Chapter 8
Enyo grunted as Keras collided with her, scrambled to grab hold of him as he snarled in her face, baring fangs that snapped dangerously close. She managed to get her hands against his chest and shoved, ripping him away from her and sending him flying across the rooftop.
He twisted and flipped, landed in a crouch as he skidded backwards, his right hand skimming the ground between his legs, keeping him upright.
His crimson eyes narrowed on her and she was swift to dodge, to hurl herself to her left and into a roll that had the shadows he had launched at her from the black cloud slashing the air where she had been rather than her.
His deep growl cut through the tense silence as she popped onto her feet and ran at him.
She should have thought this through. Should have at least given herself the option of a weapon. She didn’t want to kill him, didn’t really want to hurt him. She only wanted to draw out his aggression and somehow manage it, bearing the brunt of his fury so he could find some release.
Could feel again.
Hunger shone in his crimson eyes, spoke to her and drew every instinct she possessed as a warrior to the surface.
She kicked off when she reached him, catching him by surprise apparently. Her knee slammed into his face and knocked him backwards, the scent of his blood filling the air as he hit the ground on his back, a grunt leaving his lips.
Enyo twisted and brought her knee down, aimed for his chest.
He rolled away and launched into a pirouette that had him twisting in the air and landing on his feet.
Keras always had been fast.
He hit her like a gorgon, barrelling into her side and running with her. She cried out when she slammed into something solid, hit it so hard the metal crumpled around her. Pain exploded along her left side, heat licking her in several spots as the scent of her own blood joined his in the air.
Keras snapped his left hand around her throat and she screamed as he yanked her towards him. Metal sliced deeper into her skin. Wet heat rolled down her side.
His scarlet eyes fell to her arm and narrowed as he hesitated.
Because she was hurt?
She glanced down at her arm, watched the blood sliding down it from the lacerations on her biceps and forearm.
A mistake.
Keras pivoted and hurled her across the roof, sending her flying. He was on her before she landed, caught her by her breastplate and pulled her towards him as his fist flew at her face. She took the blow.
Landed one of her own while he was distracted.
He grunted as her fist slammed into his stomach, his breath leaving him in a rush as she lifted him into the air with it. His grip on her slipped and she growled as she launched her other fist at him, struck him hard in his cheek and sent him down.
He hit the rooftop so hard that it caved beneath him, forming a shallow indent.
He was on his feet a moment later, and on her.
She grappled with him as he tried to seize hold of her, as he eyed the edge of the roof. He wanted to throw her off it. It wouldn’t work. Her barrier was impenetrable. She would hit it and slide down to the floor below them.
Shadows snaked around her legs, hauled her upside down and into the air.
She stared at Keras, her head hurting as blood rushed to it. His gaze tracked down the length of her legs, heating by degrees as it reached her thighs. The slats of her skirt had fallen down to her stomach. It wasn’t the first time her undergarments had been exposed during battle, but it was the first time she had felt vulnerable because of it.
Deeply aware of a man’s eyes on her.
When the heat in his eyes gave way to hunger for violence rather than pleasure, Enyo gritted her teeth and pulled herself up. She clawed at the shadows that encased her legs. They writhed and snapped at her, but she could grab them, managed to get one off her.
The world whirled past her as she flew through the air.
Thrown by Keras’s shadows.
She hit the barrier.
Grunted as air exploded from her lungs.
As she slid down the curve of it to come to rest against the wall of the skyscraper.
She lay there for a moment, catching her breath, staring up the height of the building.
Keras appeared at the edge of the rooftop above her, his face a black mask as he glared down at her, evidently disappointed that he hadn’t been able to launch her through the barrier as he had expected.
On a vicious snarl, he dropped off the edge.
Enyo teleported before he could land on her, reappearing on the rooftop.
Keras appeared behind her, hooked his arm around her throat and grabbed hold of it. Her hands flew to his arm as he hauled her backwards, as his forearm pressed against her throat and she fought for air. He tightened his grip on her and she slapped at his arm, clawed it and struggled, panic flooding her when she tried to teleport and found she couldn’t.
He was holding her in place.
She kicked out, wildly thrashing in his arms as he slowly tightened his grip, as he choked her.
She suddenly stilled.
What was she doing?
Enyo blanked her mind and exhaled, pushed out the panic so she could focus.
She could get out of this. She was a goddess of war. Strong. Powerful. Skilled.
She slammed her elbow into his ribs. Once. Twice. A third time. He grunted and his hold loosened, just enough that she could get her hand between his arm and her throat. She shoved forwards with all her strength and spun out of his grip as soon as she was able, coming to face him.
Enyo twisted and dipped her upper body, smashed her foot into his face and sent him slamming into the ground. She dropped on top of him and pummelled his face, snapping his head left and right. His eyes changed a little more with each strike, with every hard blow she dealt him, and the sorceress’s words came back to haunt her.
Keras had goaded Cassandra into hitting him.
Because he wanted the pain.
He took pleasure from it.
She went still, staring down at him, feeling for the first time the true depth of the change that had overcome him. He felt nothing, yet he craved pain. She tried to see the man she had once known in him, sought a glimmer of that male in his eyes because she needed to know he could come back from this.
She needed to know that somehow, in some way, she could right this wrong.
She clung to the belief that he was in there somewhere, hidden, caged by his addiction.
His lips stretched into a cold smile that chilled her blood.
His hand shot up and closed around her throat, and he rolled with her, pinning her beneath him, his legs straddling her hips. He bore down on her, sneering in her face, his claws pressing deep into her neck. Pain spread outwards from their points, not warm, but cold.
Unnaturally cold.
Her head fogged. Vision blurred.
Panic rose to the fore again, gripping her more fiercely this time as she realised what was happening.
His shadows.
He was using them against her, forcing them inside her.
She smashed her fist into his face, knocking him enough that his claws pulled free of her flesh. She used his momentary loss of balance against him, shoved him in his shoulder and teleported.
Enyo landed hard across the roof from him, struggling for air, desperately grasping at her throat as she felt the shadows spreading through her.
Keras slowly rose onto his feet.
Darkness flowed from him, creeping outwards to fill the inside of the dome, and he lifted his hands before him, his palms up and fingers tensed like talons. He stopped when they were level with his stomach.