Annihilation - Book Three

Chapter 31

 I don't even know what I'm chanting as I strike the ground with something that comes from my very core. I feel the book wants to help me, to use me as a means to protect itself, as I am the one it has selected as its host. There's something within me that senses her desire, now that she's dropped her concealing spell, her very essence swarms me like a heavy fog. 

Corina had no intention of rekindling our family bonds; she had been checking to see if I had my father's book, and my lack of forethought proved her right. I should be traveling under my own concealing spell, but I'd gotten comfortable in my position. Her intention was to take the book; she was hemorrhaging dark magic, and I struggled to believe my father's cruel arts wouldn't crave a better master. 

She screams as she falls to her knees, her body shimmering with what looks like an electrical charge, a spider web of glowing strands encasing her. I look at my hands, amazed, feeling like I've been hit with a rush of endorphins. 

"So you can use father's book!" Corina snickers at me, looking up through the mountain of hair that's fallen into her face, a black depth that her dark eyes peer out of. "That was pretty good. Took you long enough to fight like a real Solomonari, though it's not going to be enough. You're too sick to realize that you're fighting for the wrong side; let me liberate you." 

I can't listen to her monolog; freed, I rush to Victor. 

"Victor?" Marcus asks, blinking out of his trance, wild-eyed as he drops the knife with his trembling hands. "No, this isn't what I wanted!" He fights against Verando and Reid, but Verando grips his throat, cutting him off.

"You were helping her, weren't you? You've been telling her where we are!"

Marcus looks at our leader, out of his mind, as blood seeps from his nose, his body succumbing to the mind control too heavy for anybody to endure. Corina was out of control, she'd have no ability to focus on her marionettes while fighting with me, and she'd blow their brains with the amount of energy her body emitted.  

"I didn't have a choice! We need to be stopped! We need to be erased! This is a curse; this is not a society that needs to be saved, but-" His eyes meet Victor again as I kneel beside the Russian, putting my hand over his neck and trying to find the source of the bleeding. "I didn't want to hurt-"

"The artery, he's sliced the artery." Adriam points out and tries to show me where to heal. 

"But what? You didn't think your friends would die, too?" Verando punches him, lifting him to throw him against the ground and deliver a sharp kick. "You damned traitor! That's your blood! Dying on the ground because of your weakness!" He kicks him again; suddenly, Marcus's eyes darken once more, and Temptrest jumps on Verando's back. 

Marcus leaps to attack him, but Reid blocks him, barely managing to deflect the large Spaniard. 

 I curse under my breath; Corina must be powering back up. 

Under me, Victor is growling, and when I look down, I see his eyes pupils are enlarged. 

"Shit!" I leap back from him as he grabs for Adriam. I'd barely managed to close the artery; the blood still flowed freely.

"Victor, stop!" Adriam yells; he wraps his arms around the Russian's neck, holding pressure on the wound. Victor delivers a sharp blow to the small man, trying to rip him off his body.

 I slam my hands on the ground and send another pulse, she cries out in agony once more, but it doesn't drop her this time. I feel my body give, falling to my knees as I tremble under the immense weight. My book reaches, siphoning off of me, sending out warning signals to remind me that I was outmatched.