A Shade of Vampire 40: A Throne of Fire(71)

“Get back!” I bellowed at her, wondering how the hell she’d managed to escape her parents and the witches —and suddenly terrified.

“No!” she panted. “I won’t leave you!”

She held her dagger aloft, her eyes fixed on Jenus.

I tried to sink all my strength into the barrier, willing it to hold. As Hazel ran the last few paces toward us, I reached out to hold her back. My hand clasped onto her arm. In the next moment, I dropped my dagger as a force surged through me—it was so strong, so altering that I almost thought Jenus had killed me without my realizing.

A white light shot up around us, blinding me. As the force persisted, I felt Hazel’s energy flowing into mine. Growing it, making it unbelievably strong. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized it was coming from the barrier, the power of our connection solidifying it in a way I’d never seen before—it blazed brightly across the pathway and along the sides of the forest, sending the shadow back.

“What is that?” Hazel gasped. I glanced at her, her dark hair and clothes bleached by the light. She looked like an avenging angel—a creature come to offer me salvation in my darkest hour.

“I think it’s you,” I whispered.

“I think it’s us,” she replied, looking up at me with the same reverence I felt.

“Now we run,” I commanded, dragging her with me as I turned toward the empty road. I didn’t want to wait and see if the barrier would hold against the entity. As we sped past the walls of white light on either side of us, the power continued to surge through us both. I looked ahead. The blaze continued for as far as I could see, lighting our way home.





Sherus





Most of the sentries and GASP members had been vanished by the witches. Lidera and I had thinned ourselves so that we were invisible, but I didn’t want to leave without making sure that the jinni queen was safe. I could see her floating next to Tejus, and then the sight of ice fires blasting upward. I wanted to drag her back, to get her out of here, but it wasn’t my place.

During the battle there had been so much confusion, so many wounded and bleeding that the smell of iron infiltrated my nostrils, the fighting army taking on a surreal, nightmarish quality that all too well matched the omens I’d experienced back in the In-Between.

Is this the end? I wondered.

I looked in the direction of the cove. There were gray shapes, like thunderclouds, forming on the horizon just above where the portal stood.

What are these creatures?

I had never faced anything like them before…I had never heard of an army that could move like the mists of nature, and then become the shadows of men—their features fleshy and real, but the color of ash and darkness.

Hazel, Derek’s grandchild, ran past me.

Before I could stop her, my sister placed a firm hand on my arm.

“Sherus!” Lidera commanded. “We need to leave!”

The shadow was moving closer. To my relief, I now couldn’t see a sign of Nuriya. She must have already traveled back to the palace. Only Tejus and Hazel remained. Foolish girl.

I needed to move. I turned on my heel, dragging my horrified eyes away from the portal and the creatures that surrounded it. My heart froze as I wondered if I was witnessing the entity and its shadow pouring out into the other dimensions. Had we truly lost all hope?

Then I stumbled, my footing lost as I became suddenly blinded by a brilliant white light. Hastily I staggered up, Lidera and I looking about in confusion as either side of the path became walled by the light. It was the same barrier I had seen the sentries create, but stronger… purer.

“Sherus!” Lidera cried again. “For the sake of the gods, if you want to live to see the dawn, MOVE!”

I ran, not turning back again. I feared none of us might live to see the dawn.