A Shade of Vampire 41: A Tide of War(51)

I held her tightly, not letting her cross the barriers of white light to reach her uncle. She fought me, but my grip didn’t falter.

The angrier she became, the more desperate as she heard Ben’s roars of fury as he battled the ashen army, the higher the flames rose. Before long, not a sound could be heard other than the screams of the entity. They were so loud, it was as if they were coming from every single creature that had broken out of the stones—one cry becoming a million.

The fires were burning the entity, their purity washing out its darkness, blazing against the blackness of its soul.

Jenus’s face became a contorted mask of pain, and he reached for the barriers, desperate to get out. They would not let him pass. The flames leapt onto his robe and hair, snaking their way up his body. He turned his anger toward us, his flaming body ready to pounce. Before he could move, he let out one last scream, a torrent of black tar vomiting from his mouth. It didn’t fall to the floor, instead, like it was a live, conscious thing, it started to circle the wall of flames.

I shoved Hazel behind me; the ichorous black liquid narrowly missed her, and instead shot into Ash’s open mouth, filling up his nostrils and eye sockets—consuming the emperor of Nevertide.





Benedict





Yelena and I were being held by Sky again, zooming over the Dauoa forest and beyond into the wasteland of Nevertide.

“Blue and Rock are up ahead,” Sky pointed out. We watched as the Hawks flew closer. They must have been on their way back to find us. I hoped they had good news. Sky stopped, hovering in the air by flapping his wings rapidly.

“What are you doing?” Blue asked. “We need to keep looking for the jinni. We’re running out of time. The others have left already!”

“We found her! But what do you mean they left?” I shouted.

“The entity left the portal, with its armies. What do you mean her?” Rock replied, equally baffled.

“Long story. Let’s get down to the cove.”

They left?

How did they think they were going to battle the entity in the other dimensions if they couldn’t manage to defeat him here? They didn’t even know that the shadow was actually made up of super-ghouls; information like that might have made a big difference.

We carried on our journey, Sky moving as swiftly as he could with Julian, Fly, and Ridan behind us.

A short while later, we landed on the shore. Horatio, Aisha and the Oracle were waiting for us, staring at the portal. The rest of the place looked deserted.

“We missed them—you must have known!” I stormed up to the Oracle, furious that we’d missed our chance.

She turned to me, her barely-there blue eyes staring down at me, but seeming to look past me, as if I wasn’t really there. It was freaky when she did that, and annoying.

“I told you we were too late,” she sighed.

I groaned in frustration. Trying to pull myself together, I bit out, “How are they going to win this if they can’t get the entity back in the stones? You must have known this was going to happen. Why didn’t you leave your stupid cave earlier? Why didn’t you come and find us?”

Julian and Yelena were both glaring up at her too, all of us waiting for an answer that would change our minds about burying her in the sand and leaving her to rot. I looked around for Horatio and Aisha, but they were just standing in front of the water, looking worried.

“Be patient.” She smiled. “There is another way—all is not lost. The leaders of Nevertide—brave sentries—are making choices right now that will lead to happier times…new beginnings and regeneration.”

“That means literally nothing,” I replied angrily. “Tell me what’s going to happen to my family—to the entity.”

“That I can’t see,” she sighed in her whimsical way. “There are too many unknowns. I am sorry, young soldier, I can give you no more than that.”

I turned away in disgust. What was the point of an Oracle if they couldn’t even answer the simplest question?

“I think I can see Zerus and Field,” Julian commented, looking toward the far edge of the cove. I followed his gaze, watching as the Hellswan sentry stepped into view. I was surprised that they hadn’t taken him with them, but I supposed he was a bit too out of it to be much help in a fight.

“I thought I recognized you,” he muttered as he approached. “There are other villagers hiding along the cliff edge. They are waiting to be told whether or not to leave this land.”

I looked past him, now noticing villagers starting to emerge from the wild shrubbery that grew on the opposite side of the cove – Queen Memenion with them.