I raised my gun and wasted three bullets, trying to prevent the inevitable.
The shots hit their shield and fell to the ground with an audible clink as the sword started to glow.
Desperate, I turned around.
Josh had retreated back to the tables where Rupert, Gavino, and Julianne were. When he saw my face, he bowed his head, then loaded his handgun with another loaded magazine.
He knew what was about to happen.
I shifted my gaze to Celestina, who offered me a smile, her red eyes warm and proud. “I know you will avenge us, Your Eminence.”
I wanted to say something, to tell her they all were going to survive. I wanted to roar. It couldn’t end this way!
The magic in the sword throbbed in a wave even I, a magic-less vampire, could feel. The humming noise increased, broken by crackles of raw power.
I backed up a few feet and shook my head. “No,” I said.
“Get back behind the tables, Your Eminence. Please.” Josh stood with Celestina, his expression calm.
Celestina rolled her shoulders. “The tables might shield you a little longer and spare you a bit of pain.”
I set my shoulders. “I can survive a blast, even from a holy sword. You go.”
Celestina’s smile turned amused. “You know very well, Your Eminence, there’s no table thick enough in the world to save vampires of our caliber from that.” She nodded at the sword.
“Please go, Your Eminence,” Josh said. “We will remain here. They’ll have to lower their shield for an attack of this size. We might be able to get some shots off before it’s over.”
No! This couldn’t happen! How could I be so powerless to stop this?
Celestina and Josh had stood with me for decades—I couldn’t…
Celestina winked. “It’s been an honor, Your Eminence.”
Josh bowed, and then they were gone, pressed against opposite sides of the circle as they tried to take up positions that would offer them the best line of sight.
It was said vampires didn’t have souls. I never gave it much thought. It didn’t matter to me because I didn’t intend to die.
But now, I swear I felt my soul—or something deep inside of me—fracture.
The fae shouted words that were lost to the murmur of magic. They held books that started to glow, and the sword burned with such pure light I couldn’t look at it.
Unwilling to retreat to the table, I backed up until I was lined up with Celestina and Josh. I was their sire. And while I had failed to protect them, the least I could do was stand with them while they passed on.
An explosion triggered the sword, and the air fell into smothering silence as light blasted from it, cutting a path toward our prison. It ate up the ground, disintegrating floor tiles and furniture in its wake.
And I could only watch.
Soon it was too bright to see anything. I lowered my eyes to half-mast and was just about to shut them and brace for unending pain and agony, when a shadow passed in front of me.
Sound cracked through the air with such intensity my ears rang, and my eyes snapped open.
Standing inside, near the front of our magic cage was a solitary figure. Her blond hair whipped in the raging wind caused by magic, and with her hands thrust out in front of her, she powered a blue shield of magic so large it encompassed about half the width of our prison.
Her arms shook, and her petite body trembled with strain as she held back the full blast of a holy sword with her shield.
Bolts of unstable magic ran up and down the length of the blast, blackening the ground and making the glass covering the framed artwork hanging on the walls pop and shatter. The air was hot, and flames sprouted at the spot where the attack from the holy sword thrust against the wizard’s shield.
There was never any doubt in my mind who she was—there was only one wizard capable of this. But when she cast a look at me over her shoulder, it felt like the moment lasted a human lifetime.
Funneling so much magic that the edges of her black wizard mark were glowing blue, she lifted a cocky eyebrow at me. She inhaled deeply, her shoulders rising, then roared—audible above the thundering clash of magic—and leaned into her shield.
I’d cast her out for her sake, but she had returned to save me.
Hazel Medeis had come back.
Chapter Six
Hazel
As I sprinted through the building I felt the pressure in the air increase. The floral taste of fae magic was overwhelming, but that foreign, ancient magic Mason had once attacked me with veined it.
Whatever Killian and his vampires were facing, it wasn’t good.
I heard a few gunshots as I finally reached the chamber. I turned so sharply into it I slipped and smacked my shoulder on the door frame, but the stinging pain was the last thing on my mind as I stared at the battleground before me.
The Night Court had, as I had feared, penned the Drake vampires in a magic circle. It wasn’t a problem for me—I’d probably be able to break in and join them because most fae magic didn’t work on wizards. Unfortunately, that was the only thing the fight had going for it.
Rupert and Julianne were slumped behind two overturned tables. And I couldn’t be sure, but I thought the motionless heap at Julianne’s side was Gavino.
Killian, Celestina, and Josh were the only ones standing. The First and Second Knights were hugging the sides of the magic-made cage, and Killian stood in the center, wearing an expression I had never seen on his face before. Was that…fear?
Three fae holding books began shouting. I blinked as I realized they surrounded a very fancy, bejeweled sword—it had to be an artifact. But when their books began to glow, I started to swear.
I hustled into the chamber, losing precious time scooting around chairs that had been tossed into the aisles either during the mob’s frantic exit, or during the fight.
Hoping to move faster, I hopped onto a chair and then jumped from table to table, kicking pens and papers as I went.
I swore faster and faster when the sword crackled with light, and I felt the magic harbored in the blade.
Hurry! I have to reach them in time.
I jumped off the last ring of tables, my ankles jarring with the impact when I hit the ground, and the sword went off.
Unnatural silence fell over the chamber—the magic was so hungry it even ate up the patter of my footsteps. Light that had a clear, crystal-like veneer to it blasted from the sword, consuming everything in its path like a raging wildfire as it stalked toward its aimed target, the captured vampires.
Sweat dripped down my back and made my blue jacket stick to me like a second skin, but I threw myself into the spell that held the Drakes captive, releasing a puff of breath when I passed through.
The blast of magic from the sword pierced the very edge of the spell, and I streaked across the circle, skidding to a stop just in front of the sword’s magical attack.
The heat baked my skin, and I was so glad Celestina and Josh had thrown the most hellish training I could endure at me, because I raised my shield so fast it was second nature to me.
I could sense the power in the sword, and the deadly intent that radiated through its blast, so I put everything I had into my shield and made it as big as I could manage. I had just enough time to tense for impact before the attack slammed against my shield.
The force of it pushed me back at least three feet before I leaned in with all that I had and was able to resist it.