Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy) (32 page)

“I didn’t,” I said, lifting my hand to mirror his. “Camille did.” A light blasted out of my palm too strongly. It shot my body backwards, and I skidded in the snow. It flew up in a mist, blocking my vision, but I turned around, sensing her.

Fudicia was behind me, and I grabbed her wrist, flipping her body over my head. She slammed into the frozen grass, and I exhaled, finally achieving the revenge I wanted on her since she threw me months ago.

The mist cleared as she leapt out, readying to strike me, but I put my arm up, hoping to block it. She never struck me, and I peered out to see Darthon pulling her back.

“Don’t,” he ordered, and she obeyed, using her hand to wipe the blood off her mouth.

I didn’t like it. I wanted to fight her, if only Eric would fight Dart
hon, and he wasn’t near us. I had seen his injuries before I had even transported in. He was losing, and I solidified in the last minute. I couldn’t afford to give them any more time. We had to end it − together.

“He already gave up,” Darthon said, and I ignored him, kicking Fudicia as I
sliced at his face. The two flung away from each other, and I struck Darthon.

He fell over, and I stood on him, watching as his dislocated jaw popped back in place. Ev
ery injury I gave him healed. “You can’t kill me,” he mocked, but I stabbed him anyway.

His body recoiled, and he rolled away, tearing open his abdomen. I could see his insides, but his skin closed before he stood up, perfectly fine. “You’re fighting a useless battle.”

“I may not be able to kill you,” I said, shaking with the warming power Camille gifted me. “But I can bring you pain, and that’s enough for me.”

His slit brow rose. “Revenge for the pain you feel?”

Camille. She was dead, and I would’ve struck him again if his eyes hadn’t shifted behind me. I used my peripherals to see Eric − barely able to hold his form as Shoman together. Pierce was next to him, and behind them was an army of all those who had sworn to fight for us.

“It’s over, Darthon,” Shom
an said.

Darthon didn’t agree. “She didn’t tell you, did she?” he asked, his eyes sliding back to me.

Camille’s last order echoed inside of me. The girl had been right. That’s all she had said.

Darthon was focused on me.
“If you die, I die,” he said, and my stomach twisted, knowing every shade had heard his words. “Who’s your enemy now?”

Eric

“That’s not true,” Jessica said it like it was factual.

Darthon reeled back as if she ha
d punched him, and I glanced at the shades behind me. They teetered, leaning on their tiptoes in two directions. Some faced Darthon, but more faced Jessica. They would have a better chance at killing her than him, and they would take the opportunity out of desperation.

“It’s true,” he insisted.

She stepped back to stand at my side. She didn’t even bother protecting her back from her kind.

“You wouldn’t have killed Abby then,” she pointed out, remembering my first girlfriend before I did. Her returned memory was stronger than mine, and she had to be
right. The Light had thought Abby was the third descendant, and they murdered her. They wouldn’t have done that if it meant Darthon dying.

“We knew she wasn’t you,” Darthon snapped, wild-eyed. “We only wanted them to believe your life was worth protecting. Why do you think we chose a war?” he ranted, rushed and desperate. His people were retreating. “It gave them another reason to protect you.”

The debate was fickle, and the Dark wouldn’t accept it. They were no longer facing her, and Darthon’s eyes slid over my army. His desperation was his greatest weapon, and I saw it before he used it.

“Get out of here,” I shouted back at my people, preventing more
of their deaths. “Now.”

Many of them disappeared without hesitation. The ones that stayed were elders
− people I had fought as much as I had fought the Light—and they were willing to die. It was too late to stop them.

I grabbed Jessica as he lifted his hand, and snow shot off the ground, soaring into the sky. Bodies followed it, defying gravity, and I relied on my heavy clothes to keep us down. Through the chaos, a light engulfed the man, and it spread over the land, burning any part of me that hadn’t been bu
rned before. At any second, he would burn us all, evaporating our bodies into hell.

“Shoman,” Jessica shouted, grabbing my hand, and I gaped at her unscarred flesh. She wasn’t burning. “You have to kill him.”

But I couldn’t even conjure my sword. I was too weak, and the power would kill me if I used it.

“We can’t,” the man said it as he laid a hand on my shoulder. His blue gaze was the only thing I could see through my watering eyes. “We have to go—”

“We can’t retreat,” Jessica said, filled with horror.

“He retreated once,” my father argued. “It’s our turn.”

“But it’s supposed to happen tonight.”

“If it happens tonight, he won’t be the one dying,” my father said, and I knew it was true. We were burning alive, and we couldn’t get close to him even if
we turned to ashes while doing it. But ignoring the battle was impossible.

I was supposed to leave with Darthon dead at my feet. I was supposed to be victorious. I was supposed to save the Dark. There weren’t any ins
tructions for after the battle because he’d be dead. Now, he wouldn’t be. He would be alive, and there wouldn’t be a battle to end the torment he would cause. All because I hesitated for my one weakness.

“The prophecy—” I start
ed, but my father’s hand tightened on my wrist. I could see the bones of his fingers.

“I don’t care about that,”
he said. “I care about getting my son back alive.”

Jessica was looking at me, and I grabbed her h
and, unsure of every decision I had made. I wanted to tell her to leave me, to escape, but I didn’t get the chance.

“Let’s go,” she agreed with my father, and we were gone.

Eric

I moved my arm up and down, testing Urte’s stitching abilities. My skin was hardened, nearly impossible to work with, but my trainer ha
d managed for the time being. I had volunteered for the threads when I realized they didn’t have enough dissolvable stitches for everyone injured. After all, there weren’t any spells imbedded in my injury, and my shade form would heal within a couple of hours. I could endure the pain until then.

“They look good to me,” my father said, and I glanced over his healing face. Half of his burns were gone.

“They feel great,” I admitted, feeling as if I could return to battle and end it, but it was too late. It was over, and there was no victory.

“I’m surprised,” Urte said, sitting next to me. “I’ve never stitched someone up before.”

“I’m flattered to be your guinea pig,” I joked, and he chuckled.

Luthicer cleared his throat to drown the laughter out, and I stared at the half-breed elder. He was the least injured out of all of us, but he hadn’t spoken since we’d returned. His dark eyes dropped onto his c
heeks, and I wondered if it were how lights cried.

Eu hadn’t returned, but no one mentioned him. Even then, I doubted Eu was the reason behind Luthicer’s mourning. He was thinking about Camille,
my guard and his prodigy. She was a daughter to him, and she was gone. Jessica could hardly tell us.

“Why don’t you check on Jess?” my father suggested it as if we shared a mind.

I leapt off the table and walked into the hallway. It was bustling with shades healing other shades, and I wondered how many people we actually lost or how we would explain it to the human population. It was a mess, and it wasn’t even resolved. It was a relief to leave the hallway and dip into the room I knew Jessica was hiding out in.

I stopped in the doorway when I saw her. She was human already, completely unharmed, and holding Jonathon’s hand. “You’re both human,” I said, closing the door behind me as I tried to ignore my jealousy. It was irrational. He was her guard.

“Thought it’d be more comfortable,” Jonathon said, but it didn’t make sense. He was injured, and he would feel more pain as a person.
For Jess,
he clarified, and I walked across the room.

She let go of Jonathon’s hand to grab mine. “Are you alright?”

“I’m alive if that counts for anything.”

“That counts for everything,” she said, tugging on my hand lightly. She didn’t want to hurt my stitches, but she wanted me to kiss her,
and I didn’t know if I could. I had just lost everything. I didn’t feel like I deserved to have her.

When I didn’t move, her eyes became misty. “I’m sorry,” she blurted out, and I didn’t have to ask to know what she was talking about.

“Don’t be,” I said, kneeling down to touch her face. Her skin sizzled with all of the energy Camille left behind. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“But Camille—”

“She knew what she was doing,” I pointed out before she could dwell on something none of us could change.

“That doesn’t make it any better,” she argued stubbornly.

“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed. “But she died doing what she thought was right, and for that, we have to respect it.”

Jessica blinked her tears away. “You won’t mourn her?”

“Of course I will.”
I already am.
“But there’s been enough death tonight. We need rest.”

“I agree,” Jonathon said, looking directly at Jessica. “It’d probably be best if you stayed away from the shelter for a while.”

His words almost started a new kind of fight. “So she can be an easy target?” I asked, using my words instead of my fists.

“She’s an easy target here,” he said it, and everyone knew what he meant. If one shade believed Darthon would die if
Jessica did, she was in trouble.

“I can defend myself,
” Jessica interrupting, placing a hand on my chest.

I looked at her like she had
agreed to kill Pierce if need be.

“I’d have to,” she clarified, and I turned away, knowing I couldn’t argue. She wasn’t safe anywher
e − not from our kind − and the only one who could protect her was the man I should’ve killed tonight.

“Then,
she stays,” Jonathon changed his mind, silencing as he stood up. No one wanted to discuss it. Even I had to admit there was a chance it was.

We didn’t talk again until the door opened, and my father stepped inside. “How are you kids holding up?”

“I’m not in pieces yet,” Jonathon joked, but no one laughed. He rubbed the back of his head and stared at the wall. I knew what he was thinking. Camille would’ve slapped him for making fun of a dark situation.

“We should get everyone out of here,” my father continued, ignoring Jonathon’s reaction. “And I’d prefer if you stayed at our house tonight, Jess
− until we are positive Darthon’s given up.”

“Yes, sir,” she mumbled, knowing her parents would hav
e an illusion spell put on them if it hadn’t happened already.

“Do you have enough power to transport?” my father asked, and I shook my head.

“I do,” Jessica said. Despite being in the Light realm, she hadn’t suffered physically at all. It was her emotional pain I worried about.

“Come in five minutes,” my father instructed, slowly disappearing. “I have to talk to Mindy.” When he was
fully gone, I wondered if my stepmother would be placed under a spell, too.

“Are you going to be okay, Jonathon?” Jessica asked hi
m, and I wished I knew when he had exposed his identity to her.

“I’ll be fine,” he promised. “Brenthan stayed home,” he said to me.

“Good,” I said, feeling my first bit of relief, even though I knew three girls who wouldn’t be getting their father back. I could only hope Ida had survived. “Let’s go now,” I said to Jessica, not wanting to voice my thoughts.

She nodded, and we were in
my house before I realized she had done it. I hadn’t even seen smoke or felt the transport. It was too smooth.

I gaped at her as her shoulders lifted in a half-shrug. “I think my powers enhanced,” she whispered just as my bedroom door flew open.

Mindy was in tears. “You’re okay,” she said, crossing the room to embrace us both. I struggled beneath her hold and froze when I saw my father in the doorway. He was still a shade.

“What—”

“I’ve always had a feeling something wasn’t right,” she explained, pulling back as she wiped tears away. “It’s okay now.”

But it wasn’t. It was too easy, and I was looking from my father to her, wanting a better explanation. “How could you accep
t this so easily?” I asked.

Mindy tilted her face to the side. “I love you guys,” she said it like she was actually my mother, and I hated to admit that I wished she was.

“I have more explaining to do,” my father muttered, falling into his human form. Mindy’s eyes got big, and she giggled like she was experiencing magic instead of everything that caused her family pain.