Reaching Retribution(94)

“Look at them!” he grabs my chin to ensure that my gaze is directed at them. I close my eyes. I don’t want to see the scene in front of me. When I shake my head, he squeezes me tighter. “Look at them!” he yells in my ear.

My stomach is numb. The pain from his kick and the force he’s using right now should be excruciating, but I can’t feel anything. I can’t get any air into my lungs and when I finally open my eyes, he loosens his grip a little. I can’t help but gasp and gulp in oxygen, however, that’s quickly cut short when I see the scene before me.

Larkin is fighting multiple people at once, but is completely dominating. He’s definitely angry. He was very close to Kyril and is taking his anger out on the Gadramicks. Emma still has tears falling down her cheeks, but like Larkin, she’s channeling her anger into her fighting. She’s still brandishing a whip like earlier, but this one appears to have electricity running through it. Colton and Liam are in the middle of the clearing with Dravin. Blood is dripping down Liam’s arm and Colton has a split lip. Dravin’s jaw is red, but he doesn’t seem to have any other injuries. Tom, Colin, and Vincent are still fighting back-to-back.

I can see Natasha fighting against a smaller girl. I recognize her as the girl I saved from Thomas a while ago. Lucas and his posse are in the back fighting against a large group of men. Incendia falls to the ground after a man backhands her. Before the man even has time to think, Bragden reaches out and punches him in the jaw. Crouching down, he helps Incendia stand—his fingers grazing against the growing redness on her face. With an angry shake of his head, Bragden turns around and searches for a Gadramick to take his anger out on.

I start to fight against Zahtri’s grip again when I see a man walk behind Mrs. Howick and stab her in the side. Her back arches as he pushes the dagger in further. Hearing her cry out, Mr. Howick stops fighting the man in front of him and turns toward his wife. The Gadramick takes this distraction to his advantage and plunges his sword into Mr. Howick’s back. I cry out as I watch both of them fall to the ground. I know those daggers were infused with dark magic. The majority of the weapons here are infused with it. They won’t be able to heal. Knowing that, the Gadramicks move on and start fighting other mages.

Mr. Howick uses the last of his energy to crawl over to his wife. Zahtri’s grip on my stomach tightens as I try to get away from him. When he’s halfway there, Mrs. Howick moves her right hand forward, and Mr. Howick grabs onto it and pulls her into his side. Even from here, I can see the large amounts of blood seeping from their wounds. Both of them start convulsing. I see him whisper something to her, but I can’t hear them. I don’t need to hear though. If I were in that situation, I know what I’d say.

With tears streaming down my face, I watch as Mr. Howick leans forward and places a small kiss on his wife’s forehead as she stops moving. Her body goes limp under his lips and I can see his body getting weaker. He rests his forehead on hers as he stops moving as well. They’re dead.

I stop fighting Zahtri. “Call off the attack,” he demands, “or more people will die.”

Travis, Logan, and Lily run out of the compound followed by five very scared girls. Humans. Travis calls for Larkin, and then grabs onto two of the girls and disappears with them. Logan and Lily guard the remaining three girls. Larkin blinks away from the Gadramick he was fighting and reappears beside Logan. Logan says something to him and he grabs onto the closest girl and disappears. Travis comes back and grabs the last two girls and blinks away again.

My attention returns to the middle of the field when I see Colton lying on the ground, holding his head. Dravin is making him see something. That’s it. I bring my foot up and back kick Zahtri in the shins. He curses and angles down at little. I use this to my advantage and lean back, hitting the back of my skull into his nose.

When his hold on me loosens, I spin around and lift my leg up and connect my foot with his temple. He staggers to the side, but doesn’t fall. Zahtri moves toward me and starts attacking. He wants this to end just as much I do, but we’re both fighting for completely different reasons.

Zahtri runs toward me, growling, and using all of this strength he begins his physical assault. I don’t know how my body is doing it, but I block his attacks. My arms and legs move in ways I didn’t even know I could do. I don’t think about what is happening; I just react. When Zahtri realizes he’s not gaining anything on me, he starts coming harder. Even with drawing magic into my limbs, I’m getting sore.

I’m not going to last much longer.