The Art of Blood and Power (Book 2 in The Gifted Trilogy)

37- Don't Look Back

In a flash of movement, the twelve people seated around the table, apart from Lux who still stared at his glass as if in a trance, bursted into movement.

The woman with pale skin and a dark smile was the first to attack, flinging her arm forward as a rope of shadows extended, headed directly towards Kess. He raised his fists but June was quicker, jumping in front of him and raising her arms well above her head. Her arms strained for only a brief moment before water vapor from the air started to crystalize. All at once, she brought her arms down and suddenly a wall of ice reaching from the ceiling to the floor formed, separating us from them.

"Get out of here now" she grunted with effort, raising an arm behind her and shoving forward. Pieces of the wall shifted to form sharp ice pics and all at once, as I watched the figures behind the ice raise their own hands, June thrusted her arms forward. Hundreds of ice pics sailed across the room, finding purchase in walls and chairs and, in one fortunate case, the gut of a man too slow to take cover like the others, crumpling lifelessly to the floor.

I didn't stick around to see the aftermath. Grabbing Kess's arm, I immediately called on the Fold, ripping us through an opening and into the world that seeped the color from everything. It was no use not using the Veiling now, seeing as Nox was well aware of our presence.

We sprinted towards the doors, only to be forced into a halt as a form appeared in front of it, one of the dinner guests grinning madly at us. Before she could raise her hand, Kess swept fire at her feet, catching her dress on fire as I reached out with my own shadows, wrapping them tightly around her neck.

A sudden blow came to my back as I dropped to the floor, rolling to see the man who had thrown the silver plate sprinting towards me, Kess stepped in front of me as, still maintaining my hold on the woman's neck with my shadows, I pulled and thrusted her forwards into the path of a different man brandishing a knife in front of him.

The movement was too quick to stop and the blade sunk into the flesh of the woman, right where her heart was. Shoving the woman begrudgingly to the side, as if annoyed that her interference had slowed him down, talons of shadows formed at his hand that wasn't gripping the blade. He slashed those claws towards me.

I rolled, missing the brunt of the claws but still feeling brief and ice-cold searing pain on my right shoulder, letting me know he likely broke skin.

A sudden whirlwind of shadows formed around him, raising him higher and higher into the sky at a rapid and unrelenting pace. His head hit the obsidian ceiling with a resounding crack as he fell lifelessly back towards the ground, no shadows around him to slow his fall. I turned to see Cicero beside me, watching the man fall without a lack of expression, turning as a woman, likely his wife or lover, screamed with rage, barreling toward Cicero.

Before she could get any closer, Kess through a perfectly aimed sphere of fire which hit her square in the chance and expanded, its journey helped by the material of her dress. She fell to the floor, flames engulfing her skin as she let out a final scream.

I turned towards the dining table where Nox and Lux still sat, watching the scene unfold in front of them. Nox caught my eye and sent me a taunting grin.

"You want your crown?" I screamed at him, pausing only to unsheathe the dagger at my side and send it sailing straight into the throat of one of the two Gifted who were currently trying to trap Ash with his back against the wall. "Come and get it, bastard!"

I turned and shoved the doors open, sprinting down the marble floor as I heard footsteps in chase behind me. I turned slightly and counted three of them behind me. That was all that was left of the original twelve.