Sacred Wrath
Page 32
Tristan and I lifted our hands to aim our palms toward the Daemoni to return fire, but the mages were too far away. By the time our powers reached the enemy, their potency had weakened too much to penetrate the shields and were easily deflected. Blossom and two other witches joined us, but their spells also bounced off the offenders’ protection.
Owen, can’t you blast them with something? I called out to him.
“Not if you want me to hold this shield up,” he answered from his position in the tower with Char and the other mages. “There are too many, and they’re too powerful. We’re losing our hold as it is.”
Real panic started to rise from the pit of my belly, sending my heart into a gallop. I needed to protect my people.
What if we made the shield smaller? I asked Owen. Would it be easier to hold?
“Yeah, but how? We’ve already brought it in from the sea to the edges of the island, but we have to cover the entire thing.”
No, you don’t. Hang on. I used my telepathy to call to Ophelia and ordered her to clear everyone out of the mansion and to take cover in the village. Tell the guards to come to the council hall. Without waiting for a response, I switched to my son’s mind. Dorian, I need you to bring Sasha and come here to town. Now!
He ignored me, but I could feel his mind signature, locating him where we’d left him in his room at the mansion.
Dorian! Now! We’re under attack!
“Ugh! Whatever. I’m coming. Geez.”
The sulfuric stench of dark magic filled my nose. A red flash of light flew from the sea and slammed into the island. A building near the shore exploded into shards of wood and pieces of plaster.
“They’re getting through,” Char said to me. No kidding.
Dorian dropped from the air to my side with Sasha in his arms, apparently having flown here. I reached my mind out to the mansion and found no signatures there.
“Get inside the council hall,” I told my son, but he ignored me again, his gaze locked on the Daemoni in the distance.
I wanted to shove him away and prevent him from ever setting eyes on them again, but I didn’t have time for the argument. My mind scanned the entire northern half of the island from the beach to the forest to the cliffs to be sure no one remained before I gave the orders. That part of the island was clear of any mind signatures. Perfect.
Tighten the shield to only surround the village, I ordered Owen.
“But the mansion—” He began to argue.
There’s nobody there. Just protect the people. Another flash of light hit a second building. People poured out of the pub next to it, screaming with panic and running up the hill toward the council hall. Do it, Owen, before it’s too late!
More spells soared through, one hitting an old cypress that exploded into slivers. Another hit the blacksmith’s shop not too far below us, taking out one side of it. The people running up the hill dropped to the ground or scattered between the buildings, fleeing the main street. Tristan swept Dorian and me into his arms and plastered us to the ground, making us smaller targets as another spell headed straight for us. It soared over our prone bodies and took out what sounded like a tree behind us, but I couldn’t get up to look.
The odor of Daemoni and dark magic faded, and the next round of spells ricocheted seemingly in midair. Owen and his mage team must have strengthened our magical armor. Sounds of explosions from the north side of the island meant they had, indeed, contracted the shield to protect the people. That was okay, as long as they were safe. Although millennia of history filled the halls of the matriarch’s mansion, ultimately it consisted of only stones and material possessions. We could always rebuild it.
The attack on the northern side of the island lasted for several more minutes. Knowing we were safe here, though, Tristan and I sprang to our feet to check on our people. I reached my mind out for everyone on my team—Owen, Char, Blossom and Jax, Vanessa, and Sheree—and found them safe and sound. Blossom, Jax, and Sheree were already helping some of the Amadis in the lower part of town who’d been hurt from debris. Vanessa stood on the roof of the council hall, her fists on her hips and her ice-blue eyes staring hard at the Daemoni on the other side of the shield.
“They’re all warlocks,” she said after she jumped down to stand next to Sasha, who had already grown to her extra-large size, towering over all of us. “All of their best mages.”
I reached my mind out to those on the other side of the shield, bracing myself for entering the Daemoni’s putrid minds that filled me with the worst kind of dread. I pushed past the darkness and listened to their plans.
“They’ve sent their most powerful mages here while their vamps and shifters are attacking the norms.”
I skipped to a new mind signature, and as soon as I tried to latch onto the thoughts, intense pain seared through my eyeball and into my brain as though a nail had been driven into it. I clutched at my head, doubling over. I squeezed my eyes closed and concentrated on pushing the pain out.
“Lex, what’s wrong?” Tristan’s large hand landed on my back and tried to soothe me.
My head tilted, and my jaw clenched until finally, the agony dulled.
“They have a . . . sorcerer . . . and a sorceress with them.” I tried to breathe through the lingering pain and finally managed to open my eyes to find Tristan and Vanessa hovering over me. “Kali must have taught them how to block me from their minds. Shit, that hurt.”
Tristan reached out and wiped his thumb over my upper lip. It came away bloody.
“They haven’t been involved in the attack, though. Yet,” I added.
“They’re just wearing us down right now,” Vanessa said.
Avoiding the sorcerers, I took my injured mind to one belonging to a warlock to study her thoughts further and nodded. They’d already figured out the north end of the island had been deserted, so they gave up on their attack up there, and the explosions stopped. But they weren’t giving up for good. They were only regrouping.
“They’re getting ready to hit us with their heavy guns,” I confirmed, and I opened my mind to those of the entire island. Everyone take cover! It’s not over!
People shrieked and ran into the streets before flashing away, hopefully gathering together under the protection of our weaker mages, which was protocol in the event of an attack. Many of the witches and wizards of the village may only be able to shield their homes or a single room, but that was better than nothing if our main defense collapsed.
“Sorcerers?” Owen asked me.
A sorcerer and a sorceress, I told him and Char. Can you hold them?
“We will for as long as we can,” Char said. “But Owen needs to get down there to protect you and Tristan.”
Before I could argue, a succession of bright yellow and orange lights shot across the water and blasted into our shield, breaching it almost immediately. The next spell hit our watchtower right behind the council hall, blowing it into pieces. The very tower where our mages powered the shield. Owen appeared next to me at the same moment and immediately threw a bubble over Tristan, Dorian, and me.
“Come on,” Tristan said, pulling Dorian back into his arms.
He flashed, and I followed his trail with Owen and Vanessa right on mine. We appeared inside the dungeons under the council hall, where they’d once jailed Tristan when he’d been accused of betraying the Amadis. I called the others to come join us, but Blossom, Jax, and Sheree refused to leave the injured behind.
“I have a shield on them,” Blossom assured me. “You just stay safe, Alexis.”
Char didn’t answer me, and I couldn’t locate her mind signature in the chaos, but she’d been in the tower with the other mages when the Daemoni had hit it. My heart wobbled, but I refused to believe she was dead. I couldn’t handle another death so soon, especially hers. I glanced at Owen, and his face remained stoic. He refused to believe, too.
I sat against the cold, stone wall of one of the cells, closed my eyes, and used my mind to peek into others’ heads unti
l I found a vampire who peered outside from his window. Now that the main shield had collapsed, the sorcerer and sorceress seemed to have backed off. In fact, magic spells no longer rained down on the town. Only a few random shots came, as though they were double-checking that the shield had actually fallen.
I heard, “It’s a go,” from one of them before they all disappeared.
Read Unholy Torment now.
Books by Kristie Cook
Soul Savers
A Demon’s Promise
An Angel’s Purpose
Dangerous Devotion
Dark Power
Sacred Wrath
Unholy Torment
Fractured Faith
Genesis: A Soul Savers Novella
Awakened Angel: A Soul Savers Novella
Prophecy of the Wolves: (A Soul Savers Tie-In Novella)
Wonder: A Soul Savers Collection of Holiday Short Stories & Recipes
Havenwood Falls
Forget You Not
Lose You Not
Break Me Not
The Collector: Awakening
The Winged & the Wicked (with T.V. Hahn)
Savage Salvation (Sin & Silk)
Sun & Moon Academy Book One: Fall Semester
Havenwood Falls Short Story Anthology 2018
Havenwood Falls Short Story Anthology 2019
Book Of Phoenix
The Space Between
The Space Beyond
The Space Within