The Edifice

44. The Snap

OLIVIA

I force my gaze away from the sight of Lee, contorted and restrained to meet the steely glare in Zagan Creed's eyes and for the first time in over a week my hands lose their shaking. They're too tightly curled into fists.

Something inside me snaps, something worn thin and brittle by years of doubt and contrition.

I am a nurse. My soul pursuit in my adult life has been to heal and care for everyone I could but when I see Zagan with his hands around the throat of Levi Noble the stalwart compassion that drove me through study disappears. Not a piece of me wants to bargain any further, let alone fix the monster that's overshadowed my existence this last week. I want to shred. I want to hit and tear and crack his limbs until they can't hurt Lee ever again.

All this time I've sympathised with Otis's desire for peace, not once have I wanted to hurt another soul but this is my family. Levi Noble is the last family I have left.

"Let. Him. Go."

Zagan's smile is tight-lipped, baring the tips of two pointed fangs. His fingers did tighter into Lee's mouth as though sensing the shift in my intentions, eliciting a groan of pain from his hostage. "That's not happening. You can't say you're not enjoying the break from him talking, right?"

"I wasn't asking."

When was the last time I actually took action against the force of shitty luck against me? Ever since I fell through that portal I've felt like I've been reacting, grasping any hand extended my way despite the claws and fangs behind it. Just once did I step up to one of the endless threats here, at The California, when Zagan had once again put Levi Noble in his sights. Figures.

"I know what you're thinking," Zagan continues, "You managed to teleport in front of Noble last time- one of Otysses's little tricks. But you don't actually know any spells, do you? You take one step towards me, the second you blink out of sight- your boyfriend's losing half of his head and yours is next. I don't need you in one piece to give me what I want."

"Ro-rivia," Lee groans, catching my attention as I fight to out think Zagan's strategy. He's right. With Levi in the line of fire I can't risk intervening as much as I long to throw everything I can at the youngest Creed.

Lee gives a sharp and sudden twist beneath Zagan, almost unseating the young man as he thrusts his good arm towards Zagan's face and pivots his body in closer. Zagan groans at the inconvenience of it, swatting Lee off with ease and twisting the offending hand in his iron grip.

He sneers as Lee falters once more. "Pathetic."

Lee doesn't seem to care though. His eyes catch mine and there's a flash of greedy cunning in the darkness of his irises. Despite his forceful gag, the corner of his lips almost seem to quirk into a smile. Zagan is now fully occupied with restraining him, one hand clutching Lee's face and the other wrapped around the green skin of Lee's left wrist. As though he hasn't noticed Lee's right arm is a prosthetic, not flesh and heavily enchanted wood at that.

I can almost hear Lee countdown the seconds in the quiet that follows. Three thudding heartbeats and then a flurry of movement.

Lee drives his right fist upwards, connecting a solid punch directly between Zagan's kneeling legs.

I tense, on the mark.

Zagan doubles over, abandoning his grip of Lee's head to clutch at the burst of pain in his crotch. Lee throws himself aside, tossing up plumes of dust on the uneven floor and

I teleport.

Zagan's skin burns against the inside of my palms as I wrap my hands around the back of his neck, hot as scalding water. I ignore the pain, so tiny and trivial against the searing rage in my chest and heave with all my strength on the thick muscles of his shoulders.

I probably should have tested my strength after the latest influx of Otis's power continued reshaping my body.

Originally I had intended to simply pull Zagan as far from Lee as I could, hopefully knock him on his back since he had already been stunned. Taller than his brother and as broad as Lee is skinny, Zagan is built like he might actually be a fighter. Easily close to two hundred pounds, had this been a five days ago I could have accomplished nothing more than slapping pitifully at the rounded muscle on his back.

Instead, however, my tug lifts the youngest Creed off of his feet and hurtling four yards into the rubble of what looks like an old PET scanner. Metal shrieks as the machinery folds in around him, burying Zagan in a half-tonne of collapsed equipment.

The sight strikes me cold, all malice momentarily forgotten. The endless patients I've treated, crippled by even the most minor falls come back to me, let alone an impact like that. Otis's brother. 

I most likely broke his neck at the very least.

When I chase the carnage that surely waits for me beneath the machine, however, the metal begins to creak once more as it rises impossibly and a thick, ember-red arm emerges from the wreck. Zagan Creed begins to rise, dusting himself off like his designer sweats were the biggest casualty of the fall.

Fire dances across his skin, flaring from his every orifice and setting the electric yellow of his eyes alight. He raises his hands, crackling with energy, and steps towards me with an unstoppable malice that promises I'll regret my hesitation for his safety. Thankfully, however, Lee had no such morality.

As Zagan lets loose his curse at me, Lee lunges from the shadows to his right, a long metal pole gripped tight in his hands. He brings it down in an arcing swing onto Zagan's head, knocking the god back a step into the rubble. He swings again, this time forcing Zagan to one knee under the force, the metal thudding wetly against his scalp. When Lee raises the pole a third time, it's bent almost to a ninety-degree angle at the point of impact.

Zagan's wavering from this, too, is temporary.

"Lee, watch out!" I cry, lunging forward towards the two men.

Lee hits Zagan a third and final time before the god recovers enough to catch the rod in one hand, yanking it from Lee's grip. Lee backs away hurriedly, switching to the guttural intonations of his own spell-summons.

As if he'd forgotten I was there, he flinches, instinctively casting us a thin, shimmering barrier between Zagan and I, trapping himself on the other side. I crash against it, hammer my fists into the hard protective field and watch Lee turn back to the monster that now stalks him.

"Olivia- run!"

-

AN// I've split these next parts because we're really getting into the thick of it now besties. The next chapter is extremely action/violence heavy and you all deserve a break.

Please let me know how you think this chapter reads so I can make sure it's flowing OK and I prommy that every vote is a moment Zagan gets his ass beat.