Chapter 31
Zaos
Uncle Basil cast some kind of spell on all of us to make us as invisible as possible. Then Granddad and Pops did their shield thing over the top of Kian, Hugo, and me, and we were off, racing across the street. Our shield easily traveled with us as long as all three of us were moving together.
Everyone else, even Kian, had weapons out and magic ready to blast those bastards out of the water. Or trees, as it was.
“Why do you have a sword out?” I whispered to Kian.
He shrugged. “Just in case.”
I rolled my eyes. There was no way in hell we were getting out of this shield. If even just one of them had cast a shield on us, we wouldn’t be escaping.
We were lucky they didn’t anchor the shield to the ground and trap us in my yard. If Kian pushed them too much, they might send us back.
Our entire group ended up in the backyard of the house that was for sale—the one I was hoping Kian would buy.
I didn’t see anyone there, but I sort of sensed a presence. No, more than one presence nearby.
Granddad yelled out, “Theroli, we just want to talk.” He waved his hand, and Uncle Bas lowered the shadow spell, revealing us.
Now we were in full view, but that didn’t mean everyone wasn’t fully protected. They all had shields around themselves too, which was a relief.
This time, it was Grandpa who spoke. “Listen, Theroli, we want to talk. I’m very sorry for all your troubles.
” Ah… they were going for sympathy. No wonder Grandpa was speaking now.
Granddad couldn’t pull that off in his dreams. “We can negotiate. You want a better life for your clan, I understand that. So let’s figure this out.
We can find a park, one that’s protected, and find your clan a home. ”
I noticed that he didn’t include Theroli in that little fantasy. No matter what, that guy was going to prison. He’d ordered the assassination, after all.
“As if I’ll ever believe anything you say, enchanter.” The way he said enchanter made it sound like he was calling him a giant asshole.
“We can—”
Before Grandpa could continue, Theroli let out a loud battle cry, and next thing I knew, a horde of nymphs were peeling themselves off of the trees and running right for us. Way more than the eleven Beatrix had claimed.
Grandpa yelled, “Try not to kill them. Only subdue them. Some of them might be able to be saved.”
Perhaps he was right. Maybe once they were living in nature again, they’d heal. But with the mean and cruel expressions on their faces right now, I wasn’t so sure.
Granddad and Pops both looked annoyed at Grandpa’s order, but I knew they’d follow directions.
Theroli ran straight at Grandpa. Hugo let out a strangled noise. I stepped back and put an arm around him as we watched the fight.
I’d been so focused on myself and my… revenge, I guessed, that I hadn’t considered what this would do to my viramore.
While this hadn’t been a regular occurrence in my life or anything, I’d been around it throughout my life.
Back before I was adopted, and then when I was being trained to fight and defend myself as an Ellwood.
But Hugo had never been accustomed to violence, at least not on this level—part of the reason he’d been resistant to becoming a vampire. It was a good thing, obviously, but right now, it was working against him.
I cringed and went to turn him into my chest so he didn’t have to watch, but Hugo pushed me back, keeping his eyes on the battle in front of us.
“You don’t have to—”
“I’m fine.” His eyes were glued to my grandpa.
I knew Grandpa could hold his own. I knew a horde of nymphs wasn’t a true threat to him or my other family members, but there was always a chance something might happen to them.
Hugo’s attention was drawn to the side where Uncle Toby knocked a nymph to the ground and began cuffing them.
We both turned back to Grandpa and Theroli when the nymph screamed.
It looked like he’d been knocked back, but he ran right up to Grandpa’s shield—again.
I thought he was going to run into it, but he managed to stop before he did.
He lifted some kind of spelled object or something, poked it against Grandpa’s shield, and to my utter surprise, the shield popped. Like a freaking bubble.
I gasped, and Grandpa yelled, “They have shield-breaking spells!”
“Fuck!” Granddad yelled. “Be careful! Keep them away from the kids! Don’t let any escape!”
My eyes widened, watching in horror as every single one of my family members who were fighting the nymphs had their shields broken. None of them were shielded anymore. Not a single one.
“Holy fuck,” I breathed out. “Keep that sword out.”
“I’ll keep you guys safe,” Kian said. “Don’t worry.”
“Watch out!” Hugo yelled as a woman I’d never seen before ran at us and poked our shield with what looked like a fork. Like, why the hell would someone spell a fork? What the hell.
I shook off my panicked thoughts as our shield popped, and I pushed Hugo behind me.
The nymph woman pulled a large sword that looked like it was made out of sticks off her back and held it up to Kian.
At first, I figured he’d chop that stick in half with his steel sword.
But when he swung at it and she parried, I was surprised when the sword bounced off.
Clearly, the stick was covered in spells.
Shit.
I shouldn’t have worried, though. There was a reason my brother was on a BCA team now. He was a good fighter. A great one, even.
He went for it, swinging his sword left then right, then around, and before I could even blink, her sword was flying through the air. She screamed as he pushed his sword up against her throat.
I was scared for a moment that Kian would push it through her neck and kill her—the last thing Hugo needed was seeing another person killed right in front of him—but Kian surprised me again by pulling magicked handcuffs out of his back pocket and slapping them on her.
He pushed her to the ground, off to the side with the other prisoners that Uncle Toby was guarding, and stood ready in front of us, guarding us.
And thank fuck because I didn’t have any weapons. All I had was my magic.
But Hugo had his claws and fangs now. Not that I wanted him jumping into the fray. Nope, definitely not.
There were a lot more nymphs than any of us were prepared for. They just kept coming.
Kian fought off two more, managing to knock one out and handcuff the other. Dad had to throw Kian another pair of handcuffs for that last one.
What the hell was even happening?
Kian was fighting yet another one. Dad was cuffing one he’d just taken down, Pops was fighting three at once, because of course he was, and everyone else was fighting one or two others.
And their damn leader, Theroli, kept running out of the trees, attacking either Grandpa or Granddad, then somehow escaping back into the trees. It was like he was melting into the bark and then somehow moving through the area without being seen, and popping out from a different tree.
Nymph magic? Or was he just really good at hide-and-seek?
“Look out!” Hugo yelled as he pushed me behind him. I hadn’t been paying attention to what was going on right in front of us.
Kian was busy fighting a nymph, and a male nymph had gotten past him. He had a raised sword, and the second Hugo was within reach, he swung down.
Hugo raised his arm up, and I yelled, my black magic shooting out of me faster than ever before.
I managed to get my magic over the top of Hugo’s arm just in time. I felt the blow as if it’d happened to my own body, vibrating through my magic, through my soul. But Hugo’s arm was saved, and my magic was wrapping itself around us both.
My viramore pushed through my magic, hissing loudly as he jumped at the guy.
I was so shocked by his movements that I didn’t try to hold him back.
What the hell was he doing?
The two of them tumbled to the ground, and I felt my heart leap into my throat. Hugo’s claws were out, and he dug them into the man’s wrists until he let go of his weapon.
Hugo used his vampire strength to hold the man down, arms raised above his head, until my dad made it over to us.
Dad cuffed the guy and practically dragged him over to the captured nymphs.
Uncle Thay had created a giant shield to keep them in, and since they’d been disarmed and their pockets emptied, none of the nymphs could use that shield-breaking spell thingy there.
None of the incoming nymphs could even reach their clanmates with Uncle Thay, Uncle Toby, Uncle Bas, and Uncle Hiro guarding it.
So they were imprisoned. At least for the moment.
“You saved me,” I said, surprised and… so glad neither of us were injured.
My viramore just grinned at me and took my hand.
I helped Hugo climb to his feet, but before I could hug him or push him behind me, he hissed at another incoming nymph.
This nymph seemed to have a little more common sense than her clanmates because she stopped running, dropped her stick sword thing, and raised her hands in the air.
Once again, my dad was back, cuffing the nymph and walking her to the prisoner shield.
Dad came back and stood beside Kian, protecting us, but it seemed like the onslaught had slowed down.
All except one.
Theroli. That fucker.
He was still dodging in and out of the trees, and I could tell Granddad was getting pissed.
“It’s over, Theroli! Your clan has been taken into custody. Come out and give yourself up. This doesn’t have to end in violence,” Granddad yelled. Under his breath, I heard him mutter, “Even though I want to pull out your guts and watch you bleed, asshole.”
My eyebrows raised, but I said nothing as I watched the small nymph man run out of the trees again.
This time, Granddad and Grandpa were prepared since there were no other distractions running around.
As soon as Theroli showed himself, Granddad threw a shield up behind the nymph, and to my surprise, Uncle Toby—the fastest among us—ran to stand on the other side of the shield, hopefully blocking him from running back into the trees.
Even if he had another shield-breaking spell, Uncle Toby was right there.
Theroli attacked Grandpa, but my grandfather easily blocked each blow with his staff. Grandpa seemed to get frustrated because he suddenly went on the attack instead of the defense, and Theroli freaked out.
The nymph turned back toward the trees, obviously wanting to flee. He saw the shield there and scrambled to get out another spell. Before he could even break it, Grandpa was there, holding his staff right against the nymph’s back. Right smack in the center.
Theroli froze, and Grandpa said, “Drop the spell now, then put your hands up.”
For a moment, I thought he was going to comply. But then he flung his hand forward, hit the shield with his spell, and tried to run. Only, Uncle Toby was there to grab him.
Uncle Toby yanked the man off his feet, set him down in front of Grandpa, and held onto the man’s upper arms. Theroli struggled to get away, but vampire strength was way too much for the nymph man.
Grandpa sighed. “It’s over, Theroli. Come peacefully so you don’t wind up getting hurt.”
“Never!”
He thrashed and kicked at my uncle, but Hugo’s sire was an immovable statue. Granddad came over, sighing loudly. He yanked Theroli’s arms behind his back and cuffed him, whispering something into the nymph’s ears. Theroli went still and pale for a moment before he began thrashing even harder.
“I got him,” Granddad said, yanking the asshole away from my uncle.
The thrashing continued, and Theroli stepped on Granddad’s foot, making him scream in pain. His grip must’ve loosened because Theroli managed to pull away from my grandfather. He ran a few steps, fell on his face, rolled onto his back, and started muttering.
I stared at him, wondering what in the hell he was saying before I noticed some of the other nymphs scooting away from him even though they were protected by that shield.
My BCA agent family members took all of this in, and I knew everyone understood what was happening. Theroli was about to cast something big to take all of us out, sacrificing even himself.
Granddad acted before anyone else. A huge vine came out of the ground and went straight through Theroli’s chest, then wrapped around his throat.
He was dead the second the vine struck his heart, but my grandfather wasn’t done yet.
More vines shot out of the ground and wrapped around the nymph’s entire body, encasing him fully inside.
Everyone was quiet for a few seconds, likely shocked at the turn of events before some of the nymphs began to cry. Grandpa walked over and wrapped an arm around Granddad, and I did the same to Hugo, pulling him to my chest.
Kian stood close by, and I could tell he was upset and hurting, likely thinking of Phia, so I pulled him into our hug. He didn’t hesitate and even began to cry a bit as my viramore and I held him.
It was over.
It was really over.