“I can call him.” She reaches into her pocket. “Shit, I don’t have my phone.”
“He won’t get here in time. Dammit!”
Elijah arches up off the table, and Rainey cries out, pressing her hands to his chest and trying to shove him back down. “What is it doing to him?”
“It’s eating away at his soul. I can save him. But it’s going to take me a minute.”
“Do it.” Her answer comes without hesitation, and I wonder, if she knew how painful it was going to be for me, whether she’d want to find another way.
Probably not. But I don’t blame her, I’d feel the same if it were my mate on the table. Not that I have one.At least, not a real one. “Okay. I need you to get your hands off of him and step back as far out of the room as you can get. In fact, if you’re up for going into the hall—”
“I’m not leaving.”
“I expected as much. Don’t talk, no matter what.” I pin her with a gaze I hope gets across just how serious this moment is. “No matter what, Rainey,” I repeat. “Do not interfere.”
“I won’t. Just save him. Please.” Her voice cracks beneath the weight of her fear as she raises her hands and steps away from him, backing across the room.
Offering her a nod, I take a deep breath and place both hands onto Elijah’s chest.
There you are. I’ve been waiting for someone just like you. A pretty witch. With endless power. I can make you everything you’ve ever dreamed of.
The seductive whispers from dark magic are something I’ve never heard before but have read plenty about. I shove them from my mind, ignoring all of the things the shadow magic promises me.
Endless power.
Control.
Whatever I dream of, it can be mine as long as I give in.
Shaking my head, I focus on drawing it out of him. The onslaught of power is immediate, the darkness within him contrasting with the light inside me. I’m not innocent—far from it—and while I’ve toed the line between light and dark in the past, it’s not something I do often, and never have I been this close. I erect a barrier between me and Elijah, hoping that it’s strong enough to keep the dark magic at bay until I can destroy it.
I need to get it out of Elijah and keep it from infecting either Rainey or me.No pressure, right?
Just like a poisonous gas, it rises out of Elijah’s body and attaches itself to my barrier, moths to a very, very bright flame. That’s something people don’t always realize. Magic is a living thing with a mind of its own; a creature that resides inside of us witches, waiting to be used.
My power works to draw the magic out of Elijah because it’s a beacon for the dark. After all, what is the darkness’s favorite thing to do?
Drive out the light.
It comes for me, a magnet ready to devour.
Sweat beads on my brow as I continue trying to pull the power out of Elijah and expel it into the barrier around me.
But no matter how strong I am, it’s determined and far more potent than I could have imagined. Power surges into me as some slips past my barrier and rushes into my body. I clench my hand into a fist against Elijah’s chest as pain blossoms in my own, the parasite taking root in my light magic.Almost there, I can deal with that in a minute.
You won’t wish to deal with me,it coos.We will be one.
The cloud around Elijah begins to dissipate, but just before I pull the last drop from him, the barrier faulters, and all of that dark magic slams into me. I shoot backward, hitting the wall and sending steel trays and medical tools clattering to the floor.
“Bronywyn!” Rainey calls out, but I might as well have been underwater for how well I can hear her.
My chest seizes, my heart hammering against my breast while I attempt to slow my breathing.It will get easier, witch.
“No. Get out.”
“Get out? What’s wrong?” Rainey asks, kneeling before me and helping me to my feet.
“Nothing. I’m fine,” I choke out as I shake my head, trying like hell to erase the fog, making it damn near impossible for me to focus on anything. My body jolts of its own volition; a surgical charge racing through me as the dark magic seeks a place to rest.