Page 99 of Resurrection
“April?” Ignoring me as if I haven’t spoken, she inches closer. “What are we still doing here, friend?”
To my surprise, the two mages are quiet, their wide, red-rimmed eyes darting to each of us while they try to blend in with the walls. My nose wrinkles when one of them wets himself, his pants darkening around his groin and thighs from the urine. It doesn’t escape April’s notice as she snarls at him.
“We are showing them the same kindness they showed Andrei.” The mage shrinks back, his body visibly shaking, and in disgust, she turns away from him. “Why? What did you think I was doing?”
Marcus has to drag Andrei to the side as fast as he can when April lifts one of the mages and chucks him at the broken wall like he is a rag doll. Bones crunch and break, but he is still alive when he drops to the ground writhing and screaming.
“Now, where were we?” Crouching low, she brings herself face to face with the other one—the one who wet himself. “You were about to tell me where the heart of your operations was, right?”
Blanching, the bloodied mage shakes his head vehemently but doesn’t say a word.
“Where can I find the rest of you vermin? Speak or I’ll make you.” The glow of her eyes cast shadows over the mage’s face while we stand frozen. Bewildered, I look to Marcus and Eshe, but both seem as lost as I am. “Where?” Her shout makes him jerk off the ground.
“Vi … si … sion …” he mumbles, spittle flying and dribbling down his split lip.
“I can’t hear you. Use your big-boy words now. I know you can do it,” she mocks him, but the mage is mad from fear and wets himself again.
“Vision …” He clears his throat twice before swallowing whatever was preventing him from answering her in the first place. “The old Leimert Theatre. Please …”
“See?” She smiles at him, and if not for knowing her so well,, I will think she is about to stand up and walk away. “That wasn’t hard now, was it?”
“Please kill me,” the mage begs desperately.
“Oh, you will die, don’t you worry about that.” April pats him on the cheek with harsh slaps that snap his head to the side.
Then she stares at her hand like it’s a foreign object she’s never seen before. Marcus and I look at each other.
“When did I become so strong?” she asks softly to no one in particular. “I swear I just tapped him.”
In his desperation to die, the mage fills his palm with fire magic and dumps it in April’s face, mushing the flames there. My body jerks to kill the fucker, but she only rocks back on her heels before brushing his hand away like it’s a pesky fly. Blisters andwrinkled, burnt flesh on her face mend before my eyes as she gazes at him like she’s looking at a strange specimen.
“You and Sebastian could’ve gotten along wonderfully if you didn’t need to die,” she tells him, shaking a finger at his horror-filled face. “Both of you are trying to kill my joy.”
The incredulousness twisting my features is wasted. All of our attention is on April like we’ve never seen her before. Tired of chatting with him, she stands on her feet, dragging him up with her.
And the screams start yet again.
We stand numbly, all of us frozen in place while she toys with both mages for what feels like hours. No amount of coercing, pleading, or ordering can get her away from brandishing the punishment she sees fit to the two magic users. I have no doubt we will be spending days in this smelly hole in the ground, but finally Andrei speaks.
“April, please.” His whisper stops her in her tracks, and she tears her fangs out of the mages throat, ripping it off and leaving his head hanging just by a small piece of skin. “I need help to walk, please.”
She watches him for a long moment, and slowly the bright glow of her eyes dims until it disappears completely. She uncurls her fingers twisted in the mage’s tattered shirt, dropping him and rushing to Andrei. It’s unbelievable the transformation from a creature of nightmares ripping human flesh like paper to the gentle way she picks him up to place him on his feet. Then she looks around in confusion as if she can’t remember who painted the walls and floors with blood and pieces of flesh.
When her gaze lands on the only living mage—albeit broken beyond repair—she snaps her eyes to me. Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she clears her throat, wiping the blood dribbling down her chin with the back of her hand.
“Kill him.” Her tone is flat and hollow, wrenching my heart out of my chest.
With a sharp nod, I take two steps to the heap of a mage and snap his neck with a flick of my wrists. Ducking her head and not making eye contact with anyone, she guides Andrei out of the macabre space, the silence she leaves behind deafening me.
Eshe, Marcus, and I stare at each other, that one look weighing more than anything.
“Fuck me,” Marcus mouths, but he doesn’t dare say anything out loud.
We follow April home in silence all the way across the city, our heads bent and all of us lost in thought, reminding me of a funeral procession.
Chapter Eighty-Eight
APRIL
