The five of us weaved around the battles and shoved against the massive door. The warriors beside us grunted and groaned with the effort. With his shoulder against the gate, driving his legs, Vander said, “Celine, Aesira, cut down anyone that comes through the door.”
Celine and I weren’t as strong as the men, even as ducai, so we dashed to the opening a few feet away. I swung my blade with fury. This place was supposed to be a sanctuary, the only one in our world. We couldn’t let them ruin it. We couldn’t always live in fear.
I moved like a night wind, invisible and quick, ducking under sword swings and leaping over kicks. I found weak points in their armor and cut into flesh. A vampire shadow walked andmade my heart skip. I swung and missed a few times, cutting through his shadow, but thankfully he had to wait a few minutes between phasing.
Celine stayed next to me as we fought off those slipping inside. Her blade moved with blurred speeds. These vampires didn’t scream like wild animals. They were silent as they fought and killed.
Arrows thudded into bodies and bounced off the cobblestone around us. More warriors joined us on the ground. The door’s movement shifted in our favor. “PUSH!” a man roared. “PUSH HARDER!”
On the outside a vampire with long black hair and skin pale as the moon shouted at his soldiers, “Don’t let the door close!” I’d never seen Dravyn Knox, but he matched that description. Was it possible this was him?
I sliced open the throat of a female vampire and kicked her back out the door. My spine tingled as I caught the lead vampire watching me through the crowd. Beside him, I recognized the vampire Vander and I had fought in the woods days before. Was this attack revenge for killing his woman?
I ducked under a sword and punched my blade through another chest, piercing armor and pushing to drive a vampire back into the wall. He gasped and dropped his sword. It clattered to the ground, and he turned to stone.
The vampire I recognized moved toward the gate’s opening. I peered at Vander through the fighting. He was still pushing against the door. Celine fought off a female vampire a few feet from me.
The sound of stone breaking was victory music. Vampires dropped all over.
I wanted to tell Vander who I suspected was here, but I couldn’t leave Celine’s side. He kept his eyes on me as he pushed.
My dreams. My mind ability. I’d always accidentally sent him my thoughts, but if I could do it now... I concentrated on Vander, picturing who I saw outside the gate. The man with the long black hair and the familiar vampire from the woods.
The roar of a man charging broke my concentration. I side-stepped and swung my sword up to meet his. The force of his blow knocked me back several steps. My shoulder hit the closed side of the metal gate.
My blood boomed in my ears. It was the vampire from the woods.
“I recognize those strange eyes,” he rumbled. “Bonecarver. Viper’s little pet.”
Out of the corner of my vision, I found Vander rushing toward me. “Aesira!”
“You two killed mywife.” Madness overcame his face, and he swung his sword. I ducked and his blade hit the metal gate behind me, striking sparks. The other door was almost closed now, despite the many vampires fighting to keep it open on the outside.
A vampire in command shouted at them, “Keep it open, you dogs!” But only a few more feet and the city would be secure again. I was fighting close enough to the opening that I could drive my attacker out.
“Aesira, to me! Come to me!” Vander shoved his way through the battle. We weren’t far apart but there was a crowd of chaos between us.
The vampire I fought screamed again and hacked at me. I blocked his blow and pulled Viper’s dagger and shoved it into the vampire’s upper thigh. By the blood squirting out, I’d hit an artery. He wailed and was suddenly jerked away from me.
Vander slammed him to the ground and shoved his sword into his heart. “Now you can meet your wife in the afterlife.”
Before he could even turn, two vampires jumped onto Vander’s back, knocking him off his feet. He roared from his knees and jammed a dagger into the eye of the man on his right. A scream caught in my throat as the other opened his mouth wide and went for Vander’s throat. No! A raging beast I’d never felt before roared within me. They wouldnotkill him. I hacked wildly at the vampire’s neck until his head fell off.
Blood pooled, so much blood everywhere. I slipped in it. The screams and bellows rang in my ears.
Pain seared on my scalp as I was jerked by my hair. I squealed, trying to pull away, and twisted to see the black-haired vampire. “Vander!” I shrieked.
Vander threw the body of the vampire off him and turned toward me, eyes wide. I stumbled and writhed as I was dragged out the gate, out of the protection of the wall, and a moment later it slammed shut with a boom.
No.
My heart stuttered.
No.
I jammed my dagger into the arm that gripped me by the scalp. He didn’t let go, didn’t even flinch. He jerked my head back, forcing me to look up at him. I gritted my teeth to hold back a whimper. There was nothing but emptiness in his black eyes.
“Open the gate!” I heard Vander’s voice from the other side.
