CHAPTER 20: The Flow of Blood

The plan was set.

Veronica, Ma, and Natasha stayed behind. Natasha was the strongest among them and could protect the Regens house with her force fields without needing to fight. Veronica’s sharp vision allowed her to spot incoming threats long before they arrived, giving them time to prepare. Brock was still out of commission, making him more of a liability than an asset. Ideally, they would have been safer in numbers, but they had to be strategic.

There was a huge debate for Jace to also stay behind. His powers were still unreliable and unpredictable at best, dangerous at worst. After a long argument, the final team was: Jace, Rin, Chester, and Felicity.

Time was of the essence and they made their way with haste. Danger lurked around every corner as Deviants prowled in the distance, their twisted bodies and jagged claws scraping against the ground. 

They were thrust into battle almost immediately.

Jace moved on instinct, dodging a lunging Deviant before slamming his foot into its chest. The impact sent it sprawling backward, but another came from the side. Rin was already there, flipping over him and slashing with a precise, surgical strike.

Chester teleported in quickly moving through the battle like a shadow slipping behind a Deviant. Before it could react, he placed his hand on its armored back and sent a powerful telekinetic blast through its spine. The deviant dropped lifelessly.

Felicity remained still as another Deviant charged at her drooling as it opened its jaw wide. She lifted her hands and gestured her fingers in fluid patterns making thin, nearly invisible lines. Controlling them with her fingers she lashed out at the Deviant which froze mid-charge, its entire body stiff as it was caught. Then Felicity exhaled, closing her hands into fists, the lines tightened around the creature’s body severing through flesh and bone shattering it in clean, perfect pieces.

They pushed forward making quick work of them, but at some point Jace stopped suddenly. The feelings of being pulled were unbearable like a hook lodged deep in his chest yanking him forward. His feet staggered and his balance wavered.

Then it hit him.

He yelled out a scream as he collapsed hitting the ground hard. He struggled, digging his fingers into the dirt as he felt his skull pounding like a drum. The world blurred into a haze of red and black.

He was suddenly flooded with a vision in his mind. Flashes of movement, he could make out one of them, Michael. He was battered and bleeding fighting a figure cloaked in an aura of suffocating darkness. He could also see two blurred figures using fire and ice against the cloaked figure. Didn’t know why his mind was forcing him to witness this. Then suddenly the vision vanished, leaving Jace gasping.

Jace barely had time to register reality before his body convulsed, moving up and down erratically. He felt intense heat crawling through his veins as if something inside him caught on fire.

"Jace!" Rin dropped beside him, shaking his shoulders.

Felicity held her cheeks, unsure what to do. "What’s happening to him?"

“I don’t know.” Chester took a step back his eyes wide. "Bu-but that’s…not normal."

Jace’s breathing turned ragged, his body twitching. His skin cracked, and deep veins formed all over his skin, dark and thick writhing like living wires. Then one by one they all began bursting from his skin lashing into the ground like whips through the air. It was his blood. His blood lashed out digging into the ground  dragging him like a zombie waking up feet first.

Before anyone could react, it pulled him forward.

Jace wasn’t running—he was being dragged by his own blood.

"JACE!" Rin shouted after him.

Like a marionette with unseen strings, his body jerked forward, his blood slingshotting him through the air. He crashed into walls, latched onto trees, swung himself from rooftops. A force was calling him forward, and his body was obeying.

“Were his eyes… glowing?” Chester whispered.

And just before Jace vanished into the distance, his voice echoed back—low, determined, unnatural.

"I'm here."

Meanwhile, the battle at the Founders house was getting more hopeless. Phoebe stumbled her body refusing to move the way she wanted. The last hit she took had nearly broken her ribs. She couldn’t generate or absorb electricity anymore. Emma crouched beside her, trying to help her recover, but her own breath was ragged. She was tired. They all were.

Michael, once their fastest fighter, was slowing down. Every movement dragged as exhaustion crept into his limbs. He was also reaching his limits.

Adelle was the one still holding her own against Malrik though she was still ineffective against him. Frank was trying his best to keep up but the temperature around Adelle was rising too fast. She threw her flames out at Malrik who deflected them effortlessly. Frank tried to form shards of ice but they melted before they could even take shape.

Adelle was burning with rage, her anger fuelling her fire even more. Her flames were now engulfing her entire body, burning brighter and hotter. Malrik stomped the ground with his foot and she instinctively moved out of the way by propelling herself with a blast of fire from her feet.

This was new. For the first time, she felt something different.

Adelle smiled after getting up and looking at her arms, the flames weren’t burning her. It was like they were alive pulsing rhythmicly with her hearbeat. Something inside her was awakening.

"Why aren’t you doing anything, Frank?" Adelle snapped, her voice sharper than usual.

“Because you’re too hot! And not in the fun way. It’s taking everything I have to keep myself from burning up. And I can’t regulate the air fast enough because you’re burning up every bit of moisture. I can’t make ice when there’s nothing to freeze!"

Adelle scoffed. “I thought you could freeze the water in the air.”

“There is no water in this air! Aren’t you listening?” He stepped back from Adelle a bit and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Frank then turned to Michael. “We need to retreat! We’re getting close to the Safe Haven, let’s regroup and defend from there.”

“No!” Adelle said clenching her fist. “I can’t explain it but right now…I’m feeling really good. I think I can take him or at least hold him off while the rest of you get to Safe Haven.”

“Bu-u-t.”

“Just go! Frank.”

Immediately Adelle used her arms to form a huge fireball and threw it at Malrik who barely moved, lifting a single finger to parry it aside. Adelle kept her attacks coming and one  such powerful explosion rocked the ground. Flames engulfed Malrik’s form and the ground beneath him burned and smoke formed. Yet, when the dust settled, he was still standing.

The Dome became transparent as the sun rose, light illuminating through the battlefield. Smoke and dust filled the air. For the first time since the battle began, Malrik turned his focus away from them. His expression shifted, his eyes narrowing as he felt it.

Something else was coming.

Something stronger.

For the first time, his form was rigid and he became fully visible now. His face—once an indistinct, shadowed blur—was clear and shaped. A menacing smile appeared across his newly formed face. It looked like he was glancing at Adelle, but he was actually looking through her in the distance.

The aura around him shifted, grew and heavier. The ground beneath him cracked, and the air itself pressed on the others like a suffocating weight. Malrik locked eyes with the approaching figure floating towards it.

“Get away, pests,” Malrik murmured. “I found what I came for.”

Jace appeared as a blur stopping between Malrik and Adelle.

He shot past her so fast that she barely registered his arrival, his body screeched to a halt like a speeding car stopping just before the edge of a cliff. When the dust from his impact settled, Jace was visible and behind him—his blood coiled and crawled waiting to strike.

“Jace?” Adelle whispered, confused.