Read Online Fatal Ties: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 7) by J.A. Cipriano - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: J.A. Cipriano
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into place, and once it did, one of us was going to die. “Try like your life depends on it.”
He heaved out a breath that seemed to physically hurt him. “You’re strong, but I don’t think you can kill me. I don’t want to find out either.” He closed his eyes for a second. “From what I’ve seen, you’re smart enough to do it, maybe.”
“Glad you’re taking this seriously.” The chill in my voice scared me a little. It was the same voice my mother would have used before walking across a battlefield like a vengeful god.
“Yeah…” he sighed. “I am who you think I am, Lillim. I absorbed the spirit of the destroyer to stop him from killing the entire Egyptian pantheon. Ask your swords. They’ll tell you.”
I didn’t have to do that because the throb in the weapons in their sheathes told me it was true. Part of me wanted to ask them to elaborate, but I didn’t. I’d played Diablo II, and I remembered exactly what became of the hero at the end of Diablo. He’d become the villain in the second game because he’d tried to trap the essence of Diablo within him, and okay, sure that was a video game, but it was an awesome video game, and the parallels to the current situation were pretty freaking sound.
“I don’t care why you took the darkness, Connor.” I swallowed hard. “I want to know how you plan to get rid of it before it crushes you into a mud puddle beneath its heel. I want you to give it up, Connor.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I cannot do that if we want to stop Ragnarok.”
“Connor—”
“Lillim, I know how stupid this is. It’s fighting darkness with darkness, fighting fire with fire. I know it doesn’t work.” His grip tightened around me, and I felt the strength within him, the inner core of goodness that was Connor, and it was cracking under the weight of the destroyer’s mantle. He didn’t have long. “But if I give this up, we’ll lose. That’s what your dad’s crazy computers told me.”
“My dad knows about this, and he let you live?” I almost couldn’t believe it.
“He was a hard sell.” He shot me a lopsided grin. “Look, I’ll fly myself into the sun before I let this power take me over. I’ve got this, Lillim. Maybe not for long, but for a while. Trust me.”
“I’d trust you a lot more if I had a bomb buried in your skull.” Connor laughed as I said the words, which seemed like the entirely wrong reaction because I was totally serious. I wanted to trust him, but I just couldn’t. Not with how strong he was.
“Trust me. I wish it were that easy. Only I wouldn’t let you have the trigger. Thes, maybe, but not you.” He shook his head.
“Why not me?” I asked, suddenly hurt although I didn’t know why. I mean, him and Thes were childhood friends. Hell, Thes had gone to Ancient Egypt to save him. Of course he’d trust Thes more than me. After all, I was the type of girl who would totally go back in time and shoot five-year-old Hitler in the face while he sucked on a lollypop.
“The same reason Superman didn’t give Batman the power to kill him in Injustice and instead trusted the rest of the Justice League with his kill switch. Because Batman would use it.” He looked like he was about to say more but stopped himself, which was good because I wasn’t sure if I could handle him elaborating on me being the Hitler-baby killing girl. I mean, it was one thing for me to think it and quite another for him to think it. “Anyway, we’re here.”
The bubble of darkness around us peeled back like a tin can, which was weird as hell. Sunlight burst through, nearly blinding bright, even though it hadn’t exactly been dark inside the sphere, which was also weird now that I thought about it. Man, everything about Connor was alien.
As I blinked in an effort to orient myself to the sunlit landscape, I found myself staring at a charred battlefield. I had no idea where it was, given that I hadn’t known where we were going. Definitely some
He heaved out a breath that seemed to physically hurt him. “You’re strong, but I don’t think you can kill me. I don’t want to find out either.” He closed his eyes for a second. “From what I’ve seen, you’re smart enough to do it, maybe.”
“Glad you’re taking this seriously.” The chill in my voice scared me a little. It was the same voice my mother would have used before walking across a battlefield like a vengeful god.
“Yeah…” he sighed. “I am who you think I am, Lillim. I absorbed the spirit of the destroyer to stop him from killing the entire Egyptian pantheon. Ask your swords. They’ll tell you.”
I didn’t have to do that because the throb in the weapons in their sheathes told me it was true. Part of me wanted to ask them to elaborate, but I didn’t. I’d played Diablo II, and I remembered exactly what became of the hero at the end of Diablo. He’d become the villain in the second game because he’d tried to trap the essence of Diablo within him, and okay, sure that was a video game, but it was an awesome video game, and the parallels to the current situation were pretty freaking sound.
“I don’t care why you took the darkness, Connor.” I swallowed hard. “I want to know how you plan to get rid of it before it crushes you into a mud puddle beneath its heel. I want you to give it up, Connor.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I cannot do that if we want to stop Ragnarok.”
“Connor—”
“Lillim, I know how stupid this is. It’s fighting darkness with darkness, fighting fire with fire. I know it doesn’t work.” His grip tightened around me, and I felt the strength within him, the inner core of goodness that was Connor, and it was cracking under the weight of the destroyer’s mantle. He didn’t have long. “But if I give this up, we’ll lose. That’s what your dad’s crazy computers told me.”
“My dad knows about this, and he let you live?” I almost couldn’t believe it.
“He was a hard sell.” He shot me a lopsided grin. “Look, I’ll fly myself into the sun before I let this power take me over. I’ve got this, Lillim. Maybe not for long, but for a while. Trust me.”
“I’d trust you a lot more if I had a bomb buried in your skull.” Connor laughed as I said the words, which seemed like the entirely wrong reaction because I was totally serious. I wanted to trust him, but I just couldn’t. Not with how strong he was.
“Trust me. I wish it were that easy. Only I wouldn’t let you have the trigger. Thes, maybe, but not you.” He shook his head.
“Why not me?” I asked, suddenly hurt although I didn’t know why. I mean, him and Thes were childhood friends. Hell, Thes had gone to Ancient Egypt to save him. Of course he’d trust Thes more than me. After all, I was the type of girl who would totally go back in time and shoot five-year-old Hitler in the face while he sucked on a lollypop.
“The same reason Superman didn’t give Batman the power to kill him in Injustice and instead trusted the rest of the Justice League with his kill switch. Because Batman would use it.” He looked like he was about to say more but stopped himself, which was good because I wasn’t sure if I could handle him elaborating on me being the Hitler-baby killing girl. I mean, it was one thing for me to think it and quite another for him to think it. “Anyway, we’re here.”
The bubble of darkness around us peeled back like a tin can, which was weird as hell. Sunlight burst through, nearly blinding bright, even though it hadn’t exactly been dark inside the sphere, which was also weird now that I thought about it. Man, everything about Connor was alien.
As I blinked in an effort to orient myself to the sunlit landscape, I found myself staring at a charred battlefield. I had no idea where it was, given that I hadn’t known where we were going. Definitely some
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