“Ankou.” I mopped my eyes clear of the crimson stain. “Where’s your sword?”
“How about that bargain?” Rather than whip out a weapon, he watched them tussle, ripping each other apart. “I’m still waiting on my answer.”
A growl tore past my lips when I realized he wasn’t going to help her. Of course he wasn’t. Why would he? He was a coward, and he was willing to risk Anunit to get what he wanted from me.
Good thing I didn’t need a bone blade to be dangerous.
Honestly, I would probably cut off my own leg with one before I did any real damage to the creature.
Drawing in a slow breath through my nose, I sank into the core of my power, allowing myself to drift into the center of my being where magic spun in lethal eddies. Ignoring the familiar glint of Anunit’s soul, her glow hard and bright, I focused instead on a pulsing darkness glittering along the edge of my awareness.
With a spectral hand, I punched out into coarse blackness, fisting the cold spark and ripping it free.
Flame erupted in my palm, devouring the soul, rendering it to ash as I blinked out of my haze.
“I did it.”
I killed the creature.
Without flashing back to that first time. Without requiring an anchor. Without losing myself to the drift.
Just as Abaddon had injected new life into Anunit, it had made death at my hands easier too.
As I flexed my fingers, the black stains coating me up to the wrist, I couldn’t find it in myself to be afraid of this evolution. Not now. Not when I needed every advantage to protect my family, and myself. Extinguishing souls wasn’t a power I had ever wanted to master, but to keep them safe…
Yeah.
I would take what I could get now and mourn the loss of another shred of my humanity later.
“We must go before other creatures smell fresh meat and come to feast.”
Anunit snapped me back to attention with her warning, and I wiped the black smudges off on my pants.
The weight of Ankou’s stare drew my eyes to his, and I read his conviction to secure my help in them.
“Say yes,” he pleaded with me. “Say yes, and I will take you back to New Orleans right now.”
From kidnapping to hostage situation to begging for mercy. Oh joy. “Remove the anklet, and then we’ll talk favors.”
“Agree to my terms, and I’ll remove the anklet.”
Small rocks bounced off the ledge above me, clipping my elbow, and I braced for another attack. But impact, when it hit with anoof, smelled oddly like chicory coffee. “Josie?”
“Mary.” She wrapped her arms around my neck, cutting off my air supply. “Thank God you’re okay.”
A burst of black feathers informed me Badb had also come along for the ride, but she didn’t linger.
Dollars to donuts, she was zooming straight for Kierce, which made me envious I lacked her wings.
“I’m fine.” I clung to my sister, burying my face in her shoulder. “Just ignore the dead murder lizard.”
“Murder lizard?” Harrow stepped out onto a ledge above our heads. “You were only here five minutes.”
Next to him stood Anunit, rubbing her face on his thigh, smearing blood from our attacker, as well as her scent glands, on his pants. The resignation pinching his features told me that he would rather let her get it out of her system than fight a losing battle with her. One that might end up with him possessed again.
“More like a few hours.” I waved to him. “But who’s counting?”
“We came as fast as we could, but loa are tricky to summon.” A faint thud behind me announced Carter’s arrival. “Especiallywhen they’re on a coffee run and choose to ignore the summons until their order gets filled.”
