This Coven Won't Break - Isabel Sterling Page 0,79

screaming as his blood starts to freeze. His comrades leap over him, and I push harder, grabbing their breaths with one hand and their blood with the other.

They drop. Screaming. Blood drips from their eyes.

“Hannah, come on.” Ellen grips my arms and hauls me upright. “We have to go.”

I follow, but I don’t let go of my grip on their air. I hold tight, denying them their next breath. Keeping them down. With Alice’s power flowing through me, the exhaustion in my limbs falls away, and I race up to the main floor.

We spill out onto the ground level. People are heading lazily for the exit, more irritated than worried by the disruption of the alarm. Archer tries to blend us into the flow of traffic, but I pull away when I see him.

Benton stands in the hallway. I blink hard—once, twice—trying to make him disappear. I’ve seen him everywhere for weeks. I can’t afford to get distracted by lookalikes or ghosts of memory that don’t want to die. We have to go. We have to—

“Hannah?”

His voice knocks the wind from my lungs. It knocks the elements out of my control. “Benton.” I look closer. He’s thinner than I remember. Paler. He’s dressed in dark-wash jeans and the same black jacket as the Hunters chasing us up the stairs. This isn’t a memory. He’s here. He’s alive.

For now.

I’m running before I realize I’ve made the decision to move. There’s only enough time for Benton to register surprise before I’m on him, lunging, catching him around the chest. We go down hard, but I’m scrambling the second we hit the floor. My nails dig into his flesh. I pull myself up until I’ve got him pinned beneath me, knees pressed into his chest.

The first punch catches him on the side of the face. Pain blooms across my knuckles, but I don’t care. I swing again, but he’s still stronger than me, better trained. He catches my fist and throws me off. My elbow slams into the floor, pain radiating up my arm, but I won’t let him get away. I can’t.

Alice’s magic is still mixed with mine, and it takes next to nothing to reach for the thread of air flowing into his lungs. I squeeze tight, holding the air hostage. He falls back, clutching at his neck, nails scraping against skin until they draw blood. His panic only makes me hold tighter. I dig my knees into his chest and wrap my hands around his throat, reaching for the water in his body, just like I did with the Hunters on the stairs. I plummet the temperature until everything is freezing. The tiniest blood vessels burst first, spiderwebbing around his eyes.

He tries to scream, and I drink in the choked sound.

Everything that’s wrong and broken inside me is his fault. He did this to me. He tore apart my magic, made me rely on Blood Witches to access my powers. And with Alice’s magic flowing through my veins, I’m stronger than I was before he drugged me. Before he and his parents ruined my life. Before they destroyed everything.

Hands grip my shoulders and try to pull me away.

“No.” The word is a growl in my throat. “Not until he’s dead. Not until he pays for what he’s done.”

“We have to go, Hannah. Please.” Ellen tugs at me again.

“I said no.” Pressure builds inside my chest, and I lash out, wind tearing through the hall. Ellen falls back, crashing into Archer, who pushes her toward the exit. But I can’t leave. “We don’t go until he’s gone.”

Archer raises a hand to his ear. “Alice,” he says, voice steady. “Release Hannah.”

“No!” But it’s too late. Her power disappears, leaving me hollowed out and raw. My hands tremble, and Benton finally throws me off. I hit the floor hard, and my breath violently escapes my lungs.

“Hannah, come on.” Archer is reaching for me now, his grip tight on my upper arm. “We have to go.”

A metal cylinder slides across the floor. It bursts into an explosion of light and sound. My vision goes spotty. My ears ring. Six Hunters carrying tactical rifles surround us, weapons raised. They scream at us to raise our hands. Archer moves protectively in front of me, but the men carrying guns don’t care. They grab us both, dragging us farther down the hall. I catch a brief glimpse of Ellen by the exit, staring after us.

“Get out of here,” I scream as the man behind me pulls the