“Should we assume there’s one of each?” Effie whispered, thinking that a full set of corrupted elements was going to be damn near impossible to beat on their own.
“Mother, I hope not,” Ronan said.
Effie closed her eyes. Please don’t let there be Fire. Exhaling, she opened her eyes and waited for Ronan’s signal.
Between them, Reyna threw another one of her knives.
The Air Shadow knocked it to the floor with a wave. “Is that the best you can do?”
Reyna bared her teeth, blades resting between each of her fingers. “Hardly,” she snarled, unleashing a fan of knives so quickly that the Shadows didn’t have time to react. The four blades finding homes in the throats of each of the Shadows.
“Now,” Ronan said, diving through the opening running full speed at the one-eyed Shadow.
Effie opted for the door, as it provided a clearer path to the Shadow on the right. She was knocked back before she was halfway. Earth, she realized as the floor opened up before her. Struggling to her feet, she finally noticed what she’d missed before. All four of the Shadows wore familiar black robes.
The missing Keepers. Bile rose in her throat at the thought of more of her peers dying by her hand. How could you let this happen? she thought angrily, sending the accusation to the Mother. You’re supposed to protect your children.
An all-too-familiar rage began to burn within her. You don’t get to condemn us. With an angry bellow, Effie jumped across the chasm in the floor and hit the other side of the hall in a slide, her blade lodging itself into the Earth Shadow’s shin and slicing clean through. Scrambling up, she twisted and swung her second blade at the fiend’s neck.
A blast of Air knocked her sideways, making her miss her mark.
Effie let out a furious howl.
The Earth Shadow dropped to the floor, unable to support its weight with only one leg. In front of her, the Air Shadow lifted its hand, spittle flying from its mouth as it snarled at her.
Effie sucked in a ragged breath, her mind emptying as a vice clenched around her lungs.
No!
Nails scraped along her leg as the Earth Shadow pulled her to the floor. Stars exploded behind her eyes as the little bit of air she still had was knocked from her lungs.
Above her, she could hear Ronan roar. Reyna had joined them, but Effie couldn’t see where she was, her vision going black at the edges. The healer was nowhere to be found.
It was getting hard to think as she struggled to breathe. Swinging blindly, Effie lodged one of her blades into the Shadow crawling over her. Hot ichor spurted over her face and neck.
Suddenly, the pressure on her chest lifted, and Effie sucked in breath after painful breath, her throat burning.
Spots still dancing, she could only just make out the Shadow above her as it licked its lips and leaned down to sniff her.
“So good,” it groaned, running its tongue along her neck and across the scar where its brethren had marked her.
Disgust curled her lip, and Effie brought up both arms in a pale imitation of an embrace. With a loud grunt, she slid the blades through the back of the creature’s neck, almost entirely severing the head from its body.
More of the foul liquid poured forth, but Effie didn’t care. She was too focused on pushing herself free of the Shadow, shoving her knee into its squishy chest and swinging her blade down to complete the kill.
Her blood sang with fierce satisfaction as the severed head rolled away. Looking up, she saw that Ronan and Reyna had taken care of two of the beasts, leaving only one left. One that was no longer near them.
Following their gazes, she found the last Shadow—and the healer. Or what was left of him. His eyes bulged from his head, blood dripping from every visible orifice as the Shadow played with him.
She had no idea what element the creature might have controlled, never having seen anything like this before.
“Hey!” Effie shouted, thinking only to stop the torture.
It twisted its neck, turning to face her. It was practically bald, only a few wisps of hair clinging to its head as it sneered at her. “Wait your turn,” it hissed.
Effie gagged as it used its perverted power once more, causing the healer’s swollen eyes to pop. More blood bubbled from its lips and nose, even after the healer was clearly dead.
Body on fire with her fury, Effie launched herself at the Shadow with a hoarse cry.
Ronan’s shouts sounded behind her, but Effie heard nothing over the sound of her racing heart.
She tackled the beast, losing one of her cleavers in the process. Knowing she had no defense if it had the chance to turn its power on her, Effie slammed the base of her weapon down into the creature’s face. Bones crunched beneath her, and Effie roared, slashing and slamming the weapon down faster than she thought possible.
There was no coherent thought, only the need to destroy.
Again and again she brought her weapon down, seeing nothing in her bloodlust.
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Effie spun, snarling, her weapon raised and ready to strike.
“Effie, Effie, it’s me! It’s dead. You can stop.”
She blinked up at Ronan’s shocked face, not really seeing him. Shaking, Effie glanced back down. Not only had she severed the head from the body, she’d mutilated it beyond recognition.
Instead of disgust, she felt a savage pride.
Let the fiends come. She would tear them apart.
If the Mother wouldn’t save them, Effie would.
Chapter 30
Kieran dragged the last of his prisoners through the portal with a satisfied grunt. When he’d laid the traps to catch the Keepers, he never imagined it would work so well. At his last count, he’d had a dozen of them locked up throughout the jungle, although two were missing when he went to claim them.
Still, ten Shadow-touched were more than enough to cause a little chaos.
To be fair, it wasn’t Keepers he’d intended to catch. Not at first. Unfamiliar with the way the corruption spread, he only guessed that trapping creatures in a contaminated area would cause them to turn.
It wasn’t until he’d found the first poor bastard in his trap that he realized the potential. Corrupted animals were one thing, but to use their own members against them? There was a certain kind of poetic justice to that. It would land a much stronger, emotional blow against the Keepers.
Besides, it never hurt to have an army on standby.
Getting them out of their cages had been trickier than catching them. He may have played a part in creating these Shadow-touched, but they hardly saw him as any sort of leader. He was smart enough to know better than to go anywhere near them until they were restrained. Thankfully, he’d been prepared and had brought enough of the Bella Morte powder to knock them all out. Once unconscious, tying them up and dragging them through the jungle had been relatively easy.
Tugging on the ropes he’d tied around the waists and wrists of his last three pets, Kieran pulled them through the empty hallway and shoved them into a nearby room. They’d deteriorated quickly since he’d seen them last. No longer capable of speech, the once revered Keepers were now little more than animals.
Savage, blood-thirsty animals.
The Bella Morte had just started to wear off, his last dose significantly weaker than the first couple. It was hard to know how much he’d have to use, and Kieran cursed himself for wasting too much of the drug on his first batch.