Page 231 of Vameer

I walk out of the cabin alone, brushing guard dust off my shirt.

The forest is a mess.

Trees are burning.

Guards are swarming over everything.

The humans that are still left are shooting.

And Tosa has yet to show his face.

Another fucking portal appears in the sky. Dread disappears in a flash of gold.

It’ll be great when he kills that druid.

I jump to my uncle and Barth. And Volik jumps to meet us.

“We need our girls home with the pup before we can level this place,” I say out loud. A reminder for all of us.

Then another portal glows to life. A few paces to our side. Facing us.

I expect Dread.

But a different, unknown man steps through.

He’s big.

The man is dressed like an ancient warrior. Leather kilt. Leather sandals. Bare legs. Bare chest. And a thick fur draped over his shoulders, held in place by a chain.

He glances around, like he didn’t mean to come here.

Bullets continue to rain down. Uncle continues to throw ice daggers. But I continue to study this stranger.

He has the black eyes of a vampire. He has black horns.

But the base of his horns look too thick to be vampire horns. And instead of being shaped like a vampire’s, they end in stumps a few inches from his skull.

I narrow my eyes at the rough, uneven surface of the stumps.

Did he… saw his horns off?

The newcomer looks back to our group and points at Volik. “You are Versailles. I’ll be on your side.”

He grins, revealing no fangs. Then he claps his hands together.

The black surface of the portal behind him vanishes. But the gold doesn’t. It gathers above him.

And when he turns his palms out, toward the swarming guards, the gold magic flies forward, knocking several vamps off their feet.

I glance at my brother. “Who the fuck is this?”

“No clue.” Volik sends out a blast of gravito as he pulls his final dagger from his holster. “But glad he is on my side.”

Another whistle of something in the air.

The new guy darts his hand out.

A portal flashes.