Midnight's Captive(120)

“There!” Charon shouted to Phelan, and pointed to the car just as it came over the mountain.

A second later, two other vehicles followed the first. And then dozens of selmyr were standing in the way.

“Shit,” Charon said and took off running.

Phelan caught up with him as they used their incredible speed to race over the land. Out of the corner of his eye, Charon saw other Warriors come out of hiding and rush toward the car driven by Aiden.

Charon could see one of the selmyr had broken through the driver window and had a hand around Aiden’s neck. But Aiden never slowed the car.

Quinn kicked out the passenger window and leaned out of it while he used his claws to slice the selmyr’s face that had a hold of his son.

More of the ash-skinned creatures were attacking Jason’s vehicles, because they had been fool enough to stop.

The car Aiden drove abruptly turned and slid to a rocking halt. Instantly, Galen and Quinn were out of the car. Charon was surprised when the selmyr that had a hold of Aiden was thrown backwards. The car door was jerked open and Aiden stepped out, his face a mask of fury.

“Just like his father,” Phelan said.

Charon didn’t have time to agree as they reached the vehicle and selmyr surrounding their friends. “Pull out their spines!” he shouted as he fell to one knee and slid to the first selmyr.

He wasted no time in grabbing the spinal cord and ripping it out. The others were quick to follow his example. And it worked on the selmyr who had their back to them. It was another matter entirely when they faced the creatures one-on-one.

Charon and Phelan moved to either side of Aiden as they battled two of the creatures. Aiden used his magic while Charon and Phelan used their speed to confuse the selmyr.

It didn’t take them long to kill both of the beasts. And when those bodies hit the ground, more took their places.

“Bloody hell!” Aiden yelled.

Charon silently agreed. At least the Kings would keep the rest of the selmyr away as they dealt with the ones nearest them.

“We can no’ continue like this!” Quinn barked.

There was a blast of magic that knocked all of them to the ground. Charon’s ears were ringing from the force of it. He shook his head and rose up on his hands to look around him.

The selmyr they had been fighting were either dead or knocked unconscious.

“Charon?” Phelan called from beside him.

He looked at his friend and shrugged. Then his gaze shifted to Wallace and his Druids.

“Let them finish him,” Fallon said as he walked up.

Charon got to his feet and saw what looked like a bubble around Wallace. It was magic that kept the selmyr away from him, but it only drove them crazy to get in, which was evident by the way the selmyr kept throwing themselves at it.

“No’ our worry,” Aiden said as he climbed to his feet. There was a pause, and then he said, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Charon and the others turned to find dozens more selmyr coming right at them.



Aisley sat frozen in the car. Dale had pushed her onto the floorboard when he slammed on the brakes. For the rest of her life, she would hear the sounds of those creatures hitting and jumping on the car as they sought to get inside.

She’d had but a glimpse of the ash-skinned monsters, but that’s all it took to scare her. They were evil. Evil knew evil, and there was no denying that’s what they were.

Between their strange, eerie growls and bellows and Jason yelling at everyone, Dale leaned down and whispered for her to stay inside.

She met his gaze, and she saw the dread he couldn’t hide. Whatever was attacking them was meant to be feared.

Aisley stayed hidden until she dared to peek her head above the dash. Her stomach dropped like lead as she saw the sheer number of the creatures. There had to be hundreds of them.

They didn’t have the speed of a Warrior, but they could disappear and then reappear in a second.

She searched around the car until she found Dale. He was battling three of the creatures. They were tall, and their long arms were able to keep Dale at a distance while they inflicted their damage.

Their talons looked to be twice as long as Dale’s, but that’s not how they attacked. They waited until he was fending off one of them while the other two drew in behind him and sank their teeth into him like vampires.

Aisley gasped, her hand covering her mouth. She quickly looked at the other droughs and found most of them being fed off of by the creatures.

She swung her head back to Dale. He looked sad and resigned, as if he were ready to die. Aisley slid to the driver’s side and reached for the handle to open the door to help him when he mouthed “No.”

A tear fell onto her cheek. She wiped at the condensation clouding the window and directed a blast of her magic at the monsters biting Dale.