Inky and Midnight descended toward the guarded entrance, and it seemed that everyone was on board with Shadow being a total dominating asshole, keeping me locked down.
Everyone except me. And thankfully, my bonded mist.
I’m bailing as soon as we hit the ground. It will be chaos. Shadow can’t keep track of me at all times.
I sent that message through in a rush since we were losing sky and would soon be on the ground.
I will watch your back. Keep you safe as we track the creatures.
Do you have any insight into where they are?
The mist was silent for a beat. Their exact location is hidden, but I believe we’ll find them underground. Another pause. Below with the leicher mists. I cannot follow you there.
Dammit. I would be on my own, but that was okay. I could do this, and I’d figure out how to save my creatures.
When we landed a moment later, the guards came straight for us, the noise intense enough that my ears rang for a moment before they adjusted.
Angel was already fighting, her blades slashing through the air, taking out guards. She sliced across the throats of two black-shrouded figures who looked a lot like hunters. They weren’t, because I could see their faces—faces that were grey and crumbly, like they’d sat out in the sun for too long.
Once Angel was done with them, they were nothing more than dust on the breeze, and I was officially freaking out.
“You need weapons from here,” Shadow reminded her, and Angel shot him a tense smile.
“The moment I stepped into these lands, I infused realm energy into my blades. They’ll kill with ease now.”
Shadow returned her grin, his lips tilting up evilly. He held weapons now too, lifted from the ones Angel had just killed, and be still my heart, the man moved like a ninja, all stealth and grace as he brutally tore heads from shoulders and limbs from torsos.
Yeah, okay, our romance was not the conventional sort, but that was what made us work so well.
Shadow and Angel didn’t mess around, killing whoever got in their way as we tried to move closer to the entrance. Between the two of them, there were bodies scattered across the ground and it hadn’t escaped my notice that they made a real effort to keep me between them so I wouldn’t be ambushed.
They couldn’t stop the pain in my body, though, as my creatures were obliterated.
Soon I’d be unable to move—and if we continued this way, we would be too late to save the creatures. To save the world.
I had to get to them. Maybe I could take Inky with me. Would Shadow agree to that…?
“Shadow,” I said, and he turned my way while still ripping through guards. “I’m going after my creatures, with or without your support. But I’m hoping to have it. Midnight said they’re under the leicher mists, and it can’t go down there.”
Shadow’s flames were roaring now, which had many of our attackers flying back to avoid his power.
“But I can take Inky,” I finished.
He was already shaking his head, ferocity painting his features, along with the various colors of liquid and blood from the guards he’d killed.
“Please,” I begged. “If they destroy all the creatures, I’ll die. The Nexus will die. The damn world will die. This is so much bigger than the two of us!”
He couldn’t answer because a raging thing was barreling through the crowds heading straight for us. I had no idea what it was—it didn’t look like a creature—but it also didn’t look like one of the royals.
“They have rocksburt?” Angel bit out, annoyed and surprised. “I thought they were extinct.”
“Clearly not.” Shadow growled, and then he was grappling with it. It looked like a rock-being, its skin a combination of lava stone and gems. It was about ten feet tall and wide, and when Shadow tried to punch his fist through its stomach, there was almost no reaction at all.
The beast barely made a dent.
“Go, Sunshine,” Shadow growled, no doubt realizing I was in as much danger here as anywhere else. “We will distract, and Inky can get you through this chaos. Don’t engage Cristell—just get your creatures and get your ass back to me.”
Our eyes met briefly, and I wondered if this was the last time I’d ever look into those red and gold depths, the flames burning deep in his irises a comfort to me now.
“I’ll be back soon,” I promised.
Stay and help Shadow, I said to Midnight, and my mist wrapped around me before Inky took its place.
“You and me again, buddy,” I said to it, and as it grew larger, I ran my hand over the sparking synapses.
It lifted me up, moving us over the ground level, and we were missed in the chaos of rock-beings and Shadow’s attacks, and all the crazy. When we closed in on the wall of fire, my energy responded, loving the burn, and I knew on instinct these flames were from the lava chasm. Mist born.
I had no idea if I would be burned or not, but there was no other way to follow the call of my creatures, except to plunge through the flames. Inky didn’t try to stop me, so Shadow must have thought the risk was minimal, but just in case, I called up my own flames, and what do you know? They responded.
We easily passed through the fire, and the other side was much quieter.
As Inky drifted down toward the ground, since we knew we had to go underground, an ear-piercing scream rang out around me. Looking to see who it was, I found there was not a single soul nearby. It was only when a second scream rang out, equally as painful on the eardrums, that I pinpointed the location as coming from the flames.
Cristell… or Ixana. Whoever was in charge here had felt me cross her spelled wall, and she was fucking pissed about it.
Well, good. Maybe the twat-tastic bitch would save me the trouble of tracking her down. I owed her for thousands… tens of thousands… hundreds of thousands of deaths of my creatures. And she would pay.
For them. And for Shadow.
Inky nudged me along, and we took off. On this side of the flames was a somewhat impressive compound. Everything was well-maintained, with maze-like gardens and scattered outer buildings, made from rock and stone. They looked like accommodation houses for grounds staff, and beyond them was a truly spectacular castle.
This wasn’t Earth, but the castle wouldn’t have looked out of place in Europe, as part of a royal estate, with its stunning combination of porous grey stone and a smooth white slate. Even in the fading light of night, I could clearly see all the details in the multiple gothic turrets, towers, and vast wings. The appeal was instant, and I wondered if this was exactly as it had been when Shadow had grown up here.
I wanted it to still be his childhood home, as he remembered it, so when he took his throne back, there’d be a comfort and familiarity.
My chance to observe was cut short as a huge group descended on us. The bitch in charge had retaliated to my appearance, and I wondered if she thought it was Shadow. Our power was linked in more ways than one, and I had no doubt we would appear very similar if you were only reading energy signals.
Inky took out the front line without an issue, and I was able to use my flames to destroy a couple of others. That was about all I had in me, since I was drained as fuck, the tie to my slaughtered creatures dragging me down to my death. As each one was destroyed to power this war, I lost another piece of my life force.
Swiping up some weapons, I held the two blades somewhat awkwardly, hoping they’d be better than nothing. Swinging the heavy object, the first soldier I met deflected it easily, but I’d learned a few things from Angel and was already following through with the second.
I could see the surprise in the face of the blue-skinned frond, who had not expected me to move so quickly. Probably because I was half-hobbling like a two-hundred-year-old shifter. My wolf rose up and loaned me some speed and dexterity, and when I cut across the frond’s throat, the look of surprise it wore would probably stay in my head for a long time.
Being prepared to kill and actually doing it were apparently two vastly differently things. The next attacker didn’t allow me to dwell for long, but I’d probably revisit that first kill another time. In my nightmares.
Swinging both blades again, I was able to keep them away long enough for Inky to take control and rip the shit out of the guards. “Thanks, buddy,” I shouted as we ran again.
Another creature’s death tore through me and I stumbled, but Inky was there just as Shadow would have been, scooping me up. My legs were weak, and since more guards were heading our way, I let it take me along. We didn’t share a mind, so I relied on pointing Inky in the direction I felt the pull—toward the castle, on the side closest to the lava chasm.
Their energy was so strong here, along with that of the mists, royals, and many other beings. It was a huge jumble of power, literally buffeting at me as we closed in. When Inky got us right near the side of the castle, I patted it gently.
“I can walk from here,” I said quickly. My legs buckled for a beat as I hit the ground, but Inky stayed with me until I found my strength to stand. It then formed a wall of protection behind me so I could lift my head and search for my creatures.
The bond was strong here, thrumming in my chest, and I tried to call them to me, tugging on the invisible cords that tethered us all together. Come to me.
They wanted to, these poor beings in pain, confused about what was happening. They were weak and hurt, but wherever they were, their path back to me was blocked. They couldn’t return to me without my help.
Dammit. Shadow was going to murder me if I actually descended into her evil lair, but there was no other choice. I would sacrifice myself to save them; I would expect the same from him.
I’d join Shadow in burning this fucking place to the ground if it meant one more creature would not be hurt.
