Page 127 of Death's Daughter
“I’ll be with you momentarily,” Nova says to them, but her teeth are clenched. It’s taking more of her concentration to hold me than she expected. Or she’s weaker because of my efforts.
Her gaze softens, then, pupils widening as she stares at someone behind me. Not a lot and not for long, but enough for me to gather that Devon has added his efforts to the mix.
A moment later, blood begins to seep through her shirt again, red and fresh against the darker dried stuff. Carter and possibly Maggie working together.
Nova groans as organs and skin shift and tear beneath the fabric of her clothing. Fuck. That’s definitely Carter.
Nova’s grip on me slips slightly, and I can breathe again. Barely.
Red droplets spatter on the floor, but only one or two at a time. Most of it vanishes in the pull from Maggie, which tugs at my own flesh like a dry wind.
The lights flicker, generators stuttering loudly to life, and my heart vibrates in my chest, like I’ve licked a battery. I would assume it’s simply a side effect from dying, but then electricity crackles in a blue-white arc from behind me, slamming into Nova. She throws her head back in a silent scream.
Holy shit. Shane? No wonder his mother is worried about him being recruited.
It doesn’t last long. The arc sputters out, and Nova straightens up, squaring her shoulders. But she’s moving more slowly now, her gaze focused on the four of them behind me. If she attacks them directly, she’ll kill them. She’s so strong.
But to attack them, she’ll have to let go of me. And that is an opportunity.
I picture the four of them behind me. The distinct swirls in each of them, the power held in each of their lives.
The moment I feel Nova’s grasp on me lighten just enough, I mentally reach back and grab for that essence at the core of Carter, Devon, Maggie, and Shane.
There’s no resistance, telling me Devon must have warned them. So much life floods through me at once, it nearly chokes me at first. Different textures, colors, emotions—including fear and joy—I can’t sort it out, only consume it before it overwhelms me. But in another moment, I adjust and gulp it down, feeling it flood me with heat and strength.
Nova’s expression goes from determined to shocked. “You said you didn’t want—”
Before she can recalibrate, I yank at the stolen life powering Nova.
She resists, creating a tug of war over that thick rope of power.
But there are five of us, and only one of her. We are a system, working in unison, the four of them feeding into me and me pulling everything I can out of Nova.
The tension on her end slackens, and I wind faster.
She was sofull. I don’t know how she held it all. And now it’s all streaming into me. Filling me with life. I catch flashes of the lives she’s taken—the man down in the waiting room, the nurseat the desk. Quick mental images, there and gone. That’s never happened to me before.
As I watch, fine wrinkles appear on her forehead, by her eyes, and at the corners of her mouth. Her skin starts to sag and ripple. Her hair turns brittle, falls out.
When she reaches up, her fingertips have turned ghostly pale. She tries to extend her hand toward me, but her forearm bends like it’s made of paper.
She’s going to be a husk if I don’t stop. Nothing but little bits of disintegrating bone held in a layer of skin.
Good.The greedy sense of triumph, vengeance, digs into me, settling itself within me with clawed feet. I want her dead. I want her dust.
Time slips away from me, and I have no idea how long I’m standing there, locked in on Nova. All of a sudden but also an eternity later, she crumbles.
A heap of empty, bloody clothes collapses to the floor. One of her clogs tips over on its side.
The tether to Nova snaps, sending everything back into me, and it’s just me, brimming with all this life. Like when you draw in the deepest breath you can imagine, stretching your lungs until they ache.
Only it’s not just my lungs, it’s everywhere. My skin, muscles, bones, the formerly empty space between atoms. Blood gushes down my face from my nose. It’s too much.
I can feel all the life glowing bright in me, pressing against the edges of the container that is me. I try to swallow it all back down, but there’s nowhere for it to go.
Devon’s worried face appears in front of me.He’s alive, thank God. I didn’t take too much from him.
“Is she okay?” Maggie asks from somewhere behind me.
