“Spirited creatures, werewolves,” Fazion said. “They’re putting up quite a fight.”
The wolves began charging her two and three at a time, moving fast enough to avoid getting struck by her blade, but not enough to outmaneuver her wails. She dipped, and twisted, avoiding one wolf after another. Keeping herself from getting hit by using their momentum and wail against them.
“They are,” I agreed, “But they can’t keep this up for long. Where are your Manticores?” I threw my aura ahead of me, searching for the now familiar signatures of the fae guards. They were nowhere to be found. “They were supposed to be here, but I feel nothing.”
“In due time, Princess, when the moment is right.” Fazion replied. Another wolf flew over my head and crashed into the shield. When its body hit the ground, its head was at an impossible angle. Tears gathered as I watched the large body begin to shrink, and shift back to human. Only death and an alpha could force a wolf back. This wasn’t Marcus’s doing.
I climbed to my feet and shook the tears away. “Leave them alone! It’s me you want, not them!” I slapped a hand against my chest, leaned toward her. “I’m right here!”
Another wolf jumped at her, only to be kicked out of the air. “If you insist,” The Banshee smiled and began to close the distance between us. She managed to make it a few feet before Constantine tackled her from behind.
“Did you really think we would let you get anywhere near our little sister?” he barked. Tino used his weight to slam her face first into the ground. He began driving his fist into her side, over and over again. I heard something snap and knew he’s broken a rib or two, but his advantage ended there.
The Banshee bucked, flipping him off of her, sending him sliding across the floor. She pushed to her knees and snarled at the vampires that were beginning to stand. “Stay down or-”
She didn’t finish her statement because Valerian dropped out of a flash and promptly kicked her in the jaw. The fae’s head snapped back, but she caught herself before she fell and answered Vedo’s kick with a blazing fist to his knee.
His leg was forced back. I screamed in agony, experiencing my twin’s pain as it broke. Valerian gasped and fell hard. I saw the jagged end of a bone poking through skin and lost it. “Vedo! You leave his the fuck alone!” I forgot all about keeping Carrie out and pulled my hand away from the wall, intent on going to my brother. Or, I tried to.
My hand was stuck. I looked back and gave a desperate tug, fighting to get to Valerian. I couldn’t move. I screamed and looked across the room at Fazion and Ire. Both had hands extended toward me, locking me in place with shields.
“Let me go, now!” I yelled, “He needs me!” I saw swirling blue lights zip by my head and knew that my control was shot.
“Val, you need to get a grip!” Irulan yelled to only me. “Focus! Tamerlane has Valerian out of harm’s way. His leg will heal! Damn it, you’ll kill us all!”
Tamerlane bumped into me as he pulled Valerian to my side. “I’m here, Val,” my twin huffed, “A little worse for wear, but I’m in one piece. You can kill the light show.”
I dropped and wrapped my free hand around his neck. “From now on you stay in the office. No more field work for you.”
“So what are you saying, I’m helpless?” Valerian croaked. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
A clap of thunder cut me off before I could reply. I twisted around to look out and saw that it had started raining. Trees lining the sidewalk were leaning in the wind; their tops almost touching the ground. This was bad. If I remembered correctly, the entire week was supposed to be cloud free and sunny. Now not only had the temperature dropped, but the sky had opened up above us.
“Ire?”
“He’s closer, Val. I don’t think we’re going to make it.”
“Don’t count us out yet, Sister,” Fazion whispered. “It’s time.” I felt a shift in the barrier as Fazion pulled back a portion of his energy. The fae king closed his eyes and began to chant. When he was done, Manticores blinked into the room amongst the charging vampires and weres. There were more bodies than before, almost doubling our numbers.
Stryfe pointed a sword at the Banshee and began calling out orders. “You there-strike now-move!” He directed them over kicks and under punches. Tamerlane ran back into the mix and began doing the same for our vampires, while Marcus backed away and exerted command over his wolves.
When the Banshee caught a group of vampires in her gaze, the Manticores were there, breaking her concentration to free them. When a Manticore wavered, a wolf was there to keep him from falling. The fae attacked with blades, the vampires and wolves with fangs and claws. Everyone moving with an intensity that would have made me feel sorry for the Banshee if she wasn’t out to destroy everyone that I loved.
I watched the Banshee with hated awe. As ferocious as the attacks against the Banshee were, her defensive maneuvers were equally impressive. I could see her slowing in some areas, her wail wavering for a few seconds, or a sloppy strike that swung wide, but she always compensated. For every missed strike, there was a kick that landed, sending someone sprawling to their ass. For every floundering wail, there was her gaze, locking people in place for the few seconds needed for her wail to strengthen.
“She’s kinda awesome isn’t she?” Valerian said as he watched.
“Really? Do you have Stockholm Syndrome or something? She’s trying to kill us, Vedo.”
“You can’t sit there and tell me you weren’t thinking the same thing.”
Maybe I was, but I wasn’t going to admit it. Instead I said, “Doesn’t matter how good she is, we’re going to win this.” I reached over while he was distracted and forced the broken bone into place.
Valerian screamed and swatted my hand away. “Have you lost your damn mind?! What’d you do that for?!”
“Your leg wasn’t going to heal like that. You need to be on your feet, not lying here like a sitting duck.”
A loud whack against the glass made both of us jump. I looked back and saw a waterlogged, Carrie with both hands pressed to outside of the metal beam. The iron swelled beneath me, almost pushing my hand free.
“It looks as if the spell you worked is nearing its end,” she said, forcing more of her influence into the metal. “I’ll be in soon, and then we can play.”
“Val,” Irulan started, but I was already on my feet.
“I’m on it,” I said as I pressed both hands to the beam. I closed my eyes, focused on the image of that tree and shoved it away from me. I felt Carrie recoil and the metal settled back into place.
“Momentary lapse of concentration, sorry, won’t happen again,” I informed her. She hissed in reply, her backup a flash of lightning. I could help but laugh. “Sticks and stones, chick, sticks and stones, you’re still out there and I’m in here.” For now.
Chapter 25
Behind me the Banshee released another wail, but unlike the last, this one barely rattled the walls. I watched the fight in the glass’s reflection. Over half of the wolves were on the sidelines, nursing injuries. Our numbers were dwindling and this time there would be no cavalry, but it looked like our last ditch plan was working. The bitch actually looked like she was beginning to tire and now she wasn’t recovering. That last volley only sent one deadborn sliding across the floor instead of into the wall.
Outside, Carrie had gotten over my last mental push, and was back at the beams, fighting to exert her control over the metal. I flinched under the extra weight and thought ‘wood’. “I don't think I can take much more of this,” I called out to Irulan. “She’s damn strong and a far sight better at magic than I am.”
To my surprise, it wasn’t Irulan that offered words of support--it was Fazion. “You aren't alone, Valeria. Irulan and I are here to help you; but, aside from that, you need to remember that no matter what she is now, Carrie is still just an ordinary Fae. You are royal and far more powerful that she will ever be. You can take whatever she can dish out and more.”
&n
bsp; The world was coming to an end. It had to be, because Fazion would never say anything even remotely nice to me. “Thanks,” I said as I forced more of my will into my glamour. As I looked at him across the battlefield that was once the Convention Center’s foyer, I saw something that I never thought I’d see in the middle of downtown Charlotte. There was a doorway to the FaeLands opening in the midst of a sea of metal. Maybe my glamour was working a little too well.
“People, we've got a problem,” I yelled, tilting my head toward the doorway, still not daring to remove my hands from the walls. A blast of frigid wind filled the dome, making the air feel like daggers as it filled my lungs.
Fazion’s eyes widened in horror as the glass around us began to frost over and crack in some places. “The Winter King comes,” he yelled. “We have no more time: the Harbinger has to die now!”
If his frantic tone of voice wasn’t enough to convince everyone that they had to get a move on, the tendrils of ice that spread along the floor freezing anything they came in contact with did. The first victim was one of Marcus’s wolves. He wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way of the icy wave of power.
I looked on in horror as a shimmering sheet of ice traveled up his legs and coated his fur until he was a frozen statue, caught in mid-stride. But the statue wouldn’t stand for long. A second blast of frigid air rolled through the doorway and a coat of snow covered the were. Before I could access what was happening, his body exploded into thousands of tiny shards.
Thade croaked as he watched his pack member shatter into nothing. “Uncle Marcus, we've got to take it up a notch,” He yelled over the commotion. Wolf Marcus nodded. The were’s leapt as one unit. Furry bodies blocked the Banshee from view until a scream knocked them away from her, but that didn’t stop them. The wolves scrambled to their feet and charged again. More than a few of them were able to avoid getting hit by the Banshee’s counter attacks and dug either claw or fang into her flesh. They attacked with a renewed vigor that surprised Fazion.
“Follow the two-natured. We will only win if we fight as if we have nothing to lose!” he called out to the head of his guards.
Stryfe gripped the pommel of his sword so tight that his knuckles turned white from the pressure, and lifted the black curved blade into the air. “It’s all or nothing, Manticores! The Harbinger must die, or we are all lost to the Winter Kings wrath!”
The Banshee looked at the throng of wolves and vampires around her with a puzzled look as some of them became Sidhe warriors, another surprise, courtesy of Fazion. Some of the Sidhe shifted forms to things deadlier than wolves, while others lifted their swords and exhaled. Gathering what strength they had for the final assault that would either lead to the Banshee’s death or the thousands of mortal lives that populated Charlotte. With a nod of Stryfe’s head, Marcus’s pack and my family’s deadborns leap out of the way and the elite guard charged.
The painful expression that graced Irulan and Fazion’s faces lessened as they began to undo their spell. The powerful glamour was no longer needed.
“It doesn’t matter what you do,” the Banshee sneered, almost out of breath as she watched more Manticores materialize around her. “You couldn’t defeat me before. What makes you think you can now?” She pointed a bony finger in my direction and smirked. “You, I will take my time to kill. Or perhaps I’ll save you for my friend. I’m sure she'd love to torture you for all that you took from her.” While she was distracted, Stryfe rushed in, kicked away her fallen sword, and promptly disappeared.
Carrie’s fist banged against the now frozen glass and a basketball sized chunk broke away from the rest of the wall. “Behind you!” she shrieked, pointing to the icy wonderland that lay on the other side of the doorway.
The Banshee spared a glance over her shoulder as folded her body into an impossible angle to avoid the downward stroke of a Fae blade.
“Impossible,” she yelled, turning the word into a weapon directed toward an oncoming guard, sending him flying backward. “It can't be.” I tried to tell her before, but she didn’t believe me.
“Oh, but it is,” Fazion answered. “You underestimated the Dark King because you were born in a period of relative peace between our two courts, but make no mistake, Harbinger, going after FaeVar's children has pushed him back to his old ways. The kings that summoned you have no idea what they have unleashed upon the realms.”
After handing us our asses not once, but multiple times, the Harbinger saw her death hanging before her. The fathomless darkness that replaced her eyes blinked, and for a second they were white, cloud-filled orbs that looked no different from other Sidhe I’d met.
I gasped, unable to contain my surprise, and her eyes returned to the pits of nothing that I was used to. “It makes no matter whether the Winter King walks or not, I was summoned to destroy this line and I will fulfill my duties.”
She danced out of the way of a charging guard as his sword came barreling toward her neck. With what looked like no effort at all, she reached out, grabbed him by the back of his neck and flung him into his brother in arms. Both of the Sidhe slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the slick, ice covered concrete beneath them.
“Is that the best you’ve got, spoiled little prince,” she laughed as she directed an ear splitting cry at another group sending them crashing to their knees, clutching their ears in pain. “You will always fail, always be second best,” she taunted Fazion.
Fazion took her ribbing in stride, even going so far as to smile at her. “Not this time, Banshee,” he whispered as she materialized a wicked looking sword and blocked yet another strike from a guard that managed to get close enough. While she knocked his sword away Fazion released the hold on the last bit of glamour he was holding over his men. Stryfe appeared hovering in the air, inches above the Harbingers head.
She snapped her head toward the ceiling, ready to unleash a wail, but it never came. Stryfe’s blade was already on her lips before she began her deadly scream. The determined Manticore used all his weight to drive his blade straight down her throat, silencing the instrument of death her cry was sure to be at that close range.
For the first time since this entire ordeal began, I breathed a small sigh of relief. Maybe we could pull this off in time. But as hard as it was to incapacitate the Harbinger, she was far from dead. She still had to be bound in the iron beams of the dome surrounding us and to do that Irulan and Fazion were going to have to work together. That meant I was going to be the sole Fae keeping the wooded glamour intact in Carrie’s mind. And our plan could still fail if we didn’t keep the two of them apart before the Banshee was bound.
I was going to be under twice as much pressure as I already was. “I’m not strong enough to do this,” I whispered, giving voice to all the doubts that had returned, stronger than ever. I looked past the bodies that were surrounding the fallen Banshee and found Irulan’s eyes boring into my own.
There was far too much commotion for her to hear me, but that didn’t stop her voice from filling my head. “My brother is right. You can do this. It's just like any other fight Val, except you're using your will instead of your fist or something tangible.”
A tear slid down my face as Fazion pulled his hands away from the metal beams and took a step toward the center of the room where everyone was waiting. The strain was like nothing I’d ever felt before. I thought my mind was going to rip itself apart, but the glamour that was preventing Carrie from turning the iron beams into weapons against us was holding.
“I’m going to let go, baby, and help Fazion put an end to this once and for all,” my wife told me. “You can do this.” And with that those words the weight of the world came crashing down on my shoulders.
Carrie laughed and pressed both of her hands to the metal beams that were so close but, right out of her reach. “You’re going to be the cause of their deaths,” she sneered as she bombarded the metal with her strange power, calling it to do her bidding. “I can feel it under my hands, aching to bend to my
will. You're an even bigger disgrace to the Fomori than I ever was. What made you think that you could ever be our equal? The Fae are so much more than you could ever hope to be, filthy blood sucker.”
I ground my teeth together as the mind games that Irulan’s ex was trying to play, hit home. The bitches plan was backfiring. Her words weren't discouraging me, causing my control to falter. She was only pissing me off, strengthening my resolve to keep her out. I couldn’t get my hands on her just yet, but unlucky for her, I was the queen of talking shit.
“Fuck you; you half-breed, unwanted freak,” I threw back at her. “Your father cast you out; my grandfather welcomed me with open arms. Who's the disgrace again?” Carrie’s facial expression hardened, but, one eye twitched. I hit a nerve, and I've got more where that came from.
“Do you know Irulan, and I lived together for five years before she ever mentioned your name? How forgettable does that make you? And here all this time you thought you were the love of her life.” I threw in a casual laugh for good measure and saw the hint of tears gathering in her eyes. “I guess not.”
“Shut your disgusting mouth, vampire,” she whispered. “You speak nothing but lies. I know the princess loves me, more than you could ever hope she’d love you.”
I hated to go there, but throwing her into an emotional tailspin was the way I was keeping her from using the metal against us. I sighed and pulled the coldest Trumaine face that I could muster. I caught sight of myself in the icy glass and almost shivered. My father would be proud.
“Irulan felt sorry for you,” I said with such conviction I almost believed my lies. “She was the only person in that entire court that wasn’t raised to look on the UnSeelie. But pity isn’t love and that’s why she took you under her wing. She pitied you, like someone would pity a lame, unwanted runt. Like a puppy. You were a pet.”
“Liar,” she whispered, as the first tear slid down her face. Something inside me took joy in her grief, and I kept going; pushing the advantage while I had it.
Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) Page 27
