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“It is not your fault,” I called out.
A voice of velvet and ice caressed me, raising goosebumps on my skin and flooding my subconscious, engaging my flight or fight instincts. “Isn’t it?”
I spun toward her voice, now solid and whole, and froze. She stood in the arched doorway to the hall, holding a bloody and bruised Drake by his collar. The large gash across his neck bled, soaking his mangled clothes. I stepped closer with my hands outstretched at my sides.
“Always the hero.” Her eyes roamed over me before she met my gaze. “I always thought of myself as a monster, and I suppose now it’s true. You have no idea what I have done. All I will do. I used to hate that part of me. I didn’t realize how freeing it would be just not to care and fully embrace it.” A slow smile crept across her face, her fangs glistening as she gripped Drake’s throat so tightly blood spilled over her knuckles. “I don’t hate it anymore.”
“Dianna.” I kept my hands open, showing her that I meant no harm.
“You know, that’s not even my real name.”
“What?” I shook my head, lowering one hand.
“It’s Mer-Ka. Ain made us change them when we first ended up in Onuna. A fresh start, she preached. They are from another stupid show she foolishly idolized. Dianna and Gabby, sisters in some small town, with lives, jobs, and everything she thought we could have too.” Vengeance burned in the depths of her gaze, so strong and pure it caught me off guard. “But you and I know the truth. There is no normalcy in our world. There are no happy endings. We can’t even save the people that we love.”
That look was back, that harrowing, brutal look.
“I never told you I spoke to Gabby.”
She stopped and cocked her head, the movement alien.
“In this mansion, months ago. It was when we first arrived here.” I glanced behind her as Logan approached. His hands moved, runes appearing beneath her feet. I needed her eyes to stay on me, focus on me. “I called to check in on the others, but Gabby answered. She spoke of a time similar to this. How when you first changed, it was easy to pretend you were something you were not because of the guilt you felt. She also told me she never gave up on you. I will not give up on you either.”
“You’re not her,” she growled, holding Drake a fraction tighter.
I held that brutal, chaotic gaze steadily. “Of course not. The way I care for you is vastly different. The lengths I will go to for you are unfathomable. I refuse to let you hurt yourself, no matter how vile or mean you are to me. I know you’re in pain. You are mourning, and someone like you will grieve just as hard and deeply as you love.”
“You’re wrong.” Her nails dug deeper into Drake’s neck. “I’m beyond that now. Now? I just want blood.”
Her hands blazed, flames licking at Drake. He screamed so loud it blocked the sound of Logan’s approaching footsteps. He snuck up behind Dianna and wrestled Drake from her arms, dropping him at my side. Drake slumped to the floor, and Logan came to my other side, murmuring under his breath.
“Do not flee,” I barked the order at Drake, but he didn’t so much as lift his head.
Dianna cursed and stalked forward, her hands engulfed in flames. Her body hit an invisible wall as the last rune formed under her feet. She glanced down and back at us, sneering. Using an ablazed dagger, Logan cut his palm, speaking our old language. The light of her prison lit up, the column containing her rising to the ceiling. It encased her in a cylinder of silver meant to hold. The ring sealed, fully locking her in, her scream making me wince. Her fists slammed and beat against it, her rage searing to her surface. She kicked and spat, every bit a wild animal caught in a snare. She had consumed too much, and the prison would not just contain her but torture her while she was in it. The realization made my gut churn.
“She can’t stay like that.” I glared at Logan as he wiped his brow, trying to catch his breath. She was already in enough pain. I wouldn’t cause her more.
“I didn’t use an incinerating rune. It’s basic and only meant to hold.” He looked at the engravings on the floor, then back at her. “I don’t think she is in pain. I think she is pissed.”
The fire had reached us here, but at her glare, the flames scattered. They drew back, smoldering in the dark corner, waiting impatiently for her command. Clouds formed outside, rolling across the sky. No thunder, no lightning, only encroaching darkness.
“Samkiel. I swear I am not hurting her,” Logan hissed, assuming I had caused the sudden change in weather. It wasn’t me, and I realized it might have never been me. The rings on my fingers began to vibrate.
Danger! Danger!
I glanced at Logan, who looked at the rings on his hand, then back at me. He felt it too. Dianna went still in the center of the rune containment, her eyes meeting mine as her hands opened at her sides.
“You cannot contain me anymore. No one can.”
As soon as the last word left her lips, she slammed her palms into the floor beneath her. Fire bellowed from her, filling the circle with orange and red flames. It rose toward the ceiling, a column of destruction seeking a way out. I couldn’t see her anymore because the flames were so thick and heavy. Logan and I took a step back. We watched the runes on the floor burn out, one by one. They sizzled, smoke puffing from each mark as her power overwhelmed and extinguished it. The ring of containment faltered briefly, then reformed, but barely.
“Dianna, stop. I know this hurts, but think. Please. You go after him alone, and he will kill you. Look at what Tobias did to us. They are the Kings of Yejedin. It took gods to defeat one. Gods, Dianna. Plural.”
She didn’t listen, unleashing another thunderous roar. Wings whipped free as the circle burst, followed by that massive, deadly tail.
My heart stopped, and I didn’t think, acting on pure instinct. One minute we were in the ruined mansion; the next, we were half a mile away in the dense forest. Logan coughed behind me as I watched her massive form launch into the sky. She swooped down, breathing fire onto the trees before passing over the burning mansion to head toward the garden. My heart broke further at her determination to erase every memory she had of this place, even us. One last horrible roar split the air. Those thick, powerful wings beat against the wind, launching her into the sky and away from here. I swallowed back the rush of sorrow and turned away.
Logan leaned over a crumpled form, flames crackling behind him. In the distance, the destroyed mansion imploded. Ashes billowed in a thick cloud, blocking the moon and stars.
