"Monster," she seethes, barely keeping her head up against my force.
I kneel in front of them, her eyes cold and callous, refusing to show fear even though she knows the fate she's about to meet. His eyes show me the fear I crave, desire, and relish.
"You should have chosen the right side," I murmur before finishing what I started with one last push of power, pressing against them fully with the unseen force.
I deny them the right to cry out their pain when I steal their breath and force them to endure a silent death. As they drop, I slowly turn around, seeing most of the damage slowly fading as the light from the sky promises a new day.
Gage is messing with the Thad imposter, trying to free him, and Kane is untying the small girl.
"Not him!" I command, finding my fury once again.
"It's Thad, Alyssa. He’s real," Gage says, not meeting my eyes.
I start to say something else when I look Thad’s heart, seeing the truth I wish I had seen sooner. White—pure white light—buried inside a beautifully-pure heart, and tears fall from my eyes as my hair changes back to blond.
I start to fall, but Kane blurs and catches me as the surrealism and exhaustion catch up, only—I'm not as exhausted as I should be. That much power—
"I changed," I murmur, touching my skin as though it should be different, feeling no wounds where they were just moments ago.
Kane smiles down at me as he pulls me closer, holding me so much tighter than he's ever been able to before. It feels so good.
"I have to shut this down. Get the medallion," Thad says to Gage as the exhausted little girl wobbles.
Kane leaves me as he rushes to her, trying to steady her. I run over, and stumble over my feet from the unexpected speed I didn't mean to use. When my body claps the ground, I hear the laughter of an incubus that seemed to be missing from most of the fight.
Zee helps me to my feet as Thad moves to be at the little girl's side, putting the necklace on her and letting Gage reseal the broken chain.
"What're you laughing at, incubus?" Zee grumbles. "Where were you? Hiding?"
Dice scowls. "I was kicking a night stalker's ass. Me—an incubus—beat the hell outta him."
"One?" Zee asks, sounding incredulous, making Dice's anger grow. "I don't know which one of you is more pathetic."
As the bickering continues, Mom's arms wrap around me when she comes to my side. She hugs me close to her, squeezing me tighter than usual just as Kane did. Drackus stays on his back, still catching his breath and shaking his head sporadically as he comes down from his high. Frankie staggers over, clutching his side as hobbles to us.
"What's that?" he asks, looking at Thad. I still haven't processed the fact that he's alive.
"All I know about it is that it halts power on certain creatures. She's too young to stop her power once it's been activated. Get that thing out of here," he says, pointing to the diamond of Roth.
Frankie vaporizes with the diamond in tow. Mom just watches with me, ignoring the cousin my crazy Hyde-half left alive. Her heart was tainted, but not black—there's hope for her. I pray I'm right about that.
"How do we get all the spirits back in?" Dice asks, breaking apart from his feud with Zee.
"Once we shut this down, they'll lose their hold on this world and the bodies they've captured. They won't be sucked back into purgatory, but they'll become trapped in various planes. I'll find out which ones and lock them down or move them."
"Had a few secrets, did you?" Kane asks, cradling the small girl to his chest as he stares at the changer that shouldn't be alive.
"Being a gate keeper is as dangerous as being a creature god. You had a few secrets of your own, didn’t you?"
Kane doesn't answer before the hole slowly starts to fade from sight, and the air becomes crisper almost instantly—making it easier to breathe.
"Why weren't Dragona and Damon spirits?" Drackus asks as he finally stands to his feet, seeming normal again—well, as normal as possible.
"Because they were stronger than we realized when we banished them—they fed off the spirits there," Thad answers absently as he focuses on the portal.
Once the hole is completely gone, I touch the spot where the medallion once graced my chest.
"It would have been nice to know it killed powers."
