Something urgent burned inside me. I had to wake up. For some reason, the team needed my help in there.
I struggled to find my strength, willing myself out of the deep sleep. I wasn’t sure how I was even doing it, I just desired with all my heart to wake up and somehow my body started to listen.
My eyes blinked a few times as I tried to garner the energy to move. I knew I was forcing myself awake prematurely, but for some reason I just knew that it was what I needed to do. I may not have been at full capacity, but it would be enough.
I took a few deep breaths and pushed myself up in the back seat of the SUV, sitting there for only a second. Then, I made my way out the car door and tried my best to hurry down the dark road in the direction the team had taken.
Luckily, I still remembered the last moments of my vision which revealed the number of the unit just above the garage where Voss had entered. My muscles weren’t quite awake yet. I staggered along the pavement until I found the number I was looking for.
I opened the door cautiously. The building was open and dark but I could see the outline of Voss’s sleek car across from me. A set of stairs stood on the right side. As far as I could tell it was the only way inside. I hurried quickly to them and made my way up.
My heart started to beat in my chest. Not only was my body struggling for strength, my nerves were on edge as well. Something told me I wasn’t going to like what I would find once I was inside.
The front rooms and hallway were dark. I crept through them slowly, taking quiet steps. There was a light at the end of the hall and I could hear banging and crashing noises coming from the distance.
Part of me wanted to turn back. I promised Rayne I would stay in the car. I didn’t know what I was headed for. But something in me couldn’t stop. A force inside me compelled me forward.
As soon as I reached the opening where the light and noise had come, a flash of dread clenched through my body. Voss’s sickening black eyes focused on mine. His hand held a gun pointed right at Ash’s head.
An awful pit twisted in my gut. His own son—he was ready to kill him.
I cried out in terror. “No, stop! You can’t. He’s your son!”
For a split second, everyone’s eyes jerked to look at me. Rayne and Jax both stared at me, stunned.
Ash didn’t hesitate. He seized the chance and slammed his head back against Voss’s face. He grabbed Voss’s wrist and knocked the gun out of his hand.
Rayne’s face continued to stare at me in worried horror, while Jax’s attention went back to the action. Jax hurried forward to grab Voss’s hands and secured them with some kind of plastic band.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Was that it? Did we really just capture Voss?
Finally, Rayne seemed to come to his senses. He gestured to Honeycutt and they both moved toward the others, still aiming their guns.
Out of everyone, I was surprised to feel Ash’s essence the strongest.
Usually I focused on the people I cared about most, but in this case, Ash’s being seemed to call out to me. His own father had used him as a human bullet shield. I felt strongly that if it had come down to it Voss would have done whatever he had to in order to make his escape, even if it meant the death of his own son.
The thought made me sick. I couldn’t imagine how awful it must have been for Ash to grow up with a father like Voss. For the first time, something inside me ached for Ash, for all the horrible things his father had put him through.
Relief poured out from Ash’s being. He finally stood up to his father after all this time. Ash finally felt free.
Once Voss was secure, Rayne rushed to my side. “What were you thinking,” he said, tone full of concern. “You were supposed to stay in the car.”
“I was worried about you,” I explained. “What if you had gotten hurt?” Suddenly, I saw a trail of blood streaming down from the back of his head. I reached my hand up to touch it. “You’re bleeding,” I said in alarm.
“I’m okay. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
My brow creased, not sure I believed him.
“I promise,” Rayne insisted. “I’m fine.”
I shook my head. “No, you have to let me heal it.”
Rayne closed his eyes then leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “When we get back to the car, okay? Then you can take a look at it.”
I pushed out half a smile, appeased for the moment. “When we get back to the car,” I agreed.
Beside us, Jax shoved Voss forward toward the hallway. Honeycutt followed closely by as they escorted Voss out of the room.
Ash limped a few steps forward, but I could sense that he wasn’t badly injured, just a few cuts and bruises. His face looked tired but relieved.
We followed the other three out into the hallway.
Ash was relieved, but why didn’t I feel relieved too?
We had just taken down the most terrible criminal from all Ambrosia. Why did I still feel so uneasy?
The team made their way down the stairs in the garage, giving each other high fives and pats on the back for a successful mission.
Voss was surprisingly calm. Something about him seemed focused. For a man being dragged to a prison sentence, he didn’t seem all that worried.
The team continued out the door to the street, but something didn’t feel right to me. I concentrated on Voss, searching inside his essence, sure that there was something more he was up to.
As if he could sense the inner intrusion I was making, Voss suddenly glanced back directly at me. A wicked smile crept across his face and he lifted his hands up in front of him. I knew something was wrong, but it was too late to react. Voss tapped some kind of button on his watch, and the next thing I knew, a hot blast of air erupted behind us as the back of the building exploded.
A jolt of pain surged through me as my body slammed down to the ground from the force. It wasn’t enough to make me break anything, but the entire team was knocked off their feet.
I looked up to see Voss burst his wrists right out of the plastic band, freeing himself from his cuffs. Voss grabbed Honeycutt’s gun and tried to wrestle it away. They grappled for only a second, and then Voss hit Honeycutt in the face with the butt of the gun, giving Voss the chance to take it and run away.
The sounds of thunderous bangs hit my ears, as a rampage of bullets pierced through the air.
Without hesitation, Rayne fired back. Voss’s leg buckled beneath him from the shot, but he continued to try to limp away. Voss held up his gun to shoot at the team again, when a second bullet struck him in the chest. My head jerked to the side and saw that Ash was the one who took the shot.
Instantly, Honeycutt and Rayne pounced forward and tackled Voss to the ground.
A wave of relief almost spread through me, when a terrible scene played out before my eyes.
Jax’s eyes rolled back as his hand clutched at his stomach, blood pooling out through his fingers. I screamed out his name. Jax toppled to the ground.
Rayne and Honeycutt wrestled with Voss in the background, but all I could think of was Jax.
“No!” I cried out. “Jax!”
My body was weak. I stumbled to his side and fell to my knees. Jax choked as blood seeped from his mouth.
My hands shook as they ran across his stomach. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” I vowed frantically. “I can do this. I can heal you.”
Without another thought I closed my eyes. There had to be enough energy left inside me. I had to save him. This was Jax.
It was so hard to stay calm.
You can do this, I kept telling myself. You can do this. Just like always, just like at the testing center.
My body trembled as I tried to concentrate. I just had to find the negative energy and take it into me.
I felt Ash’s presence suddenly beside me.
Ash took one of Jax’s hands. “Come on, buddy, hold on,” he said urgently. Then, Ash’s face went cold. “I’ll never forgive my father for this, never.”
As I took in Ash’s pain, a wave of anger poured over me. This was Voss’s fault. Jax was lying here covered in blood because of Voss.
He couldn’t get away with this. Voss had hurt the one’s I loved too many times.
I wouldn’t give up, no matter how weak I was. I threw my hand back down to Jax’s body and pulled at the dark energy with all my might.
I continued to struggle, but I could feel the tainted energy breaking free. I had to heal him. Voss couldn’t get away with this. The anger gave me another burst of determination, and I continued to hold on.
Then, something strange began to take over. The injured energy wasn’t surging into me like normal; instead it was being directed away. It was going into another body instead—it was going into Voss’s body.
It was like all the hurt and pain he had caused me was taking over. Somehow, the injury was being healed in Jax’s body and being focused back onto Voss.
A fury grew inside me. I wanted Voss to feel it. I wanted him to suffer like he had made me suffer, and so many other people suffer, innocent people who didn’t deserve the pain.
Voss had used me so many times, like I was some pawn in his little game. He kidnapped me and bled my Watermark dry. He used my mother as bait and shot Doctor Jensen right before our eyes. He dragged me up to a roof and triggered a bullet through my head, point blank. He planted a car bomb, intent to kill my father, and killed Agent Duke instead.
Voss was a cold-blooded killer. Voss deserved to die.
The rage grew inside me, consuming every corner of my being. I pulled and pulled it free from Jax and threw it with wrath into Voss’s trembling body.
I could sense the darkness taking Voss over, rendering him completely incapacitated. I felt him writhing on the ground in agony as I hurled the pain into every molecule of his wretched body.
I was killing him. Voss deserved to die.
I was killing him.
I was killing him.
I heard voices beside me, felt hands on my arms with concern, but I was too consumed to respond.
I was killing Voss.
Anguish pulsed through me all at once. I had sworn never to let another man die. Not by my hand. Not if I could help it.
I wasn’t a killer. My purpose was to heal.
I knew I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill a man. Not even a murderer like Voss.
All at once, my straining body changed focus. I pulled the tainted energy back to me, trying to take it away. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on, but my determination wouldn’t allow me to let go. I pulled and pulled with all my strength, but it was more difficult than ever before.
Then, I understood why it was so straining. The darkness was clinging to Voss’s body, as if he wanted it to stay. The misery inside him grasped at the strands, holding on with all their force. It was like the darkness had been a part of Voss for so long that the pain was embraced as a crucial part of him.
I yanked the tethers harder. I had to do everything in my power not to let him die. Every inch of my body shook from the strain until I could feel the physical injuries lift away from Voss’s body. I knew I had saved his life.
It would make sense to give up and let go, but there was still so much darkness left inside him. An instinctive drive took over my being. I had to heal the darkness with light. I couldn’t be done after just healing his body, my soul longed to heal his misery too.
I searched every inch of my being for strength, forcing out my light, pushing it into Voss’s body to steal all the darkness I could. I wanted so badly to help him, but the wretchedness inside him fought back at every turn.
There was so much grief and bitterness, so much malicious intent... I tried with all my might, but I just couldn’t stand it any longer.
My body couldn’t it take it anymore. The injuries and darkness took over completely, and I felt myself collapse in defeat.