by Lynda Aicher
A smile lit her face in exhilaration, a feeling that vibrated through her and stoked her confidence. The wind pounded off the surf and followed her call to blast her enemy in a full frontal heave that lifted the woman off her feet and tossed her backwards a solid ten feet until she landed with a hard thud on her back.
With her enemy down, Amber risked a quick look to check on Kayla. Unfortunately, her friend hadn’t listened to her and still remained near the edge of the cliff. The warrior in Kayla must have kept her there ready for the battle, not running in fright.
But even that brief distraction came at a price. A searing pain struck Amber’s hip with the direct hit of a fireball. She stumbled backwards and quickly pounded the flames out of the coat. Fortunately, the flames hadn’t penetrated the coat’s thick weave, so her skin remained unscathed. She couldn’t help a faint smile at the thought that the coat really had protected her.
A small cry brought her attention back to Kayla. Beside her stood Kassandra, a look of victory covering her face as she made a grab for Amber’s friend. The woman must have ported in behind Amber to get to a weaker target. Kayla stumbled back, barely avoiding the grab. A flash of panic covered her face before she caught her footing and kicked out, catching her unprepared attacker in the thighs and stalling Kassandra’s approach.
Amber took the opportunity and reacted. Pure instincts and a need to save her best friend propelled her legs forward. She ran at Kassandra, a full-out sprint bolstered by fear and anger.
Amber slammed into the woman’s side, taking her by surprise. The impact knocked the air from Amber’s chest, but she held tight to her hostage and kept running. The forward motion combined with the shock of her move allowed Amber to achieve her goal with little resistance from Kassandra.
A half second later, she sailed off the edge of the cliff, Kassandra tightly clasped in her arms.
Amber’s heart stopped, terror clamping down on her brain as they plunged toward the hard rocks below. In her ears, a scream wailed. Briefly, she processed the wide-eyed fright and disbelief in Kassandra’s eyes just inches from her own.
Then Amber let go.
She opened her arms and let the Shifter fall alone, shock and realization registering on Kassandra’s face. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as she plummeted through the dark toward the rocks.
The air caught and coiled around Amber, heeding her request and slowing her fall until she hung horizontally suspended some fifty feet from the ground.
Kassandra slammed into the jagged outcropping of rocks at the base of the cliff, her body crumbling in a sickening smack of bone that drifted up over the wind. Her eyes remained wide open but sightless to the image of Amber hovering above her.
The wind roared, a sudden burst of approval that coated Amber in power. She’d believed. Trusted the energy and herself, and the element approved.
The darkness was almost complete now. The half-full moon was still cresting, but provided enough light to cast a glow through the breaks in the clouds. The small amount of light was soothing against the blackness.
Slowly, she righted herself in the air then called on the energy and lowered herself to the beach below. Her feet touched down in the soft sand next to the gray and red rocks that cradled Kassandra’s limp and broken frame. Blood streaked down the rough stone, leaving bright red rivers behind before it was absorbed into the golden sand below.
Amber gulped and choked, her hand slamming over her mouth before she remembered to breathe. The close-up of the body was disgusting. The sickening stench of blood combined with the unnatural bend of arms and legs twisted in Amber’s gut. She swallowed and forced down the bile that threatened to rise up her throat.
In the distance, the waves crashed against the shore and she focused on that. On the repetitive, soothing sound. The tide was out, providing a generous expanse of beach between the water’s edge and the cliffs that allowed the sound to carry and echo softly over the distance.
Remembering Damian’s words, she knew what she needed to do. Even if she didn’t want to do it. Kassandra might look dead, but he’d said the only way to kill a Shifter was to remove the head.
Her throat burned with the suppressed acid that refused to go back down. How could she decapitate someone? But how could she walk away and let this woman live? This Shifter who was out to kill her? War wasn’t pretty.
And this was war.
She glanced upward to the cliff edge. Kayla was gone, or at least Amber couldn’t see her. She released the restrictions that gripped her mind and let the energy flow in. In a wave of embracing warmth, she absorbed the truth of her sight. Her friend was safe—for now.
Amber’s stomach coiled in gruesome resolve. Taking a deep breath, she released her hand from her mouth and reached into her pocket, her fist clenching tightly around the hilt of the dagger. Her damp palm gripped the soft, leather-wrapped handle, her fingers spasming around the item in objection to the task.
Taking a shallow breath, she stepped forward, refusing to think. There was no room for contemplation or regrets. For weak stomachs or weaker will.
The wind swooped in to stroke her hair in an approving caress. She climbed over the rocks, her boot slipping on the blood, her knuckles scraping against the hard surface as she caught her fall. She cursed in frustration, but pushed on until she was positioned over Kassandra’s broken form. The sightless eyes stared at Amber, pinning her in a guilt-laden hold.
Amber shivered, a violent rejection of her resolve. Could she do this?
And there, on the edges of the energy, was the help she needed. Her senses dulled with the infiltration of the coldness. Emptiness descended upon her, a blissfully blank darkness that took hold of her mind and emptied her conscience. The icy numbness descended from her head until her body and actions were detached from her mind until she felt nothing but the chill that erased her emotions and soothed away the pain.
How easy it was now. To lift the knife. To grip it with both hands over her head. To envision Kassandra’s head separating from her body. By her hand.
Her bird screeched, a high-pitched wakeup call of warning.
The stone flared to life, an instant shot of heat that burned through her chest and flashed against the ice. Her chest contracted in shock; her head jerked back in a ripple effect as the fire burned through her limbs, evicting the cold.
Amber recoiled. What was she doing?
This wasn’t her. No matter what, she couldn’t kill in cold blood. She couldn’t cross that line.
She let her arms drop, the knife dangling from her slackened grip. She couldn’t kill the woman, but she could still neutralize her. Quickly, she exchanged the knife for the collar in the coat pocket, the one that had circled Damian’s neck. Working the hinge open, she spread the metal wide and eased the open collar around the Shifter’s neck. She snapped it closed then gave the metal collar a quick tug to ensure it was locked before she scrambled away from the gruesome task.
Swiftly, almost desperately, she wiped her hands on the coat in an attempt to remove the blood that had smeared on them. Kassandra’s blood.
The enemy. Her enemy.
Turning away, Amber stumbled away from the body, needing air and distance to process everything once again.
The energy expanded, a ripple of disturbance on the beach to her left. Another presence.
“Going somewhere?”
Amber snapped her head up at the same time that her stomach twisted in dred. The energy flared and sparked from the stone while recognition hit.
Before her stood Tubal.
A very angry Tubal if the hard tilt of his brows and curl of his lip were any indication. His dark, hard eyes held hers, his features cut from crudely carved marble. Dressed in the black leather that seemed to be required for combat, the man was an intimidating presence of menace.
“Home would be nice,” she managed to reply. Somehow she even succeeded in making her voice sound calm despite the fear that once again gripped her muscles in frozen tension
.
The malicious croak of his laughter sounded hollow in the empty night air. “To my home. The only possibility open to you now.”
The power of the evil was so close, tempting and taunting her to succumb. To fall into the lure and listen to that part of her that flowed within her.
The part she’d never acknowledged and would resist now.
Exhaling, Amber spread her stance and prepared. “There are always more possibilities if you know where to look for them.”
Tubal lifted his mouth in a sinister leer then raised his hand into the air. The wind whipped across the beach, spitting sand at Amber’s jeans and ripping her hair into tangled knots down her back.
Warning lights went off in Amber’s head as the energy snapped at her skin. A quick glance at the circle traced in the sand and she knew what Tubal was doing. She had to stop it if she wanted any chance of surviving.
Her hand shot up, her defense launched.
The energy was advancing around the two of them, powered by Tubal and closing them off. The rippling wave of energy circled around Tubal and her, a visual arc led by flames as if to taunt her—frighten her—as it trapped her within the ring he was casting.
She couldn’t let that happen.
The stone throbbed between her breasts, revolting against the entrapment. Amber pulled on the stone’s energy, on her own powers and slammed up a wall in front of the enclosing wave. Tubal’s energy crashed against her energy wall, the flames fanning and spitting outward from the invisible block she held. The force of the impact was like a physical blow to her body, causing her to stagger back, but she remained strong and refused to crumble. Sweat beaded on the back of her neck, her biceps quivering under the strain.
Tubal’s eyes widened in surprise before his brows dropped and the evil scowl deepened. His lip curled up in a sneer.
“How?” His one-word question was filled with the deep anger of disbelief.
How what? Amber didn’t have the mind space to figure out what he was asking.
She tried to brace herself for another attack, but there wasn’t much she could do to defend herself. All her power and concentration were focused on holding off the closing of Tubal’s circle.
Instinctively, she knew she had to act before he did. Flicking up her free hand, Amber shot a stream of flames directly at Tubal’s chest with a speed she hoped would catch him unprepared.
Tubal dropped his arm to block the attack, the deadly fire clipping the edge of his forearm and burning a jagged line through the sleeve of his leather jacket. He roared, his anger blasting the air with its vile acidity.
Immediately, the half-formed circle dropped, the energy fading away with the Shifter’s distraction.
Amber dropped her arm and sagged forward with relief. She’d done it. She’d stopped the circle from being completed. She still had a chance.
Swiping her hair out of her eyes, she sprinted down the beach. Her boots dug into the soft sand, the grains sucking them in and making her legs feel weighted. But she persisted. The need to escape pushed her forward despite the unlikeliness that running would work.
As if he read her thoughts, Tubal’s evil voice drifted to her. “Running won’t work.”
Maybe not, but it was worth a try.
She made her way toward the water and harder sand where it would be easier to run. A fireball whizzed, snapping and hissing, by her head. Damn. Too close. Tubal was playing with her. She knew that, and the fact tore at her as his throaty laughter filtered across the beach. A foggy mist was settling on the lower portions of the beach, bringing with it a dampness that swiped against her cheeks in tandem with the bite of the wind.
Her breath was panting, short staccato puffs of air that bordered on panic. Before her, two more forms took shape in the mist, their images coming into focus through the disorientating wisp of fog.
Immediately, Amber stopped.
The tall blond male and equally imposing dark-haired female stood together, hands clasped in a united front before her, halting her escape and blocking her forward exit.
Amber turned her back to the water and looked behind her. Tubal stood just down the beach, his deadly focus on her before it shifted to the two down the beach. In front of her, the steep wall of cliffs loomed imposing and unscalable.
She was caught in the middle. Breathing deep, she fought down the panic that made her heart thunder and reached for the courage Damian believed she had.
This was her life and the choice she made here could very much determine if she survived to experience that life.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Airiana,” Tubal’s voice boomed down the beach. “Why are you here? With him?”
“Grandfather,” the dark-haired woman answered. “I’m here to fight for what’s right.”
“And it’s right to turn on your family?” Tubal growled. “On all that you were raised to believe?”
The woman lowered her chin. “When what I was raised to believe is evil and wrong? Then yes. It is right to turn on my family.”
“I can’t allow that, Airiana.”
“You don’t have a say, Grandfather.” The woman raised her hand that was clasped tightly with the male’s. “I have chosen my mate and my side.”
Tubal roared, his anger radiating down the beach in a cold ripple of violence.
Amber’s attention whipped between the two forces on opposite sides of her, grateful their personal conflict pulled the attention from her. A wave rolled in and washed over Amber’s boots, pushing her forward just an inch. Heeding the subtle sign, she followed the flow of the energy and made a sprint toward the cliffs.
A long stream of fire blazed before Amber, cutting off her advance. She flailed back to avoid the heat of the flames, her boots catching in the sand and causing her to stumble before regaining her balance.
The loud roar that followed and echoed through the night made her freeze. Amber knew that sound. One she wished she’d never hear again.
A dragon.
Another flaming dragon.
In Tubal’s place stood a large, red-and-black-scaled dragon.
The dragon dipped its head, lifted heavy lids and glared directly at her. Its deadly intent was clear. Amber was its prey.
Short, white horns sprouted between pointed ears and from under a tuft of fine, scarlet hair that spread along its jaw and down the ridge of spikes that ran along its back. The large beast tossed its head and let out another ear-shattering roar. Flames reached high into the sky, golden-red shimmers of heated death.
The sound was like a trumpet call to arms, all along the beach behind the dragon more shapes started to form within eerie, black clouds of wispy smoke.
More Shifters.
The dark energy that grew and crested from that direction assured Amber she was right. The cold increased with each form that solidified. The negative energy flowed down the beach like the putrid downdraft of a sewage plant.
Chills encased her and she shivered, unable to stop the visceral reaction. Unwanted, the coldness seeped in and called to her, urging her forward, toward the dark.
To surrender.
To follow.
To the answers it could provide. To the numbness that drifted through her, blanking her fear and soothing her worry. Her problems solved. All of them forgotten in the freedom offered by the cold.
She leaned toward Tubal but her boots held firm. The lure was stronger than before. It tugged at her until it seemed so right, so easy to go with Tubal.
The wind gusted off the open water, charging across the sand with a single-minded intent. It hit Amber in the chest then cut around her to push at her body from all sides. Her hair whipped around her head and over her face, blocking the view of the Shifters. In the brief moment of darkness, she snapped back.
Amber grabbed at the annoying mass of hair and held it tightly to keep it out of her face. In a bizarre way, it was like an anchor holding her grounded. A reminder of who she was.
What she was.
The Energens had arrived.
The two sides established. An ancient battle ready to repeat. And in the middle was Amber Morningstar. The time had come.
Inhaling, Amber lifted her arms to the sky and believed, calling to the energy in a silent prayer of faith.
The wind buffeted Damian in the face, a hard slap of shame and reproach that stung clear to his soul. The energy tore at him, ripping him apart as he took in the scene below.
He had arrived high on the cliffs just seconds before. His vantage point provided an unbroken view of the battle forming on the beach below.
But right then, all was frozen as if the entire image were but a painting. A brushstroke in time.
The pale light of the half moon illuminated the scene in a stark visage of light and shadow. The glow shimmered off the expanse of water, reflecting back into the night and staging the show below.
Two sides ready for battle and in the middle stood his Amber, alone but strong.
Damian’s urge to rush to her side was stayed by the image she projected. She was a physical force that radiated power from her as she stood between the two sides. The middle compass point with her legs braced apart, her hands spread wide as they reached into the sky. Her head was tilted back, her beautiful hair lifting and dancing behind her in a silent dance to the power.
She was glorious.
His dragon growled and paced, its claws drawn and scraping in its urgency to get to her. Back to its mate. Beside it, the bird soared, its spirit filled with belief and understanding as it scouted out the battle to come.
