AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Charon pressed his lips together, then rolled his shoulders back. “The wizards are struggling to contain the shadow creatures, but I expect the monsters will soon make it up here. I suspect they were supposed to swarm the building based on their attack pattern, but a group of House Medeis wizards were loitering around in the back parking lot and apparently not only carry handguns, but are crack shots.”
“That would be the Drake influence, thank goodness,” the Paragon said. “Any idea what we can expect from the charging weapon?”
Noctus shielded his eyes from the dawn of morning as he stared up at the weapon. “No. I’ll have to get closer.”
Noctus activated his magic and reached into his pocket realm, pulling out two small swords—at least, small for him. Both were the size of the short sword I used.
The swords activated, the blades igniting with blue and white flames that erupted to swallow Noctus’s entire body before the flames formed armor.
The twin blades’ armor set appeared to be made of leather—a leather chestplate that covered his upper chest, armguards, and leather boots, with black clothes underneath that were embroidered with blue and white flames. The flames also formed a cloak with a weighted hood and a mask that covered most of his face.
By the time Noctus was ready for battle, the shadow creatures had made it around the corner of the Cloisters.
Humanoid, but with impossibly broad shoulders, clawed hands, and dragon-paw like feet, the monsters were horrifying to look at. Shadows writhed in the skull where facial features should have been, and there was an oily flatness to them that felt so wrong it made me shiver.
These are the same creatures those teenage elves made in Calor with forbidden magic.
The sensation of elf magic stabbed at my ribs, and I watched with horror as the monsters loped up to the front doors and tried to break in.
“Charon, stay with Chloe—get as far away as possible.” Noctus barked a few elvish words at the guards, who rearranged themselves in a new formation. Half of them stalked toward the Cloisters, aiming for the shadow monsters, and the other half fanned out around us.
Noctus stepped away from our group, heading back to the building.
Charon, meanwhile, nudged me ahead. “This way, Chloe.”
I looked back, watching Noctus scale a brick wall. The Paragon—still on his cellphone—had followed him and stopped at the sidewalk.
“I should have worn my harness,” I said miserably.
“You were going into the Cloisters,” Charon said. “Where there is a strict no weapons code because of the threat. Your conduct made sense.”
The elven guards reached the group of five monsters attempting to break in the front doors. One guard speared a creature through the heart, another shot one with a crossbow, their movements efficient and coordinated as they pinned the monsters against the wall.
The endlessly ringing bells and scream of the sirens abruptly cut off.
Hopefully that’s a good thing, but I doubt it.
“Come on, Chloe,” Aristide called as he—using his cane—tapped his way across the parking lot, toting Ker along.
“You’re coming with us?” I asked, hurrying to catch up with him as Charon prowled along at my side.
“In a fight of this scale against enemies that don’t have heartbeats?” Aristide shook his head. “It’s too hard to track, unless they start splitting off and following us. Hopefully they don’t have the numbers to do that.”
“I’m afraid they do,” Charon said. “Do you hear that?”
Ker followed along behind us, but had her nose raised as she tried to use it in lieu of her ears. “Guys,” she called. “There’s something going on inside the Cloisters!”
“What?” Aristide asked. When she didn’t answer, he pitched his voice louder. “WHAT?”
“Because I smell more of the shadow creatures…and fresh blood,” Ker said.
The front doors slammed open, and a young woman with black hair staggered out, carrying an oversized metal stapler. She used the stapler to bludgeon a hungry vampire who grabbed at her arm, then ducked out of the doorway to avoid a shadow creature that streaked out through the open doors.
Charon said a word I recognized as an elvish swear word since Oleander had said it multiple times at the first sign of the fight. “This is a larger scale than anticipated.”
“Yes,” the Paragon said, making me jump. I hadn’t realized he’d rejoined us. “It seems the organization had a great deal more firepower than I estimated. And now we’re going to pay for it.”
More monsters appeared—a few coming from the back of the Cloisters, but most of them emerging from inside, chasing those who escaped through the Cloisters doors.
