CHAPTER 24 RAGNOR
CHAPTER 24
RAGNOR
One moment, she was there, right in front of him, close enough to kiss.
Then the next, Aileen Henderson was across the room, held in Atalon’s arms as he carried her out of the ballroom, her golden hair veiling her face.
And only one thought passed through his head.
He had to save her.
He climbed to his feet and was about to run when a hand grabbed him. He was going to shake the hand away when he saw Cassidy, eyes wide with horror, staring at him pleadingly. “I can’t make it stop, my Lord.”
Then, as if all her strength left her, Cassidy fell to the ground, unconscious.
Fuck. Growling, Ragnor put Cassidy over his shoulder and began to run toward the exit, needing it to not be too late.
But three median Jinn suddenly surrounded him, eyeing him with drool dripping down their chins. They could sense his huge amount of Lifeblood, Ragnor knew, and that made them far too hungry for his liking.
Impatient, Ragnor didn’t bother with discretion. He grabbed his own aura with his mind and shot it outward, expanding it in a split second until it engulfed all three Jinn. Then, like flipping a switch, he changed the tone of his aura from neutral to horror.
The Jinn’s responding screams were bloodcurdling. So much so that the humans in attendance began running around aimlessly and fearfully, getting themselves killed.
Having no patience, Ragnor put Cassidy down and jumped from one Jinni to another, twisting their heads clean off their necks. It took all his physical strength to accomplish this feat, and by the time the beheaded Jinn’s bodies fell to the ground, bleeding their corrupted golden ichor, he was utterly spent.
With what little strength he had left, Ragnor returned to Cassidy’s unconscious form, draped her over his shoulder, and resumed his run to the exit. He’d nearly reached Aileen and Atalon when a Jinni slammed against the ceiling near the entrance doors, causing it to crumble to the floor and block the exit.
Ragnor’s enraged roar echoed in the hall.
“My Lord ...” Cassidy’s voice was suddenly in his ear, weak but stable. “I ... I think I overdid it this time ...”
Ragnor changed routes and started running toward one of the shattered windows. “Logan’s right outside,” Ragnor said in haste, breathing heavily now that he was running out of strength. “Call him and have him get you.”
He pushed through the open window and dropped down to the ground three floors below with a thud that normally wouldn’t have made him shake in pain, but in his current state, he wasn’t at his best.
Fighting the Jinn while they were actively using their ability to suck his Lifeblood at an exponential rate was taking its toll.
Ragnor placed Cassidy down on the grass of the museum’s main courtyard and struggled to climb back up to the window. Out of breath and nearly depleted of physical energy, he barely managed to push himself through. Standing, he discovered vampire bodies scattered across the floor, with only a few left fighting the Jinn, Bowman and Renaldi’s Lieutenant among those few.
He had to end this now. He was the only one who could.
Gritting his teeth, Ragnor leaned his worn-out body against a thankfully not-crumbled wall and tapped into his other power. The one unrelated to his Sacred magic. The one he’d been born with all those ages ago.
The one that could kill him.
Reaching for the ether, a call he hadn’t made in so long that for a moment, he wondered if the power was still within him, he whispered, “Matareh.” With immense relief and cruel delight, he watched as a crimson tether only he could see wrapped itself around each and every Jinni neck present and squeezed.
Thirty horned heads fell to the bloody floor, and for the first time in decades, Ragnor was so drained both mentally and physically that the long-forgotten oblivion threatened to come and stake its claim.
But Ragnor refused to give in to it. Leaning against the wall, he pushed himself upright and flung himself over the window. This time, he landed far from gracefully, and he felt his bones groan.
Just a bit more . . .
But his breathing was too heavy, and the pressure in his chest was too hard to bear. His legs were numb, and dark pinpricks appeared in his vision.
And so Ragnor’s body had reached its limit.