Drowning In The Dark - Pippa DaCosta Page 0,91

be coming back. Not from this. He wouldn’t be saving me again. He wouldn’t be smiling at me, chastising me, protecting me, testing me. It was over. Heat bubbled beneath my skin and slid like oil from my flesh. A strangled roar deafened me. I registered that the ravaging bellow was mine, but it didn’t sound like any howl I could make. Not even demons produced such a terrible battle cry. My roar thundered, tumbling into the sounds of battle, casting a net of silence in its wake. I straightened, slid my gaze left and right, seeing but not seeing. Demons cowered around me. Even the netherworld itself seemed to recoil, withdrawing a little from Boston. The princes faltered. I saw them caught in a battle of the elements with Jerry holding the reins of control. My vision quivered, as though resetting, and I saw the souls belonging to an army not of this world, shining demons souls. I knew, without any shred of doubt, that I could funnel the power of two worlds and snuff out every single one.

Liquid heat dripped from my fingers. I skewered two fleeing figures, Dawn and Adam, and latched onto the heat of their fragile human lives. Dawn summoned her demon. Chaos reared up behind her in a wave of inky darkness. I’d start with her. Adam would be next. Then I’d kill them all. Every. Last. Demon.

Chaos snapped toward me and would have plowed into me had Stefan not intercepted it. Ice-white and razor sharp, he managed to deflect much of Dawn’s power, but not all. Her element tore through him and kept on coming. Ice exploded. The world went white.

I screamed a bellow of rage and released my cresting element, devouring the lives of countless demons in seconds. The maddening ecstasy of power over life and death sundered my mind. A tsunami of blistering heat answered my command and washed the battlefield clear. I swept them all away. The blast of heat leveled what remained of the park and reduced nearby buildings to ash. Fire burned so hot it ignited the air. With each entity that died, my hungry smile grew. Yes, this was what we were made for. Glorious, breathless, insane destruction.

Minutes passed, maybe just seconds. I blinked back to myself with the sounds of tumbling buildings and creaking metal. A blast pattern radiated out from my body as far as I could see. Anything flammable had simply vanished. The remains swirled in lazy dirt devils. Anything metal had warped and twisted, melted beyond recognition.

The huge netherworld scar still gaped, but it was empty. Thousands of demons gone. Nearby buildings flattened. The people? I wobbled to my feet and clutched Stefan’s coat tightly in trembling hands. People were moving. There was life in the blast zone. By some miracle, I’d targeted only demons.

Where was Stefan? I turned on the spot and saw soot-covered faces, but none I recognized. Where was Akil? I had to find him. My feet carried me forward, but my mind bumbled. Horror skimmed the surface of my thoughts. I had to find Stefan… Akil, I needed to find Akil. They were here. I’d seen them. They had to be here. My element reached ahead of me, searching. Akil.

“Muse…”

Ryder. I blinked. Cool silent tears slid down my cheeks. “Where are they?”

Covered from head to toe in ash, Ryder coughed a few times and shook a hand through his hair, sending up a cloud of dust. He gripped my arm and marched me beside him.

“Where are we going?”

“You can’t be here. Once everyone realizes what went down, you’re gonna be demon numero uno.”

One foot in front of the other. I smelled Stefan’s cool iciness in his coat. I hugged it closer. “Where’s Stefan?”

Ryder glanced back. “He got in the way of Dawn’s attack on you. After that, the whole world went white.”

Was he dead? No, no, he couldn’t be. Not after everything we’d been through. He was here. He had to be here. I stopped and searched the shocked and haunted faces around us. “He’s here. I just... I need to find him.”

Ryder grabbed my arm and pulled me along.

“Dawn?” I muttered. “Did I kill her?”

Ryder cut me a look. “I don’t know.” His grimace said no.

“Akil?”

Ryder stopped short. The twist of his lips almost looked like anger, but no, it was pain. Heartfelt pain. “She tore him apart like she did the Prince of Envy.”

“No.” I frowned. “No, that’s not right.” Snatching my arm from Ryder’s grip, I