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He felt her vanish and when she did, he levitated straight up then shot forward. By the time Rosamunde had cut the wraith’s hamstrings, Stone had reached the bonded troll. He caught him around the neck, squeezing to render him unconscious.
The second pair turned to do battle, the wraith screeching.
He watched Rosamunde appeared suddenly behind the second wraith and cut her wiry legs as well. The wraith fell screaming to the rocky ground near the upper cave entrance. Her companion elf wasn’t far behind.
Four down.
Stone dove into the cave, flying swiftly.
The bonded vampire, a vicious-looking woman, already had a female troll in her arms. The latter was screaming and thrashing, which only
incited the vampire, who dragged her onto the nearby sandy beach ready to feed. For Stone, this was a good thing since the Invictus vampire would stay focused on her prey and not what was coming at her.
I’ve got the male wraith. Rosamunde’s telepathic words were exactly what he wanted to hear.
Knowing the vampire’s wraith-mate would be taken care of, Stone flew swiftly to land in front of the female. “Let her go. Now.”
The vampire hissed and for a moment held onto the troll. But as Stone lifted his arm, his blue battle energy sparked in the humid air. The vampire released her victim then levitated, hissing again and ready to do battle.
But Stone didn’t move against her right away. In the distance, Rosamunde appeared behind the woman’s bonded wraith-mate. Using her dagger, she quickly incapacitated the male wraith by slicing the backs of his thighs and he fell hard to the sandy beach. His ensuing pain caused the bonded female vampire to list in the air.
Stone lifted his arm and let his battle energy fly, though not at full-bore because he wanted her alive for rehabilitation. When his power struck, she flew backward and landed unconscious, about five feet from her mate. Both remained inert.
Rosamunde pathed, I’m going back for the kid in the forest.
Good idea.
He called out to the troll kids. This is Mastyr Stone. We’ve got the enemy in hand, but I want you to stay put until my Guardsmen arrive. They’ll come and retrieve each of you. We want to make sure the grotto is completely safe first.
A few called back to him, letting him know he’d been heard and would be obeyed.
A moment later, Harris tapped on his telepathy. Stone opened up and Harris gave his report. I’ve got my team up here and we’ll be able to send these two wraith-pairs for rehab. How you doin’ down below?
The last pair is unconscious and I’ve told the kids to stay where they are until our Guardsmen come for them. Rosamunde is in the forest with one of the kids who wasn’t in the grotto when the wraith-pairs attacked. But I’d like you to take charge.
Will do. I’m heading down to your position now.
Stone lifted his gaze to the central opening some thirty feet in the air and watched as Harris levitated down into the cave followed by one of his Guardsmen.
When they drew close, Stone pointed in both directions. “We’ve got teens hiding out in several adjoining caves.”
Harris gestured to the second Guard squad now descending into the grotto. “I’ve got this, Stone. Head out, if you want. I’m bringing in another four Guardsmen as well, so we’re good.” Harris glanced at the wounded couple on the sandy beach. “From the look of this crew, they weren’t part of the Ancient Fae’s main force, that’s for sure.”
“I agree.” Their clothing was in a bad state for one thing. In recent months, Margetta had transformed her army, outfitting them in decent uniforms. She’d built not just a battling force, but a support machine for keeping them fed, trained and clothed.
He instructed Harris to call for him as needed then levitated back up through the central circular opening. He passed the additional Guardsmen arriving to help find all the teens and get them back to their parents. Two of Harris’s initial squad were tending to the wounded wraith-pairs. One of the men was on his phone arranging transport.
He found Rosamunde, still in her Aralynn form, back in the forest with the troll boy. She was sitting on the ground beside him, her arm around his shoulders. He had his knees drawn up and his arms around boney legs. He kept curling his toes into the balls of his feet. He was weeping. “We just wanted to have some fun.” He wiped at his cheeks but kept his head down.
Stone glanced at Rosamunde. She met his gaze. He’s only thirteen.
Stone nodded. “Hey, what’s your name?”
The boy looked up at him. “Todd.”
“Listen, Todd, I was doing the same thing at your age. I was into spelunking like you wouldn’t believe. I got in trouble a few times and my dad loved to double my nightly chores. He used to joke that he wished I’d get in trouble more often.”
At that Todd’s eyes went wide. “You used to cave dive?”
