The Lost Souls (The Holy Trinity #2.5)(5)

After he’d changed, once he’d been able to think clearly again, he shut it off, all of it—his home, his family, his clan. Names, faces, and memories, he let them all go because he could never go back. Therefore, he was determined to take what he still had left, his life, and continue moving forward.

But here was Trinity, and from the smell of things, she was alone. With dark magic emanating from her, which only meant one thing. Actually, it meant several things, but none of them were good.

One, she had magic, meaning Gerik and she…

But what about her marriage to Xan? Shandor felt his gut clench. If Trinity had finally succumbed to Gerik, that meant Xan hadn’t made it back to camp after the raid.

Then there was the matter of her magic, her dark magic. For Trinity to have dark magic, it meant Gerik had dark magic when he’d joined their souls and given his powers to her.

Why would Gerik have dark magic?

What could have happened to Gerik, to Trinity, and to his clan?

For all Shandor knew, they could all be dead, every last one of them.

Swallowing back his rising fears, he tried to grin. None of it was his concern anymore.

“Trinity,” he drawled, trying desperately to channel the man he’d once been. “Lucky me. Of all the cities in all the world, you walk into mine.”

“Shandor,” she sneered, sounding bitter, angry, and very unlike Trinity. He knew instantly that this fat? had been suffering.

“It’s so nice to see you,” she continued. “You look great. Did you have work done? And congratulations on owning your own city.” She glanced around at the carnage and destruction. “It’s very beautiful.”

In the face of female sarcasm, his typical response would have been to smirk and say something equally sarcastic. So he smirked and said, “You’re packing some kind of power there, fat?. Did Gerik finally f*ck you?”

Her bright green eyes turned black. “Gosh, thanks for asking. But no, he didn’t.”

Shandor let out a shaky-sounding laugh. “Are you all alone, fat??” he asked as he glanced around, wondering, hoping that maybe someone else was with her, that someone else had survived.

No. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t go back.

“Nope. I have my dark magic keeping me company. How about you?”

Goddamn her. Why couldn’t she just be nice? Her attitude was making him angry, and when he was angry, all he wanted to do was attack. Add hunger into the mix, and it could get ugly. And if it got ugly, she would undoubtedly kill him. Through Gerik, Trinity would have derived an affinity for all elements. This meant that despite his own power, she could still kill him.

Unable to completely contain the animal inside him, he bared his fangs. “I’ve still got my affinity for fire,” he growled. “Only now it’s dark, same as yours. Courtesy of my happy transition into the world of the damned, I suppose.”

Shandor’s magic, the innate power of fire he’d been born with, hadn’t left him when he’d turned. Instead, it had shockingly turned dark. In addition to possessing the element of fire, he now also had spirit. Spirit gave him the ability to not only burn any living thing to death, but to also utilize the power of the dead to eat away at them faster than any flame could kill.

And none of it made a bit of sense. As far as he’d ever known, dark magic only came to the most powerful Roma, those who possessed not just one or two of the elements but all five of them—earth, air, water, fire, and spirit. But in order to summon spirit to the body, the first four elements had to be called upon.

Yet, somehow, when he’d changed from human to monster, his meager ability for fire had turned dark.

“Listen, fat?,” he said. “I’m gonna go that way.” He pointed in the direction Trinity had come from. “And you’re gonna go that way.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

She gaped at him, her eyes wide with shock, and he knew that she now realized he was afraid of her.

“Such self-control you have, Shandor,” she said smartly. “I’m impressed. Most of your kind still come snapping and snarling, even after they’ve seen what I can do.”

He forced a grin. “I’ve never played by the rules, fat?.” Which may have been true, but even so, he needed to get out of here before he attacked her and ended up dead.

Refusing to breathe through his nose, he turned to go, stopping when he heard her yell.

“Wait!”

He closed his eyes and took a breath before turning around and refocusing on her. “What? You want a hug? Maybe a f*ck for the road?”

She ignored that. “When did this happen to you?”

Shandor’s jaw clenched. He knew what was coming next and he didn’t want to have to tell her. Fuck, he didn’t want to have to think about it because he didn’t want it to be true. “The raid,” he bit out.

Fear squeezed Trinity’s features and he felt his stomach churn with sympathy.

“Xan?” she asked, her voice trembling. “Is he…okay?”

Fuck. So, Xan hadn’t made it back.

“The last time I saw him,” he said quietly, “frate was still an omnivore.”

Trinity blew out a relieved breath, leading him to believe that maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe nothing had happened to his clan but instead had only happened to Trinity. And Gerik? But he couldn’t dwell on it; he had to keep telling himself that it didn’t matter anymore.