Blood and Reign (Blood and Ruin Series Book 3)

As if the dark energy senses me, it shoots out, slamming into me and throwing me into the air.

Before I hit the ground, my shadows snap out, slowing me down to a stop.

Catching my breath, I step forward just as a horde of demons appear, surrounding me from every angle.

Damn it. Why is it always one step forward and two steps back?

Nowhere near ready to give up, I reach down inside me and draw up everything to the surface. I focus on the demons and let it build and build, gathering more and more power until I can’t hold it anymore.

I release it all at once and watch as my dark shadows gather into a mass of black smoke, climbing high into the sky and stretching out around me.

Once the mass reaches a certain point, it explodes throughout the entire area, slamming into every demon that’s heading my way, destroying them on impact.

When the darkness finally clears, it reveals a mixed group of demons where the empty spot once was.

With King, right in the middle of it.

He’s no longer the same. His build is bigger, reaching at least seven feet and the energy around him is darker, coating the air like thick slime. It slithers out around him into the horde of demons.

He must be able to control them somehow…

As if hearing me, he turns to stare right at me, a creepy smile crawling across his face.

“Kiarra.”

I hear his voice as if I’m right beside him, and an icy chill crawls down my spine.

Four larger demons are standing close by with a group of higher-level demons, all standing in front of him, protecting him.

Though considering the power I can feel from him, I doubt he needs it. But I need to get past them, and fast.

One thought of my men and they appear as if summoned. All surrounding me and protecting me from every angle.

Rion shifts back and heads straight over to me while the others stay in their beast form. His eyes trail over my body, checking for any injuries before glancing over at King. “We’ll take the demons.”

I nod, narrowing my eyes on my target. “And I’ll take King.”

Without warning, the higher demons unsheathe their swords and attack. Rion whips out his blades, blocking two from the front while Jax and Luka rush through the others with their flames.

Two of the four larger demons step forward, moving straight for Kai. But just as Kai moves to attack, a rumble sounds out from above as a mass of energy strikes the first one down. I glance up and find Axel absorbing more energy for the next attack.

Knowing they’re well capable of looking after themselves, especially after seeing it firsthand, I focus on King.

I move swiftly, pushing my shadows toward him. They bellow out of me in long tendrils of black smoke. Just before they reach him, he disappears.

I whip around, searching for him when something slams into me from behind.

“Kiarra!”

Rion moves for me as I’m thrown backward, but I quickly wrap my shadows around me, becoming part of them. Reaching out with my senses, I search for King. Once I find him, I step out of the shadows and right beside him. My dark tendrils lashing out and throwing him backward.

Just like me, he catches himself landing on his feet. His eyes narrow on me before he disappears once more.

Feeling movement from behind, instinctively I duck, narrowly avoiding a shadowed blade to the head. I twist around, avoiding another shadowed weapon when King appears right in front of me, a smirk on his face as he grabs my head.

His fingers turn to claws and slice into my skull just as his shadows coil and tighten around my body. My eyes blur as sharp needles splinter through every nerve, the pain growing more intense with each second that passes.

I clench my jaw shut, not willing to show him a moment of weakness. Instead of crying out, I use that pain. I let it fill me up and burn through me until it’s the only thing I see and feel.

Slowly, my shadows seep out around me releasing me from King’s grip, but I don’t stop. I surrender to them, becoming part of the darkness once more.

But instead of stepping out onto the expanse, I’m in complete darkness. It’s pitch black, but unlike the last time I was here, I can see everything around me, including King as he appears across from me.

He tilts his head as he looks at me, a glint of interest in his eyes, as if he’s seeing me in a new light.

“I underestimated you.”

I give him a wicked smirk. “You always have.”

His grin twists into something cruel. “Don’t worry. It won’t happen again.”

Dark tendrils lash out toward me, but I quickly move into the shadows. Focusing on King, I travel through them until I’m behind him. Just before he gets a chance to react, I wrap my tendrils around him, making them sharper and using them like blades to slash through him.

Once the blade hits his body, he turns to smoke and disappears.

Damn it.

I hear a low chuckle. It grows from somewhere behind me… no, in front of me…

It sounds out around me until it’s everywhere. I reach out with my senses, trying to find him, but it’s like he’s everywhere now, too. I try again when I feel a pulling sensation from somewhere deep inside me.

The pull quickly grows, drawing upon any energy I have with force. Tendrils of shadows appear, wrapping around my neck and body, dragging me upwards.

I claw at the shadows choking me, but my fingers pass through them. My vision starts to darken just as I hear a low chuckle once more.

King appears below me. “I have to say I’m a little disappointed. I thought you’d at least make it… interesting.”

There’s no way in hell I was giving up yet.

I reach down inside me and drag up my power. I pull up everything that I can and draw it to the surface. But as soon as I do, that pulling sensation comes back with a vengeance, and my energy quickly weakens.

My powers turn from a flame to a flicker in a matter of seconds. I try to pull the energy back, drawing it to me when something inside me snaps and energy floods me all at once.

I gasp, finally able to take a deep breath as the clawed shadows around my neck loosen. I pull harder to draw the energy back to me and King’s tendrils loosen from my body. The more I focus, the more my own strength grows stronger.

“How are you…”

I don’t know how it’s possible, but I think I’m absorbing his powers and making them mine. And I think I just figured out how I need to take the core’s power back.

King’s eyes widen slightly as I drop to the ground, his shadows around me completely disappearing.

“I thought I’d keep it interesting.” I give him a smug smirk.

King sneers as he tries to lash out at me again, his shadows long and sharp. I focus on catching one before it touches me and draws it into me.

As soon as it hits my skin, I absorb it making it my own. The energy slams into me making me feel like I just took a double espresso shot.

I shake off the slight disorientated feeling, gathering every piece of energy I have and pushing it straight at King.

It slams into him, throwing him backward. He catches himself, but the calm and collected facade is gone. He narrows his eyes on me before disappearing once more.

I glance around the dark space, but something inside me tells me he’s gone back to Manhattan. I quickly focus on my guys and within seconds, I step through the shadows and back into the chaos and destruction.

Rion spots me, his eyes widening on something behind me. I whip around as one of Rion’s blades hit a demon square in the eye.

Rion hurries over to me. “Are you okay? Where were you?”

I glance around, looking for King, but apart from the demons and my mates, he’s not here. “A story for another time. Did you see King?”

“No. Not since he disappeared with you.” Rion gives me a look, letting me know that I’ll be sharing what happened as soon as this is over.

A loud thud sounds out, shaking the ground beneath us. It gets louder, growing closer as a rumble follows it.

We look over in the direction of the sound and spot four large demons with hundreds of smaller ones close by. The sky shrieks as more demons show up, all flying toward us.

Without a second thought, Axel shoots forward, meeting them head-on. The other dragons quickly joining him.

I look up as Rion curses and catch the exhaustion on his face. My mates are holding their own, but for how much longer?

Jax and Luka rush forward, meeting the new demons halfway while Kai stays where he is getting rid of the last of the demons here.

“Don’t go too far.” Rion bends down and kisses my head before heading for Kai. I glance back around at my mates, then at the destruction and demons around us, and try to think of something to end this.

It needs to end with King… I need to find him and finish this. Now.

I push my senses out around me, searching for him. It takes me a minute, but I finally latch onto his power, and this time I pull him to me.

He appears seconds later in a puff of shadows with a shocked expression on his face. It quickly morphs into rage and disdain as he snarls, slashing out at me.

But I’m ready for it and pull myself into the shadows before appearing right behind him. Before he gets the chance to react, I push my shadows toward him, but he waves them away with the flick of a wrist.

As I’m gathering more energy to attack, the clouds above me turn gray. They overcast the sky in darkness, shifting the day to night in seconds.

King steps forward, a cruel smirk on his lips as a mass of dark shadows whip out and circles me, caging me in.

I try to pull myself into the shadows and out of it, but the black mass holds me hostage, growing closer and closer. I reach down and gather my power, but the circling mass absorbs it instantly. I start to panic when the spiraling shadows close over me, covering me like the rising wave of a dark ocean.

Darkness surrounds me as the outside sound completely disappears. I try to push against the swirling mass, but as soon as my fingers brush against it, a sharp pain erupts across my entire body.

I try pulling my hand back, but the dark mass grips it tight as it begins to climb up my arm. The sharp pain grows, making me scream out in pain. It quickly spreads, turning my chest tight as it crawls across it.

I start to panic that this is it but stop myself just as quick. I can’t do this. I can’t let him win. There must be a way out.

I try to think of something as the pain continues to slash across my body. I push it away and try to come up with something. Anything.

Escaping won’t work, neither will using my powers. Every time I try to gather them, the dark mass absorbs it just as quick.

I grab my chest as the darkness crawls down my legs, making my entire body feel broken and bruised.

There has to be another way…

“Your end is coming.” King’s voice echoes around me as I double over, trying to catch my breath.

My end… this can’t be my end. It can’t be because I won’t let it.

I thought I let the hold King has over me go, and in many ways, I have. But I’m also still trying to escape him. Mentally, he still has control over me and that’s something that I allowed.

I have a choice. I can choose to accept this and suffer the outcome, or I can fight. I can fight until I have nothing left in me. Until my last breath leaves my lungs and the world fades into darkness.

I’m not as weak as I once thought I was. To go through what I did and still come out fighting makes me stronger than I ever thought I could be.

Stronger than King ever was.

I used to think he was invincible, his power too strong to go up against. But everything he has, he stole.

Whereas I was born with this power. It’s always been somewhere deep inside me, waiting for the right moment to break free. Waiting for this moment to take back everything he stole, and every piece of control he thinks he has over me.

I may have given him that control, that power, but now it’s time to take it all back. It’s time to show him what it means to be truly powerful.

“No, my end is not coming…” I stand up as my strength slowly builds inside me. As if my heart accepts what my mind has realized, warmth spreads throughout my body, slowly pushing the pain away.

Someone born of darkness does not fear it. They embrace it.

“But your end is already here.” I smile to myself, embracing the familiar power around me, feeling calm and centered.

Stepping through King’s dark mass, an icy sensation washes over me, brushing against my heightened senses and lighting every nerve in my body. Stepping clear of the shadows, I’m met with King’s look of horror.

My own shadows pour out of me and swirl around him, encasing him whole, just like he did me.

But unlike me, he won’t get the chance to escape.

I start pulling the energy from him and, just like the core, it flows straight into me. I give it an extra yank, hoping it’s as painful as when he did it to me.

It takes seconds before I’m brimming with energy. Once it builds enough, I push it out around me, focusing on every demon closest to my mates.

With the extra power surging through me, it shoots out, burning through each one of them and turning them to dust.

I sense my mates as they shift and move closer to me. Just as more and more power flows into me. So much so that it starts to turn painful just like last time.

But this time, I won’t let it go too far.

I sense more demons around us. There are still so many of them. It’s time they go back to where they came from.

Using the power now seeping out around me, I focus on every sliver of connection from the demons and pull it to me.

“Return to the Underworld and never leave it again.” My voice echoes out the command around us, just as their connection slowly disappears from my mind.

“They’re all gone…” Luka’s awed tone filters through my hazy brain as more power fills me.

I focus back on King and let the power continue to flow into me.

I feel Jax step closer, his woodsy scent grounding me. “Kiarra, baby, that’s enough.”

But it’s not. There’s still so much power that King should never get his hands on again. I need to make sure this ends here.

Axel’s smokey scent hits me. “Please, stop.”

But I don’t. I knew when I agreed that I wouldn’t be able to stop once it started, but I also didn’t come without a backup plan.

“Kiarra!” Kai shouts, the panic in his voice ringing out around us.

“I can’t… but you can all help me.” They might not be able to take the power from King, but with our bond, they should be able to take some from me.

I focus on each of their connections as they move closer to me. I feel Rion’s strong presence behind me. “How? Tell us. We’ll do anything.”

“Connect with me. I’m going to try to filter some of the power between us instead of absorbing it all.” I know they can handle it. I know they’re strong enough and I won’t give them too much. Just enough to take the edge off the pain… just enough that I don’t end up dead this time.

“Do it,” Kai demands.

I quickly connect to our bond and push some power between us. It flows effortlessly into each of them, taking the brunt of the pain away.

Even though I still feel full, it also feels like I can now take a deep breath.

“Damn, that feels weird.”

“It’s like I drank ten energy drinks all at once.”

Their voices float around me as I connect to my power and feel King’s life force in the dark mass. It’s as small as an ember now, slowly ebbing away.

Just before it dims completely, I pull back my shadows. They dissolve, revealing his slumped form.

I sense his energy, but there’s barely anything left. He’s less than a human now and that’s how he’ll die.

My body sways, the adrenaline rush leaving me quickly. But I don’t mind, I can rest now that King will soon be gone.

The world tilts and slowly turns dark.

“I’ve got you.” Kai wraps his arms around me as my eyes shut on their own.

“It’s over…” My body grows heavy as sleep settles over me.

I feel Kai’s lips against the side of my head. “It is… now rest.”

And then there’s nothing but peaceful darkness.

KAI

We all look at Kiarra as she sleeps in my arms, a look of peace on her face.

“She’s okay. She’s just exhausted,” I tell the others, but the worry doesn’t leave their eyes. And until she wakes, it won’t.

 King is on the ground, his chest not moving.

Rion kneels down and feels his pulse. “He’s still alive, but barely. I don’t sense any energy from him. He’s basically human now.”

I nod, glancing back at Kiarra. “Good. Let’s take him with us.”

Luka frowns. “Doesn’t he still need to be brought back to the Underworld to be absorbed?”

“And he will, but not until we’re done with him.” A fiery rage burns through my veins, the need for revenge too great as I look at each of my brothers.

Savage smirks stare back at me, each one of them just as ready to make sure he pays for what he’s done.

It’s about time King finds out what happens when you hurt our girl.