The Zodiacs

77. Sacrifice of Love

"No!" Zahra shouted, racing forward before the Queen could expose her once again. She lifted her weapon with a determined cry, bringing it down on the Royal Wife's neck. But it only grazed the back of her dress when the girl's body suddenly turned, slamming into the pillar at her side with enough stretch to shatter her shoulder.

Zahra screamed in pain, dropping to the ground as the electrical explosion blew all throughout her body. Her jaw locked when the girl pressed her teeth together to keep from crying at the unimaginable pain. It was as if the same nails that had been pierced through Aaron's foot when she first met him had been driven into her left shoulder; only dozens of them tore through her flesh and nailed directly into her shoulder joint, cracking the bone one by one.

"Zahra!" Odion shouted, holding out his sword with evident hesitancy as he looked over to his sister. "You bitch!" He shouted at the Queen who smirked down at her.

He raced forward, sliding his knees against the carpet as his eyes focused on her ankles. Odion pulled the sword back with an angry shout.

But the Cancer lifted on hand, holding his arm back before the boy could get within a few feet of her limbs. "Do you not learn, boy?" The Royal Wife scoffed humorously.

"No," Odion smiled kindly up at her, returning the same confident expression on the Queen's features. "It looks like you're the one who doesn't learn."

And with that, the Pisces slammed his sister's sword into the lady's leg with his other arm, watching her exclaim in pain as she fell to the ground. His body liquified, racing toward the fallen Zodiac with a speed that allowed for no reaction time. She shouted in surprise when he was suddenly on top of her.

His hand wrapped around the Royal Wife's shoulder, watching the joint turn to liquid beneath his touch. The Pisces wasted no time, pulling his other arm backward and piercing one of his swords through her shoulder. The Queen screamed when he lifted his powers away from her, keeping his weapon driven through her joint.

"Did you think you could hurt my sister and get away unharmed?" He hissed, his eyes narrowed to match the daringness tugging at one corner of the boy's lips. "What you do to her, I do to you."

Zahra gasped, trying to calm her rapidly racing heart as the word began to spin around her. She looked down at her torso as growing redness stained the material of her clothing with the blood leaving a deep gash freshly inflicted on her body. It must have been when she attempted to attack, but the girl had gotten too distracted by the pain of her broken shoulder to notice.

She slowly looked up toward her brother in his place above the evil lady. "And if I kill her?" The Royal Wife asked through clenched teeth, her chest moving with heavy breaths.

Odion rolled his tongue over his front teeth like a freshly awakened predator. He was the forgiving Zodiac --recognizing that a job did not define a soul --but this wench had hurt his sister. Nobody hurt his sister.

Before he could move to attack again, the weapon in his hand suddenly began to turn on him. The boy's hand trembled in resistance as the second sword's cutting edge moved closer and closer to his neck. His eyes were wide, focused, with every inch it moved near his throat. Keket was the only one who could do this... but he wasn't fighting Keket.

"You believe you hold power over me, boy," she spat, not bothering to move a muscle beneath him as the lady watched the building disaster of her powers. She would kill Odion just like she killed so many before him, and she would continue to live on. "You are my weapon."

Zahra breathed, trying to pull herself forward at the sight unfolding in front of her. She'd done so much to keep her younger brother safe; she wouldn't lose him now. Digging her teeth into her lips to stifle a pained cry, she dug her fingernails into the narrow parting of the tile and forced her body forward. A trail of dark blood followed her path. "No... Odion," she whimpered, struggling to move forward.