Released (The Eternal Balance #3)(51)

“No!” I struggled against my bonds but it was pointless. The vines might as well have been made of steel.

“Gonna kill me?” Jax asked. He threw his hands in the air, a show of mock surrender, and grinned. “You’re welcome to try, brother.”

“You have the stone,” I called. “You don’t need him. Azirak isn’t even—” The vines twitched again, and this time they wound farther up my head and covered my mouth. A sense of unparalleled panic overcame me.

“You’ve been the thorn in my side since the day we were born,” Chase said as he advanced on his twin. “I mean, it had to come to this, right?”

Jax’s grin widened. “Guess it did.”

“Any last requests?”

“Yeah,” Jax said. “I’ll take a burger, rare, and an order of extra spicy fries.” He spread his legs apart just a little wider. “And your f*cking head on a platter.”

Jax launched himself forward at the exact moment Chase did. They crashed together, a flurry of fists and rage. Chase swung hard and pivoted as Jax retaliated. The blow sailed painlessly over his head. He ducked another onslaught and buried both fists into Jax’s gut.

He stumbled back and gasped for air, and again I fought my bonds. Again I failed. This wouldn’t last long. With Azi gone, Jax was nothing more than human. He didn’t have demonic senses or strength to help him anymore. And while I had all the confidence in the world that under any other circumstance, he wouldn’t need those things, he wasn’t facing off against another human. Zenak was still inside Chase.

I watched in horror as Chase’s blows landed more and more. One to Jax’s jaw. To his kidney. Another to his shoulder, which knocked him off balance… He crashed to the ground and dragged himself backward in the dirt in an attempt to put some distance between himself and his brother.

I bucked against the vines again, frantic. There was something in Jax’s eyes I’d never seen before. Defeat. Acceptance of surrender. Fear.

Chase stood over him, and his shoulders shook with a laugh. “You’re making this too easy, man.”

Jax coughed and struggled to catch his breath as he used the uneven cave wall to pull himself upright. “It’s over, Chase. Azirak is gone. Killing me won’t get Zenak’s clan back their powers.” He grinned and spit out a mouthful of blood. “Looks like you’ll just have to sit tight for another sixty or so years.”

Chase laughed again. “Really, Jax? You thought that would work?”

“Because I’d let you kick the shit out of me to try tricking you?” He shoved his brother. “You really are a special kind of idiot, Chase. If Azirak was here, you’d sense it.”

I held my breath and waited for one of them to make a move. Chase still had the stone. It was clutched in the white-knuckled grip of his left hand. He sighed loudly and shook his head. “You could have easily learned to conceal him. I did it, after all. You never could accept defeat,” he said. “Either of you.”

I caught a flicker of movement in the corner of the cave—the smallest tuft of black smoke. Jax saw it, too. He smiled and hitched his thumb to the right. “There,” he said. “Azirak is gone, man. Not inside me. This is over.”

Chase followed his gaze, but the wisp was already gone. He laughed. The sound was like a million shards of glass all raking against my skin at the same time. It was cruel, and angry, and worst of all, it was human. His eyes met mine, and Chase smiled. “You’re right. It is over.”

There was no slowing of time. Things didn’t take on a surreal, watery, slow-motion effect. In fact, it all happened almost too fast for me to follow. Chase reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and stepped forward. That’s it. There was no sound. No scream. The only indication that something was wrong was the look on Jax’s face—eyes wide, face pale, and lips slightly parted.

Something fell to the dirt between them, a long, thin object that glinted in the oddly lit cave. The reflective surface was coated in something dark. Something black. No… Not black.

Red.

Jax stumbled back, then fell to his knees. His eyes met mine, and I could see it—the life slipping away. The light dimming in his eyes. His lips moved. No sound came, but I heard him as though he’d screamed the words in my ear.

“I love you.”

He closed his eyes and took one last shuttering breath before collapsing to the dirt at Chase’s feet. With a hoot, his brother spread his arms and threw back his head—and waited. Of course, when nothing happened, he whirled on me. “What the f*ck, Samantha?”

Chase stalked across the cave floor, a volatile predator deprived of his prize. He flicked the now-whole Brim Stone in my direction, and the vines around my neck and mouth receded.

“What did you do?” My gaze fell back to Jax, lying still on the floor next to a growing pool of blood. My heart thundered in my chest. “He was telling you the truth. Azirak is gone! Do something. Call someone!”

Chase sighed. He turned back to his brother and tilted his head. “Call someone for what, exactly?” When he turned back to face me, there was a wicked grin on his face, one that screamed of smug satisfaction. It left me cold. “He’s gone, Samantha. Jax is dead.”

Jax…is dead.

Jax is…dead.

Jax is dead…