his body, and it pleased Zyrus. “Just end it now,” he whispered through broken lips.
“No reason?” The words tumbled from me, but they echoed through my brain as well. Who had said them? Was that me? Zyrus? “That son of a bitch has killed dozens to raise the dead. He tried to kill us. He was planning to kill my girlfriend and our child. Wouldn’t you let him suffer if it was your family being threatened?”
“No. I don’t believe in torture,” Gideon said firmly. He straightened a little, meeting my gaze. Something he saw there made him flinch and his frown deepened, but I didn’t care.
“Lies,” I snarled. Knocking his hand off my shoulder, I gave him a hard shove so that he was thrown to the ground several feet away from me. “You’re a warlock. A member of the Towers. You all torture. You thrive on fear. I was there. I know. You’re like them.”
“That’s not true, Gage. Think. Take a deep breath and think. I’ve protected you. I have just as much to lose as you. I would do anything to protect Ellen and my daughter.”
An image of Ellen smiling up at me at the Christmas party, the warm sympathy filling her brown eyes, danced through my brain. She wouldn’t like me hurting her husband. She wouldn’t like me fighting with the man who had protected me from the Towers. It was like a punch to the gut. For a moment, I could feel my mind ripping free of Zyrus.
A loud, harsh gasp filled the silence of the warehouse and I stumbled back a step. It was like coming up for air after being submerged for far too long. I mentally clawed for some handhold, anything to keep from letting Zyrus take over again, but I knew it was a fight I couldn’t win for long.
“Watch out!” Serah screamed.
I twisted around to Vincent in time to see him pulling together a new spell. In that instant, I lost my fight against Zyrus and the demon surged back into the driver’s seat of my body and mind. Chunks of broken glass, wood, and steel jumped from the warehouse floor and flew through the air. Pure, raw energy grabbed Vincent and pressed him, spread-eagled, against the wall, so that the flying flotsam could spear him through the arms and legs.
Vincent laughed, a low, choking sound. “It’s fitting. A warlock destroys the last unicorn this world will ever see. And to do it, he had to be possessed by a demon. How will history remember this event? Who will be painted as the monster?”