Chapter 26 Aria Marlowe
The Space Needle usually stood as a beacon of Seattle’s futurism, but tonight it looked like a jagged needle stitching a shroud over the city. The violet light of the Iron Order’s tech had been replaced by a sickly, pulsating emerald green that bled from the top of the spire, spilling down the steel legs like radioactive bile.
The streets of lower Queen Anne were silent, save for the sound of the rain and the occasional, rhythmic clinking of metal on stone.
"They're already up," Kael whispered.
We were crouched behind a rusted transit bus, three blocks from the base of the tower. Kael’s silver aura was pulled tight against his skin, making him almost invisible in the dark. I stood beside him, the obsidian mirror strapped to my back and my hand white-knuckled around the hilt of my sword.
In the street ahead, the first of them appeared. They weren't the shambling, rotting corpses of old horror films. These were the "Fresh Dead" victims of the blackout and the crossfire of the Iron Order’s raid. Their eyes glowed with the same emerald fire as the tower, and they moved with a jerky, unnatural speed.
"The Circle of Hecate doesn't just raise bodies," Kael said, his voice a low snarl. "They bind the souls back into the meat. Those things are in constant agony, Aria. That’s what fuels their strength."
"Then we're doing them a favor," I said, feeling the void in my chest stir. The shadow-leeches I’d consumed earlier were gone, but they had left a hollow space that was itching to be filled.
"Stay behind me until we reach the elevator," Kael commanded. "Once we're in the air, the frequency will be high. You’ll need to act as a ground for the magic, or I’ll be paralyzed before we reach the observation deck."
"Kael," I said, catching his arm before he could lung. "I saw Selene's eyes before I let her go. She wasn't just a puppet. She was terrified of whoever is at the top of that tower. If it’s the High Priestess of the Circle..."
"Then I’ll take her head," Kael said simply. He turned to me, his gaze softening for a fraction of a second. He reached out, his thumb brushing my cheek. "And you’ll take her power. Ready?"
"Ready."
We moved.
Kael was a hurricane. He didn't just fight the undead; he dismantled them. His sword was a streak of silver lightning, severing limbs and heads before the emerald spirits could even register his presence. But for every one he cut down, three more crawled out of the shadows of the nearby buildings.
"Aria! The gate!"
A massive wall of emerald fire erupted at the base of the Needle, guarded by four Necromancers in tattered grey robes. They began to chant, and the ground beneath my feet began to heave. Skeletal hands—remnants of a forgotten cemetery beneath the city—clawed through the asphalt, grabbing at my ankles.
I didn't use my sword for this. I slammed my palms against the ground.
Consume.
The vacuum didn't just take the spirits; it pulled the emerald fire right out of the air. I felt the cold rush of Necromantic energy surge up my arms. It felt like my blood was turning to slush, but I pushed through it, channeling the energy down into the ground.
The skeletal hands didn't just stop; they shattered, the spirits bound to them sucked into the void and neutralized.
The Necromancers gasped, their chant breaking. Kael didn't give them a second chance. He was through the gate in a heartbeat, his blade ending the threat before they could draw another breath.
We reached the elevator. The doors were jammed, but Kael pried them open with a grunt of effort. The shaft was a dark, vertical tunnel leading straight into the heart of the storm.
"The stairs would take too long," Kael said, looking up. "Grab onto me."
I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he leaped.
Vampires weren't meant to fly, but Kael’s strength allowed him to bound up the internal scaffolding of the tower with terrifying speed. We ascended floor by floor, the air growing colder and the emerald light growing brighter until it was blinding.
We burst through the floor of the observation deck, and the scene that met us was a nightmare of ritualistic gore.
The High Priestess of Hecate a woman with skin like parchment and hair like white snakes stood at the very edge of the deck, her arms raised to the sky. Below her, the entire city of Seattle was glowing green.
"You're too late, King of Shadows!" she shrieked, her voice amplified by the wind. "The Great Awakening has begun! Every soul that has ever died on this soil is mine to command!"
"Not while I'm breathing," Kael hissed.
He lunged, but he was intercepted. Out of the shadows stepped a figure that made my heart stop.
It was Pierce.
But it wasn't the Pierce I knew. His skin was grey, his eyes were burning emerald, and his throat was a jagged mess of scar tissue where the sniper bullet had hit him. He was a "Death-Knight" a vampire’s body reinforced by Necromancy.
"Pierce, no," I whispered.
The undead Pierce didn't speak. He raised a massive, bone-encrusted mace and swung it at Kael with enough force to crack the concrete deck. Kael barely parried the blow, his silver light flickering as it touched the necrotic weapon.
"Aria! The Priestess!" Kael roared, struggling to hold back his former friend. "I'll handle him! Break the beacon!"
I looked at the Priestess. She was laughing, her magic pouring into the Spire’s antenna.
I reached for the mirror on my back, but a bolt of green lightning struck me in the chest, sending me flying backward into the glass railing.
"You have no place here, Void!" the Priestess screamed. "You are a hole in a world that I am making whole! I will fill you with the screams of a thousand years!"
I struggled to stand, my vision swimming. I looked over at Kael. He was refusing to hurt Pierce, only defending, and the Death-Knight was winning. Kael was bleeding from a dozen small cuts, the emerald poison slowing his movements.
Jealousy for Selene felt like a lifetime ago. This was raw, visceral terror.
I didn't go for the mirror. I went for the Void itself.
I stopped fighting the hunger. I let the hole in my soul expand until I couldn't feel my own body. I became the center of the storm.
"You want to fill me?" I asked, my voice echoing with the power of the deep. I stood up, and the emerald lightning that hit me this time didn't hurt it was simply absorbed.
I walked toward the Priestess, every step cracking the observation deck. The wind stopped blowing around me. The rain turned to steam.
"Then give me everything," I commanded.
I grabbed the antenna of the Spire with both hands.
The feedback was like being struck by a star. The entire Necromantic network of Seattle thousands of spirits, miles of emerald fire, the very life-force of the Circle of Hecate was suddenly diverted.
It didn't go into the sky. It went into me.
The Priestess screamed as her own magic was ripped out of her body. She turned to dust in seconds, her soul consumed by the vacuum I had become.
Across the deck, Pierce froze. The emerald light in his eyes flickered and died. He slumped to the ground, finally, truly at rest.
Kael scrambled to his feet, watching in horror as I stood there, my skin glowing with a terrifying, pulsing green light. I was shaking, my hair floating around my head, my eyes completely black.
"Aria! Let go!" Kael yelled, running toward me. "It's too much! You're going to explode!"
I couldn't let go. I was the anchor now. If I let go, the energy would snap back and level the city.
"I... can't..." I gasped, the green fire burning me from the inside out.
Kael didn't hesitate. He grabbed me from behind, his arms wrapping around my waist, his fangs sinking into the hollow of my neck.
He wasn't feeding. He was acting as a lightning rod.
He began to pull the excess energy out of me and into his own immortal body, using his vampire resilience to buffer the lethal magic. We stood at the top of the world, a pillar of silver and green light, as the Necromantic fog over Seattle began to dissolve.
When the light finally faded, we collapsed onto the deck together.
The silence was absolute. The emerald glow was gone. The "Fresh Dead" in the streets below simply fell, their spirits finally released.
I looked at Kael. He was pale, his veins glowing with a faint, receding green, but he was breathing. He looked at me, and despite the blood and the soot, he smiled.
"That," he wheezed, "was much more than a merge of energies."
I laughed, a tired, shaky sound. I leaned my head on his chest, watching the first real dawn begin to break over the Puget Sound.
"Don't get used to it," I whispered. "I still prefer the library."
But as we sat there, I felt a new sensation. The Void wasn't just empty anymore. It felt... awake. And deep in the back of my mind, I heard a voice that wasn't mine.
Thank you for the feast, Aria Marlowe.
The fight wasn't over.