Thalia pressed back against the door.
He managed to roll over in the cocoon, and Thalia gave a sigh of relief. He was still alive.
Brushing off the effects of Heath’s pain spell, Akos turned back to Thalia and came forward, arms outstretched. She shrank back.
She’d had a moment of worry when Heath had stepped in, but the plan was working. Akos was taking the bait. He thought she was out of magic. He thought he had won. She stood. “Repellere!” A burst of blue light flashed like lightening from her hands. It hit Akos square in the chest, and he was flung, like the castaway rag doll of a giant. He hit the far wall and shook his head as if to clear it.
Thalia stepped away from the door to deliver the final blow. This was for Lily.
A motion out of the corner of the eye drew her attention. The golem! She spun. “Destruere!” The golem exploded into a million pieces, showering her with debris.
The mortuus spell on her lips, she swung back to finish Akos, but it was too late. An explosion of pain and a blinding white light filled her head.
And then she fell into the shadows.
“Waky, waky.”
Thalia dragged her eyes open. Akos stood above her.
A faint breeze brushed across her cheeks.
Ignoring the steady throbbing in her head, she scanned her surroundings. The feeble light of a distant streetlight etched golden tracings into the night, revealing the irregular surface of a brick wall, the hulking shape of a dumpster. She must be in some kind of alley, but where?
She looked up at Akos’ too-handsome face. His eyes held the gleam of satisfaction, as if he’d already achieved his goal. Fear flooded through her. What had he done? Where was Gideon?
She tried to get up, but the pain that strafed through her chest made her catch her breath. She pressed her hand against the source of the pain and discovered her shirt was warm and wet.
No, not wet—bloody.
“Now, don’t move.” Akos held out his hands, palms down. “I’ve nicked your aorta. That’s your largest artery, in case you didn’t know.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ve made quite a study in death in my thousands of years. Depending on where you cut the aorta, the victim will bleed out in seconds or hours. You, on the other hand, have scant minutes.
“Where to place the cut was a difficult decision. I didn’t want to lose you before Gideon can make his sacrifice. Not after all the trouble I’ve gone to. But he won’t have time to get you to a hospital either,” Akos drawled like a doctor informing a patient about a routine surgical procedure. “And don’t worry, we’re in the alley outside the warehouse. He’ll find you.”
Thalia swallowed with relief. Gideon was alive.
She fought the weakness that urged her to lie back against the crumbling asphalt. If she could keep Akos focused on her, keep him talking, Gideon might be able to take Akos by surprise. “His sacrifice?”
“Come now, my dear. You remember the prophecy?” His face contorted, and to her horror, she found herself face to face with Ursula. Thalia cried out as she realized the psychic was dead. He laughed and his face morphed back to his own. He smiled dryly. “There’s always a prophecy. Mine ends with a sacrifice. It’s all very nebulous, of course, they always are, but I’ve had, uh...a lot of time to think about it. You, or course, are the ‘marked one.’”
Thalia’s blood-encrusted hand covered her birthmark. There was no denying the truth of that.
“You’re also a poisonblood.”
The “P” word was rarely bandied about in a witch’s presence, and he said the word with so much venom, she flinched as if physically struck.
“I had to get you together. I planted the paper with Gideon’s name on it with your cousin’s things to make sure of it.” His face was smug.
And why not? He’d manipulated her from day one and she’d fallen right into his plans at every step. I was such a fool. Angry tears wet her eyes.
“Gideon, being the foolish hypocrite that he is, will rush in, realize you’re dying and try to turn you,” he continued.
Thalia could only shake her head, mutely, denying Akos’ prediction.
“Yes. He will fail, of course, but the poison in your blood will kill him before he has a chance to grieve over your lifeless body. And I will receive power such as the world has never known.”
Thalia fell back on her elbows. Akos’s slick