AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Staggering on my feet, I walked toward the demon. Jeremy’s body was nothing more than a gangly, blackened pile of flesh and bones, smoke billowing from his pores. But he was still moving, his demonic body reforming before my eyes. I lifted the dagger that had been flung from Jordan’s hand and lifted it. As the demon raised its deformed head, I charged forward. With a wild, uncalculated strike, I thrust the dagger into the creature’s heart.
A guttural scream echoed through the night as the demon convulsed, its grotesque form disintegrating into nothingness.
Silence settled over the scene, broken only by my labored breaths and the distant hum of the battle coming to an end outside. Moonlight glinted in the thousands of glass shards that littered the floor, refracting the silver beams all over the ruined greenhouse.
I sank to my knees, exhaustion washing over me. Beside me, Jordan stirred, her eyes fluttering open. Our gaze locked, and I closed the space between us. The battle was over. And we had won.
As the demonic entity dissolved the witches began to rise, dusting off their dresses and casting silvery powder over what remained of the monster’s form. Jordan and I helped Ursula to her feet. The young witch’s breath was ragged, her body trembling like a leaf.
“We did it,” she murmured, tears pricking at her tired eyes. “We killed him.”
“We did.” Jordan touched a hand to the young witch’s shoulder. “None of this would have been possible without you. Thank you, Ursula. From now on, the witches will always be recognized as friends.”
She turned to face me, her eyes reflecting the depths of a love that I had come to understand deeply. “It’s over,” she whispered. “It’s finally over.”
The rest of the witches, having fulfilled their role in this battle, approached us. Their expressions held a mix of respect, admiration, and weary fatigue.
“The bonds of love and the strength of our alliance have prevailed,” the leader of the witches said, her voice carrying a sense of reverence. “We must join our sisters and end this war once and for all.”
With a nod of gratitude, Jordan thanked the witches for their aid. The tired woman climbed onto their branches, hovering in the air before flying back to the estate to finish the fight. From what we could see from our vantage point, the battle was all but over. Now it was just a matter of cleaning up the final stragglers.
Somewhere on the horizon, the sun was making an appearance, golden rays etching across the sky and dragging daybreak along with them.
Jordan and I leaned against each other, both of us disheveled and covered in scars, but alive. We watched the rising dawn peek through the shattered windows of the greenhouse. The warm glow of sunlight cast long shadows across the shimmering wreckage at our feet. It was a symbol of hope, a sign that the nightmarish ordeal was nearing its end.
But just as my heart swelled with the promise of a new day a growl reverberated from somewhere behind us. A lone shifter, caught halfway between a full transformation and fueled by a malevolent determination. His eyes burned with an unholy fire as he lunged toward us.
Without thinking, I pushed Jordan behind me, shielding her body with my own. The creature’s claws swiped through the air, narrowly missing my face. But as I deflected the swift attack, a cold realization speared up my spine—the shifter had a large shard of glass clutched in his other hand.
Time seemed to slow as the monster’s gnarled hand retracted, driving the shard forward with terrifying speed.
There was no time to move, no time to speak as the jagged weapon plunged into my chest, piercing my fluttering human heart.
Chapter 27
JORDAN
“No!”myscreamofhorror tore from my throat, a guttural cry of defiance against the sacrifice that I had not anticipated. “Sky, no!”
I reached out to catch my lover’s collapsing form, clutching her to my chest as her knees buckled beneath her.
Sky’s head lolled to the side, a spurt of blood bursting from her lips as she tried to speak.
“Jordan?” she choked out, her voice strained with the agony of her wound. She wanted to know what was happening to her. She wanted to know if she was going to die.
The shifter, grinning with sadistic satisfaction, ripped the glass shard from her chest, reveling in the finality of what was to be a very short-lived victory.
With a torrent of emotions consuming my being I lifted Sky in my arms, scrambling away from the monster while trying in vain to stem the steady flow of blood that pulsed from her wound.
As the shifter prepared to strike once more, a surge of energy erupted around us. The witches, having regrouped and drawn upon their last remaining powers, unleashed a wave of magic that swept through the building. The force of their combined spells obliterated the creature where he stood.
With the threat gone, I knelt to the ground with Sky in my arms. Weakly, hopelessly, I pressed my hand over the gash in her chest. Her dress was stained with blood, a blossoming red flower unfurling from her chest as her heart pumped the last of her life out between my fingers.
Tears streamed freely down my face as I cradled the woman’s head with trembling hands. “You’re going to be fine. Just hold on for a little longer, okay?”
Sky’s rolling eyes focused on mine as she stilled in my arms. “I’m sorry. I would have liked to live a long life with you. Lifetimes even, if you’d have me.”
“No, Sky,” I sobbed, my voice wracked with anguish. “You’re not going to die here. Okay? You made me a promise.”
