I’m cut off as Jay throws his elbow back, just barely, and I can hear the shattering of bone. Kayn’s jaw and nose break, bowing inward and I don’t blame him for releasing the Mundane.
What the fuck?!
Jay smiles, and now I see why he is carefree. He swings at me, and I’m not stupid to even allow the wind to caress me from it. Retreating, I release Archer and stand a few feet back.
The moment I’m going to call for Niyla to stand at my side, we both hear Sydni screaming in the distance. I look at her, her ebony cheeks darkening as fear radiates in her eyes.
She looks at me, but only briefly, before she is disappearing out into the forest.Shit.
My butterfly comes first, so I can’t be angry at her decision. Just as I’m about to run after her, a softtskmakes me turn. Jay is helping Archer up from the splintered ground, dusting him off.
“You know…” Now I understand why this one pissed Xera off. He is nonchalant, socalmit’s ticking me off. My chest heaves, nostrils flaring as he chuckles. “I was originally brought on to calm Xeraphine. Sooth the delirium into lucidity. But now, with you, Tali has given me a higher purpose.”
Kayn’s fist, just inches from Jay’s face, is intercepted with a deafeningsmack. The force of the blow shakes the ground beneath me, the impact reverberating like a small quake.
The grin that Archer gives my friend makes my stomach tumble. “Let’s leave them to play.” He swings a kick into Kayn’s side and as he flies across the space and into the trees, the Incubus gives me one final smirk before chasing after him.
The Mundane steps to me. “I don’t know how I didn’t recognize you.” He sighs before continuing, “There at the bar…”
My mind soars back to Ashfer, a seaside bar, an annoying Mundane trying to buy me my drink.Jay. Holy fuck. I hadn’t smelled Xeraphine on him, how had I missed that?!
I was so close…
“I have no qualms with you, Kairhyse. Truthfully, I feel bad for you.” He steps to me, but I don’t falter, and stand my ground. I think I shouldn’t refer to him as Mundane anymore—I believe he is another Necroth. There is no way that a mere mortal could be this strong without some sort of intervention. “They both trapped us in a life of servitude.”
I scoff. “Technically, I trapped her. You are just a dog to its owner.Woof, woof.”
His shoulders raise as he takes a deep breath. He tucks one hand into his jeans, and waves the other in front of him. “Yeah, doesn’t really matter at this point. With her final command, I’ll be free.”
“And what’s that command, Jay? Fight an endless battle with me until my girl returns to separate your head?”
As his brows pinch, a sense of dread slaps me in the face. A weight pushes down on my chest, and a strange sense of impending death crashes over me.
Whatis that?
“No, Kairhyse. I’m here to kill you.”
I want to laugh, but he’s in front of me before the thought even finishes.
Chapter 46
Kairhyse
I’m barely capable of dodging his attack, slipping into the darkness behind him. I cast an attack with one of my shadows at him, but he takes the blow to his back as if it were nothing more than an inconvenience. When he turns, he’s regarding me with a weary expression. It’s as though he feelsbadfor threatening to kill me. She warned me he was weird, and this just confirms it.
As I take a step toward him, we truly begin a back and forth that feels like it will be endless. I’d land a punch, only for him to stand straight and swing at me. His actions are bored, as though it’s an annoyance to have to fight me.
Whatever you’d call this thing happening between us could go on for hours, days, or even weeks, because as we circle one another, he isn’t even out of breath.
“Are you a Necroth?” I spit.
“Sort of,” he answers quickly. “Sort of not.” When he smiles, his eyes disappear behind his cheeks. “My lifeforce was consumed by an Amoro, and then returned back to me.”
Flexing my hands in and out of fists, I narrow my eyes. During the moment of silence I strain my ears to hear anything,anyone, beyond just the two of us. The only noise is Mister’s yowling behind me, and then soon, his words.
“Unnatural beings. All of you need to be snuffed from this world. What Witch broke Vendra’s law?!”
Jay moves his shoulders up and down, an expression of‘Whatever’.
