Dread
Careful to avoid touching the venom, I maneuver Rune so she’s lying chest to chest with Vameer. Then I grip his ankles and pull.
He doesn’t even budge.
I drop his feet. “How are you this fucking heavy?”
The big vampire who wants to fight me doesn’t answer.
Because his heart still isn’t beating.
Sorrow tries to tug me into the earth.
I push it into a metal box. Lock it. And toss it into the corner of my mind.
Emotions can wait.
Ideally forever.
I step back, and my eyes glow as magic crawls off me and through the grass. It slides under the pair, knitting together into a solid surface. Slightly longer and slightly wider than the Killer of Evil.
I create another box of magic under my feet. Slightly wider than my shoulders.
Hands at my sides, I turn my wrists.
Beneath us, the edge of the magic stays gold. But the center turns black.
Gravity pulls us down. Each through our own portal.
Half a mile away, two new portals open well inside the protection of my barrier.
I drop through one.
The mated pair drops through another.
Their fall is only a few feet, but Vameer’s weight forms a slight crater in the ground.
I watch them.
I listen.
I drag my hands down my face.
If this works, they may take a while to wake.
If it doesn’t… It’s better to pass the news on immediately.
I drop my hands. “Fuck.”
I have to get this just right.
Exhaling, I flick my wrist.
The moment the portal opens, I step through.