Snow clung to the Sin of Wrath's hair and lashes, providing a startling, monochromatic contrast to the bloody hue of his glazed eyes. He and Darius stared at one another with quiet, sinister intent. Sethan curled his fingers in upon his palms.

Then he was gone.

Darius collided with my side and we were abruptly several yards away. The ground where I'd been standing burst in a cloud of debris as cold and hot air writhed against one another. Sethan was briefly visible before vanishing again.

"Run—," was the only word to come out of Pride's mouth before he hurled us through the Realm again. We reemerged beyond the edge of the trees and I choked at the pressure Darius's grip was putting upon my middle. Sethan's scream lifted from the clearing. "Run!"

I clutched Darius's arm in pale fingers and forced him to look away from the clearing, if only for a moment. "Don't go near the bunker," I said, the words tumbling together in my rush to get them out. "Don't go near it. It's a trap."

Darius's brow lowered, but he threw us through the encumbering pines before he could respond. The sound of old, solid branches being ripped from the trunks was like rapid gunfire followed by Sethan's enraged howl. "You sniveling coward, Darius! You won't run from me this time!"

Pride threw me forward and I managed to not fall flat on my face. He jabbed two fingers in one direction and, without further explanation, disappeared. Ignoring the fearful pounding of my own heart, I ran.

Leaves rustled in my passage. The low, spindly boughs of the bare trees reached for me as I ran into the waiting unknown of the mountainous forest. Twigs scratched my skin, but I rushed onward, concentrating on my footing and putting as much distance between myself and the Sin as possible.

The crash of trees breaking and being torn apart chased me. The earth trembled and groaned at my heels, pieces of bark biting into my flesh. I leapt over a fallen log and pain lanced through my side when I twisted at an angle. Falling, I ducked to wrap an arm about my middle—and narrowly avoided having Sethan break my neck.

I gasped and slipped on dead leaves. In the flurry of resulting motion, Sethan made another grab for my throat and missed, his nails raking over the bare flesh. Darius slammed his knee into his brother's chest and flung Wrath into the nearest cluster of trees.

"He's trying to distract me," Darius breathed, speaking more to himself than to me. Blood ran from two slashes already splayed on his brow. "Keep running."

I barreled through the underbrush, heedless of direction or the exhaustion in my muscles. I knew Sethan trailed like an overzealous shadow, remaining just inches out of reach. Wrath knew I was a weakness. If caught, Sethan could try to manipulate Darius—and by trying to kill me, he forced Pride into defending my life, putting Darius at a disadvantage.

Run, my thoughts screamed. Run. I have to run faster.

I can't outrun him.

I have to outrun him.

No. Stop. Think.

I couldn't physically stop, of course, but I buried my blind panic with my hunger and thirst and wrung every sensible thought I could from my mind. Can't outrun them. Not fast enough—but I'm small and darkly dressed. If I can find the right opportunity....

The calm, faux-civility Sethan had assumed when speaking to my family and me was gone. He exuded rage and an utter lack in restraint as he and his brother fought and chased my footsteps. Where Darius's movements had precisions and an inherent efficiency, Sethan lunged and threw his body and power into every strike with unparalled furor. Trees shattered like glass. The mountain rumbled with his screams.

He was out of control.

The ground's incline was increasing. It would have been wiser to run downhill and use the downward slope to give myself additional speed—but no amount of extra speed would allow me to outrun the Sin of Wrath. The trees on the mountainside were larger, their trunks thicker and their roots crowded with dense foliage. The snow was thin here as it was blocked by the canopy.

Sethan snarled, fangs fully visible in his vicious mouth, and jumped for my retreating back. He managed to claw my shoulder before Darius collided with him. Their momentum carried them farther into the trees.

I stopped running. I crouched low and, clamping a hand over my mouth to stifle my ragged breaths, darted in a different direction.

The confusion was instant. As expected, Sethan hurled himself back into the chase like a rapid dog—and missed my presence completely. Darius wasn't fooled—but he chased Sethan farther up the mountainside as I ran on, bent double at the waist, making as little noise as I could while maintaining speed.

Several minutes passed before I heard Sethan's outraged cry, followed by the thud of someone being struck. I heard the two Sins thrash in combat as they backtracked—but I was already rushing away. Sethan shrieked again, the sound so high-pitched it hurt my ears.

The hardier plants that grew about the boles of the old trees were more difficult to traverse, but I pressed on with the need for air burning in my lungs. Only when I put enough space between myself and the two Sins did I dare breathe or make a sound.

I climbed and scuttled over logs and boulders and all manner of half-frozen obstacles. The sound of Darius and Sethan trading blows grew fainter but never wholly disappeared. Their progression to and fro through the woods below could be marked by the echo of furious shouts and trees toppling like dominos.

I leaned my back against a sizeable outcrop of stone and held a hand to my chest in an attempt to slow my heart's rampage. Below, where the mountain slumped into the clearing I had been in earlier, the Sins continued to fight. Smoke and flames rose from part of the woods further west.

Darius....I peered around the side of the rocks, choking past the smell of soot and wet minerals. My throat and arm stung from where Sethan had sliced into the skin. I spotted Darius and Sethan embroiled in a devastating fistfight not far from where their encounter had begun. Pride's front was covered in red. He was slowing as his injuries hampered his mobility. Sethan, with his Absolian gift, could heal his wounds in moments.

I have to do something.

Rustling in the bushes drew my eye from the clearing. I prepared myself to flee—and almost cried with relief when I spotted Lionel, though gore dribbled from between his teeth and his normally dusky fur was speckled with red.

"What should I do?" I asked the filthy Druid as I extended a hand to touch his brow. My skin, chapped and reddened by the chill, was stark against his pelt.

Lionel tossed his head toward the trees, away from the clearing, indicating that I should move on.

"I can't run," I said through chattering teeth. "I can't go any further."

The Druid nuzzled my hand, then patted the dirt with one heavy paw, clearly telling me to stay put. I didn't need Lionel's coaxing to keep me in place. My legs were so leaden I couldn't run another step. I looked on below with the Druid at my side, the both of us intent upon watching how the conflict was unfolding.

They came upon us so suddenly neither of us had a chance to spot them. Like shadows breaking from the dark, the vampires darted out of the forest with nary a sound shared between them. Four of the fanged creatures swarmed our outcrop, three of their number tackling Lionel despite his unsheathed claws. They tumbled down the hill and out of sight.

We should have known Wrath had more of them lingering, was my only thought before the final vampire attacked me.

I choked on my breath as the spindly, unwashed man took hold of my shoulders and flung me into the ground. My head struck the stones I had been crouching behind and scrambled what sense I had. The vampire wrapped his cold, dirty fingers about my neck and squeezed.

"Bastard—!" I sputtered as the grinning creature tipped his weight onto his scrawny arms and drove a knee into my gut. His eyes were wide and unseeing, colored as red as roses. Blood sept from his ears and noses, wandering over his narrow chin and scarred lips.

Sethan has his mind. Even while fighting Darius, he can warp their thoughts to his will.

My legs flailed under the creature as I tried to create a construct. I felt the magic in my veins, slinking near the surface as if it pour through my skin with the barest provocation—but the vampire used his free hand to snatch hold of my wrists.

Useless! I writhed, but the monster—even thin and starved—was much larger than me. Black spots filtered into my vision. I can't die like this. I can't—!

A drop of fear whispered through my thoughts before I could stop it.

Suddenly the vampire was gone, crumpling onto his side with part of his skull caved in. I hardly registered the heat of Darius's presence before he, too, was gone. Sethan rode his coattails out of the Realm and, with a savage cackle, slammed into Darius with enough force to rattle my teeth.

Darius landed on his back with a grunt and before he could rise, Sethn landed upon him like a panther about to ravage its prey.

Wrath plunged a hand into Pride's chest.

"No!" I screamed as Darius's eyes widened. Sethan went to clench his fingers and thus end his brother's life—but I crashed into his back, throwing an ineffective fist into the side of his hard face. My knuckles twanged with pain, but my other hand was moving, twisting in a well-rehearsed circular motion so my fingertips could slide through the blood and snow on the Sin's ribs and create the construct—

"Oh no you don't, you little bitch!"

Sethan grabbed and wrenched on my arm. I was abruptly airborne as Wrath flipped me from his shoulders as if I weighed nothing at all. What smidgeon of air remained in my lungs was pushed out when I bounced on the cold ground. Sethan's foot struck my middle and I rolled, ending several feet away in the shade of a gnarled tree.

"You first, then," Wrath sneered as he stalked nearer. My eyes were screwed shut against the pain, but I nonetheless squinted through the accumulating moisture toward Darius. His fist was gloved in crimson.

He lay unmoving, his breast stained black with his own blood.

No....

Sethan swung and I reeled before the blow could connect. His breathing was haggard and his eyes were as black as polished obsidian. The Sin was drained by his fight with Pride, his actions lacking the supernatural speed he'd shone earlier. I dodged another thrown punch, but had nowhere to go. I was cornered against the solid tree, and Sethan pinned me in place with one fist twisted into the front of my torn shirt.

"You think yourself my equal, little girl?" the Sin cooed as his face neared mine. His breath smelt of old, dead things, and saliva dripped from his blade-like teeth. His eyes were twin portals into the vast, uncharted blackness of the Pit's lowest reaches. There was nothing human in that countenance. Nothing at all. "You think you can survive what is to come?"

I fumbled to create the construct again. Sethan snapped the wrist with his free hand and healed it in the same breath. His pleased laughter bathed my wet skin with his sickly breath as his power rose and rose in an unrelenting tide.

I needed a breath of clean air but couldn't find one.

Wincing, I spat in Sethan's face. "You should've been left to rot," I hissed. Something stirred beyond my inner burn of waiting magic, something far more sinister and dark. It followed those same trails carved by my soul through my bones until it wreathed my left hand in a prickling sensation. When I spoke, I knew the words tumbling from my lips weren't in English. "You're too far gone."

Sethan's gleeful smile diminished. My image was reflected in the tremulous black surface of his gaze, displaying the sudden glimmer of crimson in my own eye.

"What...are you?" the Sin of Wrath muttered.

I flung my left hand into his torso. Sethan flinched, then looked down.

My fingers were knuckle deep in the creature's chest, just shy of his heart. It looked as though I had donned a gauntlet of flat metal and blackened bone—though where the gauntlet should have ended, it merged with my tender, pale flesh.

Darius's shade was perched at the forefront of my mind, its nebulous wings unfurled to encompass all of my consciousness. Tendrils of its shadowy presence were sewn throughout my arm, pouring mana into the strange, paper-thin exoskeleton it had formed upon my hand.

Sethan swallowed, the both of us stunned. Wrath's energy was being cannibalized by Darius's shade.

"But...you're just a human...."

Tremors racked my body as a breeze riffled through the trees and brought with it the air I needed to clear the blackness eating away at my vision. "Not entirely."

A shadow fell upon us both. Darius's arm wove about his brother's neck.

Wrath froze as the knowledge of his imminent demise crossed his face.

"I warned you," Pride intoned, his words icy and impassive as his grip tightened. "You should have heeded my warning."

Snow melted in Sethan's hair as he sucked in a final breath. "The world is but a dream," he asserted before Darius's arm could tighten. His wide eyes were firmly fixed upon me. "And every dream dies."

Darius yanked. Bones cracked as Sethan's grip in my shirt slackened and my fingers slid from his chest.

Sethan fell to the earth and it welcomed him with a bed of frozen clovers splattered in his own blood. Darius said nothing as he let him go and extended his hand to me. With Darius's assistance, I was able to stand and step over Sethan. Darius's brother stared at the cloudy sky, still as the grave.

The Sin of Wrath was dead.