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A Potion of Good Growth.
“Left!” I shouted, and we darted into a narrower passage, the air thick with the stench of… blood. The iron stench was getting stronger and stronger.
But there was the exit. The door we had come through. We’d get out and shout to evacuate the party. The chaos caused would give us enough cover to leave. And Helstriva—she wouldn’t attack the partygoers. Not without triggering action against the vampires for breaking the Iron Treaty and causing a terroristic act.
We just had to get out.
“Wait!” Robby shouted as he pulled out of my grip. My eyes went wide. What was he thinking? The Shades were almost on us. I let go of another fireball, hitting one of the demonic creatures in the face. Its cracked and bleeding skin turned an angry red, but the monster didn’t stop running toward us.
Robby, still holding the Curse Breaker potion, grabbed a vial of green liquid off a pedestal.
That’s when Robby stepped in front of me. He lifted up the potion and hurled it at the ground. It shattered, releasing a whirlwind of light and energy that spiraled outward, entrapping the Matriarch and the Shades in a glowing cage of force that stopped them in their tracks. The Shades banged against the cage of light, but they couldn’t get it to budge. The Matriarch gave a banshee-like screech.
He’s a fucking genius.
“Go, go!” I shouted over the ear-splitting sound, finding the exit and running out into the stony hallway.
We didn’t stop running until we reached the main party hall.
And that’s when we came upon the true nightmare. It was a scene that would scar us both for the rest of our lives.
The iron scent I had been smelling was no longer a question.
The grand hall, once filled with laughter and music, was now a house of bloody horrors. I was wrong about my assumption earlier, about the Matriarch not attacking the partygoers. The Matriarch and her Shades had been thorough, tearing through the party like a blade-filled hurricane. Bodies lay strewn across the floor, torn apart, some still twitching in their death throes. Faces frozen in terror stared blankly at the gilded ceiling, blood splattered across ornate tapestries and covering the crystal chandeliers, soaking through the rug. It was fast. Marmont couldn’t even fully shift, his dead body was a mangled and mixed up form of dragon limbs and human. I’d never seen something like that. Never.
My stomach flipped and twisted and threatened to empty.
She must have had the Shades do this. No one would know who caused this carnage. No one but us.
Robby staggered, falling to his knees and retching. I crouched down next to him, a hand on his back. Nothing I could say would be able to help this. But I knew we couldn’t stay—the cage wouldn’t hold those sadistic fucks for long.
“We have to go, Robby. Come on.”
I helped him up to his feet, his legs and shoulders shaking. He looked at me with pure, unadulterated fear. It wrenched my heart from my chest. But there was no time to console him.
“Starlight… where is she?” Robby gasped, tears in his eyes.
“We can’t search right now. Everyone here is dead. We need to go.”
I had to be brutally honest. Every second that ticked by meant a second we were pushed closer to meeting this exact same fate. Robby gave a weak nod. I put my arm around him and held his head against my chest. “Just close your eyes. I’ll lead us out of here.”
He did as I asked. I maneuvered us around severed arms and torsos, the wet sound of blood splashing against our sneakers following us out of the chateau. Once we were outside and the carnage had stopped, Robby lifted his head again, and we both ran across the twinkling lights of the bridge, out onto the street.
It took me seconds to turn to my dragon form. I whipped my tail against a car in anger as Robby climbed onto my shoulders. He grabbed on and rested his head against my neck as I took to the air. I could feel Robby sobbing against me for the entire flight.
The house of horrors was left behind, but the night would stick with us forever.
The entire family was waiting in the living room as we stumbled in, Robby clutching the potion to his chest with tears still streaking down his cheeks. He wasn’t actively crying; it was more so the residual emotion that poured out of him. His normally vibrant eyes were taking on a distant quality to them from the shock of the night. It would take time for him to get over the things he saw tonight, if he ever fully did. But I would help him each step of the way.
That would come later. For now, we had to focus on the curse.
