The temperature rose as we raced through the halls of the Institute, leaving the dilapidated cafeteria and dead bodies far behind us. The fire was gaining, eating up the building as the sound of flames roared in my ears.
“How far to the Warden’s office?” I asked above the clatter of Oberi’s hooves. I rode on her back, holding Ava close to me as our Familiar ran.
“It’s just up here!” Kallie said as we rounded a corner.
Oberi skidded to a halt, and Ava’s gut sank so quickly that I felt it through the bond. Their thoughts were so clear that they didn’t need words. There were guards up ahead, blocking our path.
“Let’s move it!” one of them shouted. “We’ve got three minutes to get everything out of here!”
They must’ve been sent by the Warden to clear out his office before everything went up in flames. I heard the sound of a heavy door slamming shut, then the shouts of the guards when they spotted us.
“It’s them!” someone screamed.
Barely a second had passed before Ava flung her hands outward. Blazing heat hit my face, and a massive wall of firewhooshedas it swept down the hall, assaulting the guards before they could reach for their guns.
I expected the bodies to drop, or the guards to scream as they were incinerated by her powers. Instead, they hissed like wild animals.
Fire-proof suits!Ava thought.
Of fucking course, because the Warden had sent them back into this burning building.
The guards jumped out of the flames so quickly that I couldn’t track them. Marcus and Kallie shot defensive spells, but the guards dodged them as they closed the long distance between us in a second. I swept my hands out in a desperate attempt to save my friends. A guard touched my foot, but he was blasted backward by my Air magic before he could grab me. There had to be twenty guards swept up in my spell. Heavythudssounded as their bodies hit the floor down the hallway.
“Ava!” I screamed. “Stop their hearts!”
She was strong enough to use her Water magic to manipulate their blood and kill them in moments. I had no doubt she could take them all at once.
“I can’t!” she cried. “They’re all vampires.”
Fucking hell. Vampires were some of the hardest supernaturals to kill, and we were up against twenty of them. We couldn’t use our elements to stop their hearts or suffocate them, so our powers were practically useless. Elementai were no match against a horde of vampires…
Let’s see what they thought about an Elf.
I jumped off Oberi’s back and planted myself in front of my friends. The vampires raced toward us so fast that to Oberi and Ava, they looked like mere blurs. I could sense through our bond when exactly to reach my hand out and grab the first vamp around the neck. He stopped dead as I lifted him by the throat and dangled him several inches above the ground. Elven magic surged through my body, and in a single beat, I siphoned the vampire’s super strength and speed.
Holding him tight by the throat, I spun around and used the momentum to toss him down the hall. He landed against the nearest vampires and knocked them over. It happened so fast that the other vamps never had a chance to touch my friends.
A solid sword formed in my hand, conjured by my Elven magic.
To your left! Ava communicated telepathically.
I flung myself at the vampires, slicing my sword through the air and severing their heads from their bodies.
Right!Oberi instructed.
The vampires’ necks were like stone, shattering as my sword sliced clean through them. Heads fell from shoulders and smacked on the ground like hunks of concrete dropped from six feet up. Thick, viscous blood splattered across my face and clothes. When the vampires died, they became stone-like, their bodies falling to the floor like broken statues as I eliminated their lives from this earth. I moved in a blur like they did, thanks to the powers I’d stolen. I was only aware of how fast I was moving by Ava and Oberi’s thoughts, guiding me left and right to sever the heads of my opponents.
In less than two seconds, I was standing in a pile of broken bodies, as if they were nothing more than bricks that had tumbled from the ceiling. I panted heavily and waited for more instructions, but it never came. All I felt was a sense of pride rushing through the bond. Oberi wasimpressed.
“Charlie,” Kallie said gently. “It’s over. You got them all.”
She sounded shocked, and I suppose itwasa bit unexpected. I’d never moved like that before. My sword clattered to the ground as I came back to reality. I realized that I was covered in the thick, lead-like blood of the vampires I’d slain. Above me, Ava let out a swooning noise, and I felt a blush creep over her cheeks across our bond.
“Babe, that wasso sexy!” Ava gushed. “Please do it again. I am like, barely staying on this unicorn right now.”
Marcus gave an inane giggle. “She thinks murder is attractive. Little pieces of vampires, all around my shoes.”
Marcus kicked a vampire head, and the stone bit skittered to the end of the hall. Rishi’s paws thudded by me as he went chasing after it like a toy.
