I jolted awake as someone shook my shoulders violently. Shooting upright, I almost smacked my forehead into the face above me. My hands were already halfway together when I realized that it was Callan.
“Audrey,” he pressed out.
His voice was strained. Hoarse. And his pupils were huge.
He scrambled back from me while staring at me with those strange eyes. “Something’s wrong. With my head. I think it’s the flowers.”
“What the hell are you talking about? What flowers?”
“In the cave.” His gaze darted to the doorway on the right before he snapped it back to me again. Panic washed over his features. “Audrey. Something’s wrong.”
“Okay, okay.”
Sitting up fully, I touched my palms together and called up a cloud of poison. If he had breathed in some kind of strange pollen from whatever flowers he had encountered, I should be able to kill it off with my magic.
Callan’s head twitched to the side a couple of times and he blinked furiously. “Do it!”
I sent the poison into his body.
A slim green tendril snaked down his throat, but he didn’t react. I stared in confusion while I moved the poison through his body.
“Audrey,” he forced out again. There was a pleading note to his voice.
“I’m trying!”
Why wasn’t it working? With the strength of the poison this high, it should have been neutralized already. So why…
Dread washed over me like a cold black wave. Don’t tell me there was an emotion mage here who set the trap.
“Callan, it’s not working.” I met his panicked gaze while he clenched and unclenched his hands. “An emotion mage must have infused those flowers with—”
“Then knock me out! Like you do with Lance. Do it now.” His head twitched violently to the side several times. “Do it!”
Releasing the poison I had already summoned, I called up another cloud meant to render someone unconscious instantaneously. Callan pressed his palms to the floor and heaved ragged breaths. I shot the attack at him.
Glittering green mist enveloped his entire body.
He didn’t react that time either.
“Hurry!” he growled.
I increased the strength of the poison.
Nothing. He didn’t even choke or dry heave the way people usually did when I used my magic on them.
“It’s not working,” I pressed out.
Callan slammed his hands together. I jerked back when he held his right hand like he usually did while wielding a force blade. But no half-translucent magic appeared.
“Your own magic doesn’t work either,” I said.
It was more of a statement than a question because it was rather apparent that I was right. Whatever was affecting him was probably meant to block his own magic. That it made him immune to mine as well was most likely just a really unfortunate side effect.
“That wasn’t me,” Callan gasped out.
“What wasn’t?”
“Who tried to call up the sword.”
“What?”
“I’m losing.”
Staring at him, I edged back a little. “Losing what?”
“Myself. My grip on… me.” His broad chest heaved and he curled his fingers against the stone ground. “Fuck. I just want to slaughter everything. Everyone.”
I staggered to my feet and yanked out the knife I had strapped to my thigh. Callan remained on his hands and knees before me, forcing in deep breaths. Fear shot through me. If he came at me, and I couldn’t use my magic, I would lose.
Shifting my grip on the blade, I touched my palms together and tried again to knock him out with my poison. I increased it until one more push would have killed him, but it did nothing at all.
“Audrey.”
My name fell from his lips like a plea. I had never heard such desperation from him before. His head twitched to the side again as he clenched his hands.
Then he snapped his head up.
I jerked back.
His pupils were blown wide, but that wasn’t what made me suck in a sharp breath. There was an emptiness in his eyes that terrified me. It was as if he wasn’t even there. Something was staring at me with those dark eyes, but whatever it was, it wasn’t Callan.
“Audrey,” he gasped. And for a second, a hint of consciousness flickered in his eyes again. “Run.”
I did.
Whirling around, I sprinted towards the doorway in the middle. The other two held giant insects and emotion magic, so even though I had no idea what was beyond the next three openings that I had encountered, it was my only choice. I couldn’t fight Callan and hope to win. Not without my magic. Which meant that my only option was to hide until the magic that was affecting him had weakened enough for him to fight it on his own.
My boots pounded against the ground as I sprinted into the tunnel.
For a few more seconds, that was the only sound that broke the stillness.
Then another pair of running feet echoed against the stone walls.
Panic crackled through my veins.
Callan was coming.
Picking up speed, I ran with everything I had towards the three other doorways that I knew lay up ahead. Callan’s footsteps drew closer at an alarming rate. Another spike of fear shot up my spine. I knew that he was faster than me, but did he really have to be this much faster?
Blood rushed in my ears as I sprinted down the tunnel. If I could just make it to the openings before him, he wouldn’t know which one I’d picked which meant that he would have to search them all.
When the doorways at last became visible, I almost gasped with relief. Picking one at random, I ran into the one on the right while hoping that I had been too far ahead for Callan to spot.
The tunnel kept going straight for a while before it took a sharp turn to the right. I skidded around the corner and pressed myself up against the cold stone wall. Faint white light came from the glowing crystals above.
My chest was heaving and my heartbeat pounded in my ears, but I tried to silence them enough to hear what was happening outside.
Callan’s boots thudded against the ground farther away. Then they fell silent somewhere outside the doorways as he probably tried to figure out which one I had picked. Remaining where I was by the wall, I stayed perfectly still while only drawing in soft shallow breaths.
The seconds ticked by.
Still no sound from outside the tunnel.
What was he doing? Was he just standing out there?
But at least as long as he was out there, he wasn’t in here with me, so I stayed where I was.
When my breathing had recovered a bit, I decided to risk a quick glance around the corner. While moving very carefully, I leaned sideways and shot one peek around the edge and towards the doorway on the other side.
Cold terror exploded in my chest.
Callan was already halfway down my tunnel, sneaking forward on silent feet. When he saw me, those empty dark eyes snapped straight to my face. A smile tinted with madness curled his lips.
I jerked back and whirled around. With my heart slamming furiously against my ribs, I hurtled down the tunnel.
A moment later, the sound of Callan’s boots echoed against the stone walls again as he sprinted after me.
Panic blared inside my skull.
The tunnel bent into another sharp right up ahead. Using the wall for assistance, I skidded around the corner and kept running while Callan’s footsteps thudded behind me. He was gaining on me. And fast.
I was gripping the knife in my hand so hard that my fingers ached, but I didn’t dare loosen my hold. If he caught up to me, it was the only weapon I had.
Yet again, the tunnel took another abrupt right turn.
And again.
Dread sluiced through my veins.
The straight parts of the tunnel kept getting shorter and shorter. And they were all turning to the right. As if they were leading to something in the middle.
That panic inside me was lessened somewhat when I realized that Callan was slowing down behind me. Hope fought its way into my chest. Maybe the magic was finally wearing off.
Right as the thought crossed my mind, I sprinted around another corner and found myself face to face with a dark stone wall. Screeching to a halt, I stared up at it in disbelief.
A dead end.
It was a dead end.
I whipped around just as another sound joined Callan’s footsteps.
Goosebumps crawled over my skin.
My heart pounded furiously in my chest and blood rushed in my ears as I backed away from the corner.
Callan’s slow steps kept echoing against the jagged walls. Coming closer.
As did that other sound.
The sound of someone dragging a knife against stone.
I tried to suck air into my lungs but every breath felt as though I was inhaling shards of glass. My heart was slamming so hard against my ribs that my chest ached.
While gripping the knife tightly in my left hand, I edged farther away from the corner until my back was pressed against the solid rock wall that marked the end of the tunnel.
That scraping noise of metal against stone grated against my eardrums and sent a shiver down my spine. It was coming from right on the other side now.
My chest rose and fell rapidly.
Holding out the knife in front of me, I stared at the shadow that fell across the floor.
A moment later, Callan prowled around the corner.
Faint light gleamed against the edge of the large knife that he drew along the stone wall. A spike of dread shot through my chest as those wide and empty eyes locked on me. Callan cocked his head.
I fought down a shudder. There was something inhuman about the way he moved.
Metal scraped against stone as Callan continued dragging the knife along the wall as he advanced on me. I flicked quick glances around the tunnel, but the only way out was past him and back the way we had come. My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Callan,” I said.
He didn’t reply. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if he could hear me at this point. Keeping his eyes locked on me, he just kept coming. I remained where I was.
When he was standing two steps in front of me, he stopped and let the blade drop from the wall and hang by his side instead.
My pulse thrummed in my ears as we just stood like that for a few seconds. Watching each other. Waiting.
He lunged.
I dove to the side right at the same time.
A clanking noise echoed through the tunnel as Callan’s knife hit the stone wall behind me instead of my chest. The impact sent it flying from his hand and it clattered down on the ground while I leaped past him.
Air exploded from my lungs as Callan spun with the motion and slammed his shin into my side, sending me flying into the wall. I let out a groan as my shoulder hit the stone before I crumpled down on the ground. My knife produced a faint clang as it landed somewhere beside me.
Before I could grab it or push myself up again, Callan knocked my arms aside and wrapped his hands around my throat while sitting down on top of my chest. I sucked in a gasp right before he started squeezing.
This was nothing like what he did in the bedroom.
This time, he was really trying to kill me.
Throwing my hand out, I fumbled blindly for the knife.
Something cold brushed my fingers.
The blade.
Snatching it up, I raised my arm and positioned the sharp point right next to Callan’s neck. He didn’t even seem to notice. His hands tightened around my throat.
All it would take was one push, and I would sever his carotid artery. One push, and he would stop trying to kill me. But he would also be dead.
Desperation washed over me. I didn’t want to die. But I didn’t want to kill him either.
The thought startled me enough that I almost missed the brief flicker in his eyes.
Air rushed down into my lungs as Callan’s grip loosened slightly. His head twitched to the side a few times while he blinked furiously. I sucked in strangled breaths.
“Fight it, you damn bastard!” I spat between ragged breaths. “Don’t make me kill you!”
His gaze snapped back to me, and his grip on my throat tightened. Then he blinked and jerked his head to the side while loosening his hold again.
“Fight it,” I pressed out as I was once more able to breathe. “Please, Callan, I’m begging you. Don’t make me kill you. I don’t want to kill you. Please.”
He squeezed harder, cutting off my voice.
While holding the knife against his neck, I stared up at him in stunned shock as a sudden realization flashed through me.
I couldn’t kill him.
I didn’t want to kill him.
Not now. And not later either.
If we somehow managed to survive this and get the Enhancer and win the war against Eldar, I didn’t want to go back to killing Callan. Even if he was dangerous, even if he posed a threat to me, I wanted him in my life.
I wanted Callan Blackwell in my life.
Even if it was only as an enemy.
