Authors: Jocelynn Drake
The one-eyed naturi merely smiled at his former wife. “Go fuck yourself, Aurora. We’re coming for your head.”
I couldn’t stop the smile that rose on my lips.
Aurora floated into the air, a wreath of fire surrounding her, making her a beacon in the night. It was the signal her armies had been waiting for, and with it her people charged into battle. In response, Rowe sprouted a pair of black leathery wings and launched himself into the air, sending the naturi armies forward to meet the attack in a clash of short swords and arrows. My people hung back, waiting to catch up those that slipped through the ranks. Everyone was armed in some fashion, though I had warned that no one was to bring a gun without a silencer. I’d thought we would be able to keep this battle a secret from the humans, but now we were completely exposed to the world.
Danaus remained tight at my side, and Knox soon joined our group. My main concern was to act as a defense against Aurora so Rowe or Nyx could launch their attack against the queen. In fact, I knew I was the only defense Cynnia’s people had against Aurora’s light clan. Cynnia had a handful of the light clan members on her side, but they were already engaged in one-on-one battles with their clan members.
Fireballs were launched through the air in quick succession, but I quickly captured them, stopping them from crashing into our own forces. This quickly captured the attention of the light clan, which turned its attention toward me. I smiled, welcoming the battle with them. I’d shove that fire back down their throats.
“Back off a little, boys,” I said to Danaus and Knox as I widened my stance. I tapped the powers swirling like a wild dervish around me. With all the naturi, nightwalkers, and lycanthropes in the region, it felt as if I were growing drunk on the power at my disposal. Summoning up a ring of fireballs around myself and my companions, I fired one after another at the light clan members. They caught the fire, but I could feel their struggle to control it and dissipate the energy before they were torched. I needed to put only a little more power behind it.
Overhead, thunder rumbled like two cars slamming into each other, then the skies opened in a massive downpour. The fire I’d created flickered and popped as it strained to remaining burning through the sheets of falling rain. My clothes were instantly plastered against my skin and I struggled to blink back the water dripping into my eyes. The wind clan was making its move to bring down the lightning and eliminate a chunk of Aurora’s army. I paused in the fight with the light clan to notice that Rowe had returned to the ground and was hacking through one enemy after another with a smooth grace that spoke of years of bloody practice. I smiled as I glanced over to see Danaus performing the same elegant dance of blood and death.
Turning my attention back to the light clan, which had closed the distance between us, I summoned up more fire. This time I simply encircled them with a ring of flames that sprang up from the ground and stretched more than seven feet into the air despite the pounding rain. Pulling free both my sword and knife, I stepped away from Danaus and Knox’s protection and walked through the ring of fire, where they could not follow. The naturi seemed stunned within the flames as they struggled to put out the fire and continue on their march toward the other fighters.
“You picked the wrong side,” I mocked as I leveled my sword on one of the light clan members, removing her head in a flash of steel. Others in the light clan quickly drew their weapons, but they looked awkward with the pieces of metal in their hands. They were heavy magic users, not used to getting their hands dirty in a battle. Despite being outnumbered by six to one, I made quick work of them, cutting them down in a bath of blood. I was sprayed as I sliced through arteries and removed limbs, but the continuous downpour washed me clean again.
When I lowered the flames again, seven naturi light clan members lay in pieces in the mud.
However, my victory proved short-lived as I looked over to find that two of Cynnia’s guards had been killed. The young princess was standing against trained naturi fighters with a sword trembling in both hands while the guards at her back were slowly being overwhelmed. This fight was nothing if Cynnia was killed. I knew that these naturi wouldn’t follow Rowe or Nyx. They needed Cynnia. With a violent wave of my hand, a swirl of fire whipped through the crowd and engulfed the fighters surrounding Cynnia and her guards. Their screams tore through the night as they fell thrashing to the ground in an effort to put out the fire.
“Get your naturi ass in the air,” I growled at Cynnia when I finally reached her side.
“I belong at the side of my people,” she stubbornly replied, though her hands were still trembling.
“And if you get killed, all your people would have died for nothing. Get your wind clan ass in the air so we don’t have to worry about protecting you. Rain down some lightning.” Cynnia glared at me, but at the same time a set of pristine white wings sprouted from her back.
She wordlessly took to the sky with her arms stretched over her head. What’s more, I noticed an increase in lighting striking the ground with pinpoint accuracy. The young princess was finally working to her strengths. It was a small lesson she would need to learn if she had any hope of succeeding as the next queen of the naturi. I only prayed that Nyx survived this as well. Cynnia would need her experienced and level-headed guidance over the next several years.
With sword and knife clutched tightly in my hands, I started to turn my attention back to the fight being waged around me when fresh screams erupted. I twisted around to find the nightwalkers were quickly sinking into the ground. At the same time, the wind clan had taken to the air. Even the animal clan had abandoned their enemies and changed to winged creatures so they could take to the air. The earth clan siding with Aurora was finally getting into the fight. They were causing the ground to change to quicksand, pulling my people down into the earth so they could no longer move, let alone fight.
Twisting around, I found Danaus and Knox up to their knees in the muck but still fighting one naturi after another with their weapons. A part of me wished I had let Danaus bring his guns, but he had favored his old-fashioned blades after so many centuries. He would have been able to cut through so many of these bastards that much faster, turning the war in our favor.
I summoned up another wave of fire to wash through members of the earth clan I could spot weaving their spells, but the fire was just as quickly extinguished. I frowned when I heard Aurora’s laughter above the fighting. I might have decimated the members of her light clan, but she could still stop me from using fire against her forces. I needed another form of attack.
Pulling together the energy again, I wrapped it around my fists and balled it deep in the dark pit of my chest. This was going to take everything I had, leaving me extremely vulnerable.
“Danaus, when I give the word, you need to wipe out the earth clan.”
“I don’t know if I can,” he replied as he dodged a blow, then slammed his own blade through the throat of his opponent. “I can’t be that exacting with such a broad stroke. I might kill some of our own forces.”
“Concentrate, damn it!”
Sucking in a deep breath, I reached out with my powers and encircled each of the nightwalkers I could sense. I pulled them out of the earth while struggling to lift myself out as well. Straining, I plucked Danaus’s energy out of the mess and lifted him so he hovered just an inch above the soggy ground. At the same time, I felt a set of roots spring from the ground and try to pull everyone back down.
“Do it,” I said in a ragged voice, praying that Aurora didn’t notice my preoccupation. I couldn’t defend myself or anyone else from a fireball as I struggled to keep all of my people out of the mud.
A wave of warm energy swept past me and into the fight as Danaus reached out and started boiling members of the earth clan from the inside. Their screams rang out through the night, echoing across the vast expanse of the park to bounce off nearby homes. I knew without a doubt that we were running out of time. Soon, the Savannah police would be arriving to respond to the multiple calls of death and destruction in their precious Forsyth Park.
I held my people steady above the earth as long as I possibly could before the strain finally got to me. With a groan, I released them, allowing everyone to fall that one inch back down to the ground.
Danaus instantly collapsed to his knees in exhaustion, but the ground held him. He had managed to kill at least enough of the earth clan that they could no longer pull us into the ground.
Pausing long enough to get the trembling in my arms to stop, I looked around the battlefield to find it littered with bodies from both sides. However, a quick count revealed that Cynnia’s army was holding up better than Aurora’s.
Apparently, Rowe had come to the same conclusion. “We’re going after Aurora,” he announced in a low voice after he and Nyx approached me. Despite the pounding rain, he was still covered in blood from the battle. “We need you to keep her fire attack at bay.” I started to agree that I would cover their backs when I heard gunshots. I twisted around to see at least twenty men ringing the park with semiautomatic weapons trained on us all. They weren’t the cops. The Daylight Coalition had finally arrived.
“I can’t,” I growled with frustration. I wanted nothing more in this world than to climb that hilltop with Rowe and Nyx and aid in removing Aurora’s head once and for all. But I couldn’t. “The coalition is here, and I need to lead the nightwalkers against these fucking zealots.”
“Mira!” Rowe snapped.
“No, it’s okay,” Nyx said quickly, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I can handle Aurora. I just need your help taking her down. Leave Mira to cover our backs. You know the Daylight Coalition won’t stop with just killing the nightwalkers. We will be next.”
“Thank you. I’ll leave Danaus to watch over Cynnia,” I offered. It was the best I could do. The hunter wasn’t going to be pleased with my decision, but he was better skilled to deal with the naturi than some of the other fighters, and the remaining nightwalkers could join me in taking out the Daylight Coalition members that had slaughtered Daniel and his family as well as four lycans.
“Don’t play too long,” Rowe admonished.
“Good luck,” I replied, giving him a small smile. “You know I envy you.” Rowe smirked at me, his one good eye dancing with laughter. “Eat your heart out.” A low chuckle escaped me as I turned my back on my unexpected comrades and focused on the Daylight Coalition. It was time for a little payback. I would teach them what it meant to mess with a nightwalker, particularly one called the Fire Starter.
Thirty-four
R
owe turned his stern gaze on me as Mira led her group of nightwalkers in the opposite direction to take on the Daylight Coalition. We were left to finish up with Aurora’s army. My sister-queen, underestimating the number of naturi willing to side with Cynnia, had not brought a large enough army. It was only a matter of time before she realized as much and beat a hasty retreat that we couldn’t allow or afford.
“Can you do this?” Rowe demanded. I had fought in this battle and killed dozens of my own people that were trying to kill me. The queen of the naturi was out for blood, and she was going to give her two sisters and her former consort no quarter. I should have had the same mind-set, and yet I was hesitating.
“I will try,” I admitted.
“ ‘Try’ is going to get me killed,” he snapped. “You get an open shot at her, you take it.
Otherwise you, Cynnia, and I are all dead.”
I nodded and squared my shoulders as I stood facing him. He was right, and deep down I knew it. This was no time for an emotional attachment to someone who had never cared for me or the people she was chosen to protect. It was time for Aurora to be destroyed.
Unfortunately, she was already one step ahead of us. Cynnia’s terrified scream shattered the night, sending a chill down my spine. Aurora was using her ability of telekinesis to pull Cynnia toward her through the air. Rowe and I turned at the same time to see Shelly desperately holding onto Cynnia’s hands, trying to pull her back down to the earth. Rowe and I sprang forward, reaching for Cynnia, but the naturi slipped through Shelly’s hands, sending the witch sprawling forward in the deep mud.
A scream of rage rose in my throat as I watched Cynnia fly straight and true through the air toward our sister. Aurora returned to the earth herself and tightly grasped a hunk of Cynnia’s hair, pushing her down on her knees while laughing manically. She knew that she finally had the upper hand.
With sword drawn, I climbed the hill, rushing through the crowd of naturi that surrounded Aurora. My feet slipped in the wet grass and mud, but my legs continued to churn, forcing me forward. I chopped through one naturi after another in a blind fury, no longer aware of what I was doing. It wasn’t about the death and destruction that seemed to eat at my soul. It was about saving Cynnia.
At the same time, Rowe took to the air, flying over the horde that stood between me and Aurora, hoping to engage the queen before I could reach her. I not only needed to save Cynnia, but had to help Rowe counter Aurora, who was capable of anything, and might well knife Rowe in the back while he tried to save the sister of his former wife-queen.
“Release her, Aurora!” he shouted just before touching down on the hill she was claiming as her own territory.
“Not until she takes her last breath,” Aurora said with a wild laugh.
As I cleared my final combatant, I saw Aurora raise her free hand toward Rowe. He flapped his wings once, trying to pull back and away from the blast about to hit him. I dropped my sword and raised both my hands to summon all the powers of the earth I could feel just beneath my feet. As the flames poured from Aurora’s fingertips, a protective sphere surrounded Rowe, blocking the flames before they could touch him.
Aurora screamed in frustration and tried again, but he remained untouched. Through the flames that lit up the night sky, I could hear Rowe’s deep laughter, which only enraged Aurora more. She jerked on Cynnia’s hair, tightening her grip as she flung out her free hand, sending a barrage of fireballs through the night, just hoping to hit something, but they dissipated almost as quickly as they formed.