Chapter 9
Embry
Iwatch and wait, using every inch of my willpower when what I really want to do is fly across the room and slam the fucker into the wall.
But that’s not going to help win this battle, it’s just going to make him mad.
No, I want him to think he’s got the edge, and that I’m going to go down like he thinks a female should.
“You shouldn’t have come back, Lucas. There’s nothing here for you anymore.
You had it all, including me, but threw it all away. ”
The loud whizzing noise draws my attention to the green ghouls with no faces.
The guards of the witches, paid for protecting them from anyone in sight.
Little do the witches know that the vampires use ghouls to protect us from vampires who don’t truly belong in our world, to keep them from transitioning.
They determine through battle skill who should and shouldn’t be allowed to transition from human to vampire.
They battled hard to keep me out a long time ago, but I was triumphant, and I will be again.
I watch as a small army of ghouls fly into the cavern, at first single file and then spanning out and around the cave.
Do not intercede, vampire.
I hold steady waiting for them, knowing the secret to ending them for good.
A secret no one wants us to know. One the witches tried and still want to use to end the vampires for good.
My chest pounds with unprecedented rage.
I let it be fueled by the thought of my great, great, great grammas and everyone down the line being killed at their hands and the witches’. But now their turn will come.
I float toward the center of the room and Lucas immediately flies to the wall on the other side of the cave, safely out of the way. It’s nothing I didn’t expect though.
They’ll surround you, Embry!
That’s the point, vampire. Stand down.
The ghouls close in, effectively surrounding me just as I knew they would.
Closing in because they think they’ve won.
But in doing so, they’ve put themselves right where I want them.
I swing the heft of my longsword far above my head, spinning around and around as the stone from the end of my sword turns bright red, something I would have never known without studying the shadow books.
It turns brighter and brighter and flames ignite, surrounding them in two circles of fire, one in front and one behind them.
Two rings of fire that will burn them up and send them to the very depths of hell.
I watch as the two bands of fire engulf them and join in the middle, and the screeching sounds of the deadly ghouls disappear into the night.
“They weren’t strong enough to end me, and neither are you, Lucas.”
Lucas laughs, but it’s not the laugh I once knew. The real Lucas is gone, and in his place is an illusion crafted by a witch with a vendetta of centuries.
Just like I thought, those dark eyes I once knew, they are no longer the same. They don’t even come close to looking one bit remorseful or sad for things that could have been. “I had hoped your spirit would have died with the rest of you, now you’re back.”
His eyes don’t even blink, he’s there but he’s not really there.
And that’s exactly what I was looking for, what I needed to know for certain before I closed the door on Lucas for good.
“It seems the witches are good at playing these little games, but they’re not fooling me a bit.
If they thought conjuring you back from the dead could make me sentimental, less than an adversary, they were more than wrong. ”
Lucas raises his hand and flings his sword, but it’s so mechanical that I catch it midair.
“Try again, Devora,” I yell. “I know you’re here somewhere, stalking and watching.
Devora? The gig is up my witchy little foe.
Your secret has been destroyed. The shadow books, we know all about the land and what really happened centuries ago.
You lost it all and at some point, we’re going to take it back.
If you try and stop us, we will destroy you and everything that you hold dear. ”
The silence is almost deafening, but still Lucas does not say a thing, telling me exactly what in my heart I already knew. Just a figment of my imagination, the witches’ spells and sorcery at work again.
“You may as well send this little conjured Lucas back to hell. I’m not falling for it again. You tried to kill me, you and your rotten bitch friends, not Lucas. Did he know what you did to him, or was that part of your evil little game too?”
The cavern suddenly fills with a large clear bubble, getting larger and larger until Devora on her broom appears inside of it.
But her face keeps getting larger as she rides around in her bubble of armor.
Darker and darker green she turns while the image of Lucas fades into the abyss, a confirmation I needed to see with my very own fucking eyes.
Devora’s loud cackle echos throughout the cavern. “Time and time again one of you are in my way. First your great grandmother, and on and on down the line. I’m going to get rid of you for good!” she screams.
I hold up my sword, the jewel shining in all its glory, changing colors like a witch’s eye or the stones in their baubles. The look in Devora’s eye changes just as I knew it would. “You didn’t think my grandmother had a chance to tell me about the magic of the stone in the sword I wield?”
Devora’s screech bounces off the cavern walls. “I’m going to end you for good!”
I give her my best smile. “Seems that you can’t, at least while I’m carrying this sword.
The only way that worked was to send the rogues to do your bidding and try to destroy Lucianna and me at the very same time.
Let me tell you a little story now, Devora.
Unlike you, the vampires will protect us and my grandmother’s magic in this sword will also protect me until the end of time.
But you…
You are going to lose this war Devora, the one you’ve kept going for so many years. I’ve already sent a message to Descallia. He knows what you did, and this cavern, it does not belong to you.”
I gesture around the entire cave. “This entire area, the sacred land you’ve been squawking about for so many years, not one acre of it belongs to you or your kind. It belongs to the vampires, so either come and get me or get the fuck out before I end you with my gramma’s sword.”