A muffled female scream from the level below caused Piper to involuntarily look down even though all she could see was the floor.
“Keep your attention on your own fight,” Samael whispered in her ear, suddenly behind her.
She gasped and flung her elbow back but caught only air. Red light filled her vision as he appeared right in front of her, two fingers pressed against her chest.
His spell hit her so hard she didn’t even remember falling. The next thing she was aware of was lying on her back, unable to breathe as fiery pain raced along every nerve. Her heart hammered desperately as she fought to make her lungs expand.
Samael appeared above her, standing beside her as he smiled down at her struggles. He crouched, observing her as she clutched at her chest. She couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t she breathe? Her eyes popped, mouth open in a frantic, futile attempt to suck in air.
“You are a child, Piper,” he murmured. “You are an infant to me. Your attempts to fight me are nothing more than a toddler’s tantrum.”
Black closed over her vision. A child? She’d been a child when the Gaians had first attacked her Consulate and she’d gone on the run with Ash and Lyre. But she’d come so far since then—seen so much, learned so much, rewritten her soul in the process. She might not be the strongest or the fastest or the smartest fighter, but she was not a child.
Fury cleared some of the panic from her head. A spell was preventing her from breathing. It wasn’t a sleep spell, but the magic was inside her. She called on her own magic, mixing blue and purple in an agonizing concoction that she pulsed through her veins.
She sucked in a desperate lungful of air.
His eyes narrowed.
She flung her hands up, pulling the magic out of her body and hurling it into his face. With a wave of his hand, he effortlessly cast it aside. His hand grabbed her jaw and magic sparked once again against her skin—another spell to disable or kill her. He was determined to prove his magic could defeat hers.
A deafening roar erupted overhead, the sound vibrating through the building and their bodies. Blue light lit every window, turning the walls azure. Ash and Tenryu. Samael’s head snapped up, and for an instant, she thought she saw a flicker of fear in his red-tinted eyes.
In his moment of distraction, she snatched for his throat with her claws. He grabbed her wrist. She twisted her arm, grabbing his wrist in turn, and jerked him down toward her as she jammed her other fist into his gut.
He vanished, reappearing six feet away with magic already flashing. She sprang up and dove aside as his spear of power hit the floor where she’d been, piercing the floorboards like they were made of paper. Rolling back to her feet, she ran for the nearest window and jumped, crashing through the glass. She plummeted two stories, bending her knees to take the impact as she landed on hard cobblestones. Falling forward into a roll as pain shot through her ankles, she regained her feet, finding herself in another smaller courtyard at the back of the building.
Tenryu swooped past overhead, wings blotting out the sky. Blue fire glowed from between his scales and trailed off his wings and tail. The flames landed on an invisible barrier like burning oil, flickering briefly before going out—the ward over the building, preventing Tenryu from attacking.
But apparently that didn’t matter, because he wasn’t attacking. He flew right past them, wings beating the air as he shot away from the main hall. As she gaped upward in confusion, red flashed in her peripheral vision.
Samael appeared a few paces in front of her, a spell forming above his palms.
The clouds above flashed from flame-tinted red to bright, electric blue. She and Samael looked into the sky.
Swirling blue and black flames gathered over Tenryu, the writhing inferno growing bigger and brighter with each second as he sped toward the east corner of Asphodel. The flames swelled until she couldn’t even see Tenryu anymore, just a massive fireball in the sky.
And then he unleashed all his power at the Chrysalis building.
Chapter Thirty-One
The full might of Tenryu and Ash’s power blasted downward like an atomic detonation turned on its head. The blue and black inferno crashed into the ground and exploded back up, blindingly bright. The screaming roar of the explosion tore at her ears as she flinched back. Tenryu was a dark, winged shadow within the raging flames and smoke.
The ground beneath her feet trembled.
A massive column of rippling green light erupted from the center of Tenryu’s attack. It rocketed into the sky, hurling blue flames in every direction. The earth heaved and a deep, groaning roar built from beneath the ground.
With the screaming sound of shattering rock, the ley line erupted like a volcano.
Piper fell to her knees, clutching at the ground as it rocked and heaved. A shudder ran through the main hall. The wall nearest her creaked and groaned—and then the center of the building dropped, falling into a gaping crack in the earth that widened rapidly, swallowing half the structure. A towering band of green light sprang from the crack—the biggest ley line she’d ever seen. It raced past the courtyard, following the gaping crack that zagged through the heart of Asphodel.
Flaming orbs of blue dragon fire rained down all around them as the heaving earth stilled. Piper panted for air, staring at the brand new ley line that had split Asphodel in two. Other branches of green light leaked up where fissures cut through the estate.
The ley line a few feet away flared, leaping even higher.
Tenryu burst out of the line, green light mixing with the blue flames running over him. He dove for the courtyard, wings spread wide to fill the entire space. His jaws opened wide as he roared triumphantly.
As the dragon swept over them, Ash leaped from his back. His open wings barely slowed his fall as he dropped down into the courtyard, landing hard on the cobblestones a dozen paces away from Samael. The instant his feet hit the ground, magic sizzled through the air. A huge dome shield bloomed above them, arching over their heads to create a circle of interior space twenty yards in diameter. The shield shimmered in a rainbow of colors.
In the same instant that Ash cast his shield, Samael teleported. He appeared behind her and his hand closed over her throat for a second time, dragging her up off her knees. Magic seared her skin as a spell shot into her body. Her muscles locked, paralyzed. Before she could break the spell with her magic, a second spell rushed into her.
Agony lit her veins on fire, racing through every inch of her body. Torment burned her, incinerating thought, devouring her concentration. She couldn’t break the spell. She could hardly see, let alone summon the focus to control her magic. Paralyzed and unable to react, all she could do was scream mutely as his spell consumed her from within.
Ash uncoiled from his landing. Blue lines glowed along his arms and shoulders, flames dripped off his wings, and his eyes were solid, unbroken azure. That eerie stare locked on her and Samael, the rest of his face covered by black armor.
If Piper hadn’t been paralyzed and in agony, she would have cowered under Ash’s stare, but somehow Samael didn’t even flinch. Above them, Tenryu banked in a sharp turn and dove for the front of the main hall where his smaller cousins battled the last of the reapers. Blue fire burst outward but neither Ash nor Samael reacted.
“Ashtaroth,” Samael said in a near croon. “Using a Chrysalis spell against me … I am rather disappointed.
“This is not the same as the Chrysalis spell,” Ash replied, loathing coating each word, his voice sounding hollow from within his mask. “This one specifically is compliments of Lyre. He dares you to teleport through it.”
“I’m intrigued to see he has improved upon the spell he originally developed for my use.”
Ash drew his black sword from the sheath on his back. “No more games, Samael. It’s time to finish this.”
Piper wasn’t sure what she’d expected. She’d been prepared for Samael to threaten to kill her, to demand Ash deactivate his spell, to somehow use her against Ash to win
—his favorite tactic of leveraging his enemies’ loved ones against them to hurt and control them.
She definitely didn’t imagine him shoving her away from him. She fell, hitting the ground hard as pain raged through her body. The paralysis was gone, but her muscles shook and trembled from the fire in her veins. Weak and shaking, she dragged herself a few feet away from Samael, trying to reach Ash. She could barely make her body move and she sure as hell couldn’t stand.
Samael smiled at Ash, looking almost tranquil despite the blood tracking down his face from the slices across his cheek.
“Yes,” he said softly. “It is time, Ashtaroth. This is how it should be. I will destroy you with my own hands.”
He spread his hands to his sides in an almost benevolent gesture. His body shimmered and his glamour dropped away like a curtain of water falling to the ground. Draping black robes replaced his military uniform and two curving scythes were in his hands, short-handled instead of the long-handled ones she’d seen other reapers wield. Also unlike his kin, his black hood hung around his shoulders, and for the first time, she got a good look at a reaper’s face out of glamour.
Deep-set red eyes glowed from sunken eye sockets. Pallid, almost translucent skin stretched over protruding cheekbones accented by a row of tiny bone-like horns that ran beneath each eye toward the back of his head. Slightly larger horns sprouted in two lines along his temples, running straight up into his hair. His neck was sunken and tight, casting flexing tendons into sharp relief and revealing pale blue veins beneath the waxy layer of white skin.
She’d had trouble believing Samael was over a century old, but staring at that skull-like face with glowing red eyes, she could see it: the ancient cunning that possessed him, cruelty honed into a fine art over lifetimes of dealing pain to his enemies. Terror gave her the strength to scramble away from him and she scuttled across the wet ground until her back hit the dome shield.
Ash didn’t shift his eyes from Samael, no emotion showing on his face. He carefully slid one foot out, widening his stance in preparation of the coming battle. The rain poured down in sheets, falling through the shield and splashing on the cobblestones.
In a flash, Samael disappeared.
Ash launched into motion, spinning away from his position even as Samael reappeared, twin scythes whistling as they cut through the air. He vanished again in a blink.
Piper pressed against the barrier, frozen again, and hardly noticed the pain spell as she watched the most terrifying fight she’d ever witnessed. Samael teleported ceaselessly, faster than any other reaper, flashing and vanishing and appearing and dissolving with each frantic beat of her heart.
Ash moved ceaselessly too, never stopping, never hesitating, never leaving an opening for Samael to take. His sword spun, weightless in his hands, and blue fire danced and swirled over his body, keeping Samael from getting too close, from teleporting inside his defenses. His reactions were instantaneous, so fast he blurred as he moved. His extra senses alerted him no matter where Samael appeared, whether Ash could see him or not, and the speed and unerring instincts he possessed had never been more obvious.
Their blades clashed, broke apart, clashed again. Then they added magic to the fight.
Red light blasted out of nowhere only to be consumed by the blue flame that danced over Ash’s body and glowed from his scales. Ash launched his own attack, lines of fire leaping from his body and swirling over the ground. They leaped high, forcing Samael to vanish again—only to reappear almost on top of Piper in the only relatively fire-free spot within the dome.
She cringed back but Samael didn’t turn toward her. His entire focus was on Ash—on this ultimate battle that had been building between them for Ash’s entire life. Samael had forged Ash into the weapon he was, creating what might ultimately become the instrument of his own destruction.
As Samael teleported again, his scythes missing Ash’s back by an inch, she realized she’d been so entranced by their fight that she’d almost forgotten the pain spell. As soon as she focused on it, it reignited at full intensity. She collapsed against the dome, writhing in agony. How? The desperate thought pushed through the torment. How could she have forgotten the spell when the pain was so terrible?
Because the pain wasn’t real.
The realization clicked inside her mind, pushing the pain aside. It wasn’t real. The spell was making her think she was in agony when there was nothing wrong with her. Gathering her frayed willpower, she called on her magic and pulsed it through her. The mind-manipulation dissolved as real pain scorched her innards.
She staggered to her feet, sucking in air. Her eyes darted from Ash to Samael and back as they spun through their deadly dance, weapons and magic flashing faster than she could follow: Samael teleporting nonstop, Ash seeking an error, a misstep, a hesitation where he could strike. But he couldn’t keep up the unceasing movement indefinitely. Soon he would tire. Soon he would make a mistake—and Samael would kill him.
As she watched, Ash pivoted sharply, leaping toward an empty spot just as Samael appeared in it. The reaper vanished and Ash skidded, sliding on the wet cobblestone. He whirled—only for Samael to reappear in the same spot he’d just been. Samael’s scythe lashed out, hooking Ash’s wing as he leaped away. Blood splattered the ground, mixing with the rain as Ash whirled, fire exploding out from him. Samael teleported.
Her heart leaped into her throat as she spotted other bleeding cuts and slices on Ash’s body. A deep cut in his thigh that had somehow split his armor leaked blood down his leg. She hadn’t even seen the strikes land, hadn’t noticed Ash flinch or stumble. He’d fought on, knowing any hesitation would be his death.
And she realized that it wasn’t a question of whether Samael would win this fight. It was when he would win it. Ash couldn’t evade forever. He couldn’t land an attack. Samael was too fast, too unpredictable, too cunning. Despite Ash’s impossible speed and near infallible instincts, Samael was undefeatable.
Her panic spiked, roiling violently, before it abruptly stilled. Calm flowed through her as her focus sharpened into crystal clarity.
Ash could destroy Samael if he were willing to kill her too by filling the entire interior of the dome with incinerating dragon fire, burning Samael alive no matter where he teleported—but he would never do that. He’d told her before that he would sacrifice anyone and anything, including himself, to keep her alive.
She wouldn’t let that happen.
As her eyes slid across the interior of the dome, obscured by the downpour, it felt almost as though Shinryu’s ancient, serene wisdom was flowing into her with each raindrop that touched her skin. Ash moving across the cobblestones, a lethal dance of feet, wings, and blade, an entire lifetime of hard-earned skill brought to bear. Samael’s lightning movements, his swirling black robes there then gone then there again. The blurring gleam of his curved blades, the flash of magic to distract and unbalance.
She watched it all, and she saw the true flow of their movements. They moved like fish in the current, dancing through the water. Even the wildest rapids flowed in a discernible pattern, and there too was a pattern in their movements. Water was her element, and as they danced through the rain, she drew a long dagger in each hand.
Ash stepped, sword spinning toward Samael as he vanished again.
She leaped forward. Three steps to reach Ash as he pivoted to protect his open flank. She dove under his flared wings, brushing his side on her way past, and rolled. As she came out of her roll, her right dagger flashed out. The blade cut through the flare of red light as Samael appeared in front of her, facing Ash.
The dagger sank deep into his left calf.
A hoarse, startled cry escaped him, rattling eerily in his throat. Those red eyes flashed down to her, fury and shock burning in them as he disappeared again.
The flow was broken, a rock thrown into the stream.
She leaped up and sprung straight into a backflip. Samael reappeared, triple blades of magic spearing the stones where she
’d just been. She landed as blue fire leaped off Ash, almost engulfing Samael before he vanished again.
Spinning on light feet, feeling as weightless as a koryu in water, she slid behind Ash, catching his eye as she passed him. In his gaze she saw surprise and ferocity, and she hoped he saw in hers the calm, lethal focus that had possessed her. This was their fight. This would be their victory.
Samael reappeared. Ash lunged in with his sword. She sprang in the opposite direction, landed lightly, and spun. She hurled her dagger at empty space.
Red light flashed. Her dagger whipped past Samael’s right cheek, just missing him. He vanished again without attacking.
Ash moved faster, spinning through the steps of his deadly dance as he pushed Samael to keep moving, moving, moving. She flowed in and around Ash like a fish darting through racing waters, her blade seeking where Samael would appear. Together, they drove Samael around the dome. They moved together, synchronized and flawless, all his experience and all her instincts melding into deadly perfection.
Samael appeared at one end of the dome, flinging an attack of a hundred red wires of power toward them. She ducked beneath Ash’s wing, getting out of the way as he cast a band of blue fire across that half of the dome, devouring Samael’s spell. The reaper vanished.
She spun in front of Ash and grasped his shoulder, springing up. He grabbed her left foot and added the force of his push as she leaped off his shoulders into the empty half of the dome behind him. She flew through the air, pulling her ryujin dagger from its sheath on her arm.
Red light flashed as Samael reappeared—directly in her path. She slammed into him, driving the dragon scale blade through his hastily conjured shield and into his shoulder. With the momentum of her leap, she spun, yanking him off balance as she let go, falling backward to land hard at his feet. He recovered his balance with a swift twist, red light sparking over him as he began to teleport. Their eyes met, his glowing red irises searing her like acid.