Keep trying he said, and called them children and darlings. There was no one Indigo hated more, not right at this moment. And he had Xan in his grip, which was purely unacceptable.
Indigo was still high from draining her step father, not more than an hour ago, otherwise she wouldn't have dared. But her mother was right there, this untapped source of power she knew would make her strong enough to make a difference. And she was angry and insulted and he had Xan and he was laughing that was not okay.
It was an instinct, reaching for that power; an instinct as well as a skill. A little like walking - you learn how, and then your instincts kick in when the ground starts to slope sharply downward and you find yourself speeding up, faster and faster as gravity and momentum team up against you, till your brain couldn't keep you up if it wanted to and it was all up to your reflexes to keep your feet underneath you.
Indigo's brain couldn't have figured out how to drain her mother; she couldn't have done it consciously, but right now, in her rage, it was instinct. Imogene felt the yank and stumbled forward - her hand clutching her robe to keep it closed - and -
And hadn't grown up a Dumitra to let that kind of shit get the better of her. Indigo was still practically a toddler - she had four years of being an active demon, that was nothing, especially compared to Imogene's age. Toddlers could still be knocked right off their feet with a well aimed kick.
So Imogene kept her soul, Indigo kept her impotent rage, and Alex (who was discovering a new kind of terror in Razvan's iron and immovable grip) kept trying to fight, using her long nails to try tear him up. "Razvan," Imogene said in a cold, authoritative voice. "Release them both."
The voice didn't seem to have much effect on Indigo, but it stopped Alex in her tracks. Suddenly, Imogene was as terrifying as Razvan. Terrifying and almost too bright to look at, she commanded the street - or at least she commanded Alex, who froze completely, like the most primitive part of her suddenly realised how dangerous the predators surrounding her actually were.
no subject
Indigo was still high from draining her step father, not more than an hour ago, otherwise she wouldn't have dared. But her mother was right there, this untapped source of power she knew would make her strong enough to make a difference. And she was angry and insulted and he had Xan and he was laughing that was not okay.
It was an instinct, reaching for that power; an instinct as well as a skill. A little like walking - you learn how, and then your instincts kick in when the ground starts to slope sharply downward and you find yourself speeding up, faster and faster as gravity and momentum team up against you, till your brain couldn't keep you up if it wanted to and it was all up to your reflexes to keep your feet underneath you.
Indigo's brain couldn't have figured out how to drain her mother; she couldn't have done it consciously, but right now, in her rage, it was instinct. Imogene felt the yank and stumbled forward - her hand clutching her robe to keep it closed - and -
And hadn't grown up a Dumitra to let that kind of shit get the better of her. Indigo was still practically a toddler - she had four years of being an active demon, that was nothing, especially compared to Imogene's age. Toddlers could still be knocked right off their feet with a well aimed kick.
So Imogene kept her soul, Indigo kept her impotent rage, and Alex (who was discovering a new kind of terror in Razvan's iron and immovable grip) kept trying to fight, using her long nails to try tear him up. "Razvan," Imogene said in a cold, authoritative voice. "Release them both."
The voice didn't seem to have much effect on Indigo, but it stopped Alex in her tracks. Suddenly, Imogene was as terrifying as Razvan. Terrifying and almost too bright to look at, she commanded the street - or at least she commanded Alex, who froze completely, like the most primitive part of her suddenly realised how dangerous the predators surrounding her actually were.