Cloudy Sky: The Unlucky Thirteen

49 - Sudden Moves

"We've got to run," insists Caprice, roughly hauling Leilani to her feet as I stand up, challenging Solaris with a smirk that hides her terror. My eyes are trained on the pistol as swirls of dark mist flicker around my hands, a familiar buzzing dancing over my arms. I no longer have to think about my past to summon the electricity. It just comes.

I'm not even the best person to face Solaris, but I'm a pure demon and I so happen to have corrupted magic. And apparently, I have guts. I know Pisces would join me, but he's very unconscious. Damn it. He's gonna be okay.

Don't worry about him. Logic, Aquaria. Think rationally. You know being emotional changes nothing.

Solaris doesn't remark anything about my stand, which probably shows how pathetic it is. He simply aims and fires. I dive to the side at the last minute, but he aims again faster than I thought he would. Inhaling a sharp gasp, I slam against the wall to get away from it. At least I'm not nailed by more corrupted magic, but there's a shard of glass stuck in my arm. I yank it out and flick it at Solaris, but it just lands on the floor with a clink. Pitiful.

"Distract him," I shove Leilani's shoulder, pleasantly surprised to find that she's that close.

"You're not going to take that thing, right?" I hope Leilani isn't referring to the weapon.

"Oh no, of course not," I lie. "Just need to get close. Totally won't take the extremely destructive pistol held by an extremely destructive and slightly hot Corrupted."

As a blast of corrupted magic destroys the wall Caprice was against, Leilani gives me a flat look. "I shouldn't have expected more from you. Forgot what a simp you are."

I see the bolt of magic aimed at Pisces. Oh hell no. No. A shudder racks my entire body as I see the bolt slowly form and shoot through the air.

I scream. I scream a harsh, shrieking demon cry, grating even on my eardrums like blades, like the screech of rusted metal. The air crackles with electricity, which arces over my entire body. In the few seconds before the corrupted bolt slams into Pisces, I feel powerful. There is no one but Solaris that can lay a single finger on me right now.

Lightning breaks through the ceiling, frying a water pipe as the contents dump into an empty cage in the room, pouring out and all over the floor. The force of it slamming into the ground with a blinding flash of light throws Pisces away. A new hole has opened in the wall, thanks to Solaris.

Meanwhile, my skin is burning. Pain starts to stab at my heart, my throat, begging me to stop. To let go. I can't let go, though. I can't release the lightning illuminating the skin, the intoxicating power flowing through my veins.

Logic, Aquaria. But I don't need logic right now. I know exactly what I'm going to do. I know how stupid it is. I know how it wrenches my heart, and I've not used it on anyone else since him. My fist closes around the knife handle and I draw the long kitchen knife out of my boot. It hasn't been cleaned in a while. I hope the stains aren't still from his blood. His blood smells almost like Corrupted do. But of course. He was evil, but not Corrupted.

"You stabbed someone. You literally stabbed someone. You —"

"That's a lie. I never stabbed anyone." Blade sinking into flesh, my hand shoving him against the mirror before I run for the door. "Where the hell did you hear that from?"

"He says he knows you." Evil glint in cold smirking eyes, silent footsteps. Whispers to just avoid him. I couldn't do that. I should have.

I twist the knife in my hand and throw it straight for Solaris's heart. Not wasting a second, agony thrashing my body now as if I'm being consumed, I dive for him.