."
.
"We protect our pack," Mira said.
The monster looked around at all the faces. All the people who were ready to die for me. A doctor. The quiet one. The one who stayed in the background.
"This isn't over," it snarled. "I'll find another way."
"No," I said. "You won't."
I reached out one more time. Not with healing power. Not with love. With something else. Something I'd never used before.
With the power to destroy.
"Wait," the thing said. "You're a healer. You can't hurt anyone."
"You're right," I said. "I can't hurt anyone. But you're not someone. You're nothing. You're just darkness. And evil has no place in my world."
The light that came from me was blinding. White hot. Pure.
The thing screamed as the light touched it. "What are you doing?"
"I'm healing the world," I said. "By removing the sickness in it."
The first darkness began to fade. Its acquired form was melting away.
"You cannot destroy me!" it cried. "I am forever! I am forever!"
