AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I put in a call to Yugi and gave him our request. “I think Chase is on his way to the station, by the way. He took off the minute we got back to the house.”
“I’ll see what I can find out and call you right back.” Yugi was a Swedish empath who was Chase’s right-hand man. He was a good man, and while I wasn’t sure just how Chase used his abilities, Yugi was trustworthy.
I knelt by the bodies again. “Shade, can you check on the ghosts again? Are they near us now?”
Shade nodded, stepping back, once again holding out his hands. The shadow creatures emerged from his fingertips and zoomed off into the night.
The next moment, a force slammed into me, knocking me forward to sprawl on the ground. I rolled, coming up on my heels in a crouch, looking around for whoever had shoved me. But there was no one in sight.
Roz shouted as he went flying across the field to land at the base of the portal. He’d been picked up and tossed like a child might toss a pebble across a pond. “Crap! What the fuck?” He was on his feet the next second and was reaching into his duster.
Next, Shade took a hit, but he stayed on his feet. His shadow creatures came swooping back to him and rushed into his body. With a grunt, he shook off the impact and turned to me.
“They’re all around us. I can see them—but I doubt if you can.”
I shook my head. So did Roz.
But Smoky let out a hiss. “I can see their forms.” He let out a long guttural sigh and turned, his nails lengthening into talons as he reached out to swipe at something. A horrid scream cut through the night, and a brilliant flash of light appeared at the area where Smoky had struck.
Roz lit a round, golf ball–sized bomb and threw it on the ground. As it exploded, the glowing sparks outlined our attackers, giving them form. I counted eleven of them.
“What are they? What can I do to them?” Frantic, I stepped back as two of the spirits began to crowd in on me. Three were after Shade, four after Smoky, and two more after Roz.
Smoky bellowed and sliced at the air again. “I don’t know—I have never seen these beings.” Another shriek and the spirit vanished. “I don’t know if I killed it or just made it go away.”
Shade caught his breath and let out a low sound that sounded almost like a howl on the wind. A chill ran down my spine as I watched him. He began to transform, right there, in the middle of the tree-crowded wood. Smoky let out a low growl but backed away as Shade’s form rippled. He began to grow, but unlike Smoky, instead of a majestic white dragon, what appeared was a terrifying, haunting form of a skeletal dragon surrounded by shadow and a violet smoke. He looked almost fossilized.
We’d never seen Shade in his natural form before. I wondered if Delilah even knew what his dragon form was. We’d all assumed he’d look like Smoky, but with black skin instead. Nobody had expected this.
I backed up and ran straight into Rozurial, who steadied me with one hand. “Helluva way to find out what he looks like,” he whispered. “Ten bucks say Delilah’s going to freak.”
As I watched the coiling, serpentine dragon whose wings were as skeletal as his body, I couldn’t help but think otherwise. “She’s never seen him like this, but don’t forget, Kitten’s a Death Maiden. She’s not the gentle tabby she began this journey as. I actually think my sister likes playing in the dark more than she’s willing to admit.”
“Maybe, but I’m not hedging my bets until she’s actually—holy crap. Look at that.” Roz broke off. I’d never seen him so unnerved.
The figures that had us surrounded were focused on Shade now, and they rose in the air and dove toward him, flames to a moth. He lashed out with his tail and front feet, and as he connected with one of the spirits, it let out a howl that echoed through the yard and a purple flame washed through it, leaving only a thin flicker of ashes.
The others backed off. As one, they turned toward Roz and me, aiming like swift, ghostly arrows, as they barreled our way.
“Fuck!” I leaped out of the way as one skidded past me. Deciding to give it a chance, I spun in the air and kicked it with the heel of my boot. Though my foot passed through it, there was still a shudder as energy connected with flesh, and for a moment I felt dizzy but managed to land in a crouch. Leaping to my feet, I let my fangs down. So I could actually touch these things, but whether I had any sort of effect, I didn’t know.
Next to me, Roz pulled out a bottle and splashed water on one of the incoming spirits. It hissed and a wisp of flames sizzled. Then it redoubled its efforts against the incubus.
But I didn’t have time to focus on what was going on with anybody else. I was surrounded by a circle of the grasping creatures, and every time their ghostly auras reached out to swipe at me, a jolt shot through my body.
I wasn’t sure if they were doing any damage to me, but next to me, Roz let out a shout. I turned to see him fighting off one of the spirits. It had managed to latch onto him. I couldn’t get a good look, but from what I could see, it looked like its mouth was pressed against his forehead. Roz was screaming in earnest now.
I tried to leap on the spirit’s back and ended up going through it, taking both Roz and myself to the ground. But my attack was enough to startle the ghost, and it dislodged itself from Roz.
“Smoky! Shade! Where the hell are you? We need help!” I didn’t realize I was screaming until Roz winced and covered his ears as he struggled to his feet. I helped him up and tried to push him behind me, but the spirits were still circling us and no matter which way he faced, he’d be at their mercy.
Just then, an icy wind blew through. It froze the ground, frost forming in a lacework beneath our feet. Smoky was causing it—the wind rolled out of his hands, along the ground, as it dropped the temperatures to a bone-chilling degree. The spirits began to back off us as they headed in his direction.
But before they could reach him, Shade’s coiling neck swooped down and the purple flame raced through their midst. Another three of the ghosts went up in flames, their cries piercing the night.
“Mordente! The blades of death, they come for you!” Camille’s voice severed the air, slicing through the chill. She and Morio were on the move, hand in hand, coming our way.
The ghosts halted and turned toward them, and for a brief moment I caught a flicker of their nebulous faces—greed, and hunger. Envy. They spiraled toward the pair, but as Camille and Morio reached out—her left arm and his right—a circle of glowing purple light began to whirl around them, like the blade of a circular saw.
