The world was a kaleidoscope of pain and green fire.
Emily lay on the cold obsidian slab of the ritual circle, her back arching as another contraction tore through her. But the pain of labor was distant, muffled by the suffocating weight of Damon’s dark magic. He stood over her, his hands woven into the ley lines of the Spire, drawing power from the void to fuel the Soul Transference.
"Stop fighting it, Emily," Damon hissed, his voice layering over the wind. "The boy is ready. I can feel him reaching for me."
"He... hates... you," Emily gasped.
She didn't reach for Ethan. She reached inward, past the pain, to the burning sun of the baby’s soul. The Hybrid energy was a chaotic storm now, sensing the threat.
Burn him, she screamed in her mind.
A pulse of white fire erupted from her ski
