Page 94 of Crimson Soul
He smiled, leaning forward and kissing my lips before he moved in a blur to cover my body from a blast hurling our way. We were blown back, and he wrapped his arms around me. Kai turned to take the brunt of the fall, and we skidded across the clay floor until his shoulder hit a wall.
Sitting up, my hands flew to his body and a golden light emanated from my hands. He sat up, pulling me to my feet, and we looked over toward the guys who were fighting Mystia off, and losing.
Thaddeus’s face was bloodied and healing slowly. Blaise’s shirt was torn open with blood coating his chest. Aziel and Titan had blood covering their arms. Each of them kept shielding attacks meant for Kai and I. They were strong and everything I never knew I needed. It made me love them beyond measure.
They were risking their lives to keep her away from us. I was stronger than this. She may have caught me off guard, but I needed to focus. I was more than capable of taking her down. I needed to get my head in the fucking game.
Rage bubbled to the surface, and I unleashed a cold fury directly toward her. Stiffening, she paused her attacks on the guys and narrowed her gaze at me with a smirk.
Cutting her leg with her dagger, she accessed more blood. I didn’t know how she was still standing with as much blood loss as she had.
My stomach churned as she threw a spell toward my family, specifically toward an unconscious Hunter. He was a soul, so he couldn’t bleed, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be sacrificed.
A bead of sweat dripped down the side of my head as I threw my hand up and stopped her from finishing the spell.
Her smirk grew as her body froze from my telekinesis, but I was too late. The intent for the spell must’ve been greater than I anticipated, because a sacrificial symbol painted the air and flew toward Hunter at the speed of fucking light.
Panic seized my chest as I squeezed her body, throwing it against the wall and keeping her strung up. “No!”
All the guys were too far from them, and all I could do was hope the spell wasn’t what I thought it was. The symbol struck flesh, spraying blood every which way, my heart sinking and tears flooding my eyes.
Hunter and the rest of our family were untouched, but Gabriel stood with his white wings out and halo glowing above his head in front of him, his very pours leaking blood rapidly.
My heart leapt to my throat as my back seared in two long parallel wounds on my shoulder blades as my wings, lit with hellfire stretched out behind me. Flapping them, I propelled myself forward to the wall Mystia was pinned on.
“Stupid blood witch.” I squeezed my palm around her throat as Mystia struggled to breathe, eyes wide with excitement.
I didn’t allow her any time to counteract, plunging my hand through her chest and crushing the orb that contained her soul.
Her lips parted before she croaked, “I’m coming, sisters.”
Instead of a beam of light, blood oozed out of the orb, seeping through my fingers and down my hand as her body turned to the thick liquid until she was nothing but a puddle.
I flapped my wings and made it to his side in a second. Blood trickled out of his body from his eyes, mouth, ears, and skin. Biting into my wrist, I dribbled my blood on his chest and mumbled an incantation with intent to neutralize her spell, but it didn’t work.
“Why can’t I stop it?” I muttered, holding my hands over him, radiating the golden light from my palms to heal his wounds, but it seemed to speed up the process.
Gabriel winced, coughing before his long fingers wrapped around my wrist and pulled it to his chest. I stopped healing as his glowing white eyes tinted by crimson stared back at me. “It’s too late. The spell was a sacrificial spell. It wasn’t just blood magic. These can’t be stopped when they’re started. I didn’t know anyone still knew about them, but of course she would’ve.”
“It can’t be too late!” Hands rested on my shoulders and back from the guys, but I couldn’t look away from Gabriel. We’d had our animosities, but he was also once a friend that I had treasured dearly.
“I’m sorry, darling.” He squeezed my hand with weak pressure. “I never meant to cause you the harm I did.”
“Stop.” I shook my head, his face blurring from the tears welling up. “Why did you do that?”
Coughing, he turned his head away from me and spat up blood. I reached over with my other hand and touched his cheek to help him face me again. “Hunter’s your brother, and he’s important to you. Losing his soul would’ve destroyed you.”
I blinked and the tears fell. “But losing you isn’t easy either...fuck. How were you able to kill me before? All I can think about is—”
“All those times we made flower crowns in Heaven and swam in the water.” He chuckled. “I thought about it too.”
“Don’t forget how we’d torture the worst of the damned souls together,” I mentioned, sniffing.
Anguish painted his features. “I was overcome with anger and jealousy...I loved you so much.”
I swallowed hard as the glow in his eyes dimmed. “I know you did, and at one point, I cared a lot about you.”
He let out a sad breath along with the blood trickling down his chin. “But your heart never wanted me. It wanted him…them.”
