Shadow Realms- The Complete Series

by Kelly Carrero

  Instead of hitting glass, I ran smack bang into a solid wall. Falling back onto my feet, I looked at the window before me, which was not a window at all.

  I screamed out in frustration.

  Orphelia was a master of screwing with the mind.

  “I can’t get out,” Sky screamed. “Everywhere I go is a freaking wall.”

  Fire ripped through the hall toward me as Alex yelled, “I’m going to burn this place down.”

  “And us in the process,” Kyla yelled.

  The water pipes in the ceilings and walls broke, extinguishing the fire. Guess we had Almira to thank for our asses not turning to a crisp. But now we had to deal with the water soaking our clothing and puddling across the floor.

  When I found that bitch of a witch, I was going to rip her friggin’ head off.

  A low rumble came from below followed by Sky screaming, having now lost her shit. The walls began to crack like a cancer. “Kyla, blast the shit out of this place,” Sky yelled.

  I shoved my back against the wall as a blast of swirling air propelled toward me with unnatural speed. Then, with one almighty crack, the outside walls exploded.

  Not taking any more chances, I sprinted through the flames and leaped from the building, propelling myself through the air onto the manicured grass below.

  Landing with barely a thud, I scanned the area, relieved to find the other girls were outside with me. They were safe.

  But Max was nowhere to be seen.

  For the second time that day, I wished I had never allowed him to talk me into letting him come. He was my weakness, and Orphelia was using it to the fullest.

  My chest constricted as I raced around the grounds, trying to find him, but he was no where to be seen.

  An explosion from inside drew my attention back to the building. If Max wasn’t down here, that meant he was in there. “Max!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  Nothing.

  “Max!” I screamed again.

  No answer.

  Just as I opened my mouth to scream to him one more time, I heard a faint cough followed by a moan that made my heart stop.

  It was him.

  He was still inside.

  Without giving it a second thought, I pushed off the ground and leaped into the air, returning to the very spot I’d come out of. I tore through the house, calling to him. His stifled moans were all I needed to find him.

  My heart was in my throat as I rounded the corner and saw him. “Max.” My voice came out as barely a whisper, my heart breaking at the sight of him lying on the ground under a fallen wall, parts of his skin charred, other parts covered in soot from the flames.

  I rushed toward him and lifted the wall off his body, cursing everything that was evil in this world. That bitch was going to die a very slow, painful death for what she had done. I was going to suck every last drop of her soul.

  “Go,” Max said, his voice barely audible. “You’re not safe here.”

  I reached for his face but recoiled my hand, afraid my touch would hurt him. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  He reached his wary hand toward me and cupped my cheek. “Then save me again.”

  I cursed myself for not thinking about that. I had the power to give life to him, and I’d been so caught up in the way he looked that I’d completely forgotten.

  Placing my hand over his forehead and connecting to his higher being, I let my gaze fall over his body, his shirt still torn, revealing new scars along with the old…

  I stiffened for a second then forced myself to act normal when I felt anything but. “Close your eyes,” I instructed.

  Then I connected with all things living and dead as my other hand wrapped around the dagger on my waist. Withdrawing it, I plunged it deep into his heart with every bit of strength I had.

  His eyes shot open, only they weren’t his. His body began to morph into the evil witch, no longer able to control the magic needed to pull off a spell like that. Before Orphelia had a chance to send another attack my way, I sank my fangs into her neck and feasted on her ancient, evil soul.

  My eyes rolled back as euphoria set in. But it wasn’t just her blood that caused it. It was also knowing I had finally gotten her. She thought she was smarter than we all were, thinking she could manipulate me, but she made one crucial mistake.

  “Holy shit,” Sky exclaimed, making me pull back.

  Orphelia’s head flopped to the side, not having the energy to control her body.

  Tearing my gaze away from the witch, I saw my friends and the love of my life standing down the hall.

  I looked back at Orphelia, grabbed the amulet around her neck, and ripped it off her dying body. “We got it,” I said, clutching it in my hand so tightly my palm almost bled.

  Kyla knelt beside me and withdrew her dagger, lifting it high above Orphelia. “Try coming back from this, bitch.” She drove the dagger into Orphelia’s forehead, right into her penal gland, sending a shockwave around us.

  I sat back and watched with satisfaction as Orphelia’s soul left her body, slithering back to the Shadow Realms. As much as I had wanted to be the one to end Orphelia’s life, it was fitting that Kyla had that pleasure after everything she’d been through at the hands of Orphelia and the Society.

  I stood and backed up against Max, who wrapped his arms around me from behind as Sky drew me into a hug from the front. “I’m so glad you’re safe. I was freaking out when you went back in and we couldn’t follow you,” she said as she pulled away.

  “How did you find her?” Max asked.

  “Funny you should ask.” I turned around in his arms. “I went back in because I couldn’t see you outside.”

  “I was right there with you all.”

  I shrugged. “Orphelia must’ve still been messing with me to draw me back inside. Because when I did go in, I saw you pinned under a fallen wall. Your body was burned, and you looked like you were dying. You asked me to heal you. And as I was getting ready to, I saw your chest and your scars.” I peeled Max’s shirt down enough to see the spot over his heart that I had healed. I traced my finger around it. “This heart was missing, and I knew right away it was Orphelia messing with me again, making me believe she was you and she was asking me to heal her, to give life to her like I had done to you. Who knows what that would’ve done to someone like her?”

  “I hate to think,” Kyla said. “I’m just glad you’re okay, and she wasn’t able to fool you.”

  I smiled at her. “Thanks. I’m just glad everyone is safe.”

  “Orphelia didn’t know you’d done that to me,” Max said, filling the others in. “Kali healed me after we left the Society.”

  “And because it was such a small section I healed, you still looked like you always had whenever she saw you—if she saw you. Other than when we were in Bali, it was only when we were behind the Embers’ wards you took your shirt off.”

  Alex stood and walked over to us. “Come on. We’ve got a veil to close.”

  Standing outside the compound, we stood in our very own self-made pentagram, each taking our place around the circle, Max watching from a few yards away. Candles stood at the tips of the points, and Alex waved her hand, lighting them in a singular motion.

  I leaned forward into the center of the circle and placed the amulet faceup on the ground before returning to my spot.

  As we took each other’s hands, I looked at the four women who had become a part of me, and I them. Then, as we’d read in the books, we said as one, “Velum eicio daemonia umbra signantes regna,” over and over again. The amulet took on a golden glow as the souls of the damned were sucked back through the veil. With each passing moment, the Shadow Realms became fainter and fainter, and the screeches in our world became quieter until there was nothing left but the faintest glimmer of a cord barely connecting our world to the Shadow Realms.

  Epilogue

  The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Arm linked with my best friend, Ashley, I walked out of
the school gate for the very first time in what felt like an eternity.

  “So, I was right, wasn’t I?” Ash gestured to my smile.

  She’d practically forced me to go back to school with her, spouting on about needing a proper education as being a “spirit elemental without any demons to fight” wasn’t a job. I tried to argue with her because I never thought I could go back to school after being away for so long, but thanks to my new love of magic, I was able to catch up and surpass every expectation ever set on me.

  “Yeah, you were right,” I said as we made our way across the school grounds to the parking lot where Max was waiting for us.

  Mason raced up behind us and hooked his arm around my neck. “Tell me your first day back was as awesome as mine.”

  “Bye, Mason,” a blonde, leggy girl purred, giving him a small wave as she pouted her lips.

  I rolled my eyes. “Nice to see you haven’t changed a bit.”

  “What can I say? I’m even more popular than before—especially with my enhanced abilities.”

  I barked out a laugh. “And yet I’m still the freak with the fangs, who every self-absorbed brat in this school owes their life to but will never know.” Thankfully, I no longer craved blood like I had when the vampires and demons roamed the Earth. And I hoped I would never crave blood again.

  Mason ruffed my hair. “Aw, don’t be so bitter, little sister.”

  I laughed, his tormented words no longer having an effect on me. “I am not your little sister, and I’m not bitter. I have everything I ever wanted and more.” My gaze fell on Max, making me suck in a sharp breath. “Later, dudes.”

  I broke free from their hold on me, raced over to Max, and threw my arms around his neck. He caught me in his arms and brought his lips down to mine, kissing me with a passion that should’ve been reserved for behind closed doors.

  He set me back on my feet and looked into my ice-blue eyes. “I take it your first day went well?”

  “Better now that you’re here.”

  Mason and Ash arrived at the car. “She’s lying,” Mason said. “Kali terrifies everyone in this school, and she loves it.”

  “Everyone except us,” Ash said, gripping the straps of her backpack.

  We piled into the car and drove back to the very compound where everything had started. I glanced up at the building as we drove through the gates, barely recognizing the foundation that once stood.

  Since we’d closed the veil, The Circle of Embers, with Lana’s blessing, took over the land that was the closest connection to the Shadow Realms, to keep an eye on the veil at the very core. Major renovations were done after we descendants had almost destroyed the place, and we’d turned it into a complex for our coven, with each of us having our own apartment, living together but apart. We had everything we needed under one roof.

  The information we had uncovered from the Society was returned to its rightful place amongst the descendants entrusted as the saviors of the world.

  Sky, Alex, Almira, and Kyla went their separate ways, each reigning over a region under their protection and keeping an eye on the descendants that would hopefully never have to make the transformation thanks to us banishing the demons from this world.

  I missed the girls and regularly Skyped—especially with Sky, but it was nothing like having them here in person.

  Still, I had my family, which now included Lana who was waiting for us in the garage. She bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, something Lana never did.

  As soon as I stepped out of the car, she rushed over to me and drew me into a hug—another new thing she was trying out. “You have no idea how long I have been waiting for you to get back.”

  “About seven hours?” Mason said, stating the obvious as he got out of the back seat, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

  Max came around to the boot, grabbed Ash’s and my school bags, and carried them over to us, making no attempt to hand them over. “What’s got you so hyped? Make another batch of Kombucha?”

  “I did actually,” Lana said. “But that’s not what I’m so excited to show you.”

  Max and I looked at each other, wondering what the hell would make this girl act this way. Before we could come to any assumptions, Lana grabbed my hand and dragged me inside, leading me through the halls and stairways until we reached the library where Mom, Dad, Kade, Finn, Nessa, and the rest of the circle members were hovering around the desk.

  Mom looked up, her eyes lighting up the moment our eyes met, and I once again had to pinch myself just so I’d believe she was really back from the dead—or Shadow Realms to be precise.

  Dad had his hand on the small of her back as he smiled at me—or her—I wasn’t really sure. He hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since her return. He’d been so ashamed for not being there for us kids that he was now going above and beyond in trying to make it up to us.

  I still couldn’t go back to the way things were. Too much had changed. But I was happy to have my family back together and was grateful my brothers had their father back in their lives.

  Mom broke away from the rest of the witches and wrapped her arms around me as she placed a kiss on my cheek. “How was your day?”

  “Absolutely perfect now.”

  She smiled and grabbed my hand, then led me over to the table.

  Max dumped our bags onto the floor as he followed me into the room with Mason and Ash in tow. He strode over to me and dropped his arm over my shoulder as he peered at the book that seemed to have everyone so hyped. “What are we looking at?”

  “A book, dummy,” Ash said playfully, squeezing in between Max and Mason, who’d just pushed past her to get a front row seat.

  The corner of Max’s lips tipped up into a grin. He loved the whole dynamics of our family and fit in as if he’d always been one of us. Just like Kade. “Okay, genius, explain what everyone’s so excited about.”

  She shrugged. “That’s not what you asked originally.”

  “Anyway,” Mom said, trying to get our focus back on whatever they’d found.

  Finn reached forward and spun the book in my direction. “It’s a spell to close the Shadow Realms for good.”

  Kade added, “And you’ll need your elemental sisters to help you.”

  My eyes lit up with excitement. I hadn’t seen them for a month and was longing to catch up with them all again. “When will they be arriving?”

  “Now,” Sky said from behind me.

  I spun around, my gaze landing on my four elemental sisters. “How?”

  Almira smirked. “And thanks to Kyla, we also discovered the spell Orphelia used to create portals around the world. So no more annoying plane rides for us.”

  I threw my arms around her, then Almira, Alex, and Kyla, grateful we were together once again.

  “So what does this spell entail?” I asked, finally pulling away.

  “Orphelia’s pendant is the key,” Alex said, gesturing to Nessa, who was holding the stone. “You see, while you were at school, we were working out what we’d missed, which was still connecting this world to the Shadow Realms. Orphelia had a contingency plan, but thanks to these books and Lana’s obsession with studying…” She paused as Lana did a curtsy, making me laugh. “Orphelia’s pendant is also a source stone, connecting to something buried in the pit below this place, and it wasn’t destroyed when it was filled in.”

  “That’s how the demons have kept the connecting thread and are trying to make the tie between our worlds stronger,” Mom jumped in. “They’ve always got a plan B, C, D, and maybe even a Z.”

  “But with this stone…” Nessa held it up for us to see. “We break this, and we break the connection.”

  “Anyone got a hammer,” Mason asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “A hammer won’t break that.”

  He shrugged. “Worth a try.”

  Mom took the pendant from Nessa and strode over to me and my sisters. “Together, you can break the stone. Then each of you will keep a part of it, so as to ma
ke sure the stone never comes together again.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Sky said, linking her arm with mine.

  The five of us and our entourage made our way up to the tower where Orphelia had resided over the whole estate, where the magic stronghold was. Then we proceeded to create a pentagram, now knowing what we had to do.

  My mother placed the pendant in the circle. Then the five of us held each other’s hands and repeated the spell written in the pages.

  The ground began to tremble, and the stone cracked, a brilliant white light exploding from the pendant moments before shadows emerged from within.

  “Shit,” I said.

  “Cast them back to the demon world,” Nessa yelled to us.

  Remembering the spell sketched into our minds, we said in unison, “Velum eicio daemonia umbra signantes regna.” Then we watched as they slithered back into their world, as we sealed the veil behind them. Not even a glimmer of the veil remained.

  They were gone.

  And we, the members of The Circle of Embers, and the rest of the world were free.

  But we weren’t foolish enough to believe there wasn’t a plan Z. And so, Sky, Almira, Alex, Kyla, and I each held a piece of the stone, promising never to reunite the pendant again.

  Also by Kelly Carrero

  Night Shade Academy

  Night Shade Academy

  Shadow Realms Series

  Shadow Realms

  Circle of embers

  Prophecy Untold

  Severed Wings Series

  Severed Wings

  Severed Hearts

  Severed Minds

  Severed Souls

  Evolution Series

  Evolution

  Tormented

  Deception

  Vengeance

  Contained

  Reclaimed

  Unleashed

  Jane Doe - An Evolution World Series

  Jane Doe

  Unearthly Paradox Series

  Paradox

  Addicted

  Traffick