Chapter 561

No, they're tangible things, wrapping hard around Alvez's neck, his limbs, his body, extensions of Jesse's will.

"Who are you," Jesse growls, his voice echoing in the room, bizarrely doubled so that it sounds like there are two of him - one his normal voice, one much deeper - a dark purr. "What the fuck do you want?"

Jesse tightens his fingers around Alvez's throat once more and Rafe and I go rigid with shock when we see Jesse's hand slip, somehow, inward -

Not because he's ripped Alvez's flesh open but because - because...

My mouth drops open and I stop breathing - I have no explanation.

But Jesse's snarl deepens as he begins to pull, drawing something forward towards him.

A great shadow begins to emerge from Alvez's form, held tight in Jesse's hand. At first it's Alvez's double, but as Jesse steps back and pulls it further forward, it becomes clear that the man who emerges is...

Is not Alvez at all.

Is someone much, much worse.

Alvez's eyes roll back in his head as the shadow is pulled free and he collapses to the floor in a heap of flesh.

But none of our eyes are on him. Instead, they're on the incredibly tall shadow of a man whose throat is still held in Jesse's fist.

"Well, little demigod," the shadow man snarls. "Looks like my girl has found you at last."noveldrama

"Who are you!?" Jesse demands, his voice still echoing in that uncanny, two-throated way. I gasp in a breath, what feels like my first in minutes, as my eyes dart around the room to

see that Jackson is still stroom to

with his fist cocked, and Luca is on Rafe's other side, just staring in shock. In my hands, I can feel Rafe panting, even though each breath makes him wince in pain.

My eyes fly back to the shadow man when he speaks. "Do you not recognize me, child?" the shadow replies, taking a step towards Jesse, forcing Jesse to take a step back, even as his magic writhes, still trapping the man.

The man's voice booms out, echoing through all of us, and a shiver goes through me as I realize that I know exactly who it is - know it in my bones, even though I've never seen him before.

"You're..." Jesse breathes, his eyes going wide.

"Yes, I'm the one your grandmother created you as a weapon against," the God of Darkness says, his lips pulling back in a snarl as he glances down at Jesse's shadows. "That bitch, my wife. She is clever, I will give her that, to imbue her grandson with power equal to mine, to hold me back."

The man flicks his eyes to me now, and to Rafe.

"Even if she left the others vulnerable."

A slow smile takes his lips.

A snarl takes mine. "Tear him to pieces, Jesse," I command, rising to my feet, livid and finished with this god's threats, his deception, his insults to my family.

"I'm fucking trying, Ariel," Jesse grinds out, and as he does I see his shadows tighten, almost...sharpen somehow.

But the God ignores him, his eyes now on me. “Look at you, little goddess," he says, shaking his head, a look of obscene pleasure now on ony his face. haven't seen you with my true eyes since you were an infant - and look how well you've grown up. You're even more beautiful now that I see you with my own eyes, not through that..." he glances back now at Alvez, "that wretch's miserable mortal flesh.”

I growl, ignoring his words, stepping towards him. “Can you kill him, Jesse?" I ask, livid. "If you can, do it."