Origin of Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Protector #3)(53)

The blast of the sonic boom took its toll. I slid to my knees, unable to stand. The dark vines beneath me broke my fall, but they didn’t feel alive like normal plants.

Boy, I’d really gotten myself into it this time.

“How could I be threatened by a coward—a weakling like you?” he roared.

“The second one,” I choked out.

“What?” he roared.

“I’m the second, not the first.” Cowardice had never been my issue.

That seemed to enrage him even more. His dark magic pulsed from him, filling the air with a horrible burning sensation. Fates, he was awful. Drakon slammed another burst of magic into me.

I was nothing but a mass of pain and pulverized organs, so I barely felt it. But I keeled over anyway, my face pressing against the dark vines.

Holy fates, this guy was so much stronger than I’d expected. Out of this world strong.

He floated down from the air, landing on the edge of the pool twenty feet away. I lay still, dying, as he slowly approached.

Did he want to deliver the killing blow while looking into my eyes or something? Like some creepy serial killer in a bad TV movie?

What a way to go.

Just the idea made me die a little inside. Like an appetizer for the main course. This couldn’t be the end for me… caught by surprise and killed by some evil bastard who’d just gotten out of his bath. The indignity was too much to bear.

I’d fight. Somehow—even if I couldn’t move.

Beneath me, the vines trembled, as if they’d heard my vow. Slowly, they began to leech energy into me. I couldn’t tell what it was at first, but the warmth was unmistakable. It flowed through me, warm and strong, heating my insides as it mended me. There was a darkness to it—no doubt because the vines grew out of the pool of oil. But they also gave me strength. Healing strength. The magic awed me, shaking me to my marrow.

Except it was slow. Far too slow.

Drakon was only ten feet away now. Eight feet. He’d strike any moment now and I couldn’t even stand.

Help! I was still too broken to speak, but it didn’t stop my mind from trying. All I needed was a little time. Just a few moments. If only my friends would come and hold him off until I could take him out once and for all.

Red blurs shot from the stairwell and into the room, drawing my eyes. Shock blanked out my mind, but it was unmistakable.

The Pū?is.

Somehow, they’d made it out of the Vampire Realm and found me when I needed them. My friends had come—just not the ones I’d expected.

The Pū?is dived for Drakon, blasting fire his way. He turned to them, rage twisting his features, and hit them with his sonic boom. One Pū?i took a direct hit, bowling backward toward the wall.

No! My insides tore as the Pū?i struggled to rise.

Rage filled me with fire as Drakon tried to hurt my friends. The Pū?i were fast and fierce, landing their fiery blows upon his flesh. But it only seemed to enrage him more. He threw blast after blast at them. Though they swooped and dived, they couldn’t dodge them all.

I gripped the vines at my sides and drew the energy from them. I turned the slow, passive process into one that I controlled. Building my strength, healing my body.

And the best part was, I could feel the vines’ joy. I wasn’t killing them by taking their energy. I was healing them. My touch was driving away Drakon’s darkness.

Soon, I could move my arms. Then my legs. As the Pū?i drew Drakon’s fire, I healed, finally rising to my feet, the vines at my side. They were a deep, dark green as they rose up around me like snakes.

Power filled my chest to bursting.

“Drakon!” I roared, calling his attention away from the Pū?is.

He spun to face me, jaw slackening. I grinned, feeling the power flowing through my veins as the vines waved at my side, ready to strike.

They felt like they were one with me. Which they were. Their life was inside me and mine was inside them. Power roared through me like a tornado, so much better than that miserable destroyer magic I’d taken from Aleric.

This was true power. This was life.

And I’d use it to create death.

Just one death, but I knew it would save so many others. It quashed any guilt I might have had.

I threw my hands out toward Drakon. The vines followed the motion, surging toward him like synchronized snakes. They wrapped around him from head to toe, encapsulating him fully. Determination welled within me as I yanked my hands apart.

The vines did the same, tearing Drakon to pieces. Ripping him limb from limb. Victory surged through me, warm and bright. I’d done it!

A fraction of a second later, a massive black cloud exploded up from the vines that contained Drakon’s destroyed body. It was inky and dark, nearly opaque. Evil radiated from it—pure and unadulterated. Stronger than anything I’d ever felt. It coalesced to form a massive dragon made of smoke. The beast roared, a sound that shook my very bones and made me stumble back onto my butt.

Then the beast rushed away, flying up through the ceiling in a burst of energy.

Oh, shit.

I blinked, staring up at the unharmed ceiling, my mind scrambling for answers. I didn’t know what the hell that thing had been, but one thing was for sure.

I hadn’t beaten Drakon. Not by a long shot.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. I shifted. My friends piled into the room, weapons drawn.

Ares’s eyes fell upon me. “Nix! Are you all right?”