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I let go of Zach but squeezed his hand as I stepped away from him.
“Then let’s get this show on the road,” Smoky said. “Camille, Morio, head in. Delilah, you, Zach, Roz, and Menolly go next. Vanzir, you and I will take the third wave. That will give the fox and our wife time to regain their wits before they fall in behind us.”
Without another word, Camille and Morio rushed into the entrance of the cavern, their voices low and haunting in the echo of the tunnel. Their magical chant was rife with passion and pain, and the faint sound of drums echoed on the air currents susurrating through the chamber.
My body hummed in response to the magic. Not prepared for the sudden resonance, I almost fell against the wall but managed to steady myself before I touched the slime molds. My vision ran red, and I pushed to the front, my fear vanishing in the growing cloud of bloodlust. Panther was rising; I could feel her growl deep within my heart, aching to be set free.
Hi’ran. This was his realm, the realm of death and fire and spirits. The Autumn Lord played in this world, and I—his only living Death Maiden—couldn’t help but respond to the call of dark shrouds rising from the grave. I had to face the fact that I was as much a part of the shadow as Camille was becoming, and as Menolly had become the day Dredge got hold of her.
I motioned for Zach, Roz, and Menolly to move aside as the world began to shift. At first, I thought I was going to shift as my body wavered between worlds. Panther to woman to Panther again, with the mark on my forehead swirling. I felt like I’d just slammed back a handful of speed or had some form of Haste spell cast on me. And then, I was just me, but with Panther fully taking control of my senses.
Racing through the door, I caught sight of the wights. Dark, squat creatures that had once been human, they were leathery, with hair grown wild that covered part of their bodies, like mummies dumped in a fur factory. The lot of them turned as I entered the chamber. Moving like apes, they crouched their way toward us, arms swinging, using their knuckles to propel themselves along, eyes glimmering with the flame of death.
They weren’t right; they shouldn’t be here. They belonged to the realm of the dead, not in the realm of the living. I yanked my dagger free of its sheath, hungry for their blood, hungry to send them back to the grave. I plunged the tip of my blade into a shoulder as the nearest wight clasped my arm with its icy hand. Leaning over, I bit deep, driving my fangs into the flesh, and the wight let go with a screech. As I spat out the blood and fur, it started to back away.
A low roar worked its way up and out of my throat as I leapt and spun, my booted foot catching the creature on the jaw. My kick sent it sailing to the ground. Without a thought, I jumped to its side, driving my heel down on its throat, crushing the larynx as it fought to catch my ankle. Again I kicked, this time catching it in the ribs, sending the wight rolling toward Menolly, who snatched up the creature and smashed it against the rock wall until it fell limp in her arms. She tossed it aside and turned to the next.
The wights swarmed us like bees protecting their queen. I focused on my own little spot in the cave. Again and again, my dagger tasted flesh. Again and again, I kicked and punched my way through the wall of living death. There seemed to be no end to the blood and the stench that rose from the creatures.
As my sixth enemy fell, I watched in fascinated horror as the flesh began to slide away from the bones. No longer held together by magic, it oozed into a primordial soup, a slurry of DNA and blood. Wanting to vomit but still unable to look away, I was too slow. Another wight had crept up behind me, and before I realized what was happening, he fastened his teeth in my ankle and a mind-numbing pain set in as he drove through the boot to the bone.
I screamed, kicking to shake him off, but he held fast. He was determined to bite out a huge chunk of my leg. It occurred to me that I was a lot bigger than he was, so I dropped to my knees, directly atop him, effectively trapping him. With a short squeal, the creature let go, and I tucked and rolled, coming to my feet a few yards away from the wight. He lurched toward me, but Camille was right behind him. Her dagger raised, she plunged it through his back and jumped away as he fell.
“Always playing big sister to the rescue!” I teased as she whirled to engage yet another wight headed her way.
“You know it!” I heard her call back. But another member of the living-dead brigade was on my tail, and I turned to engage, caught up in the battle again. The air hung thick with the smell of blood and carrion as sounds of screaming and the clash of blade on flesh echoed through the chamber.>“It isn’t,” Menolly said. “It’s a narrow, low passage leading into a smallish cavern. There’s plenty of room there for both them and us, but not for a dragon. Wights are undead. If you have some sort of necromantic spell to repulse or turn the dead, Morio, that might help.”
We all turned to the youkai, who glanced at Camille. She gave him a slight nod, and he said, “We’ve been working on that. I don’t know if it will work on a wight, though. We’ve never actually tried it except on a few of the spirits in the known haunted houses around town—”
“Whoa—hold on,” I said. “You mean you two have been sneaking around Seattle, exorcising ghosts on the sly?”
“Not exactly,” Camille said. “We only just started working on this spell a few weeks ago. So far, we’ve managed to dissipate a few nasty spirits that were causing havoc. We didn’t want to say anything until we knew we had it down pat. And we don’t yet.”
“No, but we’re damn close,” Morio said, his eyes taking on a dark, golden sheen. He let out a long breath. “You might as well know that I’m planning to teach Camille how to summon spirits in a few months, but first she has to know how to dispel them, in case something goes wrong. So that’s what we’ve been working on. How to banish spirits. As to how the spell will affect wights, I’m not sure. Maybe nothing, maybe it will help.”
I stared at the pair, as did everyone else. Everyone but Smoky, that is. He looked up at the ceiling, and I had a sneaking suspicion he knew all about what they’d been doing. I glanced over at Menolly, and she shrugged.
“So, you two are really immersing yourself in the death magic thing, huh?” Unsure just what I wanted to ask, I finally said, “Why?”
Camille let out a long breath. “Eventually, the work in necromancy will lead me into learning how to use magic against the demons. Morio’s going to teach me to use their own magic against them. How to open and close Demon Gates, set up Pentagram Snares, that sort of thing.”
“Demonic rites? You’ll be practicing demonic magic? Isn’t that going a little far?” My hands on my hips, I whirled to face Menolly. “Tell them this isn’t a good idea. I can’t imagine what that kind of energy will do to her. She already has the unicorn horn. Why not just focus on that?” The thought of my sister practicing the filthy, scummy magic that demons used made me sick.
But Menolly just shook her head, unblinking. “Let it be, Kitten. Dirty tricks can win a battle. Trust me, if I could learn how to mirror the demons’ magic against them, I would. But I don’t have the talent for magic. I think we should welcome anything that gives us an edge against Shadow Wing and his armies. Who knows what these rogue portals will do? They might start opening up into the Subterranean Realms, and then we’ll be facing demons right and left, spirit seals or not.”
I fell silent. In the back of my mind, I could hear Hi’ran laughing. The Autumn Lord was my form of demon magic. And Menolly—what would happen to her next? What path would she be forced down on this unwanted war that had been thrust upon us?
“I get it,” I said, feeling yet another thread break that tied me to the naïve and optimistic girl I’d been a few months ago. “So, back to the subject at hand. Can you try this Spirit-Be-Gone spell on the wights?”
“I doubt it,” Morio said. “It’s not going to make them roll over and die, I can guarantee you that. We’re going to have quite a fight on our hands, so I suggest we have weapons at the ready. And watch out for that shade. They aren’t as dangerous as revenants but they’re a lot more powerful than ghosts, and they have a touch that can chill all the warmth out of your body and leave you frozen in your boots. We can probably take him, though.”
“Famous last words,” Smoky muttered. “Let’s get a move on.”
Menolly and Vanzir led us into a narrow passage to the left, away from the main chamber. As we followed, I wondered what was at the bottom of the chasm. It had been a long time since we’d gone on a hike just for fun. Maybe when this was all over, we could come back and explore it.
“After we pass through this tunnel, we’ll come to the chamber with the wights in it,” Menolly said, glancing over her shoulder as we wended our way through the passage, taking care not to touch the sides where the slime was thick and waiting.
“There’s a chamber near the back. That’s where the spirit seal is being protected by the shade,” she added. “I have the feeling he won’t move to attack until the wights have been dispatched. He seems to be a guardian. And that makes me think that he’s the spirit of someone who came into possession of the spirit seal centuries ago and felt a duty to remain and protect it after his death.”
