As soon as Bloom and Antony mounted the stairs she felt a sharp sizzling pain all over her body. Biting and tearing and burning her skin. She clenched her chest, the place over her heart, and knew immediately that this was not her pain.
"Melchior" she whispered.
She was about to dash up the stairs to him when she heard growling and barking and the snapping of teeth coming from higher above. She looked up just in time to catch a bright flash of firelight.
"Marcus"
Bloom stood still, unable to decide between helping Marcus or Melchior. But it shouldn't have been so hard to decide. She knew she should go to Melchior, her best friend, her brother.
Marcus was no one to her.
And yet….
"Go to him" Antony said. He stood not too far from her, his armour was still in shreds and his hair and face were still wet with blood and flaked with dirt, but his eyes were alive and his hands were firm on the shaft of his trident. "I'll keep Melchior safe"
"But I should—"
"Go!" He said again his gaze on her sharp, then his voice softened and his eyes shifted to the awaiting stairs."He'll understand"
Bloom didn't know what to say, but before she could find the words Antony was already bounding up the stairs and took a turn into the third floor.
She took a breath and followed, but not after him.
She ran to the top.
***
Melchior was outnumbered but he was not afraid.
In fact he was enjoying himself.
He fended off the undead babies with his sword, sending them flying away in different directions, their green blood staining his armour and sword.
He tried his best and was doing decently well until an undead baby managed to shoot a projectile of acid into his eyes.
It went downhill from there and he did nothing but flail his hands as the undeads began towering over him and climbing his body until he fell to the floor. They bit and chewed and drooled their toxic saliva on his skin, and everything hurt horribly, but he didn't cry out, he didn't even send out a pulse of magic, he just cackled with laughter as the world got darker and darker.
"Melchior!" he heard someone shout, was it Antony or Sal?, he couldn't tell, the undeads over him muffled everything else. Besides they sounded too much alike to tell them apart.
"Do not worry about me!", he yelled to whoever it was as he swatted an undead baby off his face, "I am completely fine, I assure you!"
There was a rumbling sound that answered him and Melchior almost thought the world was collapsing. But then he heard the undeads wailing once again and felt them vibrate above him.
Without warning they burst apart with a loud, resounding splat. Melchior raised his head, curious to know who it was, and saw that it was indeed Antony, and he was a total mess. His armour was in ruins, his body was filthy with gold and green blood, and his head was bent, his hair falling down over his eyes like curling strips of violet as he stood.
Antony looked up, his crystalline eyes were shining a light green and his breath came out in pants heavy with exhaustion.
"Are you alright?" he asked, as the light in his eyes dimmed.
Suddenly, before Melchior could say a word, Antony fell to his knees with a grunt, his hands grabbed his head as if in pain.
"Shut up!" he yelled.
Melchior was confused, he was certain he hadn't said anything. He walked forward, wondering what was wrong with Antony, when he himself fell to the ground. He was just now feeling the pain from all his wounds and collapsed as he felt the seering agony of it all.
"Melchior!" Antony exclaimed again.
There was a series of fast approaching footsteps and then Antony came into view as he crashed down beside him. He was breathing hard and sweat was trickling down his dirty face but his eyes were focused solely on Melchior.
"Dear Zeus, you're full of holes" he said.
Melchior didn't know what to say to that. He suddenly felt very tired. Lamech, he noticed, was still held firmly in his grasp.
"Just hold on, okay, Sal will be here soon"
Sal, Casmir, the promise.
They all swirled in his head like a tornado.
"The promise" Melchior mumbled, hoping Antony could hear if not understand him, but Antony only looked at him in worry and confusion and before he could say anything else more footsteps sounded from the stairs and then the floor of the hallway.
Soon Sal was looking down at him in bewilderment and Katarina was beside him, her face plain with horror.
"Antony, what happened?" Sal exclaimed as he unsheathed his wand and began to draw on Melchior's skin.
"The undeads were already on him when I got here" Antony explained. "I took them out, but I cannot heal so I waited for you"
The Healing glyph shone to life and Melchior could feel the gaps in his skin closing and the burning of his flesh cooling down.
"Where's Bloom?, she should be here" Sal said.
"She went to help Marcus" Antony whispered clearly trying to spare Melchior that piece of information, but he had heard and he was wondering.
Marcus?, instead of me?
Then he realized and he smiled knowingly.
Of course, he thought, It couldn't be anything else.
"Mel" Sal said, his voice careful, "are you sure you're okay?"
Melchior looked up at Sal's worried expression and nodded his head.
"Yes, I am" he said as he stood from the floor and slid Lamech into it's sheath. "It was just a scratch"
"I wouldn't call it just a scratch" Sal replied.
"I would call it a design of scratches" Katarina said.
"An entire tapestry in fact" Antony added.
"But I'm fine now", he stretched out his hands for emphasis, "see?"
Sal peered at him, his eyes glowing and the outline of his demon's mark beaming through his tunic.
He's reading my mind, Melchior realized.
Sal's eyes dimmed but Melchior could tell that he'd seen something he didn't like.
"What is it?" He asked.
Sal glanced at Lamech hanging at Melchior's side and then his eyes were back on his.
"The fear" he said. "it's gone"
Melchior remembered Lamech's whispers, and the sudden rush of.....was it confidence?, bravery?, he couldn't pin down the feeling, but he remembered that it was like being unstoppable. Being unafraid.
There was a roar of fire from above them, and then a loud boom coupled with a bright burning light.
Sal's eyes didn't stray from Melchior.
"We'll talk about this later" he said, he whipped his head to the others. "We have to check on Bloom and Marcus"
The others took off and Sal and Melchior followed, all of them bounding up the stairs together. All the while Lamech's voice rang in Melchior's ears.
You are destruction, you are fear.
***
When Bloom got to the top floor, her lungs nearly out of breath, she saw two creatures entangled in a flash of teeth, claws and fur.
The large nine tailed fox, which was undoubtedly Marcus, was slashing with his claws and biting with his razor sharp teeth, sending sprays of green blood up into the air.
Bloom had seen Marcus in many ways. She had seem him excited, kind, loving, angry, but she had never seen him so beastly, so wild.
The wolf, which was a decayed monstrosity, didn't look like it had any chance. It would bite back at times, causing a well of blood to stain Marcus's orange fur red, but at some point it stopped and resorted to dodging and staying a distance away from Marcus.
Marcus snarled as the undead wolf took several steps back, and was about to pounce on the wolf, when his eyes, gold and slitted and shocked, landed on Bloom.
Suddenly everything went still, and Bloom thought the world had somehow stopped. Marcus was frozen in place, his canine eyes carrying a softness that seemed foreign on a predator's face. The undead wolf was suddenly forgotten.
And then Bloom remembered.
The wolf.
She tore her gaze from Marcus and saw that the undead was already in the air, bone white claws sharp and ready to sink into Marcus's flesh.
Marcus still had his eyes on her and was foolishly unaware of the death approaching him. Bloom knew in that moment that she couldn't let anything happen to him. Nothing would harm him, not for as long as she breathed.
She reached out her hand, power coursing through her bones, and it shone white with wild magic. She called on the plants around them, calling for their roots sunk deep into the earth of the dead world. In a second, thick, black vines sprouted from the stone floor and wrapped around the undead wolf.
It strained, slashing and trying in vain to squirm out of the vines hold on it, but Bloom held fast, magic rushing through her veins like a raging river.
Marcus on taking his eyes off Bloom and seeing his prey trapped, did the most amazing thing Bloom had seen in her life.
He barked.
It was loud, so loud it made Bloom lose hold of her magic, and following it was a large column of fire streaming toward the trapped undead. Bloom could feel the heat from where she stood and ducked to the floor as it burned red and gold and orange, consumimg the undead in front of them in an instant.
The vines burned of and the undead wolf dropped to the floor with a loud howl, becoming nothing but a smoldering heap of death and decay.
Bloom looked away from the burning corpse and turned to Marcus, she was surprised to see him standing there, still in full kitsune form, staring at her, his canine eyes more fiery as they reflected the light of the flames.
Are you okay?, he asked.
His snout didn't move but Bloom felt his voice caress her mind, it was still the same and it was tinged with worry. It made her dizzy as she rose to her feet and struggled to stay standing.
"I'm fine" she replied.
How long were you standing there for?
"Long enough thankfully" she said as she looked again at the burning undead. Her eyes left it and went to the wound at his side. "What about you, are you okay?"
He looked down at himself and Bloom thought she saw a grin spread across the fox's face.
I will heal, he said, though I'm honoured at your intense worry for my welfare, it is quite…
Before he could finish there were footsteps pounding up the stairs and not long after their companions appeared.
"Woah" Katarina said as she emerged and surveyed the hallway and it's carnage.
"You did this?" asked Antony looking at the half burnt body of the wolf's corpse.
Regrettably so, Marcus said.
Bloom looked at him and she saw his eyes shine with something other than fire and a canine light. It shone with tears.
Sal, who'd just emerged, breezed past her and immediately went to Marcus, touching his fur and whispering into his ear.
Then Melchior came up the stairs and Bloom felt a part of her heart lurch. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him. To her surprise he returned it, his slim arms went around her, and they held each other close. Their hearts and souls beating as one.
"I'm sorry I didn't come for you" she said into his armour, he smelt of blood and decay and iron. "I wanted to, I just—"
"You finally fell" he breathed, a smile in his voice.
She pulled away from him and looked into his ocean eyes. They seemed more green than blue now, or had they always been that way?
"No, I…"
Marcus's voice echoing in her mind cut her off and she and Melchior turned to face him.
This floor is empty, Marcus was saying, that only leaves the roof.
They all turned to the flight of stairs that led further up to the roof. Bloom, despite all she'd faced till this very moment, felt a chord of dread encircle her heart.
Melchior, feeling what she felt, took her hand in his and held it tight.
Sal looked at all of them, he didn't have to say a word, they all knew what was going through his mind.
It was time.
***
Walking through the door and into the cool of the night felt like walking through a portal. The scent of black magic was so strong up here that it felt like Sal had stumbled into a whole new world.
He scanned the expanse of the roof, it was large and flat and standing on it felt like standing on normal ground save for the view of the trees and the barren lands beyond.
Sitting cross legged, and unfazed, outside a rune circle surrounded by flickering candles was Percival just as Sal had seen him. Black dress shirt hanging on his body like darkness, his hair shimmering under the moonlight. Sal could see now that it wasn't grey as he'd thought, it was almost bright, alive.
Like silver, he thought but it couldn't be, he concluded that the cast of crimson moonlight altered what his eyes were supposed to see.
The twang of an arrow string caught Sal's attention and he turned to Katarina who was nocking an arrow and getting ready to fire.
"What do you think you're doing?" Sal whispered.
Katarina didn't look at him, she took aim instead, unwavering as she had been when she'd almost shot Antony.
"The man we've been hunting is right there, what do you think I'm doing?" she said as she flexed her shoulders. "I'm trying to kill him"
"Don't!" He whispered harshly as he stood in her line of sight. She looked at him, confused, wondering.
The same look was etched on the faces of the others behind her.
"I mean…. wait"
"What's your problem?" She asked.
I need the spells for Casmir, for you, he wanted to say, but he couldn't tell her that.
Not yet.
Not now.
"Always listen to the Phantom" said a voice that made everywhere go cold.
Sal slowly turned from Katarina and saw that Percival was standing and facing them.
The first thing Sal noticed were his eyes.
They were a startling red, the same colour as the moon and the stars hanging in the darkness above them, and then he saw everything else. His pale ghost like skin, his long silver hair and his handsome face, like the face of a Prince of Hell, beautiful and ethereal and yet menacing, the golden bracelets encircling his wrists and arms were like liquid fire and seemed to move of their own accord.
This was Percival, in the flesh, like a nightmare come to life.
"Phantoms are always right" Percival continued, his voice was so deep and ancient it sent shivers up Sal's spine. "At least sometimes we are"
Sal took a step back as Percival uttered those words. His earlier fear came back to him in a flash of cold dread that quickly spread from his chest to his feet.
"No, it can't be" he mumbled.
Percival smirked and Sal heard Lucifer's voice echo in his head.
The gods will only tell you half the truth.
"I'm quite surprised you didn't figure it out sooner", said Percival as he raised the sleeve of his shirt and revealed his pale right arm and his demon's mark, a serpent consuming it's own tail, etched between his wrist and elbow.
Suddenly it all became clear, his hair was silver, his eyes were a peculiar red, and he possessed power, power that made it possible to create a world for himself.
"You see, I'm just like you"
Sal felt his body go rigid, he suddenly couldn't breathe, he tried to but he simply couldn't. Percival stepped forward, a pitiful smile on his beautiful face.
"You need not be so frightened" he said. "I'm sure there are worse things in the world than to share your nature with me"
"How is this possible" Sal said. "This can't be possible"
Percival chuckled and continued walking, his eyes and his mark were glowing now, a bright bloody red.
"Did you really think you were the only half mortal in this plane of existence"
"I knew there were others, but you?, you are no warrior, you're a murderer"
At that Percival laughed.
"Is that what the Court told you?", he said as undeads began scuttling up the hospital walls, "how naive of you to believe them"
Sal heard Katarina shift her aim to the nearest undead and shoot an arrow, the sound of piercing and something blowing with a splat followed, he heard Bloom as she struck her whip and sliced another, but Sal wasn't paying attention to that, he was looking at Percival who had a small smile on his face, undeads clustering in front of him and blocking him from Sal's view.
"Sal, he's getting away!" He heard Katarina say.
He immediately called Gemini as he felt the shock bleed out of his body. His twin blades erupted in his hands with a burst of blue fire.
"Hold them off for as long as you can!" He said, his fingers tightening around each of his swords hilts. "I'm going after him"
***
An undead came out of nowhere, it's claws ready to slice Melchior to bits, but he was ready this time, unafraid as he raised Lamech and struck down with it glowing in his hands, the undead split right down the middle, it's blood splashing over Melchior's arms and feet.
He smiled and charged forward.
He sliced through every one of them as they tried to block him from Percival, his bones fueled by an excitement he'd never felt before. He pierced through heads, slashed bodies in half, kicked with his legs, occasionally shoving away any undeads that grabbed him, he needed to get to Percival, needed to help Sal, needed to avenge Casmir.
Stop and turn.
Melchior stopped dead as he heard it, but he didn't turn. That voice, it was barely a whisper but he knew it, he'd know it anywhere.
Stop and turn, it said again.
He turned and saw the undeads encroaching on the others. Antony stood in front of them, his trident raised in defense as he tried to push the encroaching undeads back, Katarina barely had any space to shoot her arrows and instead held her bow fiercely in her hands, Marcus had his teeth bared at the undeads, and he stood protectively in front of Bloom who stared at the undeads with a menacing glare.
Bloom.
Melchior realized with a jolt that he wasn't protecting her, he'd gone too far, the plan had been for them to fight together.
Lamech's whisper came again, harsh and sharp and stronger than ever.
Forget them, you are destruction, this is what you do.
But it was being pushed back as if by an external force, instead Melchior remembered Casmir, the look on his face that night near the pool, the amusement in his eyes whenever they trained, his smile, always bright, always shining, even as he died in a pool of his own blood. Casmir would never leave his friends behind, never.
No, he whispered back, this is what you do, you destroy, you are fear, I am Melchior.
And then it happened, a fresh burst of magical energy coming from deep within himself. Electricity snaked from his arm to Lamech and the runes on the sword faded along with it's voice in his head.
Protect them, came that voice again and Melchior knew now who had spoken to him.
"I will Casmir, I will"
***
Sal swung Gemini effortlessly, the undeads were nothing to him, his focus was on Percival, everything else in front of him was just an untenable obstacle.
He advanced forward so quick even he was surprised by how fast he was going, his swords sliced through the undeads, their green blood splashing him in every direction.
"You're a formidable opponent young one" Percival said, though Sal couldn't see him, the undeads were still blocking his path, but his voice resonated through them, the symbols on their necks pulsing with every word. "But you have no army, I have been building mine up for years, decades of hard work"
"And for what?", yelled Sal as he slashed more and more undeads and inched closer to his target, "why are you doing this?, why are you risking the safety of our worlds?, what is it that you desire so badly that you must get by all means possible!"
Suddenly the undeads stopped, as if called at attention, and parted like the Red Sea. They left a clear path in the middle and at the end of it Percival stood. His eyes were burning now, the corners stained with blood, glistening golden red.
"Why?" He said, his voice was cool, calm and collected. "You mean you have spent all this time hunting me and you have no knowledge of why I am doing what I am doing"
Sal levelled his gaze with Percival's, wondering if the why really mattered. If people's lives were at stake, if the worlds were really at risk of falling, did why matter even then?
"Do you even know what it is I am doing?" Percival asked.
At that Sal's resolution wavered. He didn't know what to say. He knew that Percival had killed people, had wreaked havoc on many of the other worlds, had broken multiple rules pertaining to the Lex, the Court had said as much, what they hadn't said was what rule it was he was actually breaking.
Percival laughed at Sal's silence, and the golden bracelets around his arm shot out. They were fast, too fast for Sal to react, and before he knew it his legs gave out from under him, Gemini fell to the floor as his hands fastened behind him. Sal fell to his knees with a groan, pain shooting through his body as they met the concrete roof.
"So you mean to tell me, that you travelled through realms, looking for companions, getting ready to kill me, without even knowing why you were doing it" Percival said. "It must be the blood of those Shemer coursing through your veins, making you so unwaveringly loyal, so inexorably foolish"
He stepped aside and gestured behind him and Sal could see the glowing rune circle, and in the center of it was the disembodied head of a teenage girl. She looked about his age but her eyes were closed and her face was still, frozen and beautiful, her hair a long, flowing silver.
"You asked me what it is I desire so badly that I would do anything to get it", he stretched a hand to the head of the girl, his voice firm but calm. "I only want what every father would want, to see their child grow, learn, laugh, love, all I want is to see my Julika breathe again"
Sal looked from Percival to the girl and suddenly Lucifer's last words to him found their way back to his mind.
No one is all bad, not even Percival, he's doing what he's doing for a reason.
Sal had said then that he didn't care, but now, watching Percival stand side by side with the head of his daughter, he didn't know anymore.
"Look, I get it, you lost someone you care about, but it is against the Lex to raise the dead, it was her time—"
"It was not her time!" Percival said. "She was killed, murdered by the gods, they took her away because she was powerful, she was a phantom, they killed her for being herself, as if being who she was made to be was a crime in itself"
"Even so, the Court wouldn't send me to kill you if they didn't believe you were doing something wrong"
Percival scoffed.
"You have been a part of this world for only a short time and yet you believe in them so much, the Court and it's members are not as just as you think they are"
"Then why, why do they want you dead?, why would they send me to kill you?"
"Because they are like men who fear what they cannot control" Percival said. "My Julika is special, the first of her kind, and they are afraid of the feats she could perform if she were alive"
Percival raised his hand and curled his fingers into a claw. Sal felt a sharp pain in his chest, like something had hooked his heart.
"They know I can bring her back, they know I will succeed, and so they send you, the only who can, to stop me" Percival clenched his fists and suddenly Sal couldn't breathe, he was gasping for breath, his heart pounding rapidly in his chest. "I won't let you stop me, no one ever has and no one ever will"
He turned to the rune circle and sat cross legged in front of it, he glanced at Sal briefly and said; "I'm sorry you had to be the puppet". Then he snapped his fingers.
Sal's heart stopped.
He couldn't feel it pounding anymore, couldn't hear it beating.
He fell to the floor.
***
Katarina and the rest had their backs pressed against each other, their weapons at the ready in front of them as the undeads inched closer and closer. They were surrounded, but the undeads didn't attack, instead they crept forward slowly, teasing them like they were animals behind the bars of a cage.
"They're too many of them" Bloom said. "We cannot win this"
They all knew that it would come to this, to losing, but still Katarina silently prayed to any god listening for a miracle of some sort, even as the undeads got ready to pounce on them.
Suddenly there was a flash of lightning rippling through the red sky, and then, like an answer to her prayer, all the undeads stopped. Their eyes went dim, the chain of symbols on their necks fading to black, and then they all fell to the floor, dissolving into puddles of green fluid and flowing over the edge of the hospital's roof.
Katarina was stunned, but more than stunned she was confused, why had they….
"Sal!" Antony screamed.
Lightning flashed once again and like a layer of Shade peeling away Katarina saw what was happening right in front of her.
Percival sat cross legged, his head raised to the sky, his silver hair falling behind him as he chanted arcane words. Latin spilled from his lips like a song as the candles surrounding the rune circle flickered, their flames changing colour. The air was thick with the smell of sulfur, and the lightning flashing in the sky brought down the smell of ozone, everything was overwhelming, and then Katarina saw Sal.
He lay on the floor, his hands and feet bound by golden chains, his eyes open wide, his mouth agape, as if he was gasping for air, golden red blood was spilling from his nose and ears and eyes and he was jerking, his body violently vibrating.
Katarina bolted to him, her feet barely touching the ground as she ran.
He's dying, was all that went through her mind, I cannot lose him, I cannot lose the man I love.
She crashed to her knees as she reached his side, his body was still jerking, blood was gradually forming a pool beneath him as it spilled out of him.
"Sal, Sal, I'm here, okay, just hold on" she said. The wind was howling louder behind her, Percival's voice floating on it, carrying the words of the spell to her ears.
She didn't know what to do, didn't know how to save him. Then a voice, his voice, invaded her mind.
The wand, kat.
She looked into his face frozen in pain and shock, and then she reached for his wand still sticking out of his boot. Her hands closed around it and she wrenched it free. As soon as she did a glyph shone in her mind, an egyptian ankh, the Life glyph. She grabbed his face, tears spilling out of her eyes as she felt how hot he was, and then she began to draw.
Katarina had never used glyph magic before, had never even held a wand before, but she could feel Sal guiding her, could hear his voice in her head telling her what to do. In that moment, their minds had become as one, his power had become her power, his knowledge had become her knowledge, and she could feel him in ways she didn't think she ever could.
She felt his heart brush against hers, his mind kiss hers, his soul wrap itself around hers, and as she drew the last line of the glyph, she felt it all go away as his lungs learned to breathe and his heart learned to beat again.
He took a large breath of air, and Katarina felt relief wash over her. His body stopped jerking, his chest rose and fell, and his eyes shone a bright blue as they settled on her.
"Kat" he said, his voice a whisper, his eyes alight and luminescent with love as he gazed up at her. "You saved me"
She let out a breath, her fingers brushed his cheek where blood had stained it.
"'I did" She said, unable to take her eyes off his, unable to keep the smile off her face. "Because I see now that letting you go is the one thing I cannot and will not do"
He chuckled at that and Katarina decided that was the best thing she'd heard in her entire life.
Then there was a loud moaning sound.
She turned abruptly and saw that the head of the girl was floating in the air, a line of blood dribbling down her forehead, her eyes still closed, silver hair flying in the wind like ghostly tendrils. The sound of moaning resounded and Katarina felt as the temperature dropped. Everywhere was suddenly cold as spirits presented themselves before Percival.
She looked around for the rest but they were all on the floor, hands clamped over their heads from the wailing, limbs gone stiff from the cold.
"What's happening to them?" Katarina asked.
"It's the spell" Sal said as he raised himself up with a grunt and snapped the gold chains binding his hands and legs like they were twigs. "They can't handle the magical energy, you're not affected because of the power we share now"
"What do we do?, how do we make it stop?"
There was another flash of lightning as Percival shouted "Julika!" into the sky.
The wailing grew louder.
"I have to stop him" Sal said as he stretched out his hands and Gemini flew into his grasp. "Once he completes the spell there's no going back"
"Sal!" Katarina called. "You don't know if that's the right thing to do"
There was another flash, another shout of Julika's name, another chorus of wailing.
"Sometimes the right thing to do isn't always the best thing to do" Sal said, and then he was off towards Percival.
Katarina watched him go, and then she raised her eyes and saw that what was once just a floating head was now a hovering body clothed with ropes of swirling fire.
Sal was right behind Percival now, his two swords raised and ready to pierce through him. Katarina couldn't help the knot of worry in her stomach, that feeling that something was wrong refused to leave her.
And as Sal was about to run Percival through with his twin swords Percival gave one last shout of his daughter's name.
Thunder shook the earth, white lightning lit up the world like daylight, and the wailing immediately seized. Julika opened her eyes, bright red like her father's, and the ropes of fire encircling her spread out like a wave.
Sal stood stunned and staring at the girl floating in the air. Katarina could see his hands shaking, his body unwilling to move forward.
The girl slowly descended and landed softly on the floor of the roof. Percival went down to her and wrapped her in his arms.
"Julie, my Julika" he whispered, he was oblivious to Sal standing right behind him. "How long I have waited to hear your heart beat again"
Julika looked up at her father, confusion evident in her eyes. Then her gaze travelled behind him and landed on Sal.
Confusion quickly gave way to fear.
"Julika, speak to me, please"
But she never did. The light in her eyes died and her lids fluttered closed as she went limp in her father's arms.
"Julie, Julika" Percival whispered repeatedly, but she never answered and Katarina's heart went out to Percival, that knot of uncertainty growing tighter in the pit of her stomach.
Then there was a sharp slicing sound, the sound of iron cutting through flesh and scraping passed bone. Katarina looked to Sal and saw that he'd run Percival through from behind, his two swords stuck through his back. He had no expression on his face. It was blank, even as he pulled out Gemini and Percival slumped to the floor.
Sal fell to his knees beside Percival, Gemini falling at his feet, and began talking to him, whispering words Katarina couldn't make out from where she stood.
He grabbed Percival's head and she could see the blue burn of his eyes as they glowed, and the sound of Percival screaming in pain muffled by Sal's hand over his mouth.
Then there was silence and Sal dropped Percival's head to the ground. He turned slightly to her, his silver hair curtained over his eyes.
"He's dead" he said.
She didn't exactly know how to react, the battle was over, their hunt was complete, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something else was just beginning.
"Sal!, Katarina!"
They both turned and saw the others running towards them. Katarina rose and so did Sal, they both received their friends with open arms. Antony drew Sal into a hug and Bloom came to Katarina with an affectionate hand on her cheek.
"Are you okay?" Bloom asked.
Katarina looked back to the Julika's motionless body behind her. Marcus, who had Shifted to human form and was wearing only shorts, and Melchior were huddled over it checking for signs of life, and then she looked at Percival's body, Sal was drawing a Fire glyph on it, Antony standing behind him, and they watched it burst into black flames.
"I don't know" she answered still looking at Percival's burning body. "Something doesn't feel right"
Bloom nodded, her eyes trained on Melchior and Marcus. "I feel it too"
"Guys!" Melchior called.
They all turned to him and Marcus still huddled over Julika's body. There was a look of horror on his face, on both their faces, and Katarina felt her heart start pounding hard again.
"What is it?" Antony asked.
But it wasn't Melchior that answered, neither was it Marcus, it was Sal, his mark burning through his tunic as he looked at Julika's body.
"It worked" he said, his voice heavy with regret.
"She's alive"