Free Two Halves Series by Marta Szemik Page B

what he was about to do—he held his arms out over above the crevice, the spirits within held only with a sheer covering of light. “You’re too late!” He threw his head back and laughed. The hood of his cloak fell from his bald pate. He snorted for air in between loud laughs as he wallowed in his glory.
    The seekers tried to break through the protective shield, but they were zapped one by one, thrown to their knees.
    “He’s unlocking the door to the hereafter,” I yelled as energy from Aseret’s palms flowed toward the opening.
    “Put your hands in my palms to bind him,” Eric said. “The light won’t hurt you. We cannot let him open the hole.”
    I placed my left hand on top of the blue sphere. Mira did the same on her side. The electricity travelled through my body to form a new sphere in my other hand.
    Eric closed his eyes. The fleshy spikes protruding from his neck vibrated. The blue spheres released light that hit Aseret in the center of his chest. The force of impact threw him back against a wall. Even so, he continued to release energy through his palms toward the spirits.
    The spikes on Eric’s neck vibrated again, intensifying another blow. Aseret howled as he strained to focus. One more hit, and he would be done—bound to the underworld, unable to hurt humans and vampires.
    His gaze flew to Xela. I heard his cunning voice in my head: “You will regret this for the rest of your existence. The only woman you could love will be lost to you forever.” He turned his palms away from the hole to the hereafter and pointed to the witch.
    “No!” The sweet sound flowed from her mouth to my ears.
    Aseret’s hate was greater than his need for a cunning witch. He wanted to hurt me enough that I’d kill him. And yes, if he hurt any part of my Xela left in that body, I’d kill him.
    I pulled away from Eric and sped toward Xela before Aseret could disintegrate her.
    Aseret released his blow. My fate would be decided by the stream of magical fire. I was ready to sacrifice anything to save her, even damn the world.
    It only took a second and I pushed Xela aside. Her body slammed to the floor, her head striking the rocky surface. She lay unconscious, blood oozing from beneath her skull.
    Belatedly, I realized Aseret’s fire never hit me. I turned in time to see my sister shake dirt off her clothes. It appeared she had sped toward the demon lord, slamming into him and redirecting his blow toward the hole to the hereafter.
    Xela lay motionless. My left wrist burned. I killed her. I killed Xela. I looked in despair toward my wrist, expecting to see the glowing sphere.
    A hush fell over the hall. My gaze flew up to the seekers, demons, even the keepers, who all stood still. I thought they were concentrating on my wrist, as I was, but they weren’t. I looked up, their attention was on the open crevice. White spirits flowed freely through it to hover over the seekers. Their see-through white shadows vibrated with chaos and confusion. The hereafter had been opened.
    “They’re trying to locate their bodies,” Eric said.
    “It hurts.” Mira gasped and fell to her knees. Her eyes closed, clutching her wrist.
    I had done it. I’d decided our fate. One stupid mistake had tied us to the underworld.
    The inferno-like agony suddenly turned to ice, and the pain eased. I let go of my wrist, expecting an orange glow. Instead, I saw three wavy blue lines. The water mark.
    “But . . . how?” I gaped.
    Aseret shouted “No!” cutting into my confusion.
    The continuous stream from the blue spheres Eric held in his outstretched hands wrapped around Aseret’s body. It wound downward to connect his feet to the stone beneath him. Eric stopped, looking toward the keepers. They nodded, then disappeared into a vortex, leaving behind only swirling dust.
    I didn’t get a chance to stand before the room spun. The gray stone whirled together with the orange glow from the seekers’ eyes and turned to green. When it stopped, I