Then Elian said, “You were right about the gryphons, Jax. They shouldn’t be roaming this far east. Their domain is the Hanging Lake.”
Jax nodded, turning to glance at Elian over his shoulder. “Things have changed since we left.”
“War will do that to a place,” Elian said. “I wonder what other surprises we’ll find. I don’t—”
“Guys!” I gasped as a new shadow moved over us. “We’ve got company!”
A third gryphon glided overhead, passing us before it circled back for another look.
Fuck. My gut told me we had mere seconds before he spotted us.
Jax grabbed my arm, but I shook free and dropped into a crouch, unsheathing my dagger and drawing a pentagram in the dirt. A quick slice of my palm and a tight fist, and my blood spilled onto the symbol.
The gryphon let out his war cry and dove, and I called out my spell.
Beast of darkness, beast of night
My blood is your weakness, my blood is our light
I slammed my palm against the dirt. The pentagram glowed as bright as the fae arrows, then exploded in a flash of red light, rising like a wall before us just seconds before the gryphon crashed through the trees.
The beast hit the wall head-on. Magick sizzled across his feathers, lightning him up as if he’d been electrocuted, unleashing a cry of pure agony.
I jumped to my feet. “Move! It won’t hold him for long!”
We darted down the other side of the rise and into a new section of Blackbone. The bare trees offered no cover, and minutes later, the gryphon was back in the air and hot on our trail, the smell of scorched feathers so strong it made me gag.
Even at a run, I saw his dark shadow slithering along the ground. Felt the air current shift above me as he dove.
My heart jumped into my throat.
“Haley!” Elian shouted from somewhere behind me. “Get down!”
I dropped and covered my head, and in a blur of vampire speed and grace, Elian catapulted over me, his sword held high.
The gryphon cried out, a great flapping of wings sending a hot current rushing over me.
Blood rained down, splattering my hair, my pack.
I didn’t even have time to process what’d happened before Hudson barreled into me, tucking me against his chest and rolling us away mere seconds before the mutilated gryphon dropped from the sky, plowing into the ground where I’d just been crouching.
Still caged in Hudson’s arms, I thrashed frantically, scanning the scene.
“Elian!” I called out. “Elian!”
“Here,” came the reply. “All hail the victorious gryphon-slayer.”
He emerged over the top of the dead beast like a champion dragon-slayer of old, pack dangling off one shoulder, his sword at his side. Blood ran down his face and covered his clothes. He looked like a demon straight out of hell.
But the vampire-fae merely tossed his pack to the ground and laughed, white teeth flashing in the dim. “You should see your face right now, sparrow. Priceless.”
“For fuck’s sake, Saint,” Jax said, staring at the gryphon and its killer in disbelief. “How the hell…?”
Hudson finally released me, and I jumped to my feet, charging right for the cocky fae.
“Seriously?” I glared at him, hands on my hips. “I totally weakened him for you.”
“Yes, and that was quite an impressive bit of hocus-pocus, witch.”
