Movement had my head snapping around to my left, and I narrowed my eyes at a brunette woman ten years older than me creeping towards Void. To follow the keeper's command. To kill him.
I launched myself at her, palms-first, pink light flashing over her body as she twisted to face me, realising the bigger threat at the last second.
I closed my hands around her warm throat and pumped her full of enough magic to take down an eight-foot-tall shadowkind. For a second, her face twisted into a rictus howl, and she screamed so loud my ears throbbed, but then she exploded into blood and acid, and I spun to counter the next weapon who thought they could kill my mate.
I was outnumbered, and many weapons were older than me, had been training longer than me. But I burned with rage, and reckless protectiveness drove me, giving me strength I hadn't felt before. It didn't matter how many of them hurt me, how many burns and cuts they gave me as we fought, as long as they didn't get to Void.
"Take her down," the cruel keeper snarled. "How is amistakemanaging to beat you? Try using your brains and working together."
But weapons could never work together. How could we be expected to, when we were barely allowed to speak to each other, and our conversations were monitored twenty-four seven? If we formed friendships, we were followed even more. It wasinstinctto keep our distance, unless someone like Vann came along and saidfuck the rules.1
As if some of my friend's wildness possessed me, I spat, "How about you try doing some of the work for once, you lazy, selfish asshole? You want me dead? Alright, then. Come kill me."
I spread my glowing hands, a hard expression on my face and my heart slamming against my chest.
The weapons exchanged glances, unsure and uneasy. A shaky teenage girl spun her hands through the air and shot bright, shining power at me, but I lifted my hands and knocked the clumsy magic away with my gauntlets.
Void had given me these to protect myself, but I'd use them to protecthim. Wait, what happened to the void gun? That would have been really useful right now. Maybe it shattered when he shifted to his giant form?
And where the hell were Sang and Mav? It worried me that I couldn't hear a single growl or hiss from them.
"Move aside," the cruel-faced keeper ordered, and I watched relief spread across the faces of some weapons, others shooting me hard looks. Like always, there was a division among us—the sympathetic and the competitive. It had always been that way. I knew the sympathetic would kill me on command, but the others would do it for the rush of victory.
I didn't know which side I fell on.
"You think you're so brave, rogue," the keeper said with a smirk that made me want to slap her. "But I've heard you pleading in your sleep, begging for mercy and kindness. I've known you all your life. I know your strengths, your weaknesses, andexactlywhere to apply pressure, Hala."
I shook my head, flinging silver hair into my face. She was trying to intimidate me, and I refused to admit it was working.
"Get fucked," I spat, channelling Vann in his final moments, his loud laugh ringing in my head. He'dlaughed, and blown out the walls with his final act. He chose to save me over defending himself, and I felt now what he must have done then. If I had to give all of myself to keep Void safe, so be it.
I'd been dragged into the void alone, friendless, and loveless. But now I had three monsters who cared about me, who Iknewwould be standing here alongside me, fighting with me, if they could. I knew real friendship. I knew love. That was more than most of these weapons could say, and I bet more than the keepers could, too.
It gave me unexpected strength, and when I curled my hands into fists, holding them near my face, I did so without fear.
When the keeper stalked towards me, I punched out, not sure my plan would even work. But pink light shot from my fist and would have burned through the keeper's shoulder if she hadn't jerked aside at the last moment.
"Kill the god; I'll handle the rogue," she snapped at the others, ordering both keeper and weapon in the same breath.
"You will not," I growled, and lifted my foot, slamming it down on the floor and exhaling a shaky breath of relief when magic erupted from me in a wave, knocking the people closest to Void onto their asses.
I was making it all up, trying things the keepers never trained me to do, a different, darker instinct guiding me, but it worked. Several weapons went down with sharp screams, and from the corner of my eye I saw a woman dissolve into bloody goop. Her death made power sizzle through my veins, and I shuddered at the rush.
But the cruel keeper still advanced on me, rolling up the sleeves of her crisp white shirt with a deadly calm expression on her face. Not hatred or anger of eagerness to hurt me—calm. It was far scarier than any snarl or sneer, and a flutter of nerves went through my belly.
"Bring him out," she said to no one in particular as I threw another burst of magic. I remembered what had worked in the pub and, no matter how disgusting it was, I spat at the keeper.
She hissed when a speckle landed on her cheek, and her eyes flashed, showing the pain she must have felt. But still, that calm in her expression made me nervous. I couldn't let her under my guard. Void's life relied on it.
"Stop," I shouted when three weapons darted around me, magic aimed at Void. "Stop!"
I slammed my foot into the ground again, and the ripple of magic was so powerful I tripped back against Void, splaying against his giant hand. "Don't touch him," I panted in warning, and swore when I realised my hand wasn't glowing any longer.
The cruel keeper sighed. "Do you really expect to win a fight against all of us? You might have been smart enough to take advantage of the shadowkind's death to escape, but you're not a strong fighter. You never have been."
I pushed off Void's hand and spat at the woman, following up with a punch, my fist curled so tight my nails bit into my skin. I was furious, anger seething inside my veins alongside acid. When more weapons melted into puddles of gore, my blood pounded, the rush making my hairs stand on end.
I was done waiting for the keeper to reach me. I launched myself at the woman, my hands erupting with a bright pink glow and my body burning hot just before I grabbed her arms and dug in my fingers.