Chapter 25 #2
The mask he wore had eye slits. I couldn’t quite make out the color of the irises, but the eyes were distinctly human-looking. And I bet my life that they were bright fucking blue.
Rage exploded through me like a blistering firestorm when I realized who the hells this was.
Silas Boon. a.k.a. Barbie Doll Ken.
The fucker hunting Nelle.
My fists strangled the hilts of my swords.
I was going to annihilate the prick!
Silas burst into motion.
He charged so fast I barely tracked him.
He disappeared then reappeared, almost as if he were swifting in short bursts.
But whatever this was, it was different.
There weren’t any swifting winds kicking up his tunic, nor did he seem to rematerialize like an image taking shape in an old-fashioned photograph.
He vanished—then reappeared.
There—then gone.
Fast, like a blink.
Holy shit. What the fuck is this guy?
That ancient thing inside me roared, hackling and slithering. A wicked melody strummed in time with my heartbeat.
End him… End him… End him!
I lunged forward, striding out, my boots slamming against the rocky floor.
The edge of my mind bled into darkness.
I was going to fucking dice him into pieces!
“DON’T YOU DARE!” Mela roared, her voice booming across the cavern.
Her command snapped me back. My gaze whipped over my shoulder, teeth grinding as the dull gleam of a black blade sliced through the smoky air.
She pressed the dagger hard against Yezekael’s throat, the edge catching the firelight.
His crescent-moon pupils were blown wide with terror.
“I swear to Zrenyth, Gray, I will slit his throat if you don’t get yourself back here! ”
The shield wall was almost complete. Backs to a wall, hunters and soldiers stood in a semicircle, shields locked, armor streaked with soot and blood. Jiao’s glare was dark with fury and challenge. He thrust an arm into the air, hollering an order.
Every single Crowther and V?duva disengaged their shields in support of Mela.
The hardened air fizzled away, leaving them exposed and terrifyingly vulnerable.
Fuck! No!
A snarl and storming footfalls had my attention spinning back to Silas. He kept charging, and every instinct in my body screamed to meet him head-on.
I twirled my blades, rising onto the balls of my feet, leaning forward, readying to launch—
“GET BACK HERE NOW!” Mela bellowed.
Godsdammit!
Silas vanished—
—and reappeared almost upon me, slashing his sword in a vicious arc.
I pivoted sharply, spun, and raced for the row of soldiers holding their disengaged shields.
One step.
Two.
Three.
I ducked low and leaped, vaulting over the tall line of bodies, flipping and twisting mid-arc. Air rushed against my face as I cleared the wall and landed on the other side.
“NOW!” Jiao roared.
Shields ignited.
An explosive surge of magic burst outward as long, sharp spikes formed at each shield’s base.
As one, everyone raised their shields and slammed them down. Fast. Hard. The spikes punched into the rock with a series of brutal cracks, driving deep to lock the formation into place.
Thrumming power rushed across the connected shields in a pulsing sweep, cascading upward in a towering column of dark magic. It struck the cavern ceiling with a resonant boom, sealing the barrier from floor to stone above, the wall solid at our backs.
In a breath, the shield wall became a stronghold.
Silas skidded to a halt.
His entire body trembled with rage. A strangled sound tore from behind his smooth white mask. Denied my death, fury burned in his gaze like a living thing.
He lunged.
His sword slammed into the shield wall with a deafening crack. Dark magic fizzed and spat. Fiery sparks showered wide as if a grinder had taken to the blade. Yet the barrier held strong. The sword ricocheted off, jerking Silas backward and throwing him off balance.
Retaliation came fast.
Weaponized warriors stepped out of the main host, carrying enormous repeating crossbows loaded with slender, missile-like bolts, each tip fizzing with dark magic.
They aimed—
And fired—
“INCOMING!” Jiao roared. “CURSED WARHEADS!”
Bolts screamed across the cavern, scorching bright trails that split apart the darkness. They struck our wall and detonated in a blaze of fiery might.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The cavern lit up as if Nine Hells had unleashed itself upon us, the world erupting into savage, blinding explosions.
Ribbons of white-hot lightning tore across the shield.
A stabbing blast of ice. A lethal punch of storm wind.
A pounding of raucous thunder. The rocky ground quaked with a strike of earth-trembling magic.
Our shield wall shuddered and warped with each impact.
Everyone braced against their shields, holding firm.
Slowly, so slowly, the exploding warheads died away, and dirty clouds of smoke wafted across the cavern. Our stronghold had held.
Behind the barrier, I paced like a caged beast. My anger hadn’t abated. No, that thing whispering beneath my skin only dug in deeper with claws and fangs. Territorial. Resentful. Murderous. My fingers throttled the hilts of my swords, wishing to wield them, to smite the prick down.
Silas kept his dark glare fixed on mine as he drew back slowly. With each retreating step, he struck his blade against the roughly hewn ground.
Clang…
Clang…
Clang…
A death knell as he withdrew to his warriors.
“Gray.”
A soft sound, barely audible…
…before barked louder. “GRAY!”
My gaze swung wildly to Mela. She released Yezekael, who stumbled back, his strange eyes bouncing between me and my friend.
She slid her dagger back into its scabbard strapped to her hip and stepped closer. Frowning, she angled her chin behind me. “Who the hells is that?” Her blood-crusted brows pinched together as she studied my face intently, as if she could read the truth from the bitter anger carving into it.
I hitched a shoulder, feigning ignorance.
By the irritated twitch under her right eye and the puckering of her mouth, she knew I was lying. She leaned in, whisper-hissing, “Why does this feel personal, Gray?”
I couldn’t tell her she was right. That Barbie Doll Ken was after Nelle, and killing me was the easiest way to get to her. When I kept my lips firmly sealed, she let out a vexed harrumph and stormed past me.
Jiao stood on a rocky outcrop. He’d positioned himself as our sharp-eyed general, issuing curt orders to those bracing the wall.
V?duvas and Crowthers stood shoulder to shoulder, shields locked in a long arc.
The wounded huddled behind us, medics working frantically with magic-infused medicines and tools from House Simonis.
I spun around and sheathed my swords, moving to join the line. Mela reclaimed her shield from Petra, who wiped the drizzling blood from her brow before adjusting her own. My friend shifted over to make room, and I leaned my shoulder against her shield, bracing with her.
The steady thump-thump-thump of the anti-swifter was the only sound in the cavern. Its green glow washed over us, painting every grim face in a sickly hue.
The magical barrier shimmered like warped glass, distorting the view beyond. In the flicker of distant firelight, the Children of the Harbinger stood like a forest of statues. Silent, unmoving, eyeless masks staring back at us.
All except Silas, whose death glare never left mine. Not for a single breath.