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Charon, standing on the edge of our group, raised his guns and shot, picking his targets with precision so they only took one bullet to destroy.
The monsters gurgled, clawing at their chests as they fell before their shadowy bodies evaporated. “At least they aren’t overly difficult to exterminate,” Charon said.
“Maybe so, but with these kinds of numbers, does it matter?” The Paragon pulled what I recognized as a blue slip leash that had the name “Aphrodite” bedazzled on the hand strap, then stalked toward an incoming monster.
I watched with morbid fascination as he wrapped Aphrodite’s leash around the shadow creature’s neck, and effectively garroted it. The monster didn’t die—as a shadow creature I don’t know that it was capable of suffocating. But the Paragon used the leash as leverage to drag it to the ground where he savagely kicked at its chest, until its shape collapsed and the monster evaporated.
I burned to do something—anythingto help. But I didn’t have any of my weapons, and unlike the Paragon I didn’t carry any spare leashes in my pockets. To make it even worse, my instincts were burning in my gut, urging me to turn into a cat and to run from the danger that was swarming the area.
When we reached the far side of the parking lot, Ker picked up a decorative pumpkin arranged in one of the parking lot flower beds and javelin tossed it at a shadow monster that was stalking a human Cloisters employee running toward us.
Behind us, the elven guard had made a stand, and were slicing through any of the monsters that got close.
Some of the supernaturals running around were fighting back. A wizard had started her car and ran over three monsters that two shifters herded in front of her.
It looked like most of the shifters hadn’t recovered their hearing quite yet, but they were on their feet and fighting.
Unfortunately, about three fourths of the vampires who emerged from the Cloisters were too affected by the scent of blood in the air—some of them were even attacking other supernaturals.
“Charon,” Aristide said over the gurgles of the shadow monsters and the roars of the fighting supernaturals. “Phone.”
Charon shot another shadow creature. “I’m busy.”
“No, your phone is vibrating—I can hear it in your pocket,” Aristide said.
Charon exhaled deeply, but flicked the safety on the handgun in his left hand, stuffed it in his shoulder holster, then yanked his cellphone free. “Your Majesty,” he said as a greeting. He paused, then glanced at me. “Very well.” He removed the phone from his ear, pressed a button to turn the phone onto speaker mode, then held it out to me.
I gingerly took it. “Noctus?”
“Chloe, you have to run,” Noctus said. “The weapon is a Mors family heirloom, a spear called Pestilence. It’s loaded with an explosive spell strong enough to collapse the Cloisters, threaded with a secondary spell that is its specialty: a death magic that will kill anything within its cloud zone. It’s going to kill all supernaturals within a several mile radius.”
The Paragon popped up at my side, the wrinkles in his forehead turning trench deep. “Can’t you stop it?”
I searched the roofline of the Cloisters and found Noctus, standing on a higher section of the roof. He was facing the red barrier, which glowed from within, lit by the ominous yellow light the spear was starting to shed.
Below Noctus, the stone gargoyles—more of the Cloisters’ defensive magic—had woken from their slumber despite the daylight and were attacking the shadow creatures that were now swarming the building.
“No,” Noctus said. “I can’t get to it. It’s got a double barrier protection—a dragon seal followed by a defensive shield we elves commonly used to enhance our fortifications. The fortification spell can be dismantled, but it takes hours, if not days. We have less than five minutes.”
“Five minutes?” Aristide asked. “That’s not enough time to evacuate the Cloisters. Could we open a gate?”
“Not with the magic dampener,” the Paragon grimly said. “My pocket realm won’t even open.”
“No one in this area is surviving,” Noctus said, his voice flat and emotionless. “Not even me. The spell is tied to the weapon’s core, and it’s a death weapon. Chloe’s the only one who has a chance, because the death spell most likely won’t kill her. But she needs to clear the blast zone to stand a chance.”
“Couldn’t I get through the barrier and get the spear out to you?” I asked.
Noctus was silent for a beat. I could see him up on the roof when he twisted, stabbing a shadow creature through the chest. “Not a chance. The weapon will kill you on contact—regardless of your abilities.”
“Maybe, maybe there’s something I could carry in,” I said, desperate. “Can you make an explosive spell that I could put inside the barrier?”
“No,” Noctus said. “The only thing capable of actually destroying an heirloom is another heirloom.”
It’s like the tracker’s pendant, I realized.Too much magic went into the creation of it for a simple spell to destroy it.
“I heard back from the scouts,” Noctus continued.“Pat is out on a call inside Magiford. He should be safe.” He had to know I was starting to mentally shut down, but he mercilessly continued. “You need to go, Chloe. You can survive this.”
I thought the Paragon would interrupt, but he merely closed his eyes, and his shoulders sagged before he shuffled off, pulling out his cellphone and making another call.
