Chapter 32 #2
“Now, we fight.” Cocky as always, Dante smirked, walking toward them.
Opening his arms, he called the shadows to him.
Normally, they would extend from the dark corners of any space we were in, but I watched them exude from his suit instead, curling and slithering around the length of him like pet snakes, waiting for an order from their master to strike.
His hands shot forward, making the shadows soar—more exuded from him, replacing them.
The Twilight swept over the first row of crawlers, decimating them on contact and triggering the rest.
Letting out tattered screams of mindless rage, they lunged for us, a thirst for blood and death seeping from their crazed eyes.
King Will and his knights dashed forward. Moving as fast as a Vampiri they spread along the next row of crawlers, intercepting them. Their silver swords gleamed under the sun again, flashing with each strike.
Black blood dripped clear off Zelin’s sword before she plunged it into the next creature, and whirled around, ending the one after that too. Her movements were smooth and flawless like a perfect dance the rest of the knights performed in unison.
Taking on two at once, the king cut through the one in front of him, swiftly twirling the sword back and plunging it into the one coming at him from behind and yanking it sideways.
Without even checking to see if they were dead, he jumped clear over the next one, his sword slicing into the top of the creature’s head before he pulled it out and ran forward.
All the halves of his victims slid to the ground, black blood seeping from them and staining the golden sand.
Eager to help, the Dracul Army rushed past us, joining Dante, King Will, and his knights just as Alyce and Isis were suddenly airborne, shifting mid-air.
Almost in unison, they spun, their jaws clamping around two crawlers’ heads from above and ripping them off their bodies as they turned again.
Their wolves landed on the sand, the severed heads dropping and rolling beside them while they attacked more monsters.
Blue fire rushed out of my hands in anticipation, licking up my arms with purpose when more deformed assholes appeared to our right, coming for me.
I was ready.
Sand exploded under my boots when I ran towards them, taking them head-on while André and Hannes began to fight too.
One of the creatures swiped at me, but I dropped to my knees, sliding past him.
My flaming hand caught his leg before I stood again, the fire instantly catching and rushing up his body.
His frenzied screeches split the air, my Eternal Blaze consuming him.
Lifting my palms, I shot double streams at the next two rushing toward me. It hit the first one on the chest, setting him aflame, but the second saw it in time to jump out of the way.
“Not today, asshole!” My ball of fire slammed against his side when he lept for me, claws first.
Heart pounding, I dove for the sand, rolling under him as he soared above me, his claws missing me by an inch.
That had been way too close for comfort.
When I jumped back to my feet, I found him writhing on the ground, the fire bursting from his eyes and his slack mouth.
The scream didn’t have time to leave him; he became nothing but black ashes on the ground.
Something captured me from behind, lifting me from the ground on arms that were half-rotted muscles, and half-tattered skin.
Reaching above me, I gripped his head while he attempted to bite my neck, sending a surge of fire.
Disturbing shrieks ripped out of the damned creature, my power consuming it.
Its claws dug into my sides with each jerk of its flaming form but were unable to pierce my suit before Hannes ripped what was left of it away from me.
“You, okay?”
I nodded, and we ran together to the next assholes—his sword slicing through a few while I burned the rest.
The sun briefly dimmed before beaming stronger, and André threw his arms forward, five arched blades of light leaving him. They rotated so fast it was hard to track them, but my Vampir gaze caught the moment they pierced the group of crawlers coming for us.
Some blades hit their chests, others their arms or necks, and then disappeared inside them. The creatures’ bodies convulsed like something was moving through them, until the light blades came out of their backs, turning back toward us like a boomerang.
André’s blades vanished when they neared him, their light seeping into their source. Meanwhile, his targets crumbled to pieces, torn from the inside out.
Vanessa flashed past me the next instant, her boots stomping on a cut-off crawler before she jumped, flipping over the incoming one.
Her shriek penetrated his ear before she righted herself.
When she landed, the creature was already jerking on the ground, his head splitting open from the fierce soundwaves she’d sent right into him.
Hannes and I intercepted a new group of deformed creatures heading toward Alyce and Isis, who were fighting another four together. We each took on two of them, and I sent a few fireballs toward the ones we caught, while Hannes’s sword cut through the rest like butter.
With a fluid turn mid-air, Gustav expertly avoided my fireball, just like he did all of the creatures’ attacks.
Jumping toward a new crowd, he fly-kicked two crawlers, landing and then whirling around to slam both hands against another one’s chest. Ashes rained all around him with each kill while more came at him, but he didn’t even blink.
Gustav fought like none of us did.
His power was consuming them, but it was unlike anything I’d seen.
Stunned, I watched a rush of red energy that almost looked like fire intensify along his body with each strike he delivered—his bare feet, his palms, his leg, even his elbow when he slammed it into a throat.
It was like he could consciously direct his power to the part of him he would use for each blow.
One by one, the creatures collapsed in his wake, but this time, instead of turning to ash, they shriveled and stilled, life leaving them. I said life because they weren’t crawlers anymore—they were back to human.
Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I continued fighting along with my mates, trying to move closer to where the rocky ground began, marking the end of the dunes and the beginning of the large rock formations ahead, where my mom probably was.
Hannes killed a few more, fighting just a few feet from me. He hadn’t left my side since we started fighting.
Burning another one to ash, I lifted my gaze to see more coming. “What the actual fuck?!”
We weren’t even half done with these assholes when more began to swarm us.
I turned in a slow circle to assess what was happening, while bursts of crimson and black blood, red energy, darkness, and light crashed all around me.
The Eternal Blaze burned through me, eager to be of use. I sent a few streams at the monsters trying to get to me, but my heart constricted when I noticed several of Countess Dariah’s soldiers slaughtered along the blood-soaked sand.
Their bodies rolled when more crawlers emerged from under them, their infestation expanding along this seemingly endless fight. No matter how many creatures we killed we were still losing.
My head suddenly snapped right, capturing movement way past the dunes.
“They are in the rocky mountain!” I sent through our shadow link, alerting my mates. “I just saw someone get out of there, but they disappeared before I could see who it was.”
Fuck!
Frustration and unrest crawled through me, but it didn’t stop me. I had too much to lose. “We need to find a way to get there. I can’t get stuck here. We need to push through.”
Although each of us was powerful in our own right, there still wasn’t enough of us here to overcome the crawlers.
Dad had been right, there were too many of them.
A scream formed in my throat when three crawlers ran toward Vanessa, but she was already busy fighting two creatures. She wasn’t far from Isis and Alyce; except they had their hands full too.
Following my sight, Hannes paled, and without hesitation, we both dashed toward her. His Iron Prince power stride made him as fast as me, so we moved almost in unison.
The fire stream ran through my veins in anticipation, ready to be released but I was still too far away.
Killing the two creatures, Vanessa turned, but one of the new crawlers had already reached her. He gripped her by the throat before she could scream, constricting her airway and taking her power away.
“No!”
“Vanessa!” Hannes and I shouted, and I let my fire soar, but I was still too far.
Alyce suddenly jumped toward her, and we both staggered to a stop when her body exploded into a massive, gorgeous, powerful, white… Beast.
Not today assholes.
Alyce landed behind the one who held Vanessa ripping his head out as she roared.
His headless body collapsed, freeing her girlfriend, but she whirled and caught the other mid-run.
Grabbing both his arms, she pulled, tossing both halves away and reaching for the last one.
She dragged him by the leg, tearing it off too, and then jumped on him, her claws savagely tearing through him until he was nothing but very ugly confetti.
Go feminine rage!
No one was touching her girlfriend.
“Holy shit!” Hannes gasped, giving me a wolfish smile before turning and slicing his sword through the creature jumping toward us.
“You okay?” he asked through our link.
“I can handle myself, Mr. Shield. Thank you.” I answered, already burning another crawler who tried to jump me. The stream of fire I couldn’t use to help Vanessa shot straight into his throat as he screeched at me.
“I can see that,” he added in amusement when the head of the one I’d just killed melted inward. Gross.
More came toward us.
Damn it!