A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(106)
Still full of rage and hate, Layla wanted nothing more than to take Elias’s life. “They say you never forget killing your first person.” She walked over to Elias and pulled his head back, exposing his throat. “You don’t deserve to always be a part of me. Fortunately, I know that your healing ability is going to let you live through pretty much anything I can do to you, so”—she slammed her forearm into his throat, crushing his windpipe—“heal that, you son of a bitch.”
39
In the heat of battle, Layla had taken a gamble that Elias would heal his crushed windpipe. It was a gamble that she was glad had paid off, as she helped Chloe drag a semi-conscious Elias out of the chamber. As they got closer to the cave’s exit, the sounds of fighting grew ever stronger. Both were exhausted. Layla knew that Chloe wanted Elias dead, but she was determined to drop him at Tommy’s feet. Determined to prove that she was good enough to be a part of his team. What happened to Elias after that, she didn’t much care. She didn’t want to know.
As they reached the fresh air outside and saw Tommy and his people still fighting the mighty ogre, they dropped Elias and immediately ran toward the fray.
Remy clambered up the back of the ogre’s leg, using a dagger to stab into the flesh over and over as he scrambled up. He had to avoid the ogre’s massive hands, but when he reached the top of her shoulder, he drove a sword into her, causing the ogre to cry out in pain. She tried to reach round to Remy, but he was already leaping free, landing in mud close by.
Several of Tommy’s agents were badly injured and more than one lay on the ground, unmoving. Layla ran over to Jared, who was dragging another agent to safety—a woman who Layla had seen around the mansion several times.
“She crushed her leg,” Jared said as he propped her against a tree.
“We can’t win,” the agent said.
“We have to,” Layla told her, and glanced at Jared. “Are you okay?”
He nodded.
“Good. Keep her company.”
“What are you going to do?” Jared asked her.
“What I need to do.” She ran back toward the ogre and saw Chloe blast it in the face, but the force was weak because of the tranquillizers still in her system, and she narrowly avoided the ogre kicking out at her.
Diana, covered in matted, bloody fur, ran from the tree line and launched herself up at the ogre, clawing away at the monster’s stomach in an effort to disembowel her. Ice from Kasey’s mouth slammed into the ogre, freezing one of her arms in place, while Tommy ran at her legs, smashing into one of them like a freight train.
As the ogre fell, she grabbed hold of Diana, wrenching her free and throwing her aside. Diana hit the ground and tumbled several dozen feet before slamming into a pile of rocks.
The ogre fell onto her back with an almighty cacophony of noise. The ground beneath Layla’s feet trembled at the impact, but Tommy barely paused; he ran toward the ogre’s head, snarling and slashing at her throat. She swatted him away, broke the ice that had held one arm in place, and threw a huge chunk at Kasey, who dodged aside just in time.
Layla looked over at Chloe, who was on her knees, and caught a glimpse of Elias as he started to move away toward the woods. In an instant, Layla reached out with her power, ripping free the sword that Remy had sunk into the ogre’s shoulder, causing her to scream in pain. The sword flew toward Elias quicker than he could anticipate, impaled him in the chest, and flung him back toward the cave, pinning him to the rock.
Chloe turned around and walked over to him. “You dead yet?” she asked.
Elias mumbled something unintelligible, and Chloe placed a finger against his forehead and used her power to blast a hole in his head. Elias’s body slumped.
Layla turned back to the ogre, who was trying to avoid the blasts of ice coming from Kasey’s mouth. Tommy was back on his feet, as were Remy and Diana, but she swiped at anyone who got too close.
Layla walked toward her, ignoring Chloe’s calls to stay back. She pushed out her power, wrapping it around the metal armor that covered the creature’s torso, and with a twist of her hand replaced the dented armor with a hundred spikes that punctured her chest and stomach.
The ogre screamed in pain, dropping to her knees, blood pouring from dozens of wounds. Layla moved her hand again, and the metal fell from the ogre, cascading like liquid over her body, mixing with her blood as it soaked the ground.
Kasey sprayed ice across the monster’s hands, keeping her in place, while Diana and Tommy raced toward her, each simultaneously striking her on both sides of the head. The ogre jerked and tried to get back to her feet, but a dozen small marbles of flame landed just in front of her face, exploding upward.
Layla turned to watch Jared stalk toward her. “She’s dead because of you,” he shouted, the rage coming off him in waves. He reached the ogre’s head and created a palm-sized sphere in his hand, tossing it into her open, bloody mouth, and immediately exploding it.
The ogre’s face tore apart from the force, shattering most of the bones and ripping flesh like paper. She still tried to get back to her feet, but Jared ran under her, creating a second sphere and shoving it up into one of the gaping holes in her chest made by Layla’s spikes. The force of the subsequent explosion threw several of the attackers back, but it almost ripped the ogre in half. She was dead before Layla managed to get back to her feet. Covered in blood, Jared walked off without saying a word.